Writings Selected with an Introduction

Modern Spiritual Masters

by Simone Weil, Eric O. Springsted (Introduction)

Simone Weil was one of the foremost thinkers of the twentieth century: a philosopher, theologian, critic, sociologist and political activist. This anthology spans the wide range of her thought, and includes an extract from her best-known work 'The Need for Roots', exploring the ways in which modern society fails the human soul; her thoughts on the misuse of language by those in power; and the essay 'Human Personality', a late, beautiful reflection on the rights and responsibilities of every individual. All are marked by the unique combination of literary eloquence and moral perspicacity that characterised Weil's ideas and inspired a generation of thinkers and writers both in and outside her native France.

Genres: Philosophy, Nonfiction, Religion, Spirituality

144 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 1998

About the author

Simone Weil was a French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist. Weil was born in Paris to Alsatian agnostic Jewish parents who fled the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. Her brilliance, ascetic lifestyle, introversion, and eccentricity limited her ability to mix with others, but not to teach and participate in political movements of her time. She wrote extensively with both insight and breadth about political movements of which she was a part and later about spiritual mysticism. Weil biographer Gabriella Fiori writes that Weil was "a moral genius in the orbit of ethics, a genius of immense revolutionary range".

Reviews

[Philip · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are markings on nearly every page. Notes throughout the introduction, and in every essay or letter, or writing found in this collection. Highlighted passages to come back to. Quotes. Thoughts.

It was a challenging book to read. There was no point in reading this book once if you are unwilling to read it twice. Or probably multiple times.

And here I am at the unenvious point of having read through it and recognizing how much escaped my grasp. How much work I'll have to put in if I really want to understand her concept of 'necessity.' What she means when she says we can't seek God. How she differentiates 'suffering' and 'affliction.' How she could believe that God was calling her to forsake the assembly, and what sense (in a way) that really makes.

"The love of our neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say to him: 'What are you going through?' It is a recognition that the sufferer exists, not only as a unit in a collection or a specimen from the social category labeled, 'unfortunate,' but as a man, exactly like us, who was one day stamped with a special mark by affliction."

I think I understand why my friend sent this to me in the summer of my greatest affliction (to date.)

"Affliction causes God to be absent for a time, more absent than a dead man, more absent than light in the utter darkness of a cell. A kind of horror submerges the whole soul. During this absence there is nothing to love..."

I remember my therapist (and yes, I needed to have a therapist... needed, needed) asking, "Where is God in all of this." - He knew how much I've relied on God and faith over the years. - And I replied, "I don't know. God's off doing his own thing." And it wasn't exactly that I felt God no longer loved me. I just didn't feel God's presence.

But this book is more than just suffering vs affliction. It's who is God, and who is God's? What is good? Justice? Beauty?

"In the same way, I know the author of the Iliad knew and loved God and the author of the Book of Joshua did not."

And simple lines that are maybe not so simple, "...that the presence of my friend Paul in Paul's body is a fact..."

"All I can do is to desire the good. But whereas all other desires are sometimes effective and sometimes not, according to circumstances, this one desire is always effective. The reason is that, whereas the desire for gold is not the same thing as gold, the desire for good is itself a good."

She's good. She's good, man. Check her out.

[Malaena · Rating 5 out of 5]

holy shit this book took my longer than expected but also my brain hurts !!! this book had me thinking about higher concepts that were opening my third eye which i do think was the point. although i am apprehensive to adhere to the idea that there is a god, i do think there is some legitimacy in the idea that to love is to have faith; thus believing in some type of higher power (that of love.)

anyway, great book / introduction to a serious thinker gone too soon.

“To pay no attention to the world’s beauty is, perhaps, so great a crime of ingratitude that is deserves the punishment of affliction. To be sure, it does not always get it; but the alternative punishment is a mediocre life, and in what way is a mediocre life preferable to affliction?” (71)

[Scott Bruton]

Simone Weil wrote a lot of things that are good to think about, easy to disagree with, and fun the consider. The real gem in her writing is her thoughts about affliction. Having read this in a time of great affliction myself, I was able to read the things that no one else in my life at this time was able to communicate to me and I found the author able to give words to the thoughts and feelings I had no words for. From there she was able to brilliantly connect my own affliction to Christ himself in an undeniable way and point out the gift given to me in my affliction in a way that was compassionate enough to allow me to accept it. I cannot give a rating to this work as the subject matter is so varied that an average of the quality would not give an accurate representation of the book itself.

[Dany · Rating 4 out of 5]

“It is not the way a man talks about God, but the way he talks about the things of this world that best shows whether his soul has passed through the fire of the love of God. In this matter no deception is possible. There are false imitations of the love of God, but not of the transformation it effects in the soul, because one has no idea of this transformation except by passing through it oneself.”

[Lee Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Many gems in this book.

[Adrián · Rating 3 out of 5]

Recorro la distancia infinitamente infinita entre Dios y Dios y tiro porque me toca.

[Dearwassily · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another I would give 3.5 stars, if I could. I don't agree with a lot of Weil's thinking but her unabashed self-loathing is fascinating, as is seeing how other people "do God," if you will.