Centre and circumference

Use in the book

The centre of the earth first illustrates an unseen power of attraction. The Cross then becomes a centre toward which thought and desire move, gathering remote nations and times into one intelligible object. A different use appears when the world, enormous to the body, is called a little centre beside the soul's reach. Smallness of location does not imply poverty of inward content.

In the later meditations, divine omnipresence is whole in every centre, and every person is said to be alone the centre and circumference of infinite extent. This is not a geographical assertion that each body occupies the same privileged coordinate. It describes the inseparability of encompassing presence and individual reception. Every enjoyer finds himself surrounded, while understanding can embrace what surrounds him. Geometry becomes a language for a relation that ordinary bounded figures cannot finally contain.

Places to read

1. I.2The unseen earthly centre exemplifies attraction before clear knowledge.
2. I.19The world is a little centre when measured against the soul’s intellectual reach.
3. I.56The Cross draws nations and thoughts as a centre draws heavy things.
4. II.82Divine omnipresence is wholly in every centre.
5. V.3Each enjoyer is called the centre and circumference of infinite extent.

In this edition

“Centre” need not mark physical location in each occurrence. The compound claim in V.3 deliberately exceeds the ordinary geometry whose terms it borrows.