Whole

Use in the book

The whole world can be given to every person because enjoyment is not modeled as cutting one material stock into exclusive shares. Another enjoyer can enlarge rather than reduce the gift, since that person and that person’s happiness become further treasures. The whole is therefore relationally richer than a sum of isolated possessions.

Traherne’s accounts of love and spiritual presence intensify the point. Love can be wholly directed toward its object without losing the power to embrace other objects, and the soul can attend to another soul whose range is itself vast. Such claims do not apply indiscriminately to physical consumption. They describe goods whose communication can increase participation instead of exhausting the source.

Places to read

1. I.15The whole world is given to each, while additional persons enrich the inheritance.
2. I.74Giving wholly to all multiplies happiness through mutual enjoyment.
3. II.70The soul can dwell fully with others through knowledge and affection.
4. IV.59Love’s whole being and felicity are directed toward its beloved.

In this edition

Wholly is stronger than partly but does not always mean exclusively. The apparent conflict between whole gifts to many recipients is deliberate and resolved through the mode of enjoyment.