Notebook Sources for Gravity and Grace Quotations

Notebook Sources for Gravity and Grace Quotations Compiled by Martin Andic, edited by Eric Springsted Copyright Eric O. Springsted

Editions referred to: Simone Weil, The Notebooks of Simone Weil, trans. Arthur Wills, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1956, 1976 Simone Weil, Gravity and Grace trans. Emma Crauford, Routledge & Kegan Paul, London, 1952, 1963. Simone Weil, First and Last Notebooks, trans. Richard Rees, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1964.

Note that there are different translators for these works and so the wording in Gravity and Grace is not exactly the same as in the translation of any of the notebook volumes.

This correspondence between GG and the notebooks was done using the above editions. The most recent edition of GG edited by Mario von der Ruhr contains a chapter on Israel that was not in the original edition. Andic did not have this later English edition and so there are no correspondences for that chapter. Page numbers may be different between the two GG English editions; however, the entries are the same and therefore should be easily located in the new edition using the chart below as the entries and the wording is the same.

Introduction

Simone Weil’s introduction to the world at large was through the publication of Gravity and Grace in 1947. Weil had entrusted many of her papers and her notebooks to her friend Gustav Thibon, who after her death culled numerous bon mots from her notebooks to put together Gravity and Grace. To this day, it remains in the forefront of those Weil books that people know. GG, however, presents some problems that every scholar must be aware of, and which probably should be recognized even by the casual reader, too. This book is in an important sense, Thibon’s book although the words are, of course, Weil’s. All the chapter headings categorizing each group of entries are Thibon’s. All of the entries are taken from Weil’s notebooks, but in no sense is their original context preserved or even hinted at it by Thibon. Two consecutive entries in GG may be separated by many pages in the original notebooks, and hence by even several years in their original composition. Often Weil used her notebooks as workbooks, and so a striking phrase may depend upon what went before it for its sense. Without context, it may be highly enigmatic, and, at times, unnecessarily so. It may also be experimental. None of that is possible to discern from GG which looks like a series of timeless pronouncements. To further complicate matters, when Thibon put these entries together, he did not always put all of an entry in, and occasionally, although he tended to keep quotations from separate places separate, there are block entries that look to be a continuous train of thought, even if it is a short one, that actually contain two quotations from the notebooks that are, in fact, widely separated. In some cases, a set of entries may have come from close proximity to each other, but Thibon has rearranged their order. For example, on pages 43-44 in the chapter on “Necessity and Obedience” one will note that there are four block entries that come from pages 155-156 in the notebooks, with the inclusion of one stray from page 150. Yet, as closely related as these are, they are hardly in their original order, as the first one in GG is 4th in the notebooks, the second one is first in the NB, the third is the third in the NB, and the fourth in GG is the second in order in the NB. In many cases, none of this may matter; in many cases, particularly when one wants to undertake a close reading, it really does. Yet, GG is still widely read and deservedly so. One should keep it on her night stand. But, truth be told, for anyone who would write on Weil, GG is sand that one should carefully avoid building a house on. In GG the entries are striking and well worth quoting and thinking about. But they do not reflect Weil’s own ordering of them, or anything even close, even within separate chapters, to the flow of her thought. There is little in GG that will help one explain what Weil means, and if one sets oneself the task of explaining, then one has to look farther afield. For these reasons, it would seem to be important to know exactly where any entry in GG came from so that one can look at it in its original context. A good scholar may well read GG and be struck by something, but when she or he starts trying to explicate it, it really is necessary to put it in its original context, unless one is simply looking for a good pithy quote. But figuring out where a quote came from is a huge task, as the notebooks from which all of GG were taken run several hundred pages. Chasing the quotes down is a monumental task. The late Martin Andic, who was truly a master Weil scholar, over the course of his career took on that task. Martin had a rare ability as well as an interest born of training in classical philosophy to pin down citations. When he wrote essays on Weil ( or anybody else for that matter) his footnotes often looked like a running syntopicon of ideas taken from the history of philosophy which were related to the text at hand. There was no one who had a better ability to chase down a quote. Over the course of his career, Martin patiently found each GG quote as it originally appeared in the Notebooks. This was made harder by the fact that, working in English, GG and the Notebooks of Simone Weil were translated by different people and so the same quote is not always word for word identical in GG and the Notebooks. After Martin’s death, I came into possession of his extensive Weil library and notes. He had long talked about this project and it was his wish that this very helpful work be made public. I am therefore happy to put together a useable chart from the notations he made in his copy of GG, and to summarize here some of the issues surrounding Gravity and Grace.

