From the book
Centuries of Meditations
Thomas Traherne · Diotimos Editions · 2026
Browse this book’s lexicon →Orientation
At a Glance
- The wordTo unsuppose is to suppose something away, imagining that it does not exist.
- In TraherneTraherne asks the reader to remove heaven, earth, and the world in imagination.
- In this editionThe 2026 note supplies the gloss and a comparison with Henry More.
- A place to beginThe world can be mentally removed, while its space cannot be unsupposed.
Meaning
To unsuppose is to suppose something away, imagining that it does not exist. The rare verb names a deliberate thought experiment rather than a failure to make an assumption.
Use in the book
Traherne asks the reader to remove heaven, earth, and the world in imagination. Their place remains: empty space cannot be removed by the same act. This perceived asymmetry supports his claim that infinity is encountered before finite boundaries and that space is inseparable from the soul’s apprehension of its situation. The experiment works through the operations and limits of imagination, not through an observed physical disappearance. Its place in the argument also matters: the apparently empty remainder is soon a chamber for treasures and an inward capacity to receive them.
Places to read
- II.81The world can be mentally removed, while its space cannot be unsupposed.
In this edition
The 2026 note supplies the gloss and a comparison with Henry More. More is editorial background here, not an authority named in the meditation itself.
Source note
Primary text: II.81; historical gloss and philosophical comparison: 2026 edition note to II.81.