Author
Simone Weil
2 reading cards from 1 book · 1947.
2 cards
Greutatea și harul · 1947
Full attention is the purest form of giving, suspending the ego to receive the other's reality.
Weil, a philosopher and mystic, sees attention as a suspension of one's own ego to make room for the other. It is not about polite listening, but about emptying yourself to receive the other's reality without distorting it. For example, when you listen to a friend in crisis without immediately offering solutions, only full presence, you perform an act of pure generosity.
“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity.”
Greutatea și harul · 1947
Authentic love is recognizing the real existence of other people, as real as yourself.
Weil argues that we usually treat others as characters in our own internal movie. Truly believing in their separate existence, with their own pains and joys, is an act of love that requires effort. For example, when you realize that a quiet colleague is not just 'that boring guy,' but a person with an inner life as complex as yours, you begin to truly love them.
“Belief in the existence of other human beings as such is love.”