{"id":3490,"date":"2006-08-20T01:20:46","date_gmt":"2006-08-20T05:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/?p=3490"},"modified":"2026-07-09T12:15:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T19:15:06","slug":"the-cloud-of-unknowing-a-popular-contemplative-book","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/the-cloud-of-unknowing-a-popular-contemplative-book\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cloud of Unknowing &#8211; A Popular Contemplative Book"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>by <\/strong><strong>Ray Yungen\u00a0<\/strong><br \/>\n[M]ystical silence is accomplished by the same methods used by New Agers to achieve <em>their<\/em> silence&#8211;the mantra and the breath! Contemplative prayer is the repetition of what is referred to as a prayer word or sacred word until one reaches a state where the soul, rather than the mind, contemplates God. Contemplative prayer teacher and Zen master Willigis Jager brought this out when he postulated:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Do not reflect on the meaning of the word; thinking and reflecting must cease, as all mystical writers insist. Simply &#8220;sound&#8221; the word silently, letting go of all feelings and thoughts.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Those with some theological training may recognize this teaching as the historical stream going back centuries to such figures as Meister Eckhart, Teresa of Avila,<br \/>\nJohn of the Cross, and Julian of Norwich. <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/cloud.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"The Cloud of Unknowing\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"10\" align=\"left\" \/> One of the most well-known writings on the subject is the classic 14th century treatise, <em>The Cloud of Unknowing<\/em>, written by an anonymous author. It is essentially a manual on contemplative prayer, inviting a beginner to:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Take just a little word, of one syllable rather than of two &#8230; With this word you are to strike down every kind of thought under the cloud of forgetting.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The premise here is that in order to really know God, mysticism must be practiced&#8211;the mind has to be shut down or turned off so that the cloud of unknowing, where the presence of God awaits, can be experienced. Practitioners of this method believe that if the sacred words are Christian, you will get Christ&#8211;it is simply a matter of intent even though the method is identical to occult and Eastern practices.<\/p>\n<p><!-- AddThis Button BEGIN --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Ray Yungen\u00a0 [M]ystical silence&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3490","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bookfilm-reviews","wpcat-8-id"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>The Cloud of Unknowing - A Popular Contemplative Book - From the Lighthouse<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/the-cloud-of-unknowing-a-popular-contemplative-book\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Cloud of Unknowing - A Popular Contemplative Book\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"by Ray Yungen\u00a0 [M]ystical silence...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/blog\/the-cloud-of-unknowing-a-popular-contemplative-book\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"From the Lighthouse\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LighthouseTrailsResearch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-08-20T05:20:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-07-09T19:15:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\/cloud.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ray Yungen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@LTrails\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@LTrails\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ray Yungen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/the-cloud-of-unknowing-a-popular-contemplative-book\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/the-cloud-of-unknowing-a-popular-contemplative-book\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Ray Yungen\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/83538e36670cf4c9636dacd663201806\"},\"headline\":\"The Cloud of Unknowing &#8211; 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