Simone Weil Gravity and Grace First complete English language edition With an introduction and postscript by Gustave Thibon Translated by Emma Crawford and Mario von der Ruhr London and New YorkLe Pesanteur ela grace first published 1947 by Librairie PLON, Paris, First English edition published 1952 by Routledge & Kegan Paul First published in Routledge Classics 2002 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 46 29 West 33th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge isan imprint of the Taylor Francis Group © 1947, 1999 Librairie PLON ‘Translation of Chapter enti Marlo von der Ruhr d ‘Israel! and Postscript ©2002, ‘Typeset in Joanna by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk Printed and bound in Great Britain by Biddles Ltd, Guildford and King's lynn All rights reserved. No part ofthis book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data ‘A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-415-29000-7 (hb) ISBN 0-415-29001-5 (pbk) CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Gravity and Grace Void and Compensation To Accept the Void Detachment Imagination Which Renunciation of Time To Desire Without an Object The Self Decreation Self-Effacement Necessity and Obedience the Void Idolatry Love Evil AfflictionViolence The Cross Balance and Lever The Impossible Contradiction The Distance Between the Necessary and the Good Chance He Whom We Must Love is Absent Atheism as a Purification Attention and Will ence and Grace Readings The Ring of Gyges Meaning of the Universe Metaxu Beauty Algebra The Social Imprint Israel The Great Beast Social Harmony The Mysticism of Work Postscript, Firty YEARS LATER 152 155 159 164 10 178 INTRODUCTION [find it hard to make public the extyg6rdinary work of Simone ‘Weil. Hitherto I have shared with ofly a few special friends the joy of knowing her personality gfd her mind, and now I have the painful impression of divulging a family secret. My one con- solation lies in the certainty 4hat through the inevitable profan- ation of publicity her testigvony will reach other kindred souls, 1 find it stil harder toe obliged, in introducing this work, to speak incidentally of, : the absence of reticence among my4ny modern writers, the taste for auto- biography and coyffession, the habit of admitting the public to the innermost rpéesses of an intimacy stripped of all reserve have never failed y6 surprise and scandalize me. Yet 1 owe it to myself ‘ify the appearance of my name at the head Af these papers—to explain the exceptional circum- stances yhrough which I came to know the real Simone Weil and