The cloud of unknowing ; and the book of privy counseling

Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Contents
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Huston Smith
Introduction
The Cloud of Unknowing
	1 - Of the four degrees of the Christian life; of the development of his vocation for whom this book was written.
	2 - A short exhortation to humility and to the work of contemplation.
	3 - How the work of contemplation shall be done; of its excellence over all other works.
	4 - Of the simplicity of contemplation; that it may not be acquired through knowledge or imagination.
	5 - That during contemplative prayer all created things and their works must be buried beneath the cloud of forgetting.
	6 - A short explanation of contemplation in the form of a dialogue.
	7 - How a person should conduct himself during prayer with regard to all thoughts, especially those arising from curiosity and natural intelligence.
	8 - A good exposition of certain doubts that may arise concerning contemplation; that a man’s curiosity, learning, and natural intelligence must be abandoned in this work; of the distinction between the degrees and parts of the active and contemplative life.
	9 - That the most sublime thoughts are more hindrance than help during the time of contemplative prayer.
	10 - How a man shall know when his thoughts are sinful; of the difference between mortal and venial sins.
	11 - That a man should strictly appraise his thoughts and inclinations and avoid a careless attitude about venial sin.
	12 - That in contemplation sin is destroyed and every kind of goodness is nourished.
	13 - Of the nature of humility; when it is perfect and when it is imperfect.
	14 - That in this life imperfect humility must precede perfect humility.
	15 - A proof that those who think the most perfect motive for humility is the realization of man’s wretchedness are in error.
	16 - That a sinner truly converted and called to contemplation comes to perfection most quickly through contemplation; that it is the surest way to obtain God’s forgiveness from sin.
	17 - That a true contemplative will not meddle in the active life nor with what goes on about him, not even to defend himself against those who criticize him.
	18 - How to this day active people will criticize contemplatives through ignorance, even as Martha criticized Mary.
	19 - A brief apology by the author in which he teaches that contemplatives should excuse active people who complain about them.
	20 - That in a spiritual way Almighty God will defend all those who for love of him will not abandon their contemplation to defend themselves.
	21 - A true explanation of the Gospel passage: Mary has chosen the best part.
	22 - Of the wonderful love Christ had for Mary Magdalene, who represents all sinners truly converted and called to contemplation.
	23 - That in a spiritual way God will answer and provide for all those who will not leave their contemplation to answer and provide for themselves.
	24 - What charity is in itself; how it is subtly and perfectly contained in contemplative love.
	25 - That in the time of contemplative prayer, the perfect contemplative does not focus his attention on any person in particular.
	26 - That without special grace or a long fidelity to ordinary grace, contemplative prayer is very difficult; that this work is possible only with grace, for it is the work of God.
	27 - Who ought to engage in the gracious work of contemplation.
	28 - That a man should not presume to begin contemplation until he has purified his conscience of all particular sin according to the law of the Church.
	29 - That a man should patiently persevere at the work of contemplation, willingly bear its sufferings, and judge no one else.
	30 - Who has the right to judge and censure the faults of others.
	31 - How the beginners in contemplation should conduct themselves in regard to their thoughts and inclinations to sin.
	32 - Of two spiritual devices helpful to beginners in contemplation.
	33 - That through contemplation a person is purified of particular sins and their consequences, yet never arrives at perfect security in this life.
	34 - That God gives the gift of contemplation freely and without recourse to methods; that methods alone can never induce it.
	35 - Of Reading, Thinking, and Prayer, three habits which the beginner in contemplation should develop.
	36 - Of the kind of meditations common to contemplatives.
	37 - Of the kind of personal prayers common to contemplatives.
	38 - How and why a short prayer pierces the heavens.
	39 - How the advanced contemplative prays; what prayer is; and what words are most suited to the nature of contemplative prayer.
	40 - That during contemplation a person leaves aside all meditations on the nature of virtue and vice.
	41 - That in everything except contemplation a person ought to be moderate.
	42 - That by having no moderation in contemplation a man will arrive at perfect moderation in everything else.
	43 - That a man must lose the radical self-centered awareness of his own being if he will reach the heights of contemplation in this life.
