William Johnston is perhaps best known for his writings about Christianity and Zen Buddhism, but he is perhaps less well known for an area of spiritual exploration about which he knew a lot more - the mysticism of the anonymous English mediaeval work, The Cloud of Unknowing. Not only was this the subject of Johnston's doctoral thesis which was later published with a preface by Thomas Merton, he also translated the work into contemporary English and it is a very readable translation. If you possess a copy of that excellent anthology of Christian mystical works by Bernard McGinn (Essential Writings of Christian Mysticism - real 'must-have'!) then you will see that he uses Johnston's translation for excerpts from The Cloud.
One of the keys to understanding Johnston's approach to Christian mystical theology comes direct from The Cloud, and that is the place of love as the motivating aspect of the Christian in prayer. More than that, the author of The Cloud says that, although God is unknowable to human knowledge, he is fully knowable to human love. This is a bold and essential distinction which is vital in contemporary understandings of the role of human cognition and human consciousness in religious faith, but I'll say more on that in a moment. The Cloud is exceptionally positive when it comes to the possibility of the human person reaching out towards God and finding communion with God. The author is not at all naive about the difficulties of the spiritual life, but is comfortingly encouraging about what is needed for the human person to reach out towards God:
Do not neglect this contempaltive work. Try also to appreciate its wonderful effects in your own spirit. When it is genuine, it is simply a spontaneous desire springing suddenly toward God like a spark from fire. It is amazing how many loving desires arise from the spirit of a person who is accustomed to this work. And yet, perhaps only one of these will be completely free from attachment to some created thing. Or again, no sooner has a man turned toward God in love when through human frailty he finds himself distracted by the remembrance of some created thing or some daily care. But no matter. No harm is done; for such a person quickly returns to deep recollection.
I find this to be immensely encouraging. What is needed is not a superhuman achievement of contemplative perfection, but one simple spark of love. Distractions are not a problem - they will come, but they are only temporary things. All we must do in prayer is to attend to each present moment, for that is where God is to be found. If we lose one moment through distraction, another will come along as a gift and an opportunity to let that spark arise.
So back to the question of knowledge and God. I had a conversation with someone recently who is not religious but is very intrigued about religion. She said that she could not accept any religion because she needs proof. I tried to push on her on what she needed proof of, but this issue was a solid barrier for her. What we need above all in our current culture is a recovery of our trust in our intuitive faculties, especially those we already know and use in our capacity to love. If we feel the slightest spark of love arising in us which is directed not towards something in the order of observable things (what the author of The Cloud refers to above as created things) but towards life itself, or towards whatever it is that trascends us, then might we be close to that spark we Christians call faith? I think so. I guess that the problem for most of us is that we do not trust this spark, but quickly want to bring it back to some created thing, something 'solid'. If we trust ourselves simply to let it fly, we have begun to live the life of faith.
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