Kenosis and Decreation: The Spiritual Significance of Labour in the Philosophy of Simone Weil

This paper explores the spiritual significance of labour in the philosophy of the twentieth-century French philosopher and mystic, Simone Weil. Weil developed an incisive critique of industrial labour, yet she also spent a brief period of her life as a farm labourer. This paper will consider Weil’s philosophical and religious writings from this period, arguing that her agricultural experience informed her later claim that a new conception of labour—and in particular, of manual labour—must be the “spiritual core” of a well-ordered social life. I argue that Weil’s concept of “decreation,” a term she uses to describe God’s loving withdrawal and self-limitation in Creation, Incarnation, and Passion, is embodied in her theory of labour. The self-emptying, kenotic form of work exemplifies a relationship to the natural world through labour that is characterized by a posture of restraint and withdrawal, rather than one of control or mastery.