Summary

Pages 83 through 84 — This essay is the longest of the collection and is Weil’s extensive exposition of the first commandment: ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.’ Weil takes this to be a constant imperative that extends before, during, and after direct contact of God. This means that the majority of the forms of love one exercises are implicit. It is love for God, but it is love that is directed and exercised elsewhere such that God is not necessarily taken to be the direct object. This type of implicit love takes three main forms: love of neighbor, love for the beauty and order of the world, and love for religious practices. These three loves constitute indirect love of God. They are not diminished when direct love of God takes hold of the soul, rather they...