Laya Dababneh
Dababneh 1
Professor Thacker
English 1313
31 August 2023
Simone Weil, “Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of
God”
1. Attention to prayer aids man’s attention to God by allowing contact between both parties,
because the quality of attention is an important establisher in the quality of prayer. So,
when the quality of attention is of a superior standard that is when contact is made with
God. Prayers that are intense and pure enough are the core reason for contact with God,
while the whole attention is turned towards Him.
2. Difficult studies affect a student by wasting their time and energy, because the student will
spend so much time and energy trying to figure out a solution for the problem, and ends up
with no progress or results, causing the student to be dim in the soul, as they might feel like
a failure since no progress was made after all that effort.
3. The development of attention is certain because attention is not easy to pursue. Attention
is a hard skill to acquire, it is more of a mindset that requires lots of mental training. Since
you need to be extremely focused and resistant to distractions.
4. Cure d’ Ars stands for Pastor of Ars and was chosen to commemorate the St. John Marie
Vianney. His life is an example of “real desire”, is because when he wanted to learn Latin,
he put all his effort into it and stayed with it till he achieved it. The core of learning that
particular subject eventually played out by helping him with people trying to confess to
him, he developed the skill of reading people and being able to see their souls.
Laya Dababneh
Dababneh 2
Professor Thacker
English 1313
31 August 2023
5. Weil’s first condition is that students mustn’t get extremely focused on something that they
forget the purpose. Their mind should be focused on what they truly want to say. A quote
that describes what Weil is trying to say here is “Don’t lose the forest for the trees”.
6. The second condition that Weil mentions in her essay is that we should learn from our
mistakes. There is no point in success if we haven’t learned anything from what we did
wrong, success won’t occur if ownership of what was screwed up isn’t taken. Excuses
should not be made for what happens, but reflection on what was done and how it could
have been done differently.
7. The type of temptation that Weil discusses is the great temptation to do the opposite of the
second condition, which was to learn from our mistakes, and instead make excuses.
Because if excuses were made and our mistakes were ignored then we will be working
without making any progress.
8. A student’s failure possibly helps him to be more humble. Failure helps fixate a student’s
mind. What will be gained from humility and the lessons that would be learned, are way
more valuable than any academic success. He can always learn from others and their screw
ups, be humble and learn from others mistakes too.
9. According to the author, “paying attention” often results in exhaustion because we are
contracting our muscles and spinning our wheels, however, being stressed is not going to
be beneficial for us but will only be causing us exhaustion.
Laya Dababneh
Dababneh 3
Professor Thacker
English 1313
31 August 2023
10. A student might have difficulties because attention leads to tiredness, which results in you
not thinking and that leads to you not being able to write. Students might also have
difficulties with the amount of effort that needs to be put into their studies.
11. A sacrament is defined as a Christian rite that is recognized as being particularly important
and significant. Studies should be treated as a special thing, it must be exactly right, from
the format to the word choice. Do not let your education just go by and be just credit for
you. Have fun with it, enjoy it, learn as much as you possibly can from it, because seeing
it only as credit will only cause you stress.
*Next page for personal response
Laya Dababneh
Dababneh 4
Professor Thacker
English 1313
31 August 2023
The Aid of Education in a Spiritual Journey
Education is a spiritual exercise, because education requires loads of attention and effort,
and so does spirituality. A superior spiritual life requires attention of high quality. “The key to
a Christian conception of studies is the realization that prayer consists of attention. It is the
orientation of all the attention of which the soul is capable toward God. The quality of the
attention counts for much in the quality of the prayer. Warmth of heart cannot make up for it.
The highest part of the attention only makes contact with God, when prayer is intense and
pure enough for such a contact to be established; but the whole attention is turned toward
God.” (Weil 55) In this quote, Weil is explaining how attention to prayer aids man’s attention
to God. Attention of high quality will result in prayers that are intense and pure enough for
contact with God to be established. “Of course school exercises only develop a lower kind of
attention. Nevertheless, they are extremely effective in increasing the power of attention that
will be available at the time of prayer, on condition that they are carried out with a view to
this purpose and this purpose alone.” (Weil 55) In this quote, Weil mentions how school
exercises help in developing attention, even if it is one of a lower kind, attention is a skill that
needs a lot of work, effort, and time to be obtained. And education aids in the process of
developing the skill of being able to pay attention, which makes education a spiritual
exercise, as attention is needed when you are on a spiritual journey. In conclusion, I believe
that education is a spiritual exercise, since studies require loads of attention and effort and so
does spirituality, and putting work into your studies requires attention, which is a skill that
Laya Dababneh
Dababneh 5
Professor Thacker
English 1313
31 August 2023
will be developed with time. Attention is also a vital ability needed for spirituality to be
successful.