Pressing thoughts into the cloud of forgetting

Put every thought — including holy ones — beneath you, pressing them out of awareness.

Why it works

The "cloud of forgetting" is the author’s name for what happens when the practitioner actively refuses to engage with any thought, however spiritually relevant it seems. The refusal is deliberate: even a thought about Christ’s passion, the author says, must be pressed down if it arises during this kind of prayer. The mechanism is non-preferential release — the same principle that underlies Centering Prayer and non-judgmental mindfulness: treating all arising content as equally irrelevant to the present act of prayer removes the condition in which the thinking mind maintains its hold.

How to do it

1. When any thought arises during contemplative prayer — ordinary or sacred — press it gently below you rather than engaging it.
2. The author suggests picturing all thoughts, memories, and imaginations as beneath you, trodden under.
3. Do not wrestle with thoughts; the Cloud author warns against violent suppression. The movement is dismissal, not combat.
4. Return repeatedly to the bare upward intention rather than the effort to clear the mind.

Evidence

Non-preferential, gentle disengagement from thoughts — without suppression or engagement — is the mechanism identified in mindfulness research for reducing thought-fusion. The Cloud’s imagery is different but the cognitive operation is similar. (mechanistic)

The non-engagement mechanism has research support in mindfulness contexts; whether The Cloud’s specific method achieves the same outcomes has not been studied.

Common mistake

Actively fighting thoughts with effort — struggling to clear the mind — which creates exactly the tense, content-rich mental activity the practice is trying to release.