Eric O. Springsted A Chart for the Notebook Sources of Gravity and Grace

The notebook page numbers refer to The Notebooks of Simone Weil except in a few cases where the page is preceded by an ‘F’; in these cases, the citation is from The First and Last Notebooks. It is assumed that an entry continues on from the end of one page to the top of the next page; however, pay attention to the first words of any citation to make sure. There are a few instances in which the citation has not been located in the notebooks.

Chapter: GRAVITY AND GRACE page 1: Notebook page number All the natural... ? We must always 152

Two forces rule 114 Gravity. Generally what 138 What is the reason 151 Lear, a tragedy 138 The object of an 124 page 2 What is base 84 If it be true 114 Queuing for food. 122 I must not forget 153 page 3 Attitude of supplication: 179 The source of man’s moral 222 To come down 384 Creation is composed 388 page 4 Grace is the law 308 To lower onself 221 Too great affliction 141 VOID AND COMPENSATION page 5 Human mechanics 122 The tendency to spread 128 It is impossible 137 The wish to see 158 page 6 The tendency to 182 To harm a person 181 To forgive. We 136 Headaches. At a certain 59 The search for equilibrium 140 page 7 A man who lived 546 Those whose city had 157 A situation which is 36 Tragedy of those who, 153 page 8 A rock in our path. 163 To grasp ( in each thing) 126 Energy, freed 175 Every kind of reward 251 Self-satisfaction over 251 A purely imaginary reward 124 page 9 A beloved being who 200

TO ACCEPT THE VOID page 10 Tradition teaches us 190 Grace fills empty 198 The necessity for a reward 138 page 11 The world must be 148 To love truth means 160 Man only escapes 156 DETACHMENT page 12 Affliction in itself 211 Two ways of renouncing 130 The extinction of desie 550 page 13 Always, beyond the particular 491 We must leave on one 149 To love God through 258 The reality of the world 318 page 14 Affliction which forces us 224? Attachment is a 334 As soon as we know 366 Attachment is no more 365 Human misery would be 252 All suffering which does 216 Never to think of a being 218 page 15 Two ways of killing 40 The miser deprives himself 421 Electra weeping 583

IMAGINATION WHICH FILLS THE VOID page 16 The imagination is 150 Every void ( not accepted) 139 The militiamen of the 166 The imagination, filler up 160 page 17 Compensations. 199 The adoration of the 146 In no matter what 145 We must continually suspend 145

RENUNCIATION OF TIME page 18 Time is an image 244 The miser whose 183 The future is a filler 157 The past and the future 244 The present does not 618 When we are 619 page 19 Time and the cave 551? A method of purification 136 When pain and weariness 282

TO DESIRE WITHOUT AN OBJECT page 20 Purification is the 514 We have to go 203 If we go down into 20 page 21 To ascertain exactly what 180 To lose someone 28 We must not seek the 160 The void is the 149 Christ experience all 149 The handshake of a 237 page 22 Denial of Saint Peter 148 To implore a man 188

THE SELF page 23 We possess nothing 336 Offering: We cannot 337 Nothing in the 337 page 24 Redemptive suffering 342 In affliction, the 223 page 25 Quasi-hell on earth 253 For those whose 338 page 26 The weaker the 339 The agony of 337 page 27 Niobe also, of 546 The sin in 126 The Pharisees were 180 Perfect joy excludes 179

DECREATION page 28 Decreation: to make 247? Creation is an act 613 Relentless necessity, 401 There exists a 229 page 29 An imaginary divinity 229 Renunciation. Imitation of 193 We are like barrels 453 Elevation and abasement 244 Everything which is 309 We only possess 544 Catholic communion. God 99 page 30 He emptied himself 217 There is a resemblance 241 Reversal of the 527 Except the seed die 179 page 31 The extreme difficulty 300 For men of 236 renunciation demands that 203 page 32 When the passion 292 If we consider 216 There are only two 469 Death. An instantaneous 183 page 33 If we find 291 Joy within God 335 Those who wish 366 Belief in immortality 492 The presence of God 344 God could create 230 Being and having. 127 page 34 Job. Satan to 261 Appearance clings to 230 It is necessary to 298 It is necessary not 298 To uproot oneself 298

