Cloud of Unknowing

Sometimes we assume we have all the answers and folks from the distant past have nothing to teach us. That’s especially true when we have to distill the meaning from unfamiliar language and expressions. Even writings from a hundred years ago in English can be difficult because the writer expressed thoughts in ways far removed from our way of speaking today. We dismiss the thinking because it isn’t said the way we would say it.

Roughly seven hundred years ago an anonymous work of Christian mysticism, The Cloud of Unknowing, was written. It’s in what’s known as Middle English. For those familiar with the terminology it uses what is known as the via negativa concept as a way of encountering God.

To simplify it greatly, the point is, we are utterly inadequate mentally to understand or express the true nature of God. The terminology we use for the Divine is, in fact, such a projection of our own biases and limited understanding that our very words get in the way of our ability to connect with the reality of God.

Those who debate the reality of God invariably use terminology, language, which is wholly inadequate to the task. They argue based on Bible stories or theological constructs which have been passed down through the ages. The author of Cloud and many other spiritual teachers would tell us to empty our minds of our concepts and enter into the “cloud of unknowing”, a state of unknowing, of ignorance so our personal barriers to spiritual experience don’t get in the way.

The argument is not one in favor of going through life, either in a spiritual or practical sense, cultivating ignorance. Heaven only knows we have far too many people embracing such an attitude today. What it means is, when we seek to have meaningful spiritual encounters, we need to get our dogma out of the way.

People assume spirituality and science are antithetical one to another. In reality, science begins with the same assumption as genuine spirituality. It begins with an assumption of unknowing. It begins by saying, “We don’t know this or that but we’re going to try to find out.”

Over 1200 skilled scientists, engineers, and technicians spent years developing and constructing the James Webb Space Telescope. The project was almost killed several times. It cost about $10 billion. It was launched into the cloud of our unknowing, a gigantic question mark meant not to affirm preconceptions but to look beyond our range of understanding and encounter whatever there was. Its basic assumption was our ignorance. That’s the power of accepting our unknowing. We cannot hope to learn while simultaneously clinging to our preconceived notions.

We often affirm our faith using hopelessly limited language formulated to serve a particular purpose hundreds or thousands of years ago. Affirmations of faith and creeds were often originally written to define true believers and expose heretics. If we truly wish to encounter God we have to get beyond divisive language and human assumptions.