rwaringcrane's review against another edition
4.0
Does the voice of every mystic teeter on the edge of sanity? If so, Simone passes the test.
By turns I shook my head in disbelief and nodded in understanding as she extolled the necessity of personal suffering (no, thank you) and spun sentences of such truth and beauty I almost gasp.
This title is the last of three I carried on travels this summer. Talk about a strange literary cocktail: [b:Lady Chatterley's Lover|32049|Lady Chatterley's Lover|D.H. Lawrence|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1215571713s/32049.jpg|3249302], [b:The Art of Work|21548935|The Art of Work|Jeff Goins|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1428094389s/21548935.jpg|40883782], and [b:Waiting for God|561999|Waiting for God|Simone Weil|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1387736445s/561999.jpg|1617979]. Simone has taken the longest to digest; she certainly has more original thoughts than the other two combined.
I am not the intended audience and yet Simone often spoke to me:
"It is not my business to think about myself. My business is to think about God. It is for God to think about me."
"...perhaps God likes to use castaway objects, waste, rejects."
"Never in any case whatever is a genuine effort of attention wasted."
"The intelligence can only be led by desire. For there to be desire, there must be pleasure and joy in the work. The intelligence only grows and bears fruit in joy. The joy of learning is as indispensable in study as breathing is in running."
"God has provided that when his grace penetrates to the very center of a man and from there illuminates all his being, he is able to walk on water without violating any of the laws of nature."
Here is crazy, haunting writing rising from a soul of raw candor and deep intellect as it searches for truth. "If there is a real desire, if the thing desired is really light, the desire for light produces it."
By turns I shook my head in disbelief and nodded in understanding as she extolled the necessity of personal suffering (no, thank you) and spun sentences of such truth and beauty I almost gasp.
This title is the last of three I carried on travels this summer. Talk about a strange literary cocktail: [b:Lady Chatterley's Lover|32049|Lady Chatterley's Lover|D.H. Lawrence|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1215571713s/32049.jpg|3249302], [b:The Art of Work|21548935|The Art of Work|Jeff Goins|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1428094389s/21548935.jpg|40883782], and [b:Waiting for God|561999|Waiting for God|Simone Weil|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1387736445s/561999.jpg|1617979]. Simone has taken the longest to digest; she certainly has more original thoughts than the other two combined.
I am not the intended audience and yet Simone often spoke to me:
"It is not my business to think about myself. My business is to think about God. It is for God to think about me."
"...perhaps God likes to use castaway objects, waste, rejects."
"Never in any case whatever is a genuine effort of attention wasted."
"The intelligence can only be led by desire. For there to be desire, there must be pleasure and joy in the work. The intelligence only grows and bears fruit in joy. The joy of learning is as indispensable in study as breathing is in running."
"God has provided that when his grace penetrates to the very center of a man and from there illuminates all his being, he is able to walk on water without violating any of the laws of nature."
Here is crazy, haunting writing rising from a soul of raw candor and deep intellect as it searches for truth. "If there is a real desire, if the thing desired is really light, the desire for light produces it."
ben_smitty's review against another edition
5.0
I finished this 2 months ago (sorry for the late review). I still can’t stop thinking about it.
Jersak’s translation and edition of the text allow Weil’s main ideas to bloom: each essay echoes the one before, unearthing a deeper meaning to Weil’s ideas on the connection between attention, charity, and justice.
Here are some repeated themes:
1. Humans have a natural tendency to hate the afflicted: the poor, lonely, destitute demand too
much from us, especially attention, which we can’t give. Most of the time, we have to pretend
they don’t exist.
2. Charity is a gift from God. Loving the afflicted means paying attention to them, but it is a
miracle.
3. In fact, loving the afflicted means seeing your neighbor as equal: you don’t see yourself as a
“giver,” and the afflicted don’t see themselves as the “given”: “If the gift [of bread] is well
given and well received, the passing of the piece from one human to the other is something
like true
communion.”
4. Paying attention to God, especially in prayer, is what saves the soul.
5. Punishment, if it comes from God, is a gift. Reward, if it does not come from God, is a curse.
Both reward and punishment from God allow Him to enter us: “The stone that kills and the
piece of bread that feeds have exactly the same virtue if Christ is present… Bread and stone are
love.”
6. Disobedience is impossible; obedience is embedded in the way things are (as the stone obeys
the law of gravity), but we can fix our gaze (attend… again) on Christ and be transformed in
the process.
