Fikeveni

Although there are many ways to think of what makes up society, it is helpful to think of society being divided into two sections - the mainland and the islands. The mainland is the more cautious part that takes longer to adopt ideas or change their mind on issues, and the islands are the radical, liberal-minded parts that tend to be quick to embrace new ideas. People with mainland-values have a proclivity for order, rules, and traditions, while islanders, the creatives of a society, have an affinity for adventure, radical ideas, and a rejection of the status quo. For societal cohesion or progress, we have to embrace both parts of society. The mainland helps us to stay grounded in the lessons of our past, while the islands lead us into a bright and prosperous future.  As society, we cannot have one without the other, nor live in a world of extremist propagation of one over the other. There is a need to embrace radical ideas because they will eventually be widely accepted, if and wh...

When we get on social media or turn on the news, we are bombarded with all that is wrong with the world. Most of what we have come to understand as news, is bad news. There is a tremendous amount of polarization and accentuation of our differences. Nowadays, we do not get on social media to learn about others and to find common ground, but we get on to tear each other down. We have moved from the truly liberal mindset of embracing differences and celebrating similarities to a culture of taking sides. If we were to believe the news or social media, then we would think that the world is in the worst possible state. As humankind, we have to move past the echo chambers to find unity. We need to embrace the truth, which is, that we are more the same than we are different. We have to shut out the noise of social media and the news, and go out to experience real life. When you visit the outside world, you will find that we have a society filled with good people.  We all have needs and wan...

In the beginning, God gave humanity an identity and a purpose. The devil came in and convinced humanity that God was not only keeping them from having an identity, but also from knowing it. This began the quest for identity, sending humanity into a rabbit hole leading to nowhere. Humanity was never supposed to know they were naked or judge for themselves what was right or wrong. We were called to have a relationship with God and each other, and steward the earth. In that order: God first, ourselves and each other second, and stewarding the earth third. We were not called to search for our identity. God sent Jesus for us to stop that pursuit of identity and have our identity in Christ. Jesus is the truest image of God and He serves as a reminder that we are made in the image of God.  The problem with searching for one’s identity is that it distracts us from the purpose given by the Lord at the beginning of our existence. It is a never ending pursuit of a treasure that can never be f...