TTTThhhheeee CCCClllloooouuuudddd oooo ffff UUUUnnnnkkkknnnnoooowwwwiiiinnnngggg AAAAnnnnnnnnoooottttaaaatttteeeedddd:::: TTTThhhheeee AAAArrrrtttt ooooffff CCCCoooonnnntttteeeemmmmppppllllaaaattttiiiivvvveeee PPPPrrrraaaayyyyeeeerrrr JJJJoooosssseeeepppphhhh EEEE.... MMMMaaaarrrriiiiccccoooonnnnddddaaaa Page 1 I dedicate this book to my wife, Linda. © Copyright Joseph E Mariconda 2000-2002, 2006. All rights reserved. First Edition 2002. Second Edition 2006. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from Joseph E. Mariconda. Requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work should be electronically mailed to: [email protected]. This book was prepared, written, edited, and compiled by Joseph E. Mariconda. Page 2 Praise for this Book From: [email protected] To: [email protected] Subject : Recommendation for your book (The Cloud of Unknowing Annotated) Date : Mon, 23 Jul 2001 I remain grateful for quotes from the Cloud and fascinating parallel passages from Scripture; thank you. Fr. Robert Hale, OSB Cam From: [email protected] Date : Thu, 10 Jan 2002 Your ability to find and expose the scriptural call for contemplative prayer has been breathtaking. Before your writings, I was able to find only limited appeals to the silent and quiet call for prayer. But your gift to perceive this call through both the old and the new testaments is extraordinary. Yours is a necessary book. I pray it finds the wide audience it deserves. God bless, and thank you so much, Ken Phelan OSB, Cam. Obl. From: [email protected] Date : Thu, 10 Jan 2002 This is an extraordinary piece and a gift. How can I thank you? I just came from a task force meeting this evening to prayerfully consider the formation of a leadership group to support the two coordinators of e-Contemplative Outreach of Wisconsin. As our area is growing and deepening well in Centering Prayer and Contemplative outreach. May God continue to inspire and bless you. John DeVane From : [email protected] Date : Mon, 7 Jan 2002 Your book is an encouragement of the best kind for contemplatives. Since each person's journey is different, the thoughts sent only map out the terrain of contemplative prayer with its pitfalls with encouragement, while leaving the contemplative the freedom to respond to the unique and individual love offered by God. Sandra Fredette sfo From: [email protected] Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 Thank you so much for your commitment and diligence through the whole process of writing this material. I will be reading this for years to come. I know He will richly bless you for this way of showing how you love Him. Anne Murnaghan From: [email protected] Date: Thu, 10 Jan 2002 Thank you very much for this precious gift. Sincerely Sue Wilmoth From: [email protected] Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 What I like the most about the readings is that one can meditate on each passage. That is very soothing. Annie! From: [email protected] Date: Tue, 8 Jan 2002 Page 3 I really must thank you very much for taking the time to send the excerpts from the Cloud of Unknowing to me. They have helped me considerably in trying to develop my prayer life, or at least increasing my desire to improve my prayer life. Regards, Andrew Benton, Sydney Australia From: [email protected] Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2002 As a creative and spiritual being, I have always struggled with the concept of 'Letting go and letting God.' Joe's book has been great in reminding me of how to 'empty' myself as opposed to always trying 'to do' and 'be something or someone' other than myself whom God created. His book reminds me of the Padre Pio quote, 'Empty yourself so that God can fill you up with Himself.' Thank you Joe. Philip Cowlishaw From: [email protected] Date: Mon, 7 Jan 2002 What your practice has encouraged me to let the poetry of the language of "Cloud of Unknowing" 'play' in my focused contemplative sessions, allowing the language to resonate into my daily life and environment. I've admired the way in which you counsel taking care with the kind of interpretations one makes of what is 'given'. There have been times when words you shared were so appropriate to what was going on in my life that I could only see God at work in them. Peace. Elizabeth Winder Noyes From: "Kurt Stallings" Date: Mon, 22 Oct 2001 This is a marvelous book for us all. I am a gang prosecutor who deals with violence, deception games and the hopelessness of trying to make things better in those poor neighborhoods. Your book really sets my day up and in spiritual perspective to read and review the Cloud of Unknowing message each morning. KURT STALLINGS From: [email protected] Date: 6 Jan 2002 I wanted to thank you for being a wonderful instrument of God. May your life continue to be centered in the Lord. Rose Marie Barrientos From: [email protected] Date: Sat, 27 Oct 2001 Let me just say I work in a prison, and your prayerful attitude has helped me immensely. John From: [email protected] Date: Fri, 25 Jan 2002 First I want to say what a blessing your quotes from The Cloud of Unknowing have been. They've been great encouragement for me to be faithful to the practice of centering prayer. All the best, Michael