	44 - How a person shall dispose himself so as to destroy the radical self-centered awareness of his being.
	45 - A good exposition of certain snares that may befall the contemplative.
	46 - A helpful instruction on the avoidance of these snares; that in contemplation one should rely more on joyful enthusiasm than sheer brute force.
	47 - How one grows to the refinement of purity of spirit; how a contemplative manifests his desire to God in one way and to men in another.
	48 - That God desires to be served by a man in body and soul; that he will glorify both; and how to distinguish between good and evil spiritual delights.
	49 - That the essence of all perfection is a good will; sensible consolations are not essential to perfection in this life.
	50 - What is meant by pure love; that some people experience little sensible consolation while others experience a great deal.
	51 - That men should be careful not to interpret literally what is meant spiritually, in particular the words “in” and “up.”
	52 - How some presumptuous young beginners misinterpret “in”; the snares that result.
	53 - Of the various inappropriate mannerisms indulged in by pseudo-contemplatives.
	54 - That contemplation graces a man with wisdom and poise and makes him attractive in body and spirit.
	55 - That those who condemn sin with indiscreet zeal are deceived.
	56 - That those who rely more on their own natural intelligence and human learning than on the common doctrine and guidance of the Church are deceived.
	57 - How some presumptuous young beginners misunderstand the word “up”; the snares that follow.
	58 - That certain instances in the lives of St. Martin and St. Stephen are not to be taken as literal examples of straining upward during prayer.
	59 - That Christ’s bodily ascension shall not be taken to prove that men should strain their minds upward during prayer; that time, place, and the body should be forgotten in contemplation.
	60 - That the loftiest and surest way to heaven is measured by desires and not by miles.
	61 - That in the right order of nature the flesh is subject to the spirit and not the reverse.
	62 - How a man may know when his spiritual work is beneath him, outside him, on a par with him, interior to him, and when it is above him but beneath God.
	63 - Of the spirit’s faculties in general; how the mind as a principal power comprehends in itself all the other faculties and their works.
	64 - Of the other two principal powers, Reason and Will; how they functioned before original sin.
	65 - Of the first secondary power, the Imagination; how it functions and how original sin has harmed it.
	66 - Of the other secondary power, Feeling; how it functions and how original sin has harmed it.
	67 - That ignorance of the spirit’s working powers may easily lead to error in misunderstanding instruction about contemplation; how a person is made almost divine through grace.
	68 - That nowhere spatially is everywhere spiritually; that our superficial self will ridicule contemplation as a waste of time.
	69 - How a man’s love is wonderfully transformed in the interior experience of this nothingness and nowhere.
	70 - That as we begin to understand the spiritual where our sense-knowledge ends, so we most easily come to the highest understanding of God possible in this life with the help of grace, where our spiritual knowledge ends.
	71 - That some people experience the perfection of contemplation in rare moments of ecstasy called ravishing, while others experience it as they will amid their ordinary daily routine.
	72 - That a contemplative should not take his own experience as the criteria for other contemplatives.
	73 - That the Ark of the Covenant is a figure of contemplation; that Moses, Bezaleel, and Aaron and their dealings with the Ark represent three contemplative paths.
	74 - That anyone disposed toward contemplation will recognize something akin to his own spirit when he reads this book and that only such a person should be allowed to read or hear this book; the admonitions of the Foreword are repeated.
	75 - Of certain signs by which a man may determine whether or not God is drawing him to contemplation.
The Book of Privy Counseling
	Chapter 1
	Chapter 2
	Chapter 3
	Chapter 4
	Chapter 5
	Chapter 6
	Chapter 7
	Chapter 8
	Chapter 9
	Chapter 10
	Chapter 11
	Chapter 12
	Chapter 13
	Chapter 14
	Chapter 15
	Chapter 16
	Chapter 17
	Chapter 18
	Chapter 19
	Chapter 20
	Chapter 21
	Chapter 22
	Chapter 23
	Chapter 24
Notes for the Cloud of Unknowing
Notes for the Book of Privy Counseling
About the Author
Image Study Guide