From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordConversion is a turning toward a different spiritual orientation.
- In TraherneThe poem reflecting on infancy marvels that God has at last converted the speaker after repeated refusals of His approaches.
- In this editionThe noun in III.73 concerns nations, while the personal verb in III.4 concerns the speaker.
- A place to beginThe retrospective poem attributes the speaker’s conversion to God’s persistent love.
Meaning
Conversion is a turning toward a different spiritual orientation. It may describe a person's renewal, the soul's response to divine law, or the turning of nations toward Christ.
Use in the book
The poem reflecting on infancy marvels that God has at last converted the speaker after repeated refusals of His approaches. Renewal is understood as gracious action that makes earlier gifts visible again. The exposition of becoming a child supplies the practical content: acquired habits and false valuations must be put away. Scriptural commentary widens the field. The law converts the soul, and the foretold conversion of the Gentiles is a joy to the psalmist because it gathers others into praise. Conversion thus joins personal recovery to a larger fellowship. It is not only assent to a proposition or a change of social label; it alters the objects loved, the light in which they appear, and the community whose happiness one shares.
Places to read
- III.4The retrospective poem attributes the speaker’s conversion to God’s persistent love.
- III.5Renewed childhood is explained through purification of habits and apprehensions.
- III.72The psalmic law is described as converting the soul.
- III.73The anticipated conversion of the Gentiles expands shared praise and joy.
In this edition
The noun in III.73 concerns nations, while the personal verb in III.4 concerns the speaker. Neither alone fixes a single dated biographical conversion event.
Source note
Primary text: III.4, III.5, III.72, III.73. III.72–732 contain quoted Scripture and Traherne’s interpretation; III.4 is a primary lyric of recollection.