Prayer is nothing other than attention in its fullness.
La priere n'est pas autre chose que l'attention dans sa plenitude.
Philosophers
Simone Weil
Born in Paris in 1909, Simone Weil died at 34, leaving behind a body of thought that defies conventional classification. A graduate of the Ecole Normale Superieure, she voluntarily became a factory worker, forging from the crucible of physical suffering a philosophy centered on 'affliction' (malheur) and 'attention' (attention). Her posthumous collection Gravity and Grace, edited by Camus, has been read across the boundaries of religion, philosophy, and social thought ever since.
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Simone Weil's Other Quotes
The need for roots is perhaps the most important and least recognized need of the human soul.
Affliction compels us to recognize as real what we did not believe possible.
All the natural movements of the soul are governed by laws analogous to those of physical gravity. Grace alone is the exception.
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.
Related Quotes
Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.
-- Simone Weil
Listen: there was once a king sitting on his throne. Around him stood great and wonderfully beautiful columns ornamented with ivory, bearing the banners of the king with great honour.
-- Hildegard of Bingen
I pray Heaven to bestow the best of Blessings on this House, and all that shall hereafter inhabit it. May none but honest and wise men ever rule under this roof.
-- John Adams
My heart I offer to you, Lord, promptly and sincerely
-- John Calvin
Soul of Christ, sanctify me
-- Ignatius of Loyola
Nanak: in your name, an ever-rising spirit, and by your will, the welfare of all
-- Guru Nanak