SELF-EFFACEMENT page 35 God gave me 484 The self is 419 To be what the 401 page 36 All the things 378 I cannot conceive 403 ‘Et la mort 383 page 37 May I disappear 383 I do not in 422

NECESSITY AND OBEDIENCE page 38 The sun shines on 140 We have to consent 39 Subordination. Economy of 187 In which cases 250 We have to deserve 260 Obedience is the 96 There are cases 224 page 39 The pomegranate see. 402 We should do 150 We should not take 234 If my eternal salvation 275 Detachment from the 124 page 40 Every act should 230 ‘Iwas naked 436 “I was an hungered 358 page 41 In general the 358 We should not 360 To be only an intermediary 126 With all things 531 The will of God 233 page 42 In prayer we 307 We can never know 418 The use of temptations 278 page 43 Every creature which 363 Necessity. We have to 156 Obedience. There are 155 The words of 155 Obedience is the only 150 However much we give 155 page 44 Action is the pointer 294 The Foolish Virgins 585 When the inward 376 In contemplation, 361

ILLUSIONS page 45 We are drawn 562 Things of the senses 468 Appearance has the 424 Illusions about the 549 Actions effectively carried out 498 Strictly speaking time...(p.46) 71 page 46 The miser’s treasure 551, 553 The soul which 325 Necessity is essentially 326 What is real 410 page 47 In the spiritual life 326? There is a distinction 320 How can we distinguish 321 That which distinguishes 312 Humility has as its 320 A test of what is 369 We must try to love 273 After having experienc 551 page48 There is always a 217 Cure for imaginary 326 Transposition: we believe 123 All the passions 273 We must be careful 126 page 49 The lower parts of 149 Fear of God in 174 The flesh is 273 Why is the determination 472 God and the supernatural 230 page 50 Morality and literature. 355 A science which 151 It is bad to 339 Different types of 130 If we except 121 page 51 Duration, whether 444 I should look 301 Everything that is 586 page 52 That which makes us 622 I need God to 622 IDOLATRY page 53 Idolatry comes from 505 Lacking idols, it 150 Ideas are changeable, 150 All men are 248 Man would like 279 page 54 We do not 274

LOVE page 55 Love is a sign 274 God’s love for 278 If my eyes are 456 Love of God 237 Love on the 270 page 56 In Plato’s eyes 530 The Love of Phaedrus 497 Love tends to 82 Among human beings 288 Belief in the existence 292 The mind is not 308 page 57 This need to be 372 Pure love of 616 Imaginary love of 326 Love needs reality 273 page 58 It is an act F47 Everything whihc is 637 The imagination is 553 page 59 Whenever the spirit F31, 52, 50 It is a fault F37 page 60 Do not allow F18 The same words 220 Benefaction is permissible 366 Gratitude is first 295 page 61 In order to feel 152

EVIL page 62 CreationL good broken 414 Evil is limitless 451 Monotony of evil 180 Evil is licence 183 Literature and morality 192 page 63 A certain inferior 109 Good as the opposite 108 It is not good 127 Good is essntially 127 Is there a union of 408 page 64 Does evil, as we 108 As soon as we do 114 The sensitivity of the 621 The sin which we 506 page 65 The false God 507 Expiatory suffering is 416 A hurtful act 621 All crime is a 624 page 66 We must accept the 181 Purity is absolutely 508 If someone does me 621 page 67 The saints (those who 299 The sin against 324 Once an atom of 382 When we love God 288 page 68 We have to love 340 Speech of Ivan 432 The death agony 467 The unreality which 563 page 69 Good and evil. 8 To allow the imagination 10 page 70 Evil has to be 502 That which is 108 We cannot have a 258 The contemplation of 281 The extreme affliction 262 Sin and the glamour 237 page 71 We are surprised 157 How could there be 526 There is every degree 616

AFFLICTION page 72 Suffering: superiority of man 229 I should not love 266 To accept what is 288 If there were no 294 Greater purity of 153 page 73 We should seek 106 The extreme greatness of 386 We should make every effort 294 Joy is the overflowing 222 Affliction compels us 216 Affliction. Time bears 27 There is a point in 153 Suffering is nothing 157 page 74 The future. We go 153 The being who 137 The fragmentation of 157 Time does us violence; 28 All problems come 216 It is not joy 230 page 75 By nature we fly 507 Suffering, teaching and 428 Suffering and enjoyment 216 The infinite which 26 page 76 To say that the world 290

