‘In The Hospital Where It Happened’: Existential reflections on being a therapist in the acute hospital setting during the pandemic and the relevance of Simone Weil’s thought on suffering
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.65828/1wrzbe14Keywords:
Attention, suffering, compassion, decreation, affliction, the void, Spinoza, activeness, joyAbstract
This paper asks a key existential question: how, as existential practitioners, do we be 'in the room' with suffering? It is a question that reverberates through all time, from the story of Job through all the world's wars and, more recently, in the worldwide pandemic. Supporting nurses in a so-called 'safe' room on a COVID ward, it arose for me in a new and more urgent way. I found myself turning to the writings of the French philosopher, Simone Weil (1909-1943) who sought to understand this most perplexing and distressing question.
Complete access to the full archive of articles is available with SEA membership. Existing members: please log in with your membership password to view full text. Non-members can buy a single article or issue by registering an account on this website, then selecting a padlocked full text button to purchase.
References
Keats, J. (2009). Essay on Poetic Theory: Selections from Keats's Letters. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/69384/selections-from-keatss-letters [Accessed on 28 July 2024.]
Perrin, J-M. (2022). Preface to Attente de Dieu. Trans. Schmidt, L. https://attentionsw.org [Accessed on 28 July 2024.]
Petrement, S. (1976). Simone Weil: A life. Trans. Rosenthal, R. London & Oxford: Mowbrays
Rees, R. (1966). Simone Weil: A sketch for a portrait. Carbondale & Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press
Spinoza, B. (1992). Ethics: Treatise on the emendation of the intellect and selected letters. Indianapolis & Cambridge: Hackett Publishing.
Weil, S. (1952). The Need for Roots: Prelude to a declaration of duties towards mankind. With a Preface by T.S Eliot. Trans. Will, A.F. London, Henley & Boston: Routledge & Megan Paul. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1201/9781315660622
Weil, S. (1956). The Iliad or The Poem of Force. Wallingford: Pendle Hill
Weil, S. (1965). Seventy Letters. Trans. Rees, R. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Weil, S. (1986). Simone Weil: An anthology. Miles, S. (ed.) New York: Weidenfeld & Nicholson.
Weil, S. (2002). Gravity and Grace. Trans. Crawford, E. London & New York: Routledge Classics. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203168455
Weil, S. (2009). Waiting for God. Trans. Craufurd, E. London & New York: Harper Perennial Modern Classics. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003146773
Weil, S. (2013). On the Abolition of All Parties. With an essay by Czeslaw Milosz. Trans. Levs, S. New York: New York Review Books.
Weil, S. (2015a). First and Last Notebooks. Eugen: Wipf & Stock.
Weil, S. (2015b). Late Philosophical Writings. Trans. Springsted, E.O. & Schmidt, L.E. Notre Dame IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Zaretsky, R. (2021). The Subversive Simone Weil: A life in five ideas. Chicago & London: University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.7208/chicago/9780226549477.001.0001
