Simone Weil, Gustave Thibon (editor), Emma Crawford (translator), Mario von der Ruhr (translator) · 1947 · EPUB · Calibre ID 995
Resurfaced in The Probe and the Kestrel (2026-10-09).
Role in the triad
Anchor / source of the word: attention defined against the will, the will confined to the muscles
Why this book
Both other books answer ch. 26 ‘Attention and Will’: Murdoch borrows the word, Polanyi finds attention at work in exactly the muscular region Weil assigns to the will, while agreeing with her on indirection.
Quotations
Verified against the book’s own text on the day of the reading.
- “We have to try to cure our faults by attention and not by will.” (ch. 26, ‘Attention and Will’)
- “Attention, taken to its highest degree, is the same thing as prayer.” (ch. 26)
- “By pulling at the bunch, we make all the grapes fall to the ground.” (ch. 26)
- “Attention alone—that attention which is so full that the ‘I’ disappears—is required of me.” (ch. 26)
- “The poet produces the beautiful by fixing his attention on something real.” (ch. 26)
Themes
attention · decreation · gymnastics of the attention · indirection · muscles · prayer · will