I recently became familiar with the work of Edward Said, the late Palestinian-American intellectual. He brought to my attention the idea of “the intellectual in exile.”
The intellectual in exile is someone who completely removes him or herself from a society, culture, belief, or way of thinking in order to fully examine it. Said says that exile is the only complete way to get an understanding of how something runs.
As long as you are a part of the machine, in other words, you are blind to some of its constructive, and destructive, features.
The intellectual in exile does not need to remove him or herself from a popular city. You can be an intellectual in exile in any major cities around the country. What’s required instead is to remove yourself from your typical thought process. Challenge things.
The intellectual in exile is happy being uncomfortable. This constant struggle encourages them to constantly develop, and not ever settle for what is easy or popular.
Yet it is still important to keep yourself in good community. Said also said, “No one is totally self-supporting, not even the greatest of free spirits.”
This is something that we can easily forget today. We live in a culture where we want to be proud of all the accomplishments we are able to achieve on our own, with no help from others. So much of our lives have become doable without the presence of a single other person. These habits have even crossed over to the way that we pray, worship, read, and grow. We are proud to be a part of one-person Bible studies comprised of you, your Bible, and your cup of coffee.
This is not totally wrong — I enjoy a spot on campus alone with my white mocha. In fact, I think this is where I grow and develop most.
But we also need people. We need communities. The Bible was intended for us to read in community. We were meant to pray in community.
Church has become one of the few places where we still get together to worship in a group setting — but that is where we get confused about church, and what church is. A church is just a building where we gather once a week for a structure of praise, worship, and learning.
But church is an ongoing thing. The conversation you have with your best friend after class is church, your weekly Bible study is church, and your time alone is church. Church happens wherever we go, wherever we extend God’s kingdom.
Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”
This is crucial to the life of a Christian. It’s said you are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Make those five people likeminded. Not so that you all agree on everything — then there would be no conflict, and no form of development. What I mean is, choose people who have their scope set on the same target as you. Then you can all encourage one another in getting there as you all work towards it.
Be intellectuals in exile, together.
Morgan McCurry is a senior at Point Loma Nazarene University, interning with a middle school youth group, and looking to expand the kingdom with the tools God has given him.
Got something to say about what you're reading? We value your feedback!