We feel ourselves capable of bringing about new states of affairs by exercising our will, so we say that we have power to do things. (religion-online.org)
On the one hand, he took a teleological model of change that holds that a state of affairs nurtures its opposite, and that from the violent clash between the two a completely new state of affairs bursts into existence. (blog.politics.ox.ac.uk)
If the idea of museums radically altering their collection displays semiregularly is now not only uncontroversial but commonplace, it's worth remembering that this is a relatively new state of affairs. (artnews.com)