From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordHoliness names a life set in right relation to God and conformed to his goodness.
- In TraherneThe opening account links holiness to thoughts that prize objects as God prizes them.
- In this editionThe close association with happiness does not make holiness merely whatever feels agreeable.
- A place to beginHoliness requires desire, endeavour, and a valuation of objects corresponding to God’s.
Meaning
Holiness names a life set in right relation to God and conformed to his goodness. In these meditations it is inseparable from accurate valuation, wisdom, and enacted love.
Use in the book
The opening account links holiness to thoughts that prize objects as God prizes them. The cross then supplies a comprehensive school of virtues, making holiness something learned through Christ’s manner of loving. Later, its identification with happiness is explained through practice: knowing excellent things without doing them does not constitute wisdom. Holiness therefore resists reduction to religious appearance or private feeling. It is the soul’s good powers brought into an ordered, fruitful life.
Places to read
- I.13Holiness requires desire, endeavour, and a valuation of objects corresponding to God’s.
- I.61The cross teaches holiness within a wide constellation of practical virtues.
- II.97Fruition of the world is said naturally to produce holiness and righteousness.
- IV.31Holiness and wisdom meet in doing the excellent things that are known.
In this edition
The close association with happiness does not make holiness merely whatever feels agreeable. Its measure is a true and practised relation to good objects, divine law, and other persons.