View source for The Cloud of Unknowing

{{Short description|Medieval work of Christian mysticism}}
{{About|the medieval book|other uses|The Cloud of Unknowing (disambiguation)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox book 
<!-- |italic title = (see above) --> 
| name             = The Cloud of Unknowing 
| image            = The Cloud of Unknowing (Harley 2373 ).jpg
| caption          = The first page of ''Cloud of Unknowing'' in the 15th century manuscript ''Harley MS 2373'', beginning with the [[Decorated initial]] "I"{{refn|group=note|"A later owner has glossed the Middle English word 'cleped' with its modern equivalent 'called', in the left margin."<ref name="bl" />}}<ref name="bl">{{cite web |last1=Wight |first1=C. |title=Image of an item from the British Library Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts |url=https://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=15588 |website=www.bl.uk |access-date=19 February 2023}}</ref>
| author           = Anonymous 
| title_orig       =The Cloude of Unknowyng 
| translator       = 
| illustrator      = 
| cover_artist     = 
| country          =England 
| language         = [[Middle English]] 
| series           = 
| subject          =Spiritual guide to contemplative prayer 
| genre            =[[Christian mysticism]] 
| publisher        = 
| pub_date         = Late 14th century 
| english_pub_date = 
| media_type       = 
| pages            = 
| isbn             = 
| oclc             = 
| dewey            = 
| congress         = 
| preceded_by      = 
| followed_by      =The Book of Privy Counseling 
}}
{{Christian mysticism}}

'''''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.

==History==
''The Cloud of Unknowing'' draws on the mystical tradition of [[Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite]] and Christian [[Neoplatonism]],<ref name=eve/> which focuses on the [[via negativa]] road to discovering God as a pure entity, beyond any capacity of mental conception and so without any definitive image or form. This tradition has reputedly inspired generations of mystics, from [[John Scotus Eriugena]], [[Nicholas of Cusa]], and [[John of the Cross]]. Prior to this, the theme of a passing cloud of ignorance (as opposed to the heavenly and eternal truth of God beyond the cloud) had appeared briefly in the ''[[Confessions (Augustine)|Confessions]]'' of Saint Augustine (XIII, XV, 17–18) written around 398&nbsp;AD.<ref name="intro">[http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/clunintr.htm "Introduction", ''The Cloud of Unknowing'', (Patrick Gallacher, ed.)  (TEAMS Middle English Texts Series, 1997)]</ref> Concerning the placement of ''The Cloud of Unknowing'' in the trends of the [[Catholic Church]] at the approximate time of its writing, the work joins a broader medieval movement within Christianity toward a religious experience of a more individual and passionate view of relationship with God.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works|last=Spearing|first=A. C.|author-link= A. C. Spearing |publisher=Penguin Books|year=2001|isbn=978-0-14-044762-0|location=London|pages=xii|chapter=Introduction|url=https://archive.org/details/cloudofunknowing00wolt_0}}</ref>

The author is unknown. The English [[Augustinians|Augustinian]] mystic [[Walter Hilton]] has at times been suggested, but this is generally doubted.{{sfn|Walsh|1981|p=2}} It is possible the author was a [[Carthusian]] priest, though this is not certain.{{sfn|Walsh|1981|pp=3-9}}

A second major work by the same author, ''The Book of Privy Counseling'' (originally titled ''Prive Counselling''), continues the themes discussed in the ''Cloud''. It is less than half the length of the ''Cloud'', appears to be the author's final work, and clarifies and deepens some of its teachings.<ref name="Bernard McGinn 2012 p396">McGinn, Bernard. ''The Varieties of Vernacular Mysticism'', (New York: Herder & Herder, 2012), pg. 396.</ref> In this work, the author characterizes the practice of contemplative unknowing as worshiping God with one's "substance," coming to rest in a "naked blind feeling of being," and ultimately finding thereby that God is one's being. Experience, in keeping with the mystical tradition, is considered the ultimate means by which a Christian can and should relate to God, and the practice of contemplation in ''The Cloud'' is thus focused on the experience of God by the contemplative. This relationship between God and the contemplative takes place within continual conflict between the spirit and the physical. God is spirit in the purest sense; therefore, no matter how intense one's desire or how fervent one's love, the movement toward God by body-bound contemplatives will ever be halted by the cloud of unknowing that hides God from our understanding and prevents the fullest and truest experience of God's being. The object of the contemplative experience is to know God, as much as possible, from within this cloud of unknowing.

