From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordEmergencies are events as they emerge or occur.
- In TraherneIn his survey of David’s psalms, Traherne describes the conversion of ordinary and extraordinary happenings into celestial joys.
- In this editionThe 2026 note explicitly gives the wider sense of arising events.
- A place to beginThe survey of Psalm 103 describes present mercies turning emergencies into celestial joys.
Meaning
Emergencies are events as they emerge or occur. The older sense is wider than the modern restriction to urgent crises, although a particular occurrence can certainly involve distress.
Use in the book
In his survey of David’s psalms, Traherne describes the conversion of ordinary and extraordinary happenings into celestial joys. The emphasis lies on discerning present mercies and providence in what happens, rather than reserving divine significance for exceptional disasters. The surrounding account includes creation, history, travellers, sick people, and seamen. This breadth is important: life in heaven is practised through meditation on earthly works and ways. A crisis-only reading narrows the field of attention and can make the passage sound as though it counsels joy only during calamity.
Places to read
- III.92The survey of Psalm 103 describes present mercies turning emergencies into celestial joys.
In this edition
The 2026 note explicitly gives the wider sense of arising events. It does not claim that all such events are pleasant in themselves.
Source note
Primary text: III.92; historical gloss: 2026 edition note to III.92.