Gravity & Grace

GRAVITY AND GRACE by Simone Weil. With an Introduction by Gustave Thibon. Translated from the French by Emma Craufurd. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1972 (1952) ISBN 071002262X. 'Gravity and Grace' is a slim book of (in my edition) just 160 pages which holds within itself the quintessence of the greatest spiritual genius of the 20th century. The book is a compilation of brief extracts from Simone Weil's Notebooks and was assembled by Gustav Thibon, who has also added a valuable Introduction of 30 pages, the purpose of which is simply to provide readers with some necessary background, for, as he points out, "Simone Weil's writings belong to the category of very great work which can only be weakened and spoilt by a commentary." M.Thibon has organized these sayings into 38 chapters - Detachment, The Self, Illusions, Idolatry, Love, Evil, Violence, Contradiction, Chance, Beauty, The Great Beast, etc. (The original French edition - LA PESANTEUR ET LA GRACE (Paris: Plon, 1947) - contained an additional chapter on Israel (pp.216-221) which the English publishers, for reasons best known to themselves, have silently omitted from the 1952 English edition. Whether it has since been restored I don't know). I purchased my own copy of this book (bibliographical details of which are given above) over thirty years ago. Although many hundreds if not thousands of books have passed through my hands since then, it remains one of five or six books I would never ever consider parting with. Simone Weil's thoughts are so truthful and of such power that one never forgets them and her book becomes one that you find yourself returning to again and again. Here are a few of those thoughts selected at random: "We cannot under any circumstances manufacture something which is better than ourselves" (p.41). "The only organ of contact with existence is acceptance, love" (p.57). "Imaginary evil is romantic and varied; real evil is gloomy, monotonous, barren, boring. Imaginary good is boring; real good is always new, marvellous, intoxicating" (p.62). "Joy is the overflowing consciousness of reality" (p.73). 'Gravity and Grace' brings us the truth about the human condition, the truth about ourselves, and much of this truth is far from comforting. As M. Thibon points out, "It is not a question of philosophy here but of life," the life that all of us are at this moment living and that Simone Weil can help us more fully appreciate and understand. Her thoughts weave themselves into the fabric of one's mind and will leave any sensitive reader immeasurably enriched.

I admit that since I am a student of analytic philosophy the axiomatic format made it difficult to follow the author at times. It is just not the kind of writing to which I am accustom. If you like writtings which take a thoroughly explicit and systematic approach to religious questions this book is probably not for you. Still, I think it is impossible to read this book without being moved by the power the author's holiness. I found many of these sayings profoundly beautiful (I am especially enamored with the section on love) and some unsettling but always deeply moving. I believe this is one of those rare books which can change a person's life.

This is a case of Dialectic Materialism approached through a Nietzsche perspective, a woman as an idealist scholar with an extraordinary Jewish background whose brother suffers the loss of his life at the hands of Nazis! Simone Petrement, Simone Weil's biographer and classmate [Ecole Normale et al], clearly presents the defeating struggles with which Ms. Weil must but stealthily reveal! To say she deplored her Jewish background would be to deny her devotion to her parents which could not completely be. Her struggle is not her with Jewism itself but with the affliction of her father, Dr. Bernard Weil (1872-1955) and her mother, the daughter of Mme. Reinherz. Try the perils of the afflicted Russian Jew who no longer finds palatable the mere potatoes which she herself chose. She subtly [quietly]pleaded for her parents' assistance and then rejected their offers through her inner anxiety, a struggle to preserve Humanity amongst those who spoke Omniscient Salvation in other languages but offered moral support to Russian Jews who didn't appreciate the blasphemy of stating "Jesus Christ" over and over again! Thus is the subtle and controversial attitude.

Simone Weil's writings were impenetrable for me in the fifties. Now I have most of her works and I am frequently amazed at how penetrating are her ideas and thoughts, and how contrary to most thinking today. That in itself recommends her. She understands people, life, and suffering, and sees its purpose. She sees through all falseness to the goodness. Simone Weil is the most honest person I know or have heard of. Yet while her classmate, Simone de Beauvoir is famous Simone Weil is relatively unknown. She loves Plato, Buddhism, Geometry, Jesus, working people, her homeland, France, but she rejected the Catholic Church, baptism, and Judaism (her background). She is a saint if there ever was one. I am profoundly grateful for having known something of her, her diamond mind, and her beautiful soul.

This young lady's writings and personal story blow away most other 20th Century thinkers. These are mainly short blasts. Provocative. Accessible. Yet push you further than you've likely been. Lots of ancient Christian desert hermit influence (St. Theresa, St. John of the Cross, Philokalia) on this revolutionary, radical mind. Timeless. Challenging. Simple. Confounds modernism.