Redeemer Pres. NYC and "The Cloud of Unknowing"

Meditation: Not So Mysterious
Two ways to move Scripture off the page and into your life
by Jan Johnson

The objects of meditation include aspects of God's character (such as God's unfailing love, see Ps. 48:9), God's works (see Ps. 77:12), and God's precepts and ways (see Ps. 119:15). Beyond that, we are given little instruction. That's why I wasn't sure what to do in my early attempts to meditate. I turned to classic Christian writers for help. Just as there are many ways to pray and study Scripture, Christians throughout the ages have found many ways to meditate. Those who've gone before me have helped me connect with God in ways that have surprised me. Let's look at two specific approaches to meditation. Jan Johnson in her book, When the Soul Listens: Finding Rest and Direction in Contemplative Prayer, is an evangelical Christian who endorses and promotes this contemplative prayer. She leaves no doubt about what this type of prayer entails:

“Contemplative prayer, in its simplest form, is a prayer in which you still your thoughts and emotions and focus on God Himself. This puts you in a better state to be aware of God's presence, and it makes you better able to hear God's voice, correcting, guiding, and directing you.” (Jan Johnson, When the Soul Listens 1999, pg. 16)

Johnson's explanation of the initial stages of contemplative prayer leaves no doubt that "stilling" your thoughts means only one thing; she explains:

“In the beginning, it is usual to feel nothing but a cloud of unknowing.... If you're a person who has relied on yourself a great deal to know what's going on, this unknowing will be unnerving.” (Ibid., pg. 120)

This concept of a cloud of unknowing comes from unknown 14th-century monk, and he presents contemplative meditation as a “teachable, spiritual process enabling the ordinary person to enter and receive a direct experience of union with God.” (http://contemplativeprayer.net)

The premise of The Cloud of Unknowing is that in order to really know God, mysticism must be practiced, 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.

The monk invites Christians to:

“Take just a little word, of one syllable rather than of two ... with this word you are to strike down every kind of thought under the cloud of forgetting.”

Christians who practice this believe that if the sacred words are Christian, you will get Christ – that it is simply a matter of intent even though the method is identical to occult and Eastern practices.

[see http://www.lighthousetrailsresearch.com/ ]