DiotimosReading Desk

Ethics and virtue

End and means

end; ends; means; purpose; way to an end

An end is the purpose for which something exists or an activity is pursued; means are what bring that purpose about.

From the book

Centuries of Meditations

Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordAn end is the purpose for which something exists or an activity is pursued; means are what bring that purpose about.
  • In TraherneThe world’s intelligibility depends on its being made for enjoyment.
  • In this editionIn II.46 “Means” is part of a specific Trinitarian exposition.
  • A place to beginEnjoyment accomplishes the end of God’s desire in creating the world.

Meaning

An end is the purpose for which something exists or an activity is pursued; means are what bring that purpose about. “End” therefore need not signify cessation or a last moment.

Use in the book

The world’s intelligibility depends on its being made for enjoyment. A soul that understands and loves creation fulfils its purpose instead of merely occupying a place within it. Yet Traherne’s account is not a simple ladder in which everything is discarded once a higher goal is reached. In divine love, producer, means, and end belong internally together: love gives, receives, and attains itself. The world likewise becomes more glorious through a free answering activity that God’s giving alone does not perform on the creature’s behalf. Purpose thus joins created order to personal response.

Places to read

  1. I.10Enjoyment accomplishes the end of God’s desire in creating the world.
  2. I.12Esteem is both a duty fulfilling creation’s end and a means of enjoyment.
  3. II.46Producer, means, and end are interpreted through the triune life of love.
  4. IV.46Creaturely liberty makes possible the praise and imitation for which creation is useful.
  5. IV.79Humanity is first in intention although last in execution; the preceding creation story is called a fable.

In this edition

In II.46 “Means” is part of a specific Trinitarian exposition. Do not detach the term from that context or reduce the Son to an external instrument.

Intention and execution

IV.79 distinguishes priority in a purpose from order in carrying it out. A human being may appear last in the creation narrative while being first in its intention: what comes after other creatures can be the end for which they were prepared. Traherne explicitly calls the preceding story a little fable. Its sequence teaches human excellence rather than suggesting that God finished the world before thinking of its enjoyer.

Source note

Primary text: I.10; I.12; II.46; IV.46. For intention and execution, see IV.79.