Somewhere, someone, on some podcast mentioned the contemplative practice book called The Cloud of Unknowing. Amazon had a copy for $0.99 and so I downloaded it and “read” it. Its Middle English was very hard to understand and did not flow well in my thoughts.
Here is Wikipedia’s summary of the book.
- The Cloud of Unknowing (Middle English: The Cloude of Unknowyng) is an anonymous work of Christian mysticism written in Middle English in the latter half of the 14th century. The text is a spiritual guide on contemplative prayer. The underlying message of this work suggests that the way to know God is to abandon consideration of God’s particular activities and attributes, and be courageous enough to surrender one’s mind and ego to the realm of “unknowing”, at which point one may begin to glimpse the nature of God.
It may have been a waste of time for understanding, but it gives great insight into how hard it is to understand a book from older cultures with today’s common culture’s mind. When someone says the Bible is straightforward and can be understood with common meaning, they have no idea how wrong their interpretation probably is. We need scholarly help from people who study the ancient culture to provide better interpretation.
Leave a Reply