Brother Richard

To share it with all those we meet or encounter.

And gently

Beginning to move fingers and toes.

Taking a little bit of a stretch if you feel you need it.

We allow the sound of the bell to draw us back to the room.

Thank you.

Welcome back.

Today we're going to revisit with the meditation master known as the master of the cloud of unknowing.

His great monastic teacher of the 1400s continues to remind us that we might meet the presence of the divine in every succeeding present moment.

In our meditation today, we will go through the three steps that this teacher asks that we would undertake for this practice.

Entering the cloud of forgetting, entering the cloud of unknowing, and then using the versiculum, the little word, to hold ourselves in that awareness.

So let's begin.

Entering the time of meditation, we sit with awareness, letting go of all that has been already this day, choosing to be here, choosing to dwell in this practice for these moments.

As we sit, we are aware of the sensations of the body,

the feelings, even the thoughts that flow by.

But we choose deliberately now to enter the cloud of forgetting, letting go of sensation, letting go of emotion, not grasping the thoughts.

While we cannot stop thoughts or even emotional reactions from arising, we do not have to follow them or hold on to them or grasp them.

We simply notice them in their rising and falling.

We do not feed them with the energy of our attention.

We are simply aware of them