==Contents==
''The Cloud of Unknowing'' is written specifically to a student, and the author strongly commands the student in the Prologue, "do not willingly and deliberately read it, copy it, speak of it, or allow it to be read, copied, or spoken of, by anyone or to anyone, except by or to a person who, in your opinion, has undertaken truly and without reservation to be a perfect follower of Christ."<ref name=":0"/>

The book counsels the young student to seek God, not through knowledge and [[intellect]] (faculty of the human mind), but through intense contemplation, motivated by love, and stripped of all thought.{{refn|group=note|An important introductory section of Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologica states a recurring premise of the work: that "we cannot know what God is, but rather what He is not, we have no means for considering how God is, but rather how He is not." As for how to proceed: "Now it can be shown how God is not, by denying of Him whatever is opposed to the idea of Him" (Intro to Treatise on Divine Simplicity, Prima Pars, Q. 3). It's possible either that the author of the Cloud was influenced by Aquinas, or correspondingly, both the author and Aquinas were influenced by Pseudo-Dionysius. [[Orthodoxy#Christianity|Orthodox Christian]] philosophy is also influenced by Pseudo-Dionysius.}} Experience of a "cloud of unknowing" is introduced Chapter 3:
{{Quote|"For the first time you [lift your heart to God with stirrings of love], you will find only a darkness, and as it were a cloud of unknowing [...] Whatever you do, this darkness and the cloud are between you and your God, and hold you back from seeing him clearly by the light of understanding in your reason and from experiencing him in the sweetness of love in your feelings. [...] And so prepare to remain in this darkness as long as you can, always begging for him you love; for if you are ever to feel or see him...it must always be in this cloud and this darkness."|sign=|source=''The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works''. Translated by [[A. C. Spearing]]. London: Penguin. 2001. pp. 22. {{ISBN|0-14-044762-8}}.}}
This is brought about by putting all thoughts and desires under a "cloud of forgetting," and thereby piercing God's cloud of unknowing with a "dart of longing love" from the heart. This form of contemplation is not directed by the intellect, but involves spiritual union with God through the heart:
{{Quote|For He can well be loved, but he cannot be thought. By love he can be grasped and held, but by thought, neither grasped nor held. And therefore, though it may be good at times to think specifically of the kindness and excellence of God, and though this may be a light and a part of contemplation, all the same, in the work of contemplation itself, it must be cast down and covered with a cloud of forgetting. And you must step above it stoutly but deftly, with a devout and delightful stirring of love, and struggle to pierce that darkness above you; and beat on that thick cloud of unknowing with a sharp dart of longing love, and do not give up, whatever happens."<ref>{{cite book |title=The Cloud of Unknowing and other works |year=2001 |publisher=Penguin Classics |isbn=978-0-14-044762-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/cloudofunknowing00wolt_0 }} Translated by [[A. C. Spearing]]</ref>}}

As one pursues the beating of the cloud of unknowing as compelled by spiritual stirrings of love in the heart, the intellect and sinful stirrings will often pull the contemplative's focus away from God and back to the things of physical world and of the self. The author thus enjoins the contemplative to "vigorously trample on [any new thoughts or sinful stirrings] with a fervent stirring of love, and tread them down beneath your feet. And try to cover them with a thick cloud of forgetting, as if they had never been done by you or anyone else on earth. [...] Push them down as often as they rise."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/cloudofunknowing00wolt_0/page/54|title=The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works|publisher=Penguin Books|translator=[[A. C. Spearing]]|year=2001|isbn=0-14-044762-8|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cloudofunknowing00wolt_0/page/54 54]|oclc=59513557}}</ref>

The author draws a strong distinction in Chapters 16-22 between the active and contemplative Christian life. He illustrates the distinction by drawing heavily from the [[Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary|account of Mary and Martha in the Gospel of Luke]], writing that "[By] Mary all contemplatives are understood, so that they should model their way of life on hers; and similarly by Martha, all actives, with the same consequent resemblance."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/cloudofunknowing00wolt_0/page/44|title=The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works|publisher=Penguin|translator=A. C. Spearing|year=2001|isbn=0-14-044762-8|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cloudofunknowing00wolt_0/page/44 44-45]}}</ref> While the author holds Mary as the superior example in the passage as a "model for all of us [who seek to be contemplatives]," he clarifies that Martha's activity in service to God was nonetheless "good and beneficial for her salvation" but not the best thing.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works|publisher=Penguin Books|translator=A. C. Spearing|year=2001|isbn=0-14-044762-8|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cloudofunknowing00wolt_0/page/44 44-45]|url=https://archive.org/details/cloudofunknowing00wolt_0/page/44}}</ref>

