Blind beholding
Metaphor and the Social World July 14, 2026 Peter Richardson, Charles M. Mueller
Contemporary Christian contemplative discourse integrates two seemingly opposed ways of understanding religious experience: relational intimacy with a divine entity (conceptualized through warmth, connection, spatial proximity, shared will, and resonance) and non-conceptual states of pure awareness (conceptualized through release, falling, dropping out, darkness, and cessation of attentional movement). Using Cynthia Bourgeault's The Heart of Centering Prayer as a case study, the analysis shows how conceptual blending allows these experiences to be held within a single framework. The metaphor of entering the cloud, drawn from The Cloud of Unknowing, negotiates the boundary between Christian relational theism and nondual spirituality.