ONLY LOVE...NOT KNOWLEDGE...LEADS

By love, God can be embraced and held, but not by thinking. *** No matter how sacred, no thought can ever promise to help you in the work of contemplative prayer, because only love—not knowledge—can help us reach God. . . .You must also know that this darkness and this cloud will always be between you and your God, whatever you do. They will always keep you from seeing Him clearly by the light of understanding in your intellect and will block you from feeling Him fully in the sweetness of love in your emotions. So, be sure you make your home in this darkness. Stay there as long as you can, crying out to Him over and over again, because you love Him. It’s the closest you can get to God here on earth, by waiting in this darkness and in this cloud. Work at this diligently, as I’ve asked you to, and I know God’s mercy will lead you there. . . . (from Carmen Acevedo Butcher’s translation of "The Cloud of Unknowing with the Book of Privy Counsel")

Thank you.