"Weil described how the force of grace operates on the soul like light on a plant. Imagine the life of a seed that germinates beneath a heavy slab of concrete. The force of gravity presses down on the concrete, which in turn presses down on to the plant. However, miraculously, the young plant is so attracted to the sun that it is able to find its way through the smallest crack in the concrete, and grow upwards into the light. Thus, the force of light is able to defeat the laws of gravity as light is transformed into the energy that enables the plant to grow. Human beings cannot help having the natural impulses Weil describes as moral gravity, but they can choose to be blindly obedient to them, or to reach towards God like a plant grows towards light.

"Weil pressed this analogy even further. All energy on earth, she continued, comes either directly or indirectly from the sun. Plants transform the energy contained within light, and store it. This energy enters into animals when plants are eaten. Alternatively, the energy is stored in wood, coal or oil. Thus, the direct energy of the sun is buried and hidden until it is dug up and burned as fuel. Weil proposed that this summary of the nature of energy 'is the image of grace, which comes down to be buried in the darkness of our souls and is the only source of energy which can counteract the trend towards evil which is the moral law of gravity'.

"Grace, like energy, cannot be taken, only received. All a farmer can do, she added, is to arrange his farm in such a way that his animals and plants can receive this energy. In a similar way, no one can go out and take grace — all they can do is to so dispose their souls that they may be able to receive the gift of grace. To 'tilt' the soul towards the light, however, involves first of all acknowledging that it is subject to gravity. Not everyone achieves this. Most people live in the world dominated by their shallow sensations without ever realizing that they are subject to the unseen force of moral gravity."