DiotimosReading Desk

Devotion and spiritual practice

Beholding

behold; beholding; looking upon; see with the soul

To behold is to direct and sustain one's regard toward something.

From the book

Centuries of Meditations

Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordTo behold is to direct and sustain one's regard toward something.
  • In TraherneTraherne distinguishes the availability of objects from the eyes and affections with which they are beheld.
  • In this editionBeholding is not automatically the same as enjoying.
  • A place to beginSeeing others’ happiness without possessing it becomes a torment.

Meaning

To behold is to direct and sustain one's regard toward something. In devotional use bodily sight and intellectual presence can cooperate, though the object may be historically or spatially distant.

Use in the book

Traherne distinguishes the availability of objects from the eyes and affections with which they are beheld. The Cross, though absent to bodily sight, is accessible to the soul's concentrated attention. Beholding is therefore a practice: withdrawing scattered thoughts, discerning what is before the mind, and allowing its value to move the affections. It need not produce easy pleasure. The wounded body asks the viewer to remain rather than depart to amusement, while the vision of another's happiness can torment those incapable of sharing it. Right beholding includes a relation of love. A spectator who recognizes beauty without learning to enjoy or communicate it has not reached the term's fullest promise.

Places to read

  1. I.48Seeing others’ happiness without possessing it becomes a torment.
  2. I.57Christ is seen by the soul as the brazen serpent was seen by bodily eyes.
  3. I.89The praying beholder remains with the spectacle of Christ’s suffering.
  4. III.68What matters is not only the object but the eyes and affections of its beholder.

In this edition

Beholding is not automatically the same as enjoying. I.48 expressly distinguishes seeing from possessing, while III.68 explains the faculties required for fuller reception.

Source note

Primary text: I.48, I.57, I.89, III.68. The references include both fulfilled and frustrated sight, preserving the term’s dependence on the beholder’s relation to the object.