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The Cloud of Unknowing: and The Book of Privy Counseling

Amazon.com Price:  $11.66 (as of 21/03/2019 20:41 PST- Details)

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Description

William Johnston–an authority on fourteenth century spirituality and specifically on the writings of this unknown creator–provides a substantive and accessible introduction detailing what is known about the history of this text and its relevance all over the ages. Also included here is the creator’s other principal work, The Book of Privy Counseling–a short and moving text so as to enlightenment through a total loss of self and consciousness only of the divine.
“God can also be loved but he cannot be thought. He can also be grasped by love but never by concepts. So less thinking and more loving.”

This is William Johnston’s summary of the message of The Cloud of Unknowing. Nobody knows who wrote the book, or exactly where he lived, or whether he was a member of a religious order, or even, in point of fact, whether he was a part of any church at all. The text first appeared in Middle English in the 14th century, and it has inspired generations of mystical searchers (from St. John of the Cross to Teilhard de Chardin). The mysterious conditions of its composition, then again, focus the reader’s attention squarely on the book’s message–an almost Zen rendering of Christianity, which has a great deal to teach our querulous, doctrine-obsessed churches: “And so I urge you,” the creator writes, “go after experience relatively than knowledge. As a result of pride, knowledge may steadily deceive you, but this gentle, loving affection will not deceive you. Knowledge tends to breed conceit, but love builds. Knowledge is full of labor, but love, full of rest.” –Michael Joseph Gross

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