Weil’s “Hesitations About Baptism” and “Letter to a Priest” are painful to read. They’re difficult to comment on, as they stem from what she believed was her calling to exist outside the church for the sake of others. She argues that the incarnational nature of Christ penetrates through all religions, leading her to believe that the Catholic church is catholic in name only.
Though I disagree with her here (and I’m glad Jersak saved these essays for last), I can respect that she followed her convictions through to the end.
I wrote an article on Weil for my church during the George Floyd murder here: https://www.christchurchbangkok.org/blog/58073/attending-to-those-who-can%27t-breathe-simone-weil-and-the-afflicted-neighbor
Jersak’s translation and edition of the text allow Weil’s main ideas to bloom: each essay echoes the one before, unearthing a deeper meaning to Weil’s ideas on the connection between attention, charity, and justice.
Here are some repeated themes:
1. Humans have a natural tendency to hate the afflicted: the poor, lonely, destitute demand too
much from us, especially attention, which we can’t give. Most of the time, we have to pretend
they don’t exist.
2. Charity is a gift from God. Loving the afflicted means paying attention to them, but it is a
miracle.
3. In fact, loving the afflicted means seeing your neighbor as equal: you don’t see yourself as a
“giver,” and the afflicted don’t see themselves as the “given”: “If the gift [of bread] is well
given and well received, the passing of the piece from one human to the other is something
like true
communion.”
4. Paying attention to God, especially in prayer, is what saves the soul.
5. Punishment, if it comes from God, is a gift. Reward, if it does not come from God, is a curse.
Both reward and punishment from God allow Him to enter us: “The stone that kills and the
piece of bread that feeds have exactly the same virtue if Christ is present… Bread and stone are
love.”
6. Disobedience is impossible; obedience is embedded in the way things are (as the stone obeys
the law of gravity), but we can fix our gaze (attend… again) on Christ and be transformed in
the process.
Weil’s “Hesitations About Baptism” and “Letter to a Priest” are painful to read. They’re difficult to comment on, as they stem from what she believed was her calling to exist outside the church for the sake of others. She argues that the incarnational nature of Christ penetrates through all religions, leading her to believe that the Catholic church is catholic in name only.
Though I disagree with her here (and I’m glad Jersak saved these essays for last), I can respect that she followed her convictions through to the end.
I wrote an article on Weil for my church during the George Floyd murder here: https://www.christchurchbangkok.org/blog/58073/attending-to-those-who-can%27t-breathe-simone-weil-and-the-afflicted-neighbor
thebookkeepers's review
2.0
This book was recommended to me from a friend, and I'll admit I likely wouldn't have finished it if I had picked it up on my own. A bit more poetic and philosophical than my tasting it did have a few sweet moments that were enjoyable.
philippelazaro's review against another edition
3.0
“As one has to learn to read or to practice a trade, so one must learn to feel in all things, first and almost solely, the obedience of the universe to God. It is really an apprenticeship. Like every apprenticeship, it takes time and effort.”
–Simone Weil
Book No. 08 of 2018
This was the first I’ve read of Simone Weil beyond a few scattered quotes, and wow, her writing is sharp, honest, and challenging.
Waiting for God is a collection of essays and letters, largely her correspondence with a priest who was a dear friend. She discusses her reluctance towards baptism, connects her own spirituality with other cultural encounters, and unpacks what it really means to love your neighbor.
In spite of how long ago this was written, Simone Weil is such a compelling communicator that it was easy to get a sense of what she was like as a person. Extremely open minded, capable of seeing things through so many different lenses, while at the same time being completely honest things she can’t buy into completely, refusing to practice something without being convinced of its significance.
I have a lot of respect for her work, and this is one piece I’m really thankful to have read.
⭐️⭐️⭐️
–Simone Weil
Book No. 08 of 2018
This was the first I’ve read of Simone Weil beyond a few scattered quotes, and wow, her writing is sharp, honest, and challenging.
Waiting for God is a collection of essays and letters, largely her correspondence with a priest who was a dear friend. She discusses her reluctance towards baptism, connects her own spirituality with other cultural encounters, and unpacks what it really means to love your neighbor.
In spite of how long ago this was written, Simone Weil is such a compelling communicator that it was easy to get a sense of what she was like as a person. Extremely open minded, capable of seeing things through so many different lenses, while at the same time being completely honest things she can’t buy into completely, refusing to practice something without being convinced of its significance.
I have a lot of respect for her work, and this is one piece I’m really thankful to have read.
⭐️⭐️⭐️