IV. Love is Christian living intensified

One final observation. If our interpretation in the preceding pages is correct, it seems clear that the doctrine of love of our author is much more that a doctrine; it is a life of mystical love which is described as an intensification of ordinary Christian living. Contemplative prayer is nothing else but the fulfilment of evangelical charity in its most perfect form. In other words, the perfect following of Christ manifests itself in mystical love. Hence this love is not really distinct from the charity taught in the New Testament which calls all Christians to perfection: "You, therefore, must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Mt 5:48). It is the charity that includes all the virtues. And it is clear that our author does admit this when he writes:

…as the Ark contained all the jewels and treasures of the temple, so this little love intent upon God in the cloud of unknowing contains all the virtues of a man's spirit, which, as we know, is the temple of God.(chapter 71)

If it is identical with Gospel charity, and if it is an intensification of ordinary Christian living, then all baptized Christians are obviously called to the work of this "little love", to contemplative, and to become a mystic. Our author, however, insists over and over again that contemplation is not for everyone but for those have a special call from God. Moreover, by distinguishing the special vocation to perfection from the universal call to salvation, our author is saying implicitly that there is a hierarchy of Christian living with the mystics above the common daughters and sons of Mother Church. How can this conflict be reconciled? William Johnston, while disagreeing with the author that "the only way to perfection is by entering the sheepfold of contemplative prayer", sympathetically remarks that "the English author is a man of his age"－an age in which there was no other recognized path to perfection except that of contemplation. It was in fact very much later that a less monastic spirituality arose, raising the question of the possibility of other paths to Christian perfection.(8) We agree with Johnston. Furthermore, considering The Cloud of Unknowing as a whole, we feel that if the author were our contemporary today, his sound theology would certainly be potential enough to stretch further and deeper to arrive at some insight into the unity of contemplation and activity. If in the 14th century he could identify mystical love with an intensification of ordinary Christian living, as he really did, today in the 20th century he probably would have no problem in broadening his concept of mysticism to include other expressions of mystical love manifested outside contemplation in the strictest sense of the word.

V. Epilogue

St. John in the Fourth Gospel speaks about perfect love in terms of "indwelling", and St. Paul in his Epistles speaks in terms of "in Christ'. Our author, in effect, is speaking about the same in terms of "blind stirring". Just as both "indwelling" and "in Christ" are not merely symbolic language of mystical talk, but a call to a life of the Spirit, so the "blind stirring" is a reminder of this call. It is a reminder of a call that should be addressed to all Christians, for none may be excluded from this life under God's grace.

8.W. Johnston, The Mysticism of the Cloud Unknowing : a modern interpretation, New York, Desclee, 1967, pp. 262f.