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Childhood and education

Orient

orient; oriently

Orient means brilliant, lustrous, or radiantly precious, carrying associations of the rising sun and fine jewels.

From the book

Centuries of Meditations

Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordOrient means brilliant, lustrous, or radiantly precious, carrying associations of the rising sun and fine jewels.
  • In TraherneThe child’s orient wheat is perceived with the brilliance of an inexhaustible treasure, before the adult associations of sowing, reaping, and scarcity intervene.
  • In this editionThe 2026 note to III.3 explains the lustrous sense.
  • A place to beginThe child sees corn as orient and immortal wheat.

Meaning

Orient means brilliant, lustrous, or radiantly precious, carrying associations of the rising sun and fine jewels. It need not locate an object in the geographical East.

Use in the book

The child’s orient wheat is perceived with the brilliance of an inexhaustible treasure, before the adult associations of sowing, reaping, and scarcity intervene. The jewel-image returns when a natural principle of giving is freed from the rust of corruption. At the Cross, divine love shines most oriently through the apparent darkness and loss of glory. These uses connect natural vision, ethical restoration, and redemption through the recognition of a radiance that ordinary valuation can miss.

Places to read

  1. III.3The child sees corn as orient and immortal wheat.
  2. IV.45The principle of giving is an orient jewel beneath corruption’s rust.
  3. I.90Divine love breaks forth oriently in Christ’s humiliation.

In this edition

The 2026 note to III.3 explains the lustrous sense. The word does not make the wheat an imported eastern crop.

Source note

Primary text: III.3, IV.45, I.90; historical gloss: 2026 edition note to III.3.