From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordGreatness can refer to size, extent, power, dignity, or excellence.
- In TraherneThe soul is great because it can receive and enjoy objects far exceeding the body’s scale.
- In this editionDo not give every “great” a quantitative meaning.
- A place to beginInfinite capacity in understanding is linked to divine generosity and creaturely greatness.
Meaning
Greatness can refer to size, extent, power, dignity, or excellence. Traherne repeatedly moves from bodily magnitude toward the amplitude of knowledge and affection.
Use in the book
The soul is great because it can receive and enjoy objects far exceeding the body’s scale. Divine greatness is likewise expressed through knowledge and presence to all things, rather than through occupying a larger bulk. The crucial practical question is whether such greatness is kept alive: the memory of one’s relation to God should remain active even while attention is required by ordinary tasks. Walking, eating, travelling, and conversation can therefore take place within an inwardly enlarged life. Greatness is not reserved for moments of exceptional rapture.
Places to read
- II.82Infinite capacity in understanding is linked to divine generosity and creaturely greatness.
- II.84God’s greatness is described as presence with all objects in knowledge.
- III.98Remembered greatness is to inform outward activity when it cannot be vividly felt.
- IV.90The consciousness of divine friendship and inheritance accompanies ordinary daily acts.
In this edition
Do not give every “great” a quantitative meaning. The scale may be moral, intellectual, relational, or spatial, and the passage often deliberately transfers language between these senses.