For silence is not God, nor speaking; fasting is not God, nor eating; solitude is not God, nor company; nor any other pair of opposites. He is hidden between them, and cannot be found by anything your soul does, but only by the love of your heart. He cannot be known by reason, he cannot be thought, caught, or sought by understanding. But he can be loved and chosen by the true, loving will of your heart.
The Cloud of Unknowing
The Cloud of Unknowing
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This is an incredible quote. Thank you. I just love the quotes you post on your blog because they're short yet powerful. Sometimes I think that if I read a bunch of books on theology my faith will increase, but usually, the opposite happens. Religion becomes merely an interesting philosophy and faith disappears behind a bunch of logic. Not that theology is bad but as Francis told one of the brothers, "A man possesses of learning only so much as comes out of him in action, and a monk is a good preacher only so far as his deeds proclaim him such, for every tree is known by its fruits"(quoted from The Varieties of Religious Experience: A Study in Human Nature by William James).
ReplyDeleteGreat quote! You cite my favorite book! There is so much in that book that parallels my personal spiritual; I just love that book. The other book, one that is often bundled with it, I love and enjoy as much: The Book of Privy Counseling. There is much in common between the two, with the latter being more pragmatic, which fits with my pragmatic approach to things. Both books are stuffed full of the most wonderfully articulated spirituality and worthy of frequent citation.
ReplyDeleteYes, Carnival, I agree. There was a time when I had an insatiable hunger to read everything I could put my hands on. Now, I can barely get beyond a page or two when I have to embrace my quiet hermit within and simply allow those words to take me into God's arms.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Elizabeth. My favorites include: The Cloud of Unknowing, That Man is You, My Daily Bread, and Ralph Martin's Book The Fulfillment of all Desire. I keep rereading them in the hope that some day something will sink into my think skull...
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