28 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Quintessence of a Spiritual Genius, March 1, 2007
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.
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75 of 88 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
They called her the Red Virgin, September 27, 1999
By A Customer
This review is from: Gravity and Grace (Paperback)
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.
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42 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Mind-blowing aphorisms..., September 1, 1998
By A Customer
This review is from: Gravity and Grace (Paperback)
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.
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