UNFAILING FAITH AND LOVE: LESSONS FROM SIMONE WEIL’S WRITING ON “IMPLICIT LOVE”
Why is love important? For Christians, love is the keystone of faith, the primary virtue embodied by Jesus Christ, and the hallmark of the Triune God. Love connects us to God and to each other. The character of Christian love is special, distinct from ordinary human love. Some of the most intriguing and rich writing on this subject comes from Simone Weil (1909 – 1943), the French philosopher and mystic, who wrote about the demands, invitations, and complications of Christian faith.
Earlier in her life, Weil was a passionate activist and social critic, who worked on behalf of labor and socialist causes. Following a series of mystical experiences, Weil converted to Christianity. (1) Waiting for God, one of Weil’s most well-known works, contains series of letters and essays debating Christian (namely, Catholic) doctrine and reflecting deeply on theological truth. In one such essay, “Forms of the Implicit Love of God,” Weil explores “love of neighbor,” “love of the order and beauty of the world,” and “love of religious practice.” Each is compelling on its own terms, and together, they reveal a picture of the character of Christian love and the demands – in the best sense of the word – of Christian faith. Weil defines “implicit” forms of love as the “indirect” ways we receive the love of God. (2) Weil’s sources are as deep as they are broad. She roots her revelations in everything from Greek mythology to Biblical writing to geometry. It is a joy to read her work.
A year and a half into the pandemic, there are many days when life can feel flat, drained of the freedom, ease, community, connection, and inspiration that used to be stitched naturally into everyday life. A few months ago, I came down with shingles. Flattened by pain and fatigue, it was the first time in a long while when the hours didn’t bleed into one another, when I had enough space to reflect and read spiritual works, even simply a paragraph at a time. I think Weil would not be the least surprised that this “affliction” spurred spiritual growth.
Wisdom extracted from Weil’s writing reminds me of the ways God reveals Godself and truth in “implicit” ways; how to slow down enough to listen and witness; and what faith demands of us in daily life.
Love of Neighbor
The first of Weil’s “three loves,” is the love of neighbor. Of course, Christ commands us, “love your neighbor has yourself” (Mark 12:31). But Weil defines this “love” in particular ways. She writes, “Generosity and compassion are inseparable, and both have their model in God, that is to say in creation and in the Passion. Christ taught us that the supernatural love of our neighbour is the exchange of compassion and gratitude which happens in a flash between two beings, one possessing and the other deprived of human personality.” (3) Generosity, compassion, and gratitude are three foundational elements of love of neighbor, for they define the relationship between self and other within the Christian paradigm.
Weil emphasizes that the true love of neighbor is expressed best in “the sympathy of the strong for the weak.” (4) This embodies the radical equality and toppling of hierarchies Christ preached. For Weil, it represents most clearly the pure forms of compassion, gratitude, and generosity. Weil frequently discusses “affliction” as a key to love and faith, much like the writing of other mystics and teachers, including Julian of Norwich and Dorothy Day. By loving each other and joining in each other’s suffering (the very definition of compassion), we embody Christ-like love as stipulated in the New Testament.
Toward the end of the essay, Weil discusses friendship, distinguishing it from neighborly love. While love of neighbor is defined as a particularly Christian form of radical equality, Weil defines friendship as the “personal and human love which is pure and which enshrines an intimation and a reflection of divine love.” (5) “True” friendship must be devoid of “necessity.” Weil argues that the “Necessary” motivates us into relationships with others based on what will benefit us. While need marks relationships to varying extents, Weil writes that friendship – fraternal love – presents us the opportunity to receive the implicit love of God when motivated by the Good: seeking and desiring the good of the other, rather than the fulfillment of our own needs.
Weil writes, “When a human being is an any degree necessary to us, we cannot desire his good unless we cease to desire our own. Where there is necessity there is constraint and domination. We are in the power of that of which we stand in need, unless we possess it.” (6) Again, Weil expresses the importance of self-sacrificial, ethical love – a hallmark of Christianity. Absent the machinations of power and exploitation, we can witness, give, receive, and participate in God’s love.
Love of Beauty in the World
The second form of implicit love, as outlined by Weil, is the love of beauty and order in the natural world. Weil writes:
“God created the universe and his Son, our firstborn brother, created the beauty of it for us. The beauty of the world is Christ’s tender smile for us coming through matter. He is really present in the universal beauty. The love of this beauty proceeds from God dwelling in our souls and goes out to God present in the universe.” (7)
For four years, I lived in Vermont, sandwiched in between the Green Mountains and the Adirondacks. Every morning, I’d wake up to see the flush of fall colors, or each tree branch encased in ice across the mountain tableau, or the mist rising in blue, orange, and pink hues. It felt exactly as Weil describes it: the tenderness of Christ, grace, God dwelling in my soul, like “sacrament.” (8)
Weil wrote these words well decades before the first alarms of climate change were widely understood. With the news from the most-recent IPCC report, the scope and irreversibility of ecological devastation are overwhelming. But like all the demands of Christian faith, the attunement to loss and injustice is drawn from love and spurs us to action.
Love of Religious Practice
Lastly, Weil shares how the indirect love of God emanates through religious practice. Though this is perhaps an obvious assertion to most Christians, Weil makes a vital point, writing, “Every religious practice, every rite, all liturgy is a form of the recitation of the name of the Lord and in principle should have a real virtue, the virtue of saving whoever devotes himself to performing it with desire.” (9) Weil argues that in order for religious practice to be an “implicit” vehicle for the love of God, it must be “pure”: religion infused with virtue, faith, and love.
Weil employs the example of the Eucharist as an expression of the “perfectly pure,” for the sacred bread contains within it the “secret” and “total” presence of Christ. (10) It cannot be defiled. Through receiving the Eucharist and expressing our love for God and the rite, we receive the love of God, purity, and truth in ways beyond human understanding.
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Love of neighbor, love of the world, and love of religion that is virtuous are anchors for living faithfully. Reading Weil renews my faith and my attention. I see matter, practice, and the suffering with clearer eyes. I listen with a clearer heart.
Tom Lynch, “Simone Weil (1909-1943),” Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy: https://iep.utm.edu/weil/
Simone Weil, Waiting for God, Routledge (2021), 89.
Ibid 97.
Ibid 98.
Ibid 142.
Ibid 143.
Ibid 112.
Ibid.
Ibid 127.
Ibid 132.
