Pine Ridge Presbyterian Church

Pineridge Blog

The Cloud of Unknowing
by Anonymous | September 27, 2019


 

Poem


The Cloud of Unknowing was written anonymously in Eng-land in the 14th Century as a guide to prayer. The method of prayer the author suggests is something like our breath pray-er. It begins with choosing a simple word to repeat silently as we rest in God. The word (“God,” “Yahweh,” “Jesus,” “peace,” “love,”) is used mainly to give our minds something to focus on as we let go of other worries, things to do, and random thoughts. If we allow them to pass through our minds, they will drift into a “cloud of forgetting.” It trusts that God’s primary language is love, and God meets our souls beyond knowing as we follow the “blind stirring of love” within.

The love that leads us to pray is God’s gift to us. The “blind stirring of love” within that we become aware of when we quiet our minds can be trusted, because it is of God. Prayer is mostly about resting in this love and coming to trust the Love that is the source of all things.

In the end it doesn’t really matter how many words you use to pray. Sometimes we need a lot of words; other times there are no words big enough to carry our longing for God. The Cloud reminds us that prayer is not about our words, it is about God’s Word, which is love for our souls.

The Mystics group has been reading and discussing The Cloud in our meetings on Wednesdays. We begin ever gathering by praying this prayer together. We offer it to you as a way to open your heart when you need words to begin to lead you into prayer.