Fr. London is the creator of the Deacons as Theologicans and Diaconal Theology path in the Diaconal Formation Collaborative. During the month of April, Apocryphile Press is lowering the price of its best-selling e-books to just $2.99. “The Cloud of Unknowing, Distilled” is included in this promotion. The paperback is also only $9.99: https://books2read.com/clouddistilled.
From the Publisher: In The Cloud of Unknowing {Distilled}, Daniel DeForest London offers a distillation of the text that speaks to today’s spiritual seekers and provides a spiritual practice for directly experiencing the God beyond all understanding. As a scholar, priest, and practitioner of contemplative meditation, London captures the Zen-like wisdom and whimsy of the anonymous medieval author, who describes an ancient form of prayer and meditation known today as Centering Prayer with practical acuity and evocative imagery.
Drawing from medieval understandings of Mary and Martha of Bethany, Mary Magdalene, angels, Bezalel, and even the devil’s nostril, the author of The Cloud offers one of the most colorful and unique introductions to the apophatic tradition and contemplation in general. In this brief distillation, a classic text of Western mysticism has become broadly accessible while remaining deeply penetrative and revelatory.
Within these few pages, you will become acquainted (or re-acquainted) with the anonymous author of The Cloud and refreshed anew by the benevolent presence of the divine who is beyond all knowing and yet closer to you than your very breath.
God is not an idea to be grasped but a presence to be enjoyed. In The Cloud of Unknowning {Distilled}, the Rev. Daniel DeForest London takes this central message of a medieval mystical text into a compelling message for contemporary spiritual seekers. This refreshing interpretation of the text is a beautiful and accessible door into an ancient text. It is appropriate for individual study, but I recently attended a weekend retreat with Fr. London that led us through contemplation of the text, and it was wonderful. I came away refreshed and fed by God’s presence. I commend this to you as a resource!