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hiboluha's review against another edition
5.0
"In what concerns divine things, belief is not fitting. Only certainty will do. Anything less than certainty is unworthy of God."
Simone Weil was such an amazing spiritual writer. Her mind worked in such a beautiful way. While she has mainly speaks from a Christian perspective, one can gather a great deal of knowledge from her works. She was able to write like this in the 20th century, an age full of secularism and philosophical movements moving away from religion, she was able to write this way and managed to write relevant and beautiful essays that involve the soul, human nature, and the desires of mankind. As far as modern spiritual philosophy goes, Simone Weil's "Waiting for God" is a must read. This book has become my favorite as I will continue to continue this journey called life with some of the lessons she has provided. If you're looking for a good spiritual, philosophical book, look no more for you have found it in this book!
Simone Weil was such an amazing spiritual writer. Her mind worked in such a beautiful way. While she has mainly speaks from a Christian perspective, one can gather a great deal of knowledge from her works. She was able to write like this in the 20th century, an age full of secularism and philosophical movements moving away from religion, she was able to write this way and managed to write relevant and beautiful essays that involve the soul, human nature, and the desires of mankind. As far as modern spiritual philosophy goes, Simone Weil's "Waiting for God" is a must read. This book has become my favorite as I will continue to continue this journey called life with some of the lessons she has provided. If you're looking for a good spiritual, philosophical book, look no more for you have found it in this book!
anastasia_okodure's review against another edition
4.0
A fascinating take on Catholicism and faith from an incredibly intelligent and inspiring philosopher. I picked up this book after having listened to a podcast series on Simone Weil and I look forward to reading more of her works. The first half discussed Weil's own personal struggles with her faith (which, as a self-proclaimed lapsed Catholic I must say was simultaneously a frustrating but relatable read). The second half explored the faith from a scriptural angle. Many big brain ideas were presented and analysed in this book and I feel like it's a book I will have to come back and reread in the future, as I grow older and wiser.
simonamiller's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
4.0
raoul_g's review against another edition
5.0
Simone Weil's writings will probably never cease to amaze me. Although they are not really aimed toward anybody (it was not intended by Weil that the letters and the essays she wrote would be published), they found me at the right time in my life.
Weil writes: "An Atheist may be simply one whose faith and love are concentrated on the impersonal aspects of God." This is the position I find myself in right now, and this is why I quite like the term coined by other theologians, 'Christian Atheism'.
Weil is not one to exclude such people as me from faith, actually she is not one to exclude anyone at all. I remain fascinated by her decision not to be baptized, which was at least partially motivated by her commitment to those outside the church: "... nothing gives me more pain than the idea of separating myself from the immense and unfortunate multitude of unbelievers...I do not think that in any case I should ever enter a religious order, because that would separate me from ordinary people by a habit."
She locates herself "on the threshold of the Church" and "at the intersection of Christianity and everything that is not Christian."
She certainly is a mystic, and the writings of mystics are not everyone's cup of tea. I wondered whether I could appreciate her ideas, seeing that they all seems to have their source in mystical encounters, the supernaturality of which I doubt. The thing is that she is not only a mystic but also a genius in a certain sense. The result of this amalgam are paradoxes and other affirmations that are sometimes absurd to the point of folly, but often, and not in spite but because of this, incredibly powerful and deeply moving.
It is almost unimaginable that someone would agree with everything Weil has written in these letters and essays. On the other hand I am convinced that everyone reading them with an open mind will find at least a gem or two, something to ponder about and to be moved by.
Her writing on attention is superb and the way she combines it with the love of neighbor is genius: "... the love of our neighbor ... is made of [attention]. Those who are unhappy have no need for anything in this world but people capable of giving them their attention. The capacity to give one's attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle; it is a miracle ... 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."
For someone being so convinced of the supernatural source of her revelations, Weil is surprisingly honest about the absence of God in the world. In [b:Gravity and Grace|730139|Gravity and Grace|Simone Weil|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405293311l/730139._SY75_.jpg|716338] (which I read a few years ago and would like to re-read now) she writes that "God can only be present in creation under the form of absence" and that "he who has not God within himself cannot feel his absence."
