DiotimosReading Desk

Ethics and virtue

Fruition

fruition; fruitions; realised enjoyment; possession in use

Fruition means enjoyment or the having of a good in realised possession.

From the book

Centuries of Meditations

Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordFruition means enjoyment or the having of a good in realised possession.
  • In TraherneThe word can name the end of redemption, the lived enjoyment of blessedness, or a good already possessed rather than merely hoped for.
  • In this edition“Fruition” and “enjoyment” overlap extensively.
  • A place to beginFruition of divine glory is the end for which Christ suffered.

Meaning

Fruition means enjoyment or the having of a good in realised possession. Although related in appearance to fruit, it does not ordinarily mean a project’s eventual completion in the modern phrase “come to fruition.”

Use in the book

The word can name the end of redemption, the lived enjoyment of blessedness, or a good already possessed rather than merely hoped for. Obedience is itself made a fruition, joining duty with satisfaction instead of placing them on opposite sides of life. The Fall destroys both expectation and present enjoyment, while a particular sin can interrupt joy like a long parenthesis. Traherne thus gives fruition an active and vulnerable character: it is a real participation that must be exercised, not an inert title to future reward.

Places to read

  1. I.5Fruition of divine glory is the end for which Christ suffered.
  2. II.29Obedience is described as the fruition of blessedness.
  3. II.52Adam loses what he had in hope and what he had in fruition.
  4. III.51Sin inserts a long parenthesis into the fruition of joys.

In this edition

“Fruition” and “enjoyment” overlap extensively. Keep any local contrast with hope or mere possession, but do not manufacture a rigid hierarchy between two near-synonyms.

Source note

Primary text: I.5; II.29; II.52; III.51.