The Wisdom of Uncertainty: Getting into The Cloud of Unknowing by Stefan Reynolds

The Cloud of Unknowing is a classic text on Christian Meditation. These three talks by Stefan unpack his book written in the fourteenth century for solitaries at a time of great change and upheaval. He shows its great relevance for the uncertainties of today. A book which shows how to live into the unknown with trust and with generous love.
These talks by Stefan Reynolds are part of A Contemplative Path Through the Crisis programme acontemplativep...
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[@mortalclown3812]

High time I become acquainted with this book. Big Julian fan here...had no idea they were - kind of - contemporaries. Guessing it's ok for old women, too: after all, the mystic life stretches across time, distance and everything else in the Unified Field. Thank you for a lovely intro. ✨🌙🌍♾️📿🙏💙🙋 Paz y luz.

[@christinemaraschin8929]

Thank you Stefan.....excellent videos!

[@stripesndots44]

Thanks for sharing with me🙏💐

[@helenyates3951]

'Unknowing' has always been around. We are falsely educated into certainty by education, culture and even many evangelical Christians talk as if they know definitively. Its important to be reminded of this understanding of uncertainty and how we might embrace this concept. Move out of the worlds demands to know exactly. We cannot ever fully understand, God. Thank you for your message.

[@OrthodoxChristianTeaching]

Hoping for more presentations from brother Stefan. Many thanks. May the Lord reward you.

[@retribution999]

Very well presented. This is a wonderful work which I discovered many years ago at the start of my Christian journey. Sadly there is much opposition in the church to this approach. Clearly it's not for everyone but for the few.

[@susabecerril2324]

From the deep of my heart: Thank you so much, Stefan and WCCM!! This series are really food for my soul! Blessings for you!

[@SergioPeixotoJunior]

So nice to see how the Cloud also contains some humor about life and the difficulties of the contemplative practice! Thank you for sharing these talks 🙏

[@timothyhill4926]

Thank you so much for this. It's great to see the Cloud treated as a living text for today.

[@pauldunn7965]

This is so good. Thank you!!!!!

[@lizwaddingtondruyoga2855]

Thank u. I’ve not long finished reading The Cloud & so glad to revisit it 🙏

[@eduardodelafuente6672]

Hi Stefan It is an extraordinary video. Thanks so much to prepare and share with us. After watching it, I am not only want to watch your second part and waiting for the third one but also it motivates me to start reading the entire book

[@pauldunn7965]

I can’t wait for the next talk! This is so well done. I really love this.

[@PattyBio100]

Thank you! Where is part 2 and 3 of this talk?

[@willieluncheonette5843]

" Mysticism itself, by its very nature, is a contradiction, because it is not an ism. It is not a creed or dogma in which you can believe. You can be a mystic, but there is nothing like mysticism. And when one is a mystic the paradox deepens, it does not disappear. When one is a mystic there is no one left. There is a mystery, but with no center to it. It is like a cloud: translucent darkness, infinite darkness. One of the most important statements about mysticism in the Western hemisphere is the book called The Cloud of Unknowing. The name of the author is not known; it is good that we don’t know who wrote it. It indicates one thing: that before he wrote it he had disappeared into a cloud of unknowing. It is the only book in the Western world which comes close to the Upanishads, The Tao Te Ching, The Dhammapada. There is a rare insight in it. First he calls it a cloud. A cloud is vague, with no definable limits. It is constantly changing; it is not static - never, even for two consecutive moments, is it the same. It is a flux, it is pure change. And there is nothing substantial in it. If you hold it in your hand just mist will be left, nothing else. Maybe your hands will become wet, but you will not find any cloud in your fist. That’s what happens to the mystic: he becomes wet, really wet. Those countries where alcohol is prohibited they call dry, and those countries where alcohol is not prohibited they call wet. But the only wet person is the mystic. He is a real alcoholic! He cannot be helped by Alcoholics Anonymous. If a mystic enters there, they will all become alcoholics themselves! But for Dionysius it is even more a contradiction because he was a theologian. His whole book is written with a disguise, as if it is a treatise on theology; mysticism is just something by the side, secondary, not primary. Hence the name Theologia Mystica - as if mysticism is only a consequence of getting deep into the world of theology. Just the reverse is the case. The word “theology” means logic about God; theo means God. But there can be no logic about God. There is love about God, love for God, but no logic about God. There are no proofs possible. The only proof is the existence of the mystic. The presence of Dionysius, of Ramakrishna, of Bahauddin - the presence of these people is the proof that God exists, otherwise there is no proof. Because Buddhas have walked on the earth, there are a few footprints of God left behind on the shores of time. Philosophers have argued for centuries, but all their arguments are utterly futile and impotent; they have not come to a single conclusion. The mystic has to speak in contradictions because he is speaking about the whole, and the whole contains the contradictions. It contains the day and the night, both. If you call God the day, then it is only half the truth; if you call him the night, that too is only half the truth. Hence Dionysius calls God translucent darkness - as if the sun has risen in the night. The whole consists of both life and death. If you call God life, only life, then it is a half-statement. And remember a half-truth is far more dangerous than a complete lie because the complete lie is bound to be discovered sooner or later - just a little intelligence is needed. But the half-truth is very dangerous; even intelligent people, very intelligent people, may not be able to find that it is untrue. That is the danger of half-truths: they look like truths and they are not. They can keep you deceived for centuries. Mysticism is the whole truth; it has to be contradictory. Somewhere logic and love have to meet, because they both exist. Hence Theologia Mystica. Somewhere man and woman have to meet and merge and disappear into each other because they both exist and they are both halves of one whole. Hence the beauty and the bliss of a real meeting between a man and a woman: the orgasmic joy is possible only because two halves of a single whole have come together. Both were suffering, both were missing something. Suddenly, all that feeling of missing has disappeared. Of course, the meeting between a man and a woman can only be momentary. Again they are separate, and again the misery sets in, and again the desire to be united. Because the meeting is physical it cannot be very deep and it cannot be lasting either. But the meeting of the mystic with the whole is absolute; there is no coming back. He has gone beyond the point of no return. He has dissolved himself like a dew-drop slipping out of the lotus leaf into the lake. He has become the lake. Then whatsoever he says will be contradictory, because a part of it will be the vision of the dew-drop and a part of it will be the vision of the total lake, a part will be the standpoint of the part and a part will be the standpoint of the whole. Hence all mystics have spoken in contradictory terms. This is one of the reasons why intellectuals are against them, because the intellectual demands consistency and the mystics cannot be consistent. By the very nature of things that is not possible. He is helpless - he has to be contradictory. He has to say, “I am contradictory because I am vast enough to contain contradictions.” Logic is a small thing, love is infinity."

[@JimJohn5555]

Would love to know what translation of 'The Cloud' you are reading from

[@reginasstory3812]

Can you explain "Mindfulness"?

[@stripesndots44]

Wonderful talk. Thank you. Would so love to help by donating. But, our currency is in such a bad way, by the time it gets through to you, it won't be worth anything (ZAR 100 = only £4. 60). On 2nd thoughts, maybe anything is of help. Much gratitude to you for your work of Love. Humanity is in dire need of it.

[@stefanreynolds9182]

Wendy Taylor Thankyou.