Practical Theology and Human Suffering: A Suggestion from Simon Weil

The questions of why suffering exists, what its meaning is, and how we should deal with it, are among the most serious concerns in the field of practical theology which prompted Simon Weil, the French philosopher, theologian, mystic, and fighter, to put forward a special theory in this regard, according to which, creation is a kind of abandonment and withdrawal of God from nature. God has placed our whole being in the hands of the cruel necessity of matter and the violence of Satan, except for the eternal truth of our souls. Thus, in Weil's view, creation is neither good nor bad; It is "necessary." Therefore, the first step to understanding and coping with the cause of our suffering in this world is to understand the meaninglessness of this cause. This world revolves around necessity, and necessity is a "blind and deaf mechanism" by the will of God, and in the meantime, God, by His will, remains neutral. But on the other hand, this necessity can be loved, and this is the best choice in the face of something for which we have no choice to accept or reject. Simon Weil believed that if a person surrenders to the neutrality of God and the coercive presence of necessity in this world, the beauty of the world will gradually appear to him. She believed that there was an important difference between "suffering" and "affliction." Suffering is primarily concerned with the physical aspect, and affliction, though inseparable from suffering, penetrates deep into the soul. From this point of view, affliction is a kind of uprooting of life and the more or less attenuated equivalent of death and the complete cessation of hope, in which, instead of getting rid of it, you have to destroy yourself.