VIOLENCE page 77 Death is the most 103 We must strive 97 The cause of wars 33 page 78 War. To keep 33

THE CROSS page 79 Whoever takes up 229 Christ healing the 263 The abandonment at 403 “My God, My God 263 To be just it 411 In order that 415 page 80 The cross. The tree 517 Adam and Eve 235 God wear himself out 429 God is crucified 213 page 81 Prometheus – the god 224 We are what is 564 In order that we 411 The dimensions of 380 We have to cross 428 page 82 God crosses through 317 The Passion is 375 As God is present 343 From human misery 222 There are people 311 Suffering is at 230 page 83 Blood on snow. 234 To be innocent 229 In emptying ourselves 229 God gives himself 304

BALANCE AND LEVER page 84 The cross as a balance 560 A lever. We 169 A strict necessity 256 One – the smallest of 603 It is human misery 234 page 85 Statera facta corporis. 214 We must not judge 318 When the whole universe 433

THE IMPOSSIBLE page 86 Human life is 311 The impossibility of 414 The good is impossible. 434 Desire is impossible: 421 Our life is impossibility 411 page 87 Contradition alone is 411 Impossibility is the 412 It is necessary to 410 Our Father, he who is 432 The links that we 548 We are beings 412 When something seems 66 page 88 Error as an 237 A benefit (bienfait) 417 That action is good 416

CONTRADICTION page 89 The contradictions the 329 Contradiction experinece to 414 When the attention has revealed 411 The demonstrable correlation 412 All true good carries 410 The word good 405 The existence of opposite 435 page 90 An experimental ontological 434 Man’s great affliction 637 page 91 The natural virtues 349 Opposites and contradictories. 363 Pythagorean idea: the 447 A wrong union of 601 page 92 The union of contradictories 346 Simultaneous existence of 391 The simultaneous existence of 394 We have to find 121 page 93 Evil is the shadow 414

THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE NECESSARY AND THE GOOD page 94 Necessity is God’s 266 God has committed all 361 As there is in 615 Necessity – an aimge 297 page 95 The distance between 379 The distance between the 363 We aspire only to 504 Limitation is the 613 The idea that the 350 page 96 The absence of God 403 The limitless is the 454 CHANCE page 97 The beings I love 483 We want everything which 454 Stars and blossoming 13 The theories about 271 page 98 The only good 271 The vulnerability of 366 The destruction of Troy 274 The woman who 234

HE WHOM WE MUST LOVE IS ABSENT page 99 God can only be 419 Evil is the 253 This world in so far 424 ‘In the desert 219 He who puts 493 Nothing which exists 220 page 100 Consent to the good 404 Faith (when it is 438 There are four 450 page 101 Incarnation. God is weak 221 If I thought 261 God sends affliction 272 page 102 The cry of suffering: 229 The irreducible character 445 ‘He will laugh 626

ATHEISM AS A PURIFICATION page 103 A case of contradictories 127 There are two atheisms 126 Of two men 151 page 104 The errors of our 502 Religion in so far 238 A man whose whole 432

ATTENTION AND WILL page 105 We do not have 144 Stages of belief. 233 We have to try 265 The will only controls 205 page 106 If we turn our 271 Extreme attention is 331 The wrong way of seeking 169 There are some kinds 123 page 107 Love is the teacher 527 We liberate energy 179 The capacity to drive 268 As regards tempations 257 We should be indiffernt 303 The attention turned 504 page 108 As son as we 626 Writing is like 130 The poet produces 449 Studies and faith. 597 page 109 Method for undestanding 334 When a struggle 251 Our desires are 451 Video meliora... 108 page 110 It is incontestable 412 Experience of the transcendent 242 Solitude. Where does 12 We can only know 236 Sin is nothing else 235 The recognition of 276 page 111 It is not the fault 625 Purity is the 290 Extreme purity can 290

TRAINING page 112 We have to accomplish 417 The fulfillment of our 379 Those things which 289 Precepts are not given 267 Training. Every time 420 page 113 We must not try 424 page 114 The source of my 601 Mountains, rocks, fall upon 304 page 115 Uninterrupted interior prayer 508 Hope is the knowledge 304 Good infallibly produces 306

INTELLIGENCE AND GRACE page 116 We know by means 242 Faith is experience 240 In the intellectual order 245 (275) The wrong humility 275 When we listen 245 page 117 The privileged role of 364 The mysteries of the 238 page 118 The desire to discover 452 The object of our search 173 The world is a text 23 We have not to choose 139 Intelligence can never 336 page 119 The Greeks believed 441 In all that has to 239 We must suppose the 595 Science, today, will either 595 Science only offers 454 page 120 Pythagoras. Only the mystical 512 Galileo. Having as its 453 The philosophical cleansing 314

READINGS page 121 Others. To see each 30 Electra, daughter of 402 Justice. To be ever 43 We read, but also 43 page 122 Charity and injustice 164 Readings. Reading – except 160 page 123 Superposed readings: To read 267 ‘Judge not’: Christ 234 THE RING OF GYGES pages 124–126 We give the faults 345ff.