Moran From: [email protected] Date: Sun, 13 Jan 2002 Thank you so much for your unbelievably kind gift. I have just returned from visiting family in London and find your book in my email box. My husband is going to bring me home enough paper tomorrow to print it off. I can't wait to just sit and read and absorb it. Page 4 It feels like a cloud is gradually beginning to lift in my life. I would like the energy to start praying the Daily Office again. I think contemplative prayer will give me that space and energy that has been driven away. Thank you once again so much. May the peace of Christ dwell in your heart and spur you on continuously in your work, yours in Christ, Karen Andrews. From: [email protected] Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2002 Thanks for the great excerpts! It's been a real pleasure to receive them on a daily basis, & I for one would enjoy continuing to receive the excerpts from the beginning. I made it a habit to read one every time I checked email. Especially on a stressful day at the office they reminded me to slow down & dwell in God for a few moments. Your excerpts have been a blessed gift. Are you going to press with the excerpts & Bible readings as a daily meditation? If so, please send me some info on the publisher & such- I would like to give such a book as a gift. May the Lord bless you & keep you, Wes Cheney From : [email protected] Date : Tue, 15 Jan 2002 I have been so blessed by your steady and untiring devotion to the Cloud of Unknowing. May you be continually showered by God's profound love and gracious mystery. You have truly given the fruits of your divine calling to many of us so that we may grow in the deep darkness and arise in the light of God's presence. In His Goodness we belong, Mary Rose From: [email protected] Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 I look forward to being able to give friends copies of the wonderful resource that you have prepared. Melanie A. Freimuth From: [email protected] Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 This will be a very valuable book. Peace, Sandy Guancial From: [email protected] Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2002 Your book is a worthy project! Carole Manning Page 5 Preface The Cloud of Unknowing represents the first expression in English that gathered up, remade, and salted with Christ's salt all that is best in Christian spiritual wisdom. This wisdom made written entrance in the Christian fold at A.D. 500, in the writings of "Dionysius the Areopagite". 350 years later, that writing was translated into Latin by John Erigena, and so became available to the ecclesiastical world of the West. 500 years later, during which their influence was felt strongly by mystics of European countries: St. Bernard, Victorines, St. Bonaventura, St. Thomas Aquinas. Any reader of Dante knows the part which they play in "Paradiso" (Paridise). In the 14th century, England's great mystical period led the way with a translation of this work. In "Dionise Hid Divinite", a version of "Mystica Theologia" (Mystical Theology), this spiritual treasure was made accessible to those outside the professionally religious class of monks and nuns. I am reminded of the words of a monk, Willigis Jager, OSB: “Religiously oriented individuals will instinctively try the way of experience. Institutionalized religion, however, finds this alternative significantly harder to adopt; it is averse to change because change is risky. It is not possible for it to predict with clarity what form such developments will take. Yet many individuals sense that ahead of them is a mainland on which they can better their lives. They are like swimmers who abandon an island in the conviction that there is a coast somewhere out there in the sea. The island soon disappears from sight while the mainland is still not yet visible. But the swimmers trust others who have reached the new land and have called to them that it is worthwhile to keep on swimming even when in the process they seem to have lost the support given by the old island of religion." Page 6 How to Pray Find a word or phrase from scripture - something short and meaningful - something that your mind can retain easily. Find a quiet place. Sit down with your back upright. Sit still. Gently close your eyes - gather all your desire into a simple word or phrase - and begin to recite your prayer word or phrase, silently, interiorly, and lovingly throughout the time of your meditation. Say it in equally stressed syllables. Fix it in your mind so that it will remain there - come what may. Use it to beat upon the cloud of darkness about you. Do not think about the meaning of the word or phrase. Use the word to subdue all distractions - consigning them to a cloud of forgetting beneath you. Keep this word or phrase wholly interior - abandon all thoughts and concepts. Just give your attention to the sound of it though out the time of your meditation, from the beginning to the end. When distractions arise, simply and gently return to your word or phrase. Meditate for 30 minutes each morning and each evening, every day of your life. Just say your word. Meditation or contemplation is a way of pure prayer marked by silence, stillness, and simplicity - this is the value of the contemplative journey. During prayer, remain in the Cloud of Unknowing within your heart every day for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the evening, day in and day out. Abide with God every day in silence and He will abide with you throughout the day, and you will be like the 'tree of life' and live. If you need to discuss the contemplative path, it is best discussed in person and on a face to face basis. Therefore, there are several means for this, for your consideration. 