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Full Idea
There is a reality outside the world …outside any sphere that is accessible to human faculties. Corresponding to this reality, at the centre of the human heart, is the longing for an absolute good, which is always there and never appeased by this world.
Gist of Idea
Every human yearns for an unattainable transcendent good
Source
Simone Weil (Draft Statement of Human Obligations [1943], p.221)
Book Ref
Weil,Simone: 'An Anthology' [Penguin 1986], p.221
A Reaction
I don't believe in any sort of transcendent reality, but I can identify with this. Even if you have a highly naturalistic view of what is valuable (see late Philippa Foot), there is this indeterminate yearning for that value.
| 23814 | Every human yearns for an unattainable transcendent good [Weil] |
| 23815 | We cannot equally respect what is unequal, so equal respect needs a shared ground [Weil] |
| 23816 | Attention to a transcendent reality motivates a duty to foster the good of humanity [Weil] |
| 23817 | We need both equality (to attend to human needs) and hierarchy (as a scale of responsibilities) [Weil] |
| 23819 | Deliberate public lying should be punished [Weil] |
| 23818 | We have liberty in the space between nature and accepted authority [Weil] |
| 23821 | Crime should be punished, to bring the perpetrator freely back to morality [Weil] |
| 23823 | Life needs risks to avoid sickly boredom [Weil] |
| 23820 | People need personal and collective property, and a social class lacking property is shameful [Weil] |
| 23822 | We all need to partipate in public tasks, and take some initiative [Weil] |
| 23824 | Where human needs are satisfied we find happiness, friendship and beauty [Weil] |