From the Foreword by Thomas Merton :
"For centuries, mystics have groped for words in which to account for the supreme reality of this experience which not only illuminates a man's mind and fills his heart with new strength, but even radically transforms his whole life. All this is said in classic and unforgettable pages by The Cloud of Unknowing, the work of an anonymous fourteenth century English writer...
" We can be grateful to William Johnston for presenting the first extended and coherent theological treatment of all the works by the author of The Cloud, seen in the light of a conscious comparison with Oriental ways of contemplation . . . this book is a most welcome and. valuable contribution to mystical theology."