The Cloud of Unknowing
83 chapters English Public domain
About this book
This is Evelyn Underhill's translation of the medieval spiritual guidebook called The Cloud of Unknowing, written by an anonymous English monk. At the core is a mystical approach to Christian prayer, in which God is found not through rote knowledge, but through 'blind love.' It has been described as Christianity with a Zen outlook. --J.B. Hare
Table of contents
83 chapters
51 Chapter 44: How a soul shall dispose it on its own part, for to destroy all witting and feeling of its own being 52 Chapter 45: A good declaring of some certain deceits that may befall in this work 53 Chapter 46: A good teaching how a man shall flee these deceits, and work more with a listiness of spirit than with any boisterousness of body 54 Chapter 47: A slight teaching of this work in purity of spirit; declaring how that on one manner a soul should shew his desire unto God, and on ye contrary, unto man 55 Chapter 48: How God will be served both with body and with soul, and reward men in both; and how men shall know when all those sounds and sweetness that fall into the body in time of prayer be both good and evil 56 Chapter 49: The substance of all perfection is nought else but a good will; and how that all sounds and comforts and sweetness that may befall in this life be to it but as it were accidents 57 Chapter 50: Which is chaste love; and how in some creatures such sensible comforts be but seldom, and in some right oft 58 Chapter 51: That men should have great wariness so that they understand not bodily a thing that is meant ghostly; and specially it is good to be wary in understanding of this word in, and of this word up 59 Chapter 52: How these young presumptuous disciples misunderstand this word in, and of the deceits that follow thereon 60 Chapter 53: Of divers unseemly practices that follow them that lack the work of this book 61 Chapter 54: How that by virtue of this work a man is governed full wisely, and made full seemly as well in body as in soul 62 Chapter 55: How they be deceived that follow the fervour of spirit in condemning of some without discretion 63 Chapter 56: How they be deceived that follow the fervour of spirit in condemning of some without discretion 64 Chapter 57: How these young presumptuous disciples misunderstand this other word up; and of the deceits that follow thereon 65 Chapter 58: That a man shall not take ensample of Saint Martin and of Saint Stephen, for to strain his imagination bodily upwards in the time of his prayer 66 Chapter 59: That a man shall not take ensample at the bodily ascension of Christ, for to strain his imagination upwards bodily in the time of prayer: and that time, place, and body, these three should be forgotten in all ghostly working 67 Chapter 60: That the high and the next way to heaven is run by desires, and not by paces of feet 68 Chapter 61: That all bodily thing is subject unto ghostly thing, and is ruled thereafter by the course of nature, and not contrariwise 69 Chapter 62: How a man may wit when his ghostly work is beneath him or without him and when it is even with him or within him, and when it is above him and under his God 70 Chapter 63: Of the powers of a soul in general, and how Memory in special is a principal power comprehending in it all the other powers and all those things in the which they work 71 Chapter 64: Of the other two principal powers, Reason and Will, and of the work of them before sin and after 72 Chapter 65: Of the first secondary power, Imagination by name; and of the works and of the obedience of it unto Reason, before sin and after 73 Chapter 66: Of the other secondary power, Sensuality by name; and of the works and of the obedience of it unto Will, before sin and after 74 Chapter 67: That whoso knoweth not the powers of a soul and the manner of her working, may lightly be deceived in understanding of ghostly words and of ghostly working; and how a soul is made a God in grace 75 Chapter 68: That nowhere bodily, is everywhere ghostly; and how our outer man calleth the work of this book nought
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The Cloud of Unknowing
83 chapters English Public domain
About this book
This is Evelyn Underhill's translation of the medieval spiritual guidebook called The Cloud of Unknowing, written by an anonymous English monk. At the core is a mystical approach to Christian prayer, in which God is found not through rote knowledge, but through 'blind love.' It has been described as Christianity with a Zen outlook. --J.B. Hare
Table of contents
83 chapters
51 Chapter 44: How a soul shall dispose it on its own part, for to destroy all witting and feeling of its own being 52 Chapter 45: A good declaring of some certain deceits that may befall in this work 53 Chapter 46: A good teaching how a man shall flee these deceits, and work more with a listiness of spirit than with any boisterousness of body 54 Chapter 47: A slight teaching of this work in purity of spirit; declaring how that on one manner a soul should shew his desire unto God, and on ye contrary, unto man 55 Chapter 48: How God will be served both with body and with soul, and reward men in both; and how men shall know when all those sounds and sweetness that fall into the body in time of prayer be both good and evil 56 Chapter 49: The substance of all perfection is nought else but a good will; and how that all sounds and comforts and sweetness that may befall in this life be to it but as it were accidents 57 Chapter 50: Which is chaste love; and how in some creatures such sensible comforts be but seldom, and in some right oft 58 Chapter 51: That men should have great wariness so that they understand not bodily a thing that is meant ghostly; and specially it is good to be wary in understanding of this word in, and of this word up 59 Chapter 52: How these young presumptuous disciples misunderstand this word in, and of the deceits that follow thereon 60 Chapter 53: Of divers unseemly practices that follow them that lack the work of this book 61 Chapter 54: How that by virtue of this work a man is governed full wisely, and made full seemly as well in body as in soul 62 Chapter 55: How they be deceived