Chapter 23 of ''The Book of Privy Counseling'' glorifies experience over knowledge:{{Quote|"And so I urge you, go after experience rather than knowledge. On account of pride, knowledge may often 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."<ref>Johnston (1996), p. 188 (paperback).</ref>}}

Chapters 39 and 40 recommend the focus on a single word as the means to invoke the fullness of God:
{{quote|When we intend to pray for goodness, let all our thought and desire be contained in the one small word "God." Nothing else and no other words are needed, for God is the epitome of all goodness. Immerse yourself in the spiritual reality it speaks of yet without precise ideas of God's works whether small or great, spiritual or material. Do not consider any particular virtue which God may teach you through grace, whether it is humility, charity, patience, abstinence, hope, faith, moderation, chastity, or evangelical poverty. For to a contemplative they are, in a sense, all the same. Let this little word represent to you God in all his fullness and nothing less than the fullness of God.<ref>Johnston (1996), pp. 98-101.</ref>{{refn|group=note|Ch. 39-40, other translations:<br>* [[Evelyn Underhill]] (1922/2003): "And if we will intentively pray for getting of good, let us cry, either with word or with thought or with desire, nought else nor no more words, but this word "God". For why, in God be all good..
Fill thy spirit with the ghostly bemeaning of it without any special beholding to any of His works—whether they be good, better, or best of all—bodily or ghostly, or to any virtue that may be wrought in man’s soul by any grace; not looking after whether it be meekness or charity, patience or abstinence, hope, faith, or soberness, chastity or wilful poverty. What recks this in contemplatives?.. they covet nothing with special beholding, but only good God. Do thou.. mean God all, and all God, so that nought work in thy wit and in thy will, but only God.<ref>''Cloud'' (version), Underhill (2003), [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/anonymous2/cloud.xlv.html pp. 69-72], Accessed 23 May 2010.</ref><br>* [[Middle English]] original: "And yif we wil ententifly preie for getyng of goodes, lat us crie, outher with worde or with thought or with desire, nought elles, ne no mo wordes, bot this worde God. For whi in God ben alle goodes.. Fille thi spirit with the goostly bemenyng of it withoutyn any specyal beholdyng to any of His werkes whether thei be good, betir, or alther best, bodily or goostly—or to any vertewe that may be wrought in mans soule by any grace, not lokyng after whether it be meeknes or charité, pacyence or abstynence, hope, feith, or sobirnes, chastité or wilful poverté. What thar reche in contemplatyves?.. thei coveyte nothing with specyal beholdyng, bot only good God. Do thou.. mene God al, and al God, so that nought worche in thi witte and in thi wile, bot only God.<ref>''Cloud'' (original), Gallacher (1997), [http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/cloud.htm lines 1426 - 1471] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090219120306/http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/cloud.htm |date=19 February 2009 }}, Accessed 23 May 2010.</ref>}}}}

While the author presents many methods of his own for effective contemplation of God, he often leaves the teaching of method to God himself. In Chapter 40, for example, he advises a contemplative who is struggling with sin to "[...] feel sin as a lump, you do not know what, but nothing other than yourself. And then shout continuously in spirit, 'Sin, sin, sin! out, out, out!' This spiritual shout is better learned from God by experience than from any human being by word."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/cloudofunknowing00wolt_0/page/63|title=The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works|publisher=Penguin Books|translator=A. C. Spearing|year=2001|isbn=0-14-044762-8|location=London|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cloudofunknowing00wolt_0/page/63 63]}}</ref>

While the practice of contemplation in ''The Cloud'' is focused upon the experience of spiritual reality by the soul, the author also makes some provision for the needs of the body, going so far as to say that care for the body is an important element of spiritual contemplation if only to prevent hindrance of its practice. He writes in Chapter 41:

{{Quote|text=And so, for the love of God, guard against sickness as much as you reasonably can, so that, as far as you may, you are not the cause of your own weakness. For I tell you that this work demands the greatest tranquility, and a state of health and purity in body as much as in soul. And so, for the love of God, regulate your conduct with moderation in body and in soul, and keep yourself as healthy as possible.|sign=|source=''The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works''. Translated by [[A. C. Spearing]]. London: Penguin Publishers. 2001. pp. 64–65. {{ISBN|0-14-044762-8}}.}}