MEANING OF THE UNIVERSE page 127 We are a part 249 The atman. Let the 19 Let the whole universe 19 To limit one’s 24 page 128 To change the relationship 321 Two tendencies with ? He who has not been 293 We have to associate 46 page 129 To love our neighbor 23 Would that the entire univese 60 If I choose, the 202 This irreducible ‘I’ 293 page 130 What does it matter 268 To desire one’s 279 All that I wish 294 br...I could not 205 page 131 I think I must 206 I can taint 213 We have to endure 200 We must not 40 The whole cow 553

METAXU page 132 All created things 495 This world is 492 Two prisoners whose 497 By putting all 494 The essence of 496 The bridges of the Greeks. 370 page 133 Only he who loves 495 Power (and money, 495 This world, the 493 Desire is evil 100 What is it a sacrilege 48 page 134 The true earthly 258 All the faculties 447 Civilization of the 457

BEAUTY page 135 Beauty is the 266 Beauty is necessity 379 The subject of science ? cf.513 The bautiful in nature 172 Beauty captivates the 317 Among other unions 554 The bautiful is that 81 page 136 Only drama 620 A work of art 241 The beautiful is a 335 We have to remain 615 The attitude of looking 415 page 137 Poetry. Impossible pain 477 Beauty: a fruit 283 A double movement ?486 This movement of descent 604 In everything which 440 page 138 If the beautiful is 443 We must certainly 540 Art has no immediate F46

ALGEBRA

Money, mechanization, algebra. F30 Algebra and money 146 About fifty year ago F31 Among the characteristics F30 As collective thought F28 There is no collective F28 page 140 To make an inventory F45,51 The spirit, overcome F31 Modern life is F50 Capitalism has brought F23

THE SOCIAL IMPRINT page 141 Man is a slave F20 To be in F264 The notion of oppression is F35 The difference between F19 page 142 To have to deal directly F40 The powerful, if they F41 page 143 We must always consider F17 The only way to F42 Social problem. To 296 We must eliminate 148

THE GREAT BEAST page 144 The Great Beast is 618 If we could be 547 There are two goods 592 page 145 The vegetative and 296 Conscience is deceived 11 page 146 It is only by 286 On the non-supernatural 109 Rome is the great 482 Would a society 159 Perhaps there was 297 page 147 The Great Beast of Plato 328 The power of the social 108 By a strange mystery 164 Pharisees: ‘Verily 307 The service of the false 504 page 148 Those who think 350 ‘He to whom 349 Charity can and 506 page 149 And yet a city 296 Patriotism. We must 507

SOCIAL HARMONY page 150 It is impossible for 464? The point of contact 548 Unobtrusiveness – the 632 Equilibrium is the 466 Equilibrium alone destroys 466 As it cannot be 485 page 151 Equilibrium alone reduces 466 The meaning of F16 The feudal bond, 467 A well ordered society 559 page 152 The meaning of Plato’s 552 Obedience to a 555 The only thing 556 page 153 Legitimacy represents 555 Uprooting, the break 556 Atheistic materialism is 562 The link between 134 The great mistake 447 The supreme atheistic 435 page 154 The eternal alone 443 A future which 556 The past, not when 423 page 155 Time as it 444 The past: something 334 Whence will renewal 445 Contraries. Today we thirst 497 The constant illusion 552 page 156 Socialism consists in 552 Mdern totalitarianism 504 After the collapse F51 Our period has 146

THE MYSTICISM OF WORK page 157 The secret of the F18 Man’s greatness is F44 Plato himself is F18 Two taks: F51,36 Manual work. 301 page 158 Monotony is the 598 The spirituality of work 496 The great hardship 546 page 159 No terrestial finality 596 To strive from 595 Slavery is work 596 page 160 Manual labor. 78 Joys parallel to 79