Waiting In This Darkness

The first time you practice contemplation, you’ll only experience a darkness, like a cloud of unknowing.  You won’t know what this is. You’ll only know that in your will you feel a simple reaching out to God.  You must also know that this darkness and this cloud will always be between you and your God, whatever you do. They will always keep you from seeing him clearly by the light of understanding in your intellect and will block you from feeling him fully in the sweetness of love in your emotions. So, be sure you make your home in this darkness. Stay there as long as you can, crying out to him over and over again, because you love him. It’s the closest you can get to God here on earth, by waiting in this darkness and in this cloud.

Butcher, Carmen Acevedo (Translator) in The Cloud of Unknowing: A New Translation.