To Enjoy the World

I recently came across an awe-inspiring time-lapse video of the earth, taken from the International Space Station. In a previous blog post on “Infinite Beauty,” I quoted from the Anglican poet Thomas Traherne (ca. 1636-1674). Perhaps unsurprisingly, as I watched this video, it reminded me of yet another of Traherne's beautiful descriptions of what an enchanted worldview looks like.

So, as prelude to the video, I present to you Thomas Traherne on enjoying the world:  

Your enjoyment of the world is never right,

till every morning you awake in Heaven;

see yourself in your Father’s Palace;

and look upon the skies, 

the earth, 

and the air 

as Celestial Joys:

having such a reverend esteem of all, 

as if you were among the Angels…

You never enjoy the world aright,

till the Sea itself floweth in your veins,

till you are clothed with the heavens,

and crowned with the stars…

Till your spirit filleth the whole world, 

and the stars are your jewels;

till you are as familiar with the ways of God in all Ages as with your walk and table:

till you are intimately acquainted with that shady nothing out of which the world was made:

till you love men so as to desire their happiness, with a thirst equal to the zeal of your own:

till you delight in God for being good to all:

you never enjoy the world.

(Centuriesof Meditations, First Century, Sections 28-30)