Simone Weil’s writings and life inform each other in a way that makes it difficult the understand the former without considering the latter, and vice versa. A tireless search for truth guided her life and thinking. This search led Weil down different, challenging, suffered, and mystical paths, sometimes paradoxical and even contradictory. She was a free thinker and a dedicated activist. Remaining faithful to the path leading to the truth was not merely a choice but rather a vocation, a transcendental mandate she could not refuse but obey. She pursued this obedience to the highest consequences of her vocation.

The theme of this year’s colloquy – Simone Weil: Philosopher, Activist, and Mystic – represents central aspects of a person who oriented her philosophical exercise as an act of the intellectual spirit encountering others in their suffering reality and, from there, moving beyond history to the mystical manifestation of a crucified love. Weilian scholar Maria Clara Bingemer suggests that Weil’s intellectual journey is “marked by an ardent compassion that shaped her entire life, guiding her through socio-political pathways, her intellectual engagement, and her mysticism.” Weil was a mystic who loved the afflicted to the extent of suffering with them, standing by their side even when hope of alleviating pain was absent. She remained faithful until the end of her life.

Whether considered from the perspective of a philosopher, an activist, a mystical, or all of these together, Weil’s writings and life have fascinated and inspired many people around the world. Scholars have approached her work from different disciplines. The dynamism of the work about and from Weil’s writings is impressive. The AWS, once again, aims to promote this dynamism with the 2025 Colloquy, inviting Weilian scholars, admirers, and critics to gather in Milwaukee, WI, to share your work, perspectives, and interpretations of Weil’s writings and life.