via negativa

The via negativa is also known as the apophatic path of mysticism:

Apophatic -- Derivation: Gr apophasis, denial < apophanai, to deny < apo-, away, + phanai, say, assert Definition: in rhetoric, apophasis is the artful mention of something by denying that it will be mentioned ("we will not remind you of his many crimes"); in the mystical tradition, the apophatic way is the way of "denial," claiming that God cannot be known; anything we claim to know as God is not, in fact, God. The "negative" way, the via negativa. Example: The Cloud of Unknowing.

There is also a via positiva, called the cataphatic path.

The via negativa is also known as the apophatic path of mysticism:

Apophatic -- Derivation: Gr apophasis, denial apophanai, to deny apo-, away, + phanai, say, assert Definition: in rhetoric, apophasis is the artful mention of something by denying that it will be mentioned ("we will not remind you of his many crimes"); in the mystical tradition, the apophatic way is the way of "denial," claiming that God cannot be known; anything we claim to know as God is not, in fact, God. The "negative" way, the via negativa. Example: The Cloud of Unknowing.

Here, a mystic in the classic tradition of Plotinus says "Cut everything away"--"God is not this..." and "God is not this...".

From A History of God by Armstrong, "We should begin by talking about God in negatives, saying, for example, that he was 'nonbeing' rather than 'being,' 'not ignorant' rather than 'wise' and so forth. But we should immediately negate that rather lifelessand abstract negation, saying that God is 'not not-ignorant' or that he is 'not No-thing' in the way that we normally use the word." (pg 179-180)

This path is also found predominatly in the Greek Orthodox Church.

There is also a via positiva path, called the cataphatic.