UNLEARNING THE STATUS-QUO

Nehemiah 8:1
Psalms 16:11
Psalms 91:1-2
1 Chronicles 16:27


There was a time in history when women where unfairly and unjustly discriminated as much as being denied of the idea of equal rights solely on the basis of sex/gender.

And inorder to undo this evil regularity it was imperative to unlearn the status-quo.

Unlearning the status-quo is simply daring to do things differently in a world and in a societal setting that perceives doing things differently as a radical social change that is not really necessary.

They think it's not necessary because they are more at ease and at comfort by how things are and settled at that exact moment in time.

Blaise Pascal was a 17th century French Catholic mathematician, inventor and a writer who died at the age of 39yrs.

He is renowned for inventing the pascaline which was a form of calculator that he invented inorder to ease the work of his ailing father who was a tax collector.

Blaise Pascal besides his invention is also considered the founding father of the theory of of probability.

A theory that he extensively wrote about in both his early and later years building up to his death due to a stomach tumor in the year 1643.

He is famed for stating and writing about the ground from upon which the miseries of men are derived when he said," All miseries of men derive from being unable to sit in a room quietly alone."

I took both the time and the intellectual liberty to unearth the dictionary opposite of the word misery.

And I found two words namely : contentment and pleasure.

Inother wards according to the 17th century philosopher, Blaise Pascal- to be content and to be in a place of pleasure one needs to be able to sit in a room quietly alone.

Conversely, one's inability to sit in a room quietly alone is the root of all miseries and that is according to Blaise Pascal.

Many a people seek after social reunions and all sorts of company inorder not to be alone because social gathering and being able to have company around them is a form of contentment and pleasure.

However contentment and pleasure on the basis of company and socially mixing seems to be nothing but a fallacy.

A fallacy that can be much compared to the temporal pleasures and comforts of human life

It's fallacious because authentic contentment and pleasure is never accomplished from without but it's realized from within us.

Real contentment and pleasure should be from our spirit and then radiating out to impact those that surround us.

Nothing on the outside is ever lasting but only that which is from within the very basis of our existence can only be pigeonholed as ever lasting.

In Madagascar schools whose classrooms where sitting three students per desk are now mandated to sit one student per desk in the practice of social distancing as a measure to curb the spread of corona virus.

This world is going through a process of unlearning the status-quo and henceforth as result the world will never be the same it was before.

People who were afraid to sit quietly in a room alone are having to do so now not because they want to but because normalcy is enduring a revolution.

And now instead of seeking pleasure and contentment from outside their quiet rooms it's time to seek true everlasting pleasure and contentment from their quiet rooms.

In that quiet room that seems to be void of any social connection and physical company is the very presence of God Almighty waiting on you to call out his name.

In Psalms 16:11 it's declared "You make known to me the path of life: in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore."

There is no place befitting to meet and have an encounter with the presence of the Lord God Almighty like in that place that 17th century French mathematician Blaise Pascal described as a " quiet room alone".

In that quiet room alone you can discover your true self and they is no greater contentment (joy) and pleasure in near comparison to such an experience.

An experience that is only derived from meeting and encountering the presence of God Almighty.

It's seems almost hard to experience the presence of God in an environment surrounded by so many people but when you sited quietly in a room alone then it becomes easy.

And the moment you come to the understanding that the pleasures of this world are fallacious in form because they are temporal in nature.

Then will you seek the presence of God all the more because you finally realize that the pleasures of God are nothing but joyful and everlasting by nature.

Nothing can keep you together like the contentment and pleasure that comes from the presence of God Almighty.



There seems to be no miseries and grief in the presence of God just like it was said in Nehemiah 8:10 by Nehemiah him self,"Go and enjoy choice food and sweet drinks, and send some to those who have nothing prepared.

This day is holy to our Lord.

Do not grieve, for the joy of the LORD is your strength."

In unlearning the status-quo that has always been the norm but now it seems to be disappearing away from sight, we are to fully grasp the vitality of the quiet room as the secret place.

A special place that is highly spoken of in Psalms 91:1-2 and the individual who dwells thereof.

"He that dwells in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord,He is my refuge and my fortress: my God ; in him will I trust."

In such miserable times one has to come to trust in God and to utilize the quiet room in the event of trying to cultivate the innate curiosity.

This is so cause once one's innate curiosity is cultivated well enough it will come to a place of meeting with the presence of God.

Filled with splendor and majesty.

Strength and joy making you forget all the miseries of this world(1 chronicles 16:27).