Contrary to the idea that the experience of the absence of God is something reserved for unbelievers, it can actually be experienced only by a believer. It is similar to the experience of someone waiting for his beloved in a restaurant: although the beloved is absent to all the other people there too, her absence is felt only by the one waiting for her.
And in a way waiting for God is all we can do: "We do not obtain the most precious gifts by going in search of them but by waiting for them" and "it does not rest with the soul to believe in the reality of God if God does not reveal this reality."
In another place she rightly notices that "we cannot take a step toward the heavens." Whether the following phrase, "God crosses the universe and comes to us", is true, remains to be decided according to the experience of each one of us in particular. I, for now, remain sceptic ... and waiting.
And still, in my waiting, Weil's writing challenges me. It challenges me to question what I set my attention on and to question the way I love the people around me (do I love impartially, anonymously and universally)? And because she manages to do this, while also using delightfully creative metaphors, I find Weil's writing so powerful.
Weil writes: "An Atheist may be simply one whose faith and love are concentrated on the impersonal aspects of God." This is the position I find myself in right now, and this is why I quite like the term coined by other theologians, 'Christian Atheism'.
Weil is not one to exclude such people as me from faith, actually she is not one to exclude anyone at all. I remain fascinated by her decision not to be baptized, which was at least partially motivated by her commitment to those outside the church: "... nothing gives me more pain than the idea of separating myself from the immense and unfortunate multitude of unbelievers...I do not think that in any case I should ever enter a religious order, because that would separate me from ordinary people by a habit."
She locates herself "on the threshold of the Church" and "at the intersection of Christianity and everything that is not Christian."
She certainly is a mystic, and the writings of mystics are not everyone's cup of tea. I wondered whether I could appreciate her ideas, seeing that they all seems to have their source in mystical encounters, the supernaturality of which I doubt. The thing is that she is not only a mystic but also a genius in a certain sense. The result of this amalgam are paradoxes and other affirmations that are sometimes absurd to the point of folly, but often, and not in spite but because of this, incredibly powerful and deeply moving.
It is almost unimaginable that someone would agree with everything Weil has written in these letters and essays. On the other hand I am convinced that everyone reading them with an open mind will find at least a gem or two, something to ponder about and to be moved by.
Her writing on attention is superb and the way she combines it with the love of neighbor is genius: "... the love of our neighbor ... is made of [attention]. Those who are unhappy have no need for anything in this world but people capable of giving them their attention. The capacity to give one's attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle; it is a miracle ... 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."
For someone being so convinced of the supernatural source of her revelations, Weil is surprisingly honest about the absence of God in the world. In [b:Gravity and Grace|730139|Gravity and Grace|Simone Weil|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1405293311l/730139._SY75_.jpg|716338] (which I read a few years ago and would like to re-read now) she writes that "God can only be present in creation under the form of absence" and that "he who has not God within himself cannot feel his absence."
Contrary to the idea that the experience of the absence of God is something reserved for unbelievers, it can actually be experienced only by a believer. It is similar to the experience of someone waiting for his beloved in a restaurant: although the beloved is absent to all the other people there too, her absence is felt only by the one waiting for her.
And in a way waiting for God is all we can do: "We do not obtain the most precious gifts by going in search of them but by waiting for them" and "it does not rest with the soul to believe in the reality of God if God does not reveal this reality."
In another place she rightly notices that "we cannot take a step toward the heavens." Whether the following phrase, "God crosses the universe and comes to us", is true, remains to be decided according to the experience of each one of us in particular. I, for now, remain sceptic ... and waiting.
And still, in my waiting, Weil's writing challenges me. It challenges me to question what I set my attention on and to question the way I love the people around me (do I love impartially, anonymously and universally)? And because she manages to do this, while also using delightfully creative metaphors, I find Weil's writing so powerful.
pomegranate_girl's review against another edition
5.0
I've never done a better job at reading a book