the self

what keeps us from God is our power to say I. We are often more concerned with the temporal than the eternal (because of our inadequate understanding of the eternal) and therefore choose the fleeting pleasures of this world before we consider the eternal impact of our every choice.

Affliction robs us of our power to say I and this is where Weil turns to asceticism I suppose. She talks about violent revolts against the I, in order to avoid the destruction happening from within. She leans towards external pressures in order to placer herself in alignment with the void (which is simultaneously the absence and presence of God). Perhaps we should talk about this chapter further before I respond completely. It deserves a conversation and I'm not sure I understand what she's getting at when she suggests: redemptive suffering, expiatory suffering, superficial Hell and really the rest of the chapter.