==Other works by the same author==
In addition to ''The Cloud of Unknowing'' and ''The Book of Privy Counseling'', the ''Cloud'' author is believed to be responsible for a few other spiritual treatises and translations, including:

* ''Deonise Hid Divinity'', a free translation of the ''Mystical Theology'' by [[Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite]]. A vernacular translation of the ''Mystical Theology'' was unprecedented; however, it was clearly not widely read, since only two manuscripts survive.<ref name="Bernard McGinn 2012 p398">Bernard McGinn, ''The Varieties of Vernacular Mysticism'', (New York: Herder & Herder, 2012), p398.</ref>
* ''A Letter of Prayer'' (''A Pistle of Prayer''), which survives in seven manuscripts. ([http://www.ccel.org/g/gardner/cell/cell18.htm Online]);
* ''A Letter of Discretion of Stirrings'' (''A Pistle of Discrecioun of Stirings''). ([http://www.ccel.org/g/gardner/cell/cell19.htm Online, part VI of "The Cell of Self Knowledge"])
* It is possible, but doubtful,<ref name="Bernard McGinn 2012 p398"/> that he wrote ''A Treatise of Discernment of Spirits'' (originally titled ''A Tretis of Discrecyon of Spirites''), a free translation of ''Sermones di Diversis'' nos 23–24, by [[Bernard of Clairvaux]], ([http://www.ccel.org/g/gardner/cell/cell20.htm Online]).
* It is possible, but doubtful,<ref name="Bernard McGinn 2012 p398"/> that he wrote ''A Treatise of the Study of Wisdom that Men Call Benjamin'' (also called ''Pursuit of Wisdom'', and, in its original, ''A Tretyse of the Stodye of Wysdome that Men Clepen Beniamyn''), an abbreviated and free translation of the ''Benjamin Minor'' by [[Richard of Saint Victor]] ([http://www.ccel.org/g/gardner/cell/cell03.htm Online]).

==Manuscripts==

''The Cloud of Unknowing'' has 17 known manuscripts.<ref name="Bernard McGinn 2012 p396"/> The two best known are [[British Library]] Harley MS 2373 and [[Cambridge University Library]] Kk.vi.26. These contain all seven of the works attributed to the ''Cloud'' author, the former extensively glossed in Latin.<ref name=intro/> Another important manuscript is British Library Harleian 2373, which contains all but ''Deonise Hid Divinity''.<ref>''The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works'', trans. by [[A. C. Spearing]] (London: Penguin, 2001), p. xl.</ref>

==Later influence==
Given its survival in only seventeen manuscripts, ''The Cloud of Unknowing'' was not as popular in late medieval England as the works of [[Richard Rolle]] or [[Walter Hilton]], perhaps because the ''Cloud'' is addressed to solitaries and concentrates on the advanced levels of the mystical path. Two Latin translations of the ''Cloud'' were made in the late fifteenth century. One was made by [[Richard Methley]], a Carthusian of the Charterhouse of [[Mount Grace Priory|Mount Grace]] in [[Yorkshire]], and finished in 1491.{{sfn|Walsh|1981|p=16}} The other is anonymous. Neither, however, enjoyed wide dissemination.<ref name="Bernard McGinn 2012 p396"/>

This work became known to English Catholics in the mid-17th century, when the Benedictine monk [[Augustine Baker]] (1575–1641) wrote an exposition on its doctrine based on a manuscript copy in the library of the monastery of [[Stanbrook Abbey|Cambrai]] in [[Flanders]]. The original work itself, however, was not published until 1877. English mystic [[Evelyn Underhill]] edited an important version of the work in 1922.<ref name="eve">[http://www.sacred-texts.com/chr/cou/cou01.htm "Introduction", ''The Cloud of Unknowing'', (Evelyn Underhill, ed.) 1922].</ref>

The work has become increasingly popular over the course of the twentieth century, with nine English translations or modernisations produced in this period. In particular, ''The Cloud'' has influenced recent contemplative prayer practices. The practical prayer advice contained in ''The Cloud of Unknowing'' forms a primary basis for the contemporary practice of [[Centering Prayer]], a form of [[Christian meditation]] developed by [[Trappist]] monks [[William Meninger]], [[Basil Pennington]] and [[Thomas Keating]] in the 1970s.<ref name="keating86">''Open Mind, Open Heart: The Contemplative Dimension of the Gospel'' (2006/1986). by Thomas Keating. Continuum International Publishing Group. paperback: {{ISBN|0-8264-0696-3}}, hardback: {{ISBN|0-8264-1420-6}}.</ref> It also informed the meditation techniques of the English Benedictine [[John Main]].<ref name="Bernard McGinn 2012 p396"/>

