The Cloud Of Unknowing Summary

Who is God? This question has baffled learned theologians for centuries. We try to wrap our minds around the greatness and holiness that is God by studying the Scriptures and Catechisms, listening to spiritual talks, and by praying. But what about loving God? Sometimes, we get so caught up in trying to figure out who is God that we forget to love him. In The Cloud of Unknowing, the anonymous author proves that one can come to know God only through loving Him by exhibiting how thoughts can lead to sin, the dangers of intellect, and how God is perfect love.

The anonymous author points out several times how thoughts, even good and holy ones, can lead us away from God. He says that to contemplate God, we must not think of an image of God, for anything

that we can think of is less than what God really is. Also, such thoughts interrupt our contemplation time. The author argues that after Adam and Eve’s fall from grace, our reasons are so intertwined with original sin without God’s grace we could not tell good from evil.
Through intellect, we can come to sin. Even thoughts on Christ’s Passion for example can lead to feelings of pride and the previously humble students of God become puffed up with pride and vanity. Allowing your thoughts to rest on past sins or experiences can lead you to sin more. The author says that the best way to become humble is not to contemplate on our sins, but contemplate on the greatness of God’s goodness and love. The author explains that this has to be the case because how could sinless people, like the Blessed Virgin Mary or Jesus, be called humble if humility is reflecting and mourning over sins?
Finally, the author makes the point that we can only know God through love because God Himself if pure love. We must totally abandon ourselves to know God, knowing Him through not-knowing. The author emphasizes that contemplation is not about us trying to find God, but God calling to us, gently awaking our longing and desire for him. God’s great love, manifested for us in the price he paid for us on the Cross, would not let us stay far away from Him. The author emphasizes that coming to know God isn’t about the “I”, but about God and how he pulls us to Him.
In conclusion, the anonymous author stresses the importance of humility and blind love in the search for God is. The more we let go of our intellect and thoughts, the closer we draw to God by beating on that cloud of unknowing with our sharp spear of our blind love. In our quest for God, we must put everything except for God under the cloud of forgetting. Only then like Mary, the sister of Martha, will we come to know and love God in a complete and perfect way.