Summary

Pages 11 through 15 — This letter is intended to be a postscript to the first. Weil elaborates on her reticence to formally enter the church and, despite everything contained in the previous letter, she states that her hesitation ultimately comes down to one thing. She is afraid of the church as a social structure in particular and seeks to avoid sociality in general. She does not believe that this is because of pure individualism on her part, but because she is naturally predisposed to being influenced by anything collective. She associates the social domain with the devil and the flesh and believes that it can only ever provide a false imitation of pure contact with God. As such, she aims to avoid defilement and instead finds herself at home in any sort of human situation. Circumscribing herself within the boundaries of...