Scholars like T.S. Eliot called her “a woman of genius, of a kind of genius akin to that of the saints”. And the world knows her as Simone Weil, the philosopher, social activist and probably one of the greatest mystic of all times. However, many of us will be surprised to know that she grew up in an agnostic environment. But she was drawn towards mysticism and during her life she had several experiences which made her believe in the entity called God. In a letter to Father Perrin, who was a friend to her, this is what she said about those encounters:
“…I was suffering from splitting headaches; each sound hurt me like a blow; by an extreme effort of concentration I was able to rise above this wretched flesh, to leave it to suffer by itself, heaped up in a corner, and to find a pure and perfect joy in the unimaginable beauty of the chanting and the words…
Until last September I had never once prayed in all my life, at least not in the literal sense of the word. I had never said any words to God, either out loud or mentally. Last summer, doing Greek with T-, I went through the Our Father word for word in Greek. We promised each other to learn it by heart. I do not think he ever did so, but some weeks later, as I was turning over the pages of the Gospel, I said to myself that since I had promised to do this thing and it was good, I ought to do it…”
Read on and get drenched in philosophy and mysticism which is reflected in her quotes compiled herein.