1) Go to www.centeringprayer.com and find the listing for a contemplative group near you, and introduce yourself - and get involved; and/or 2) Go to www.wccm.org and find a listing for a contemplative group near to you, and introduce yourself - and get involved. Between these two web sites, you can find a contemplative group that regularly meets near you. They will make for wonderful friends on this path. These groups support people who interested in praying the way monks and nuns of the Christian faith have prayed since earliest time of Christianity. This prayer is a way to love God thereby fulfilling Jesus' first commandment - to love God with all your heart. A vast number of Christians for over 1900 years have used this method of prayer. However, we must keep in mind that we should not forget the second commandment - that is to love our neighbor also. Therefore, we must try to keep a balanced approach to life. I find the following useful: it is a 20th century interpretation of this prayer by a Catholic monk, as found in Chapter 30: Distractions, 'New Seeds of Contemplation" by Thomas Merton: Page 7 Soon after beginning contemplative prayer, the doors of your subconscious mind fall ajar and all sorts of curious figures begin to come waltzing onto the scene. If you are wise, you will not pay attention to these things. Remain in simple attention to God and keep your will peacefully directed to Him in simple desire, while the intermittent shadows of this annoying movie go about in the remote background. They will not hurt you - have no anxiety about these images. It is the divine work of God - do not meddle with His work. Contemplative prayer is the prayer of work that never finishes. Pray and ask Jesus to help you to continue your contemplative prayer faithfully each and every day. If you know who you really are, is it possible to ever stop praying every day? How can a professional musician play sheet music? By measuring and using the silence, which is a "no thing" that is spaced between each musical note, so that the music can become expressible through an instrument. No regularly spaced moments of silence means that no music can be interpreted and expressed. Each sheet of music is distinctive when compared to what was ever written in the past and to what may be written in the future. No two sheets of music are the same, much in the same way that human DNA distinctively identifies every person. A blank page expresses nothing meaningful. Words on a page become an expression surrounded by empty space. The writing takes on a meaning because of the empty, surrounding space. No empty space means that there is no meaningful expression and is of no real value to others. Will you consent to sitting still regularly or daily so that you can experience your moments of silence so that the Master Musician can express your music in its fullness through the instrument of daily activity? Would it be satisfactory or beneficial to listeners to allow music to be partially interpreted and performed? Contemplative prayer comprises moments of silence disposed between moments of action so that your life comes to a fullness, like music comprising silence disposed between notes so that the music can be read and played with full meaning and real expression. You could be like sheet music if you consent to letting God express the true you, like the way a musician expresses sheet music as it is written before it is played. Who are you? What are you like? Can music be partially expressed in a satisfying manner to those that are listening and experiencing the music? Would a life that is partially expressed be satisfactory or beneficial to others that are connected with that life? Would it be satisfactory or meaningful to partially read a book by reading only the letters and avoiding the spaces disposed between the letters? Would it be satisfactory or meaningful to anyone else to partially write a novel as a long string of letters having no spaces or pauses placed between the letters? Would it be a satisfying and full experience to partially walk through a forest by ignoring the moments of silence? Is it possible to dance without taking moments to pause between dance steps? Each of these activities of life requires moments of silence - a "no thing" - before the next movement can meaningfully and newly begin in which your true self becomes expressed in its fullest sense. Would you consent to becoming still for some moments so that you can follow the dance of life to the fullest and trust that your dance Partner leads the Page 8 way? Contemplative prayer is like dancing, in which you pay attention to your Partner's lead during pauses that occur between dance steps and