{"title":"Simone Weil","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"gravity-and-grace","title":"Gravity and Grace","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFirst published in French in 1947, two years after Simone Weil’s death, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGravity and Grace\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is a collection of philosophical and spiritual reflections drawn from her notebooks and assembled by the writer Gustave Thibon. Moving between brief meditations and searching fragments, Weil considers the nature of suffering, attention, necessity, beauty, love and the possibility of divine grace. Her central distinction is between gravity, the force that draws the human soul towards self-interest and illusion, and grace, which offers a way beyond the limits of the self.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNeither a conventional philosophical treatise nor a systematic work of theology, the book reveals the restless originality of one of the twentieth century’s most uncompromising thinkers. Shaped by Weil’s engagement with Christianity, Greek philosophy and the experience of human affliction, its reflections demand a rare honesty from the reader. Alongside \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWaiting for God\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, it remains one of her most influential works, offering a profound meditation on attention, spiritual freedom and the difficult passage from the self towards the good.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“What is the reason that as soon as one human being shows he needs another (no matter whether his need be slight or great) the latter draws back from him? Gravity.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Simone Weil, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGravity and Grace\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGravity and Grace\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Time and again she pierces the veil of complacency and brings the reader face to face with the deepest levels of existence.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChurch Times\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64214596419914,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]},{"product_id":"the-need-for-roots","title":"The Need for Roots","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWritten in London in 1943 and first published in French in 1949, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Need for Roots\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is Simone Weil’s searching meditation on the spiritual and political foundations of a humane society. Composed during the Second World War for the Free French movement, it asks what people need in order to live with dignity, and what obligations individuals and governments owe one another. Weil examines the fifteen needs of the soul, including freedom, responsibility, equality, honour and rootedness, before turning to the social and cultural forces that leave people estranged from their communities, their work and their past.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMoving between political philosophy, ethics and spiritual reflection, Weil argues that a just society must nourish the inner life as carefully as it provides for material needs. Her reflections on labour, education, patriotism and the preservation of cultural memory remain strikingly relevant to questions of belonging and collective responsibility. Published posthumously, with an influential preface by T. S. Eliot in its English edition, the book stands among her most ambitious and enduring works: an exacting vision of how society might be rebuilt around human dignity rather than power.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFrom the book\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“A right is not effective on its own, but solely in relation to the obligation to which it corresponds.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Simone Weil, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Need for Roots\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Need for Roots\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003e“Today it retains an eerie prescience.”\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e— Madoc Cairns, \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Times Literary Supplement\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Gardner's EU","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":64214694756682,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}]}],"url":"https:\/\/thelamppostparis.com\/collections\/simone-weil.oembed","provider":"The Lamp-Post Library \u0026 Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}