Charles has an extensive library but there were some books he would often refer to when speaking to his meditation group. The following are the more common ones. The first of these remained hidden for centuries in monasteries throughout Europe. As a hermit monk Charles sought to bring these out in the open.

The Cloud of Unknowing –

The Cloud of Unknowing consists of a series of letters written by a monk to his student or disciple, instructing him (or her) in the way of Divine union. It is presented in a way that is remarkably easy to understand, as well as practical, providing advice on prayer and contemplation that anyone can use.

The work was written in the late 14th Century in Middle English, and is a treatise about seeking a pure entity of God through contemplation, not through knowledge and intellect. “The Cloud of Unknowing” is an anonymous work of Christian Mysticism.

Surviving to us in only seventeen known manuscripts, “The Cloud of Unknowing” is meant as a spiritual guide of contemplation upon God. The work advises not to seek a better understanding of God through knowledge and intellect, but rather to surrender oneself to the darkness of the realm of the “unknowing”. It is here, where by the abandonment of consideration of the particular attributes of God, which it is argued cannot truly be known to man, is replaced with intense contemplation that may lead to an understanding of the true nature of God.

Two translations are suggested one by Evelyn Underhill and the second by Carmen Butcher.

John Cassian: Conferences –

Conferences highlight “the training of the inner man and the perfection of the heart”. Around 420, after travelling to the earliest known monasteries in Egypt, Cassian wrote Conferences of the Desert Fathers. In these, he shared the wisdom of the Desert Fathers and Mothers of Egypt who sought to live in the desert to seek refuge from the influences of modern Rome which had just established Christianity as the state religion. Much of the writings reflect the way of life and wisdom of the parables. Cassian’s achievements and writings influenced Benedict of Nursia, who incorporated many of the principles into Benedict’s rule which is still followed by modern Benedictine, Cistercian, and Trappist monks.

The Philokalia

The Philokalia – (Ancient Greek: φιλοκαλία, ‘love of the beautiful’, from φιλίαphilia “love” and κάλλοςkallos “beauty”) is a collection of texts written between the 4th and 15th centuries by spiritual masters of the mystical hesychast tradition of the Eastern Orthodox Church. It is this hesychast tradition which emphasized the need for those who felt there was more to this world to seek periodic refuge in inner stillness. The texts were originally written for the guidance and instruction of monks in “the practice of the contemplative life”

 

More modern books that Charles shared bring these teachings out of the monasteries and into the mainstream. Authors include

• Thomas Merton – Inner Experience
• Thomas Merton – New Seeds of Contemplation
• Bede Griffiths -The Marriage of East and West
• Richard Rohr – Falling Upwards
• Thomas Keating – Open Mind Open Heart
• Hugo Enomiya-Lassalle – Living in the New Consciousness
• Thomas Berry – The Great Work – Our Way into the Future
• Aldo Leopold- A Sand County Almanac
• Ken Wilber – Up from Eden
• Black Elk – The Sacred Pipe
• Thich Nhat Hanh – The Miracle of Mindfulness
• Helen Luke – Old Age: Journey into Simplicity
• Fr. Robert Kennedy – Zen Gifts to Christians