57 Facts About Simone Weil

Simone Adolphine Weil was a French philosopher, mystic and political activist.

Simone Weil taught intermittently throughout the 1930s, taking several breaks because of poor health and in order to devote herself to political activism.

Simone Weil became increasingly religious and inclined towards mysticism as her life progressed.

Simone Weil wrote throughout her life, although most of her writings did not attract much attention until after her death.

Simone Weil's thought has continued to be the subject of extensive scholarship across a wide range of fields.

Simone Weil was born in her parents' apartment in Paris on 3 February 1909, the daughter of Bernard Simone Weil, a medical doctor from an agnostic Alsatian Jewish background, who moved to Paris after the German annexation of Alsace-Lorraine, and Salomea "Selma" Reinherz, who was born into a Jewish family in Rostov-on-Don and raised in Belgium.

Simone Weil was the younger of her parents' two children.

Simone Weil's brother was mathematician Andre Weil, with whom she would always enjoy a close relationship.

Simone Weil was distressed by her father having to leave home for several years after being drafted to serve in the First World War.

From her childhood home, Simone Weil acquired an obsession with cleanliness; in her later life she would sometimes speak of her "disgustingness" and think that others would see her this way, even though in her youth she had been considered highly attractive.

Simone Weil was generally highly affectionate, but she almost always avoided any form of physical contact, even with female friends.

Simone Weil was a precocious student, proficient in Ancient Greek by age 12.

Simone Weil later learned Sanskrit so that she could read the Bhagavad Gita in the original.

Simone Weil finished first in the exam for the certificate of "General Philosophy and Logic"; Simone de Beauvoir finished second.

Simone Weil was called the "Red virgin", and even "The Martian" by her admired mentor.

Simone Weil taught philosophy at a secondary school for girls in Le Puy and teaching was her primary employment during her short life.

Simone Weil often became involved in political action out of sympathy with the working class.

Simone Weil had never formally joined the French Communist Party, and in her twenties she became increasingly critical of Marxism.

In 1932, Simone Weil visited Germany to help Marxist activists who were at the time considered to be the strongest and best organised communists in Western Europe, but Simone Weil considered them no match for the then up-and-coming fascists.

Simone Weil participated in the French general strike of 1933, called to protest against unemployment and wage cuts.

Simone Weil identified as an anarchist, and sought out the anti-fascist commander Julian Gorkin, asking to be sent on a mission as a covert agent to rescue the prisoner Joaquin Maurin.

Gorkin refused, saying Simone Weil would be sacrificing herself for nothing since it was highly unlikely that she could pass as a Spaniard.

Simone Weil replied that she had "every right" to sacrifice herself if she chose, but after arguing for more than an hour, she was unable to convince Gorkin to give her the assignment.

Simone Weil was forced to leave the unit, and was met by her parents who had followed her to Spain.

About a month after her departure, Simone Weil's unit was nearly wiped out at an engagement in Perdiguera in October 1936, with every woman in the group being killed.

Simone Weil was distressed by the Republican killings in eastern Spain, particularly when a fifteen-year-old Falangist was executed after he had been taken prisoner and Durruti had spent an hour trying to persuade him to change his political position before giving him until the next day to decide.

Simone Weil was born into a secular household and raised in "complete agnosticism".

Simone Weil was attracted to the Christian faith beginning in 1935, when she had the first of three pivotal religious experiences: being moved by the beauty of villagers singing hymns in a procession she stumbled across while on holiday to Portugal.

Simone Weil was led to pray for the first time in her life as Lawrence S Cunningham relates:.

Simone Weil had a third, more powerful, revelation a year later while reciting George Herbert's poem Love III, after which "Christ himself came down and took possession of me", and, from 1938 on, her writings became more mystical and spiritual, while retaining their focus on social and political issues.

Simone Weil was attracted to Catholicism, but declined to be baptized at that time, preferring to remain outside due to "the love of those things that are outside Christianity".

Simone Weil believed that all these and other traditions contained elements of genuine revelation, writing:.

Nevertheless, Simone Weil was opposed to religious syncretism, claiming that it effaced the particularity of the individual traditions:.

In 1942, Simone Weil travelled to the United States with her family.

Simone Weil had been reluctant to leave France, but agreed to do so as she wanted to see her parents to safety and knew they would not leave without her.

Simone Weil was encouraged by the fact that it would be relatively easy for her to reach Britain from the United States, where she could join the French Resistance.

Simone Weil had hopes of being sent back to France as a covert agent.

Yet there is evidence that Simone Weil was recruited by the Special Operations Executive, with a view to sending her back to France as a clandestine wireless operator.

In 1943, Simone Weil was diagnosed with tuberculosis and instructed to rest and eat well.

Nor does the presence of evil constitute a limitation of God's omnipotence under Simone Weil's notion; according to her, evil is present not because God could not create a perfect world, but because the act of "creation" in its very essence implies the impossibility of perfection.

Simone Weil's notion of affliction is a sort of suffering "plus" which transcends both body and mind, a physical and mental anguish that scourges the very soul.

Simone Weil is really present in the universal beauty.

Simone Weil wrote that "The beauty of this world is Christ's tender smile coming to us through matter".

In Waiting for God, Simone Weil explains that the three forms of implicit love of God are love of neighbour love of the beauty of the world and love of religious ceremonies.

Finally, Simone Weil explains, love of religious ceremonies occurs as an implicit love of God, when religious practices are pure.

Simone Weil writes that purity in religion is seen when "faith and love do not fail," and most absolutely, in the Eucharist.

Simone Weil believed it was her writings that embodied the best of her, not her actions and definitely not her personality.

Simone Weil had similar views about others, saying that if one looks at the lives of great figures in separation from their works, it "necessarily ends up revealing their pettiness above all", as it's in their works that they have put the best of themselves.

Simone Weil wrote The Iliad, or The Poem of Force, a 24-page essay, in 1939.

The essay contains several extracts from the epic which Simone Weil translated herself from the original Greek; Petrement records how Simone Weil took over half an hour per line.

Simone Weil was in London working for the French Resistance and trying to convince its leader, Charles de Gaulle, to form a contingent of nurses who would serve at the front lines.

Simone Weil had given Thibon some of her notebooks written before May 1942, but not with any intent to publish them.

Pope Paul VI said that Simone Weil was one of his three greatest influences.

Simone Weil's popularity began to decline in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Simone Weil was a harsh critic of the influence of Judaism on Western civilisation.

Simone Weil was an even harsher critic of the Roman Empire, in which she refused to see any value.

Haslett noted that Simone Weil had become "a little-known figure, practically forgotten in her native France, and rarely taught in universities or secondary schools".