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Exhaltation Of The "i"


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have you ever been around someone and either by their words or actions it made your day or made you smile, something lept inside of you, or changed your life in a big or small way? In Guisanni's book, The Religious Sense, he talks about your "I" being exhalted. the "I" being the sum of all your experiences, desires, what we long for, the very heart of who we are. what makes one heart rejoice in joy? From each experience you are pursuing a new "I". it is the leader, the pastor, the Christian example(as in friend, stranger, teacher, priest, whoever) that this is highly depended upong especially in the CL movement tht Guisanni is founder of, but in all Christians no matter the denomination.

if he or she is a Presence, then the ones following will be moved, changed, transformed, their "I" will be exhalted. but if you are not that leader whose fire and desire are burning within that others would see, the ones following will see this and follow such an example that won't be changed, moved, transformed, exhaltation of the "i". i would guess that each of us has said or done something that causes others to be challenged, to be changed, to seek a deeper relationship with Christ.

it was my turn to write a devotional for my ecclesiology class...as i thought and prayed about what to write the one thing that was so fresh in my mind was the "exhaltation of the 'I'"....so, here goes.....

December 8, 2003 Devotional for class

if one gives a sermon, devotion, Sunday School lesson, or spends the day with another person, i would imagine we would all want the other person to walk away from the experience maybe changed, challenged, moved, we would want others to see Christ and our desires that something inside each one is changed, that their "I" has been exhalted. if what you say and do doesn't seek to make another person desire to be transformed, to grow closer to Christ, for their "i" to be exhalted then what kind of examples, what kind of leaders are we, what kind of light are we for Christ? how are our lives making a difference in others we see each day?

when the exhaltation of our "i" draws us near to God--in communion with Him--that is of greatest exhaltation ones "i" can experience(i believe) whether we realize it or not. daily God draws us near--at this time our "I" is exhalted, do you recognize this inside yourself, are you this kind of leader who desires such? i think we all need to ask ourselves this daily and ask God to show us how we can make a difference in other's lives, how can we be a Presence that exhalts another's "I"?

so, whatcha think?

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If my "i" is "the sum of all your experiences, desires, what we long for, the very heart of who we are", then no--I do not want my "i" exalted. I want my "i" repressed, for I seek humility. It is in humility that I learn how to love God.

God bless.

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No way, you're familiar with Giussani? Are you in a School of Community? Where at? Are you catholic? I got the sense you were not a Catholic . . .

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dUSt, I think you need to rething that statement. If you repress your desires, if you repress what you long for, then you repress your desire for truth and for beauty and justice and for love . . . even your less noble desires (to eat a pizza, to take a nap, to get your daughter to tell you the truth, to get your wife to notice that you're sporting new kicks) all of those are just glimpses of the deeper desires for the infinite . . .

Do you really want these things repressed?

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dUSt, I think you need to rething that statement.  If you repress your desires, if you repress what you long for, then you repress your desire for truth and for beauty and justice and for love . . . even your less noble desires (to eat a pizza, to take a nap, to get your daughter to tell you the truth, to get your wife to notice that you're sporting new kicks) all of those are just glimpses of the deeper desires for the infinite . . .

Do you really want these things repressed?

Not all. Most.

I haven't read Giussani, so I'm sure that I may not be getting the whole concept, but if it has anything to do with exalting oneself, then I'm skeptical.

I'll add him to my Amazon wish list and maybe someone will send me one of his books. haha

:book: >>> Click

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If you add him, I will get it for you. This question of the I is from "The Religious Sense", but I think you will enjoy more "At the Origin of the Christian Claim" and then eventually "Why the Church?" . . . but bear in mind that these books make more sense in the context of a community, where you aren't jsut reading them, but living them with other people . . .

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And by the way, you don't exalt yourself . . . you are exalted (by Him) . . . its not like putting yourself first, or up on a pedestal . . . its more like noticing your heart soar at the recognition of your ultimate desires . . . all of a sudden you are more than just a bunch of caron atoms, because he was once a bunch of carbon atoms . . . the ultimate Mystery, infitiy itself also shared in your desires, in your longings, in your "I"

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And by the way, you don't exalt yourself . . . you are exalted (by Him) . . . its not like putting yourself first, or up on a pedestal . . . its more like noticing your heart soar at the recognition of your ultimate desires . . . all of a sudden you are more than just a bunch of caron atoms, because he was once a bunch of carbon atoms . . . the ultimate Mystery, infitiy itself also shared in your desires, in your longings, in your "I"

Oh, ok. The "i" language just seems like some kind of wierd scientologist-sounding-new-age-self-movement type terminology. Threw me off a little. I'll have to read his books before forming a conclusion.

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Thank you BLAZEr for explaining it better than i can...i actually haven't read the book yet, but over christmas break i will be....we've just been talking about it so much in CL and CLU and i've been asking so many questions.....

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no, really you did very well up there . . . are you with JuCa and Schmandi in Evansville?

By the way dUSt, Merry Christmas . . . but this whole question of the I, it won't be settled by the book I got you . .. you have to read the Religious Sense to get that . . . and I don't have the money to send you BOTH, so you're gonna have to go mow some lawns or something.

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dUst....don't worry. I have been going to CL for sometime and still struggle with the terminology we use. It's confusing and sounds weird to me. I was just talking to my roomie about it.

Knowing what they mean makes sense but the way its said I still have to ask myself, what?

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BLAZEr and dUSt,

I give you another indication on the exaltation of the "I" from Scripture - read the passage about the Visitation from Luke Chapter 1. And when Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the child lept for joy in her womb. Jesus was exhalting John the Baptist's "I" while they were both still in the womb! That moment is recognition, presence, encounter, belonging, exaltation - that is all in all!

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