The contemplation method urged in ''The Cloud'' is similar to [[Buddhist meditation]] and modern [[transcendental meditation]].<ref>''The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works'', trans. by [[A. C. Spearing]] (London: Penguin, 2001), p. xviii; Ninian Smart, 'What Would Buddhaghosa Have Made of ''The Cloud of Unknowing''?', in ''Mysticism and Language'', ed. by Steven A, Katz (New York, 1992), pp. 103-22.</ref> For example, the last paragraph of chapter 7 says: <blockquote>If you want to gather all your desire into one simple word that the mind can easily retain, choose a short word rather than a long one. A one-syllable word such as "God" or "love" is best. But choose one that is meaningful to you. Then fix it in your mind so that it will remain there come what may. This word will be your defence in conflict and in peace. Use it to beat upon the cloud of darkness above you and to subdue all distractions, consigning them to the ''cloud of forgetting'' beneath you.</blockquote>

==References in popular culture==
{{more citations needed section|date=May 2018}}
{{in popular culture|section|date=February 2025}}
* [[Leonard Cohen]] refers to ''The Cloud of Unknowing'' in the 1979 song "The Window" from ''[[Recent Songs]]''<ref>See verse four of the song.</ref>
* [[James Blackshaw]] released an album in 2007 [[The Cloud of Unknowing (album)|by the same name]]
* [[John Luther Adams]]' orchestral work ''Clouds of Forgetting, Clouds of Unknowing'', completed in 1995, was inspired by ''The Cloud of Unknowing''
* [[Steve Roach (musician)|Steve Roach]]'s album ''The Magnificent Void'' (1996) includes a track named "Cloud of Unknowing"
* [[J. D. Salinger]]'s novel ''[[Franny and Zooey]]'' (1961) refers to ''The Cloud of Unknowing'' in a passage where the characters are discussing contemplative prayer.
*[[W. Somerset Maugham]] referenced ''The Cloud of Unknowing'' in ''[[The Razor's Edge]]''.
* [[Todd Rundgren]] refers to ''The Cloud of Unknowing'' in the 1989 song "The Waiting Game" from ''[[Nearly Human]]''
* [[Current 93]]'s 1994 album, ''[[Of Ruine or Some Blazing Starre]]'', includes a song titled "The Cloud of Unknowing"
* In the album ''[[Ghostyhead|GHoSTYhead]]'', [[Rickie Lee Jones]]' track 9 is titled "Cloud of Unknowing" 
* In [[Don DeLillo]]'s 1997 book, ''[[Underworld (DeLillo novel)|Underworld]]'', Part 3 (of 6) is entitled "The Cloud of Unknowing: Spring 1978," and a character speaks about the book.<ref>Don DeLillo, ''Underworld'' (New York: Scribner, 1997), p. 273.</ref>
* [[Vasari Singers]] released an album in 2007 entitled "The Cloud of Unknowing" using texts from Biblical and poetic sources. This is an 89-minute eponymous oratorio [2005] by the British composer Francis Pott [b. 1957].<ref>[https://www.francispott.com/the-cloud2/-of-unknowing- francispott.com website]{{Dead link|date=October 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot }}</ref>
* The character Rev. Ames in ''[[Gilead (novel)|Gilead]] ''(2004) by [[Marilynne Robinson]] refers to the book several times in an introspective journal/letter to his son.
* [[Gorillaz]]' 2010 album, ''[[Plastic Beach]]'', includes a song titled "Cloud of Unknowing" 
* [[Swans (band)|Swans]]' 2016 album, ''[[The Glowing Man]]'', includes two songs titled "Cloud of Forgetting" and "Cloud of Unknowing".
*Appears atop a stack of religious volumes on the desk of Rev. Ernst Toller in [[Paul Schrader|Paul Schrader's]] 2017 film ''[[First Reformed]].''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6053438/videoplayer/vi923580441?ref_=nv_sr_2_v_1|title=Official trailer for First Reformed|website=IMDB.com|at=Appears at :10|access-date=8 June 2018}}</ref>

