Editing Simone Weil (section)

=== Affliction ===

Weil developed the concept of "affliction" ({{Langx|fr|malheur}}) while working in factories with workers reduced to a machine-like existence where they could not consider real thought or rebellion with Weil stating "thought flies from affliction as promptly and irresistibly as an animal flees from death".{{r|Zaretsky|pp=4&ndash;7}} Weil found this force too inhumane stating "affliction constrains a man to ask continually 'why' - the question to which there is essentially no reply" and nothing in the world can rob us of the power to say 'I' except for extreme affliction".{{r|Zaretsky|pp=33,37}}

Simone Weil's concept of affliction is an exploration of human suffering that extends beyond mere physical or emotional pain. She characterizes affliction as a multifaceted experience encompassing physical torment, psychological distress, and social degradation, which collectively uproot an individual's life and identity.<ref name=":11">{{Cite web |title=Simone Weil {{!}} Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy |url=https://iep.utm.edu/weil/?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-05-16 |language=en-US}}</ref> Weil distinguishes affliction from general suffering by emphasizing its capacity to isolate individuals from others and from themselves. Affliction imposes a sense of guilt and self-loathing on the innocent, effectively branding the soul with a mark akin to slavery. This branding leads to a loss of personal significance and a feeling of worthlessness, as the afflicted person internalizes scorn and revulsion that logically should be directed at the perpetrator of injustice.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Simone Weil and St. Teresa of Calcutta on Affliction. - Free Online Library |url=https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Simone+Weil+and+St.+Teresa+of+Calcutta+on+Affliction.-a0675004351?utm_source=chatgpt.com |access-date=2025-05-16 |website=www.thefreelibrary.com}}</ref><ref name=":11" /> Weil sees affliction as a potential site of grace, not because suffering is inherently good, but because it can strip away illusions and allow openness to the divine.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Kruk |first=Edward |date=2006 |title=Spiritual Wounding and Affliction: Facilitating Spiritual Transformation in Social Justice Work |url=https://ojs.uwindsor.ca/index.php/csw/article/view/5775/4714 |journal=Critical Social Work |language=en |volume=7 |issue=1 |doi=10.22329/csw.v7i1.5775 |issn=1543-9372|doi-access=free }}</ref>

According to Weil, souls may experience different levels of affliction with affliction worse for the same souls that are also most able to experience spiritual joy. Weil's notion of affliction is a sort of "suffering plus" which transcends both body and mind, a physical and mental anguish that scourges the very soul.<ref>This notion of Weil's bears a strong resemblance to the Asian notion of ''han'', which has received attention in recent Korean theology, for instance in the work of Andrew Park. Like "affliction", ''han'' is more destructive to the whole person than ordinary suffering.</ref>

{{blockquote|The better we are able to conceive of the fullness of joy, the purer and more intense will be our suffering in affliction and our compassion for others. ...

Suffering and enjoyment as sources of knowledge. The serpent offered knowledge to Adam and Eve. The sirens offered knowledge to Ulysses. These stories teach that the soul is lost through seeking knowledge in pleasure. Why? Pleasure is perhaps innocent on condition that we do not seek knowledge in it. It is permissible to seek that only in suffering.

|sign= Simone Weil
|source= ''Gravity and Grace'' (chpt 16 'Affliction')
}}