Cloud of Unknowing
“The universes which are amenable to the intellect can never satisfy the instincts of the heart.”—The Cloud of Unknowing, Anonymous.
I recall the morning some time ago, before flying back to Arkansas from Montana. I looked forward to seeing blue skies above a cloudy day. Also, the older I get, the more anxious I seem on travel days. I wake up early in the morning and look out on Whitefish Lake to see a large cloud above the water. It seems to be getting larger and closer to the water. There is no sound except for an occasional crow calling nearby and a slight breeze rustling the aspen leaves in the trees beside the beach. The quiet, the cloud now turning into the fog, which is more like a whisper as it approaches the lake, gives this spot of northern Montana a mystical countenance.
The timeless 14th-century book The Cloud of Unknowing by Anonymous enlightens us about Christian mysticism. We call something mystical if it is not obvious to our senses or minds. When we see such beauty as the clouds and the lake on this cool early morning, we cannot explain the experience by what we know. It calms my soul on a day when I pray for calm, patience, and flexibility. Our experience tells us we have known this presence before, when we took the time to be present with it.
I hope this trip with my family has reinforced that. I long to stay present in the moment and not miss again the many clouds of unknowing that disappear as I write about them. I will stop writing so I can experience the clouds one last time. I long to keep them in the album of my imagination of times experiencing the majestic beauty of the precious present.
Joanna https://www.joannaseibert.com/