The Cloud of Unknowing

Claims (17)

• All these works stand out because we experience in them a special quality of relatedness—relatedness of ourselves to the universe.
  The core experiential signature of great works, which holds a clue to the process of creation.
• I doubt if we shall plumb the full extent to which a living structure is created until we have thoroughly explored and understood just what these ancient builders did, in what frame of mind they did it, and with what attitude.
  A statement of incompleteness: our understanding misses the inner state of the builders, which is essential.
• Living structure will always rely on its connection to the same ground which underlay traditional forms of mysticism.
  A metaphysical assertion that the ground of all things is a necessary, permanent condition for creating living structure.
• Mystical tradition, by asking the believer to concentrate on God—the ground of all things, in pure humility—helped the artist dissolve images and focus on reality as it is, thereby enabling structure‑preserving steps.
  A more detailed version of the practical‑mechanism claim, positioning mysticism as a cognitive tool.
• The buildings and paintings of medieval Florence felt as if something more specific had been intended, reached for, and then achieved, beyond just the practical‑mental atmosphere and pace of great religion.
  Alexander's personal report of being shaken by the Florentine works, suggesting an ineffable extra dimension to mystical creation.
• The core of every living center is the self—this 'I'.
  An ontological claim that places the self as the essential nucleus of all living structure.
• The deepest living structure in buildings is not attainable without some new understanding, without a new faith based on a new physical and intellectual grasp of the nature of the material universe.
  A strong conditional: the creation of the highest living structure requires a cosmology that reunites self and matter in terms consistent with modern science.
• The elder Mr. Ishiguro's black plaster possesses a profound quality of direct relatedness between person and matter—a 'something' that has escaped modern consciousness—while his son's green plaster lacked it.
  The story of the black plaster as a concrete, experiential demonstration of the difference made by relatedness.
• The great works of traditional art were most often created in a context where the maker was trying to become one with God or lose themselves in the ground.
  A summary of the reported intentions of historical craftsmen.
• The living character of the stones in medieval Florence came directly from the builders' unshakable belief in God.
  A direct causal link between the solidity of belief and the quality of physical materials.
• The old forms of mysticism that we know as religious cannot provide us with this 'something'; it is too late.
  A clear rejection of simply reviving traditional religion; the modern mind cannot inhabit it authentically.
• The profound wholeness of living structure, almost every time it has been done most profoundly, has been done in a mystical‑religious context.
  A sweeping historical observation that grounds the claim that mystical context is a near‑universal condition for the highest living structure.
• The similarity of different mystical teachings—Christian, Zen, Mahayana, Tibetan, Tantric, Hopi, Cabalistic, Islamic, Taoist, Sufi—has been emphasized many times, and all point to a nameless ground.
  The perennial philosophy claim, used to support the universality of the ground concept.
• The success of mystical tradition in creating life has a practical explanation: it helped the artist dissolve his images, constructs, and concepts, and focus on reality as it is—the structure of wholeness—enabling structure‑preserving steps.
  A mechanistic bridge between religious devotion and the process of Book 2; belief in God operated as a cognitive tool to see wholeness.
• The works of Nolde, Matisse, Bonnard, van Gogh and a few modern buildings touch a modern wellspring that is almost the same as the mystical wellspring that inspired historical works, yet in a non‑religious form.
  The observation that non‑religious modern works can still achieve a comparable spiritual quality, showing the rootstock is not confined to traditional religion.
• To create living structure we must find our own contemporary version of the I—a new vision of the universe in which meaning exists, relatedness and self have a primary place, and which is as real for us as God was in Mozart's heart.
  The central challenge of the chapter: we need a new cosmology with the same existential weight as historical religion.
• To see wholeness as it is requires purity of mind, because thoughts, mental constructs, theories, ideas, and images all interfere with perception of wholeness and make it difficult to see.
  A cognitive‑perceptual explanation drawn from the earlier HUGGINS & ALEXANDER experiment.