==Editions==
*Billy, Dennis J., CSsR (2014). ''The Cloud of the Unknowing'', Liguori Publications, Liguori, Missouri. ISBN 9780764-822889.
*{{cite book
 |title=The Cloud of Unknowing
 |last=Butcher
 |first=Carmen Acevedo
 |year=2018
 |publisher=Shambhala Pocket Edition
 |location=Boston
 |isbn=978-1-61180-622-9
 }}
*{{cite book
 |title=The Cloud of Unknowing with the Book of Privy Counsel
 |last=Butcher
 |first=Carmen Acevedo
 |year=2009
 |publisher=Shambhala
 |location=Boston
 |isbn=978-1-59030-622-2
 }}
* ''The Cloud of Unknowing: And The Book of Privy Counseling'' (1944). ed. [[Phyllis Hodgson]]. Early English Text Society. Oxford University Press, hardback: {{ISBN|0-19-722218-8}}.
* ''The Cloud of Unknowing'' (1957). translator, [[Ira Progoff]]. Dell/Doubleday. 1983 paperback: {{ISBN|0-440-31994-3}}, 1989 paperback: {{ISBN|0-385-28144-7}}
*{{cite book
 |title=The Cloud of Unknowing and the Book of Privy Counseling
 |last=Johnston
 |first=William
 |author2= preface:[[Huston Smith]] 
 |year=1996
 |publisher=Image Books
 |location=New York
 |isbn=0-385-03097-5
 |orig-year=1973
 }} (first edition, 1973)
* {{cite book |title=Where Only Love Can Go: A Journey of the Soul into the Cloud of Unknowing |author=John J. Kirvan  |publisher= Ave Maria Press|year=1996|isbn=0877935912 }}
*{{cite book
 |title=The Cloud of Unknowing and other works
 |year=2001
 |publisher=Penguin Classics
 |isbn=978-0-14-044762-0
 |url=https://archive.org/details/cloudofunknowing00wolt_0
 }} Translated by [[A. C. Spearing]]
*{{cite book
 |title=The Cloud of Unknowing and Other Works
 |year=1961
 |publisher=Penguin Books
 |location=New York
 |isbn=0-14-044-385-1
 |url=https://archive.org/details/cloudofunknowing0000unse|url-access=registration
 }} Translated by [[Clifton Wolters]]. Includes ''The Cloud of Unknowing'', ''The Epistle of Privy Counsel'', ''Dionysius' Mystical Teaching'', and ''The Epistle of Prayer''.
*{{cite book
 |title=The Cloud of Unknowing
 |year=1981
 |editor-last=Walsh |editor-first=James
 |others=Preface by {{ill|Simon Tugwell|qid=Q93230954}}, Introduction by James Walsh 
 |publisher=Paulist Press
 |location=New York
 |isbn=978-08091-2332-2
 |url=https://archive.org/details/cloudofunknowing00wals|url-access=registration
 }}

Editions of related texts include
* ''Deonise Hid Divinite: And Other Treatises on Contemplative Prayer Related to The Cloud of Unknowing'' (1955). ed., [[Phyllis Hodgson]]. Early English Text Society. Oxford University Press, 2002 paperback: 0859916987
* ''The Pursuit of Wisdom: And Other Works by the Author of The Cloud of Unknowing'' (1988). translator, James Walsh. Paulist Press Classics of Western Spirituality. paperback: {{ISBN|0-8091-2972-8}}.

==See also==
{{Portal|Christianity}}
*[[Apophatic theology]] (known also as the ''via negativa'')
*[[Lectio Divina]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=note|2}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{Wikisource}}
{{Wikiquote}}
* [https://www.shambhala.com/videos/carmen-acevedo-butcher-introduces-us-to-the-cloud-of-unknowing/ The Cloud of Unknowing] read by [http://writing.berkeley.edu/staff/carmen-acevedo-butcher Carmen Acevedo Butcher]
* [http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/clunintr.htm Introduction to Online text] with analysis and bibliography
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20131010134218/http://www.lib.rochester.edu/camelot/teams/cloud.htm Online text] in [[Middle English]], 2528 lines in 75 chapters on one [[HTML]] page
* 1922 London edition, edited by [[Evelyn Underhill]]: [https://ccel.org/ccel/anonymous2/cloud/cloud.i.html HTML], [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/anonymous2/cloud.html other formats]
* {{librivox book | title=The Cloud of Unknowing}}

{{History of Catholic theology}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cloud Of Unknowing}}
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[[Category:Catholic spirituality]]
[[Category:Christian mystical texts]]
[[Category:Clouds in culture]]
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[[Category:Neoplatonic texts]]
[[Category:Visionary literature]]
[[Category:Works of unknown authorship]]
[[Category:Works published anonymously]]

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