that follow the fervour of spirit in condemning of some without discretion 63 Chapter 56: How they be deceived that follow the fervour of spirit in condemning of some without discretion 64 Chapter 57: How these young presumptuous disciples misunderstand this other word up; and of the deceits that follow thereon 65 Chapter 58: That a man shall not take ensample of Saint Martin and of Saint Stephen, for to strain his imagination bodily upwards in the time of his prayer 66 Chapter 59: That a man shall not take ensample at the bodily ascension of Christ, for to strain his imagination upwards bodily in the time of prayer: and that time, place, and body, these three should be forgotten in all ghostly working 67 Chapter 60: That the high and the next way to heaven is run by desires, and not by paces of feet 68 Chapter 61: That all bodily thing is subject unto ghostly thing, and is ruled thereafter by the course of nature, and not contrariwise 69 Chapter 62: How a man may wit when his ghostly work is beneath him or without him and when it is even with him or within him, and when it is above him and under his God 70 Chapter 63: Of the powers of a soul in general, and how Memory in special is a principal power comprehending in it all the other powers and all those things in the which they work 71 Chapter 64: Of the other two principal powers, Reason and Will, and of the work of them before sin and after 72 Chapter 65: Of the first secondary power, Imagination by name; and of the works and of the obedience of it unto Reason, before sin and after 73 Chapter 66: Of the other secondary power, Sensuality by name; and of the works and of the obedience of it unto Will, before sin and after 74 Chapter 67: That whoso knoweth not the powers of a soul and the manner of her working, may lightly be deceived in understanding of ghostly words and of ghostly working; and how a soul is made a God in grace 75 Chapter 68: That nowhere bodily, is everywhere ghostly; and how our outer man calleth the work of this book nought
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The Cloud of Unknowing
83 chapters English Public domain
About this book
This is Evelyn Underhill's translation of the medieval spiritual guidebook called The Cloud of Unknowing, written by an anonymous English monk. At the core is a mystical approach to Christian prayer, in which God is found not through rote knowledge, but through 'blind love.' It has been described as Christianity with a Zen outlook. --J.B. Hare
Table of contents
83 chapters
51 Chapter 44: How a soul shall dispose it on its own part, for to destroy all witting and feeling of its own being 52 Chapter 45: A good declaring of some certain deceits that may befall in this work 53 Chapter 46: A good teaching how a man shall flee these deceits, and work more with a listiness of spirit than with any boisterousness of body 54 Chapter 47: A slight teaching of this work in purity of spirit; declaring how that on one manner a soul should shew his desire unto God, and on ye contrary, unto man 55 Chapter 48: How God will be served both with body and with soul, and reward men in both; and how men shall know when all those sounds and sweetness that fall into the body in time of prayer be both good and evil 56 Chapter 49: The substance of all perfection is nought else but a good will; and how that all sounds and comforts and sweetness that may befall in this life be to it but as it were accidents 57 Chapter 50: Which is chaste love; and how in some creatures such sensible comforts be but seldom, and in some right oft 58 Chapter 51: That men should have great wariness so that they understand not bodily a thing that is meant ghostly; and specially it is good to be wary in understanding of this word in, and of this word up 59 Chapter 52: How these young presumptuous disciples misunderstand this word in, and of the deceits that follow thereon 60 Chapter 53: Of divers unseemly practices that follow them that lack the work of this book 61 Chapter 54: How that by virtue of this work a man is governed full wisely, and made full seemly as well in body as in soul 62 Chapter 55: How they be deceived that follow the fervour of spirit in condemning of some without discretion 63 Chapter 56: How they be deceived that follow the fervour of spirit in condemning of some without discretion 64 Chapter 57: How these young presumptuous disciples misunderstand this other word up; and of the deceits that follow thereon 65 Chapter 58: That a man shall not take ensample of Saint Martin and of Saint Stephen, for to strain his imagination bodily upwards in the time of his prayer 66 Chapter 59: That a man shall not take ensample at the bodily ascension of Christ, for to strain his imagination upwards bodily in the time of prayer: and that time, place, and body, these three should be forgotten in all ghostly working 67 Chapter 60: That the high and the next way to heaven is run by desires, and not by paces of feet 68 Chapter 61: That all bodily thing is subject unto ghostly thing, and is ruled thereafter by the course of nature, and not contrariwise 69 Chapter 62: How a man may wit when his ghostly work is beneath him or without him and when it is even with him or within him, and when it is above him and under his God 70 Chapter 63: Of the powers of a soul in general, and how Memory in special is a principal power comprehending in it all the other powers and all those things in the which they work 71 Chapter 64: Of the other two principal powers, Reason and Will, and of the work of them before sin and after 72 Chapter 65: Of the first secondary power, Imagination by name; and of the works and of the obedience of it unto Reason, before sin and after 73 Chapter 66: Of the other secondary power, Sensuality by name; and of the works and of the obedience of it unto Will, before sin and after 74 Chapter 67: That whoso knoweth not the powers of a soul and the manner of her working, may lightly be deceived in understanding of ghostly words and of ghostly working; and how a soul is made a God in grace 75 Chapter 68: That nowhere bodily, is everywhere ghostly; and how our outer man calleth the work of this book nought
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