accepting and trusting His cue about which direction the next step takes and following through to the next pause before beginning the next expression. "I am" could be God's expression or out-pressing of your true inner self - as you really are - in the present moment, if you humbly consent to an experience of this real expression moment by moment; otherwise, what you may be experiencing is you expressing your false self that is not a true expression of you as God may have intended to be expressed. God allows us to freely choose to consent to His true expression of us for the benefit of others around us. "I Am" is God as He is in the past, present and future. Does contemplative prayer ever finish? If you consent to experiencing your true expression moment by moment for the benefit us and of others around us, why would you finish experiencing a meaningful, full, and true expression of the real you by avoiding experiencing moments of regular stillness or "no thing" between moments of life's active movements? The following guideline is attributed to Thomas Keating who is a Catholic monk working for Contemplative Outreach. The guidelines for contemplative prayer are to choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God's presence and action within. Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God's presence and action within. When you become aware of thoughts, return ever- so-gently to the sacred word. At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes. An explanation of the guideline follows: Choose a sacred word as the symbol of your intention to consent to God's presence and action within. The sacred word expresses our intention to be in God's presence and to yield to the divine action. The sacred word should be chosen during a brief period of prayer asking the Holy Spirit to inspire us with a word suitable for you. Examples are: Lord, Jesus, Abba, Father, or Mother. Other possibilities include Love, Peace, or Shalom. Having chosen a sacred word, you do not change it during the prayer period, for that would be to start thinking again. A simple inward gaze upon God may be more suitable for some persons than the sacred word. In this case, one consents to God's presence and action by turning inwardly toward God as if gazing upon him. The same guidelines apply to the sacred gaze as to the sacred word. Sitting comfortably and with eyes closed, settle briefly and silently introduce the sacred word as the symbol of your consent to God's presence and action within. Page 9 "Sitting comfortably" means relatively comfortably, but not so comfortable that you encourage sleep. Sit comfortably enough to avoid thinking about the discomfort of our bodies during this time of prayer. Whatever sitting position you choose, keep your back straight. If you fall asleep, continue the prayer for a few minutes upon awakening if you can spare the time. Praying in this way after a main meal encourages drowsiness. Better to wait an hour at least before Centering Prayer. Praying in this way just before retiring may disturb one's sleep pattern. We close our eyes to let go of what is going on around and within us. We introduce the sacred word inwardly and as gently as laying a feather on a piece of absorbent cotton. When you become aware of thoughts, return ever-so-gently to the sacred word. "Thoughts" is an umbrella term for every perception including sense perceptions, feelings, images, memories, reflections, and commentaries. Thoughts are a normal part of Centering Prayer. By "returning ever-so-gently to the sacred word", a minimum of effort is indicated. This is the only activity you initiate during the time of Centering Prayer. During the course of our prayer, the sacred word may become vague or even disappear. At the end of the prayer period, remain in silence with eyes closed for a couple of minutes. If this prayer is done in a group, the leader may slowly recite the 'Our Father' during the additional 2 or 3 minutes, while the others listen. The additional 2 or 3 minutes give the psyche time to readjust to the external senses and enable us to bring the atmosphere of silence into daily life. Some practical points The minimum time for this prayer is 20 minutes. Two periods are recommended each day, one first thing in the morning, and one in the afternoon or early evening. The end of the prayer period can be indicated by a timer, providing it does not have an audible tick or loud sound when it goes off. The principle effects of Centering Prayer are experienced in daily life, not in the period of Centering Prayer itself. You may notice some physical symptoms such as slight pains, itches, or twitches in various parts of the body or a generalized restlessness. These are usually due to the untying of emotional knots in the body. You may also notice heaviness or lightness in the extremities. This is usually due to a deep level of spiritual attentiveness. In either case, you pay no attention, or you allow the mind to rest briefly in the sensation, and then return to the sacred word. Lectio Divina provides the conceptual background for the development of Centering Prayer. A support group praying and sharing together once weekly helps maintain one's commitment to the prayer. Page 10