Hi Thomyum2
I would say I don't interpret Weil's statement the same way that you seem to do here. Rather, I think what she is pointing out in this passage is that there is a part of our nature that has a desire to form a human and limited concept of God, a desire for certainty about our knowledge of and relationship with God and a sense of security in the feeling that we know the answers, we understand God and are safe in that knowledge - I see this as the 'consolation' to which she refers. I take it not that she is saying that 'atheists are necessary', but rather that their denial of the existence of God puts them at a certain advantage over a believer who clings to human conceptions of the divine; their atheism, paradoxically, frees them from falling into that trap of forming a preconceived idea of God instead of developing a genuine experience of and relationship with the supernatural.
I agree. We have this need to provide a human and limited concept of God. The deeper view is taken by those like Plotinus who defined the Absolute as the ONE with the ONE being outside Time and Space. The process of creation within time and space occurs within God or the ONE. This is why the Son is the necessary intermediary between Man and its Source.
John 14:11
Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
Humanity as a whole lacks the quality of conscious attention necessary for contemplation of the ONE so the scale of the idea devolves into the self serving idolatry of a personal GOD
Put a little differently, I'd say that a believer may fall into trap of worshipping their idea of God, rather than a real or living God, who will always remain partly shrouded in mystery beyond the reach our limited and mortal human minds; whereas an atheist could, in a sense, be actually more free to discover the truth on their own by remaining unencumbered by religious teachings or preconceived notions of what God is. The believer must be watchful to keep this human 'part of myself which is not made for God' - this part that desires consolation, desires to have the answers - from becoming a 'hindrance to true faith', that is, a faith that is grounded in a living relationship and not in a particular dogma or set of correct beliefs. Freeing oneself from these kinds of beliefs is the 'purification' here.
Yes we worship an idol. I agree the atheist doesn’t worhip anything so is more free to open the supernatural parts of themselves when they accidentally experience the need to do so.
Simone wrote:
There are two atheisms of which one is a purification of the notion of God.
Perhaps every evil thing has a second aspect—a purification in the course of progress towards the good—and a third which is the higher good.
We have to distinguish carefully between these three aspects because it is very dangerous for thought and for the effective conduct of life to confuse them.
Of two men who have no experience of God, he who denies him is perhaps nearer to him than the other.
The false God who is like the true one in everything, except that we cannot touch him, prevents us from ever coming to the true one.
We have to believe in a God who is like the true God in everything, except that he does not exist, since we have not reached the point where God exists.
I think we would both agree that she describes the human psych and the potential and dangers associated with it.
Perhaps every evil thing has a second aspect—a purification in the course of progress towards the good—and a third which is the higher good.
We have to distinguish carefully between these three aspects because it is very dangerous for thought and for the effective conduct of life to confuse them
It seems atheism supports the need of the Christian to grow beyond the good into the geater good and the experience the heart is searching for.
Man would like to be an egoist and cannot. This is the most striking characteristic of his wretchedness and the source of his greatness." Simone Weil....Gravity and Grace