From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordBread is ordinary sustaining food.
- In TraherneWithout the sun there would be no bread, along with no fruit, gardens, warmth, or life.
- In this editionThe listed food at III.46 is a declared preference in a narrated choice, not evidence by itself of the speaker's diet throughout his life.
- A place to beginImagining the absence of the sun reveals its indispensable service in the production of bread.
Meaning
Bread is ordinary sustaining food. Its familiarity makes it useful in arguments about both indispensable created goods and the simplicity of a chosen life.
Use in the book
Without the sun there would be no bread, along with no fruit, gardens, warmth, or life. The ordinary loaf therefore contains services that a narrow act of consumption can overlook. In the account of study, bread and water name a modest provision acceptable to the speaker if it leaves time free for the inquiry into felicity. The ideal is not deprivation for its own sake: he contrasts sufficient simple food with the burden of maintaining a large estate. Bread belongs to the gifts that are genuinely needed, but the convention that equates wealth with elaborate consumption is denied.
Places to read
In this edition
The listed food at III.46 is a declared preference in a narrated choice, not evidence by itself of the speaker's diet throughout his life. The cited passages are not Eucharistic expositions.
Source note
Primary text: I.46, III.46. The two references show ordinary nourishment and chosen sufficiency rather than a single sacramental meaning.