From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordDiscontent is the troubled sense that one’s condition or possessions do not suffice.
- In TraherneThe analysis is diagnostic rather than a simple command to suppress dissatisfaction.
- In this editionDo not equate discontent with every unfulfilled desire.
- A place to beginTrouble and discontent mark evil thinking, in contrast to the sweetness of rightly directed thought.
Meaning
Discontent is the troubled sense that one’s condition or possessions do not suffice. In the meditations it may arise from false wants or from faculties left without their proper exercise.
Use in the book
The analysis is diagnostic rather than a simple command to suppress dissatisfaction. A competitive society teaches people to desire scarce objects and makes their apparent riches a cause of grievance. Elsewhere the soul is forlorn because its knowing and loving powers are idle. The answer is not merely resignation to whatever one already thinks one possesses. It is a recovery of the real objects and activities through which the soul becomes alive. Traherne can therefore condemn discontent while defending an expansive, even insatiable, desire for genuine good.
Places to read
In this edition
Do not equate discontent with every unfulfilled desire. The passage may condemn the judgement producing dissatisfaction rather than the soul’s capacity to desire more.