Oika Theory of Change

The ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus said pithily “You can never step in the same river twice”. It’s true, because the river will have changed by the time you take your second step. 

But it’s also true because you will have changed. So if you’re really paying attention, you will notice that you can’t even step in the same river once!

Heraclitus' point was that all flows - that the world will change because change is all there is. It already has. Oika’s theory of change is hopeful that it can change for the better.  How?

Oika asks us to reconsider.

Oika is an invitation for Earthlings to see and live in a world of gratitude. The Oika Theory of Change is built on scientific knowledge but designed by human imagination. It’s about creative thought folding itself back into an unfolding natural cosmos.

After contemplating steps 1 and 2 above, I’d like to present what Oika imagines for step 3. We propose cultivating gratitude by telling an inspiring, awesome, and all-inclusive story of belonging that’s also known as cosmic evolution.

To briefly recount this 13.8 billion year story, the cosmos begins at the beginning, as we know it both scientifically and mystically. The mystic delights in the mystery everyday while the scientist is content to measure it and call it Planck’s constant. Either way, both accept and live in the mystery because they have to. We do too. I just want to acknowledge that the mystery infuses every turn of the Oika Theory of Change.

If we accept the science of cosmology, the known universe (mystery inclusive), first manifests through a hot, dense plasma of expanding relationships. I say relationships because whatever was going on back then, it required something to be in relationship with something else. From that relationship, new “things”  emerged. We call these emergent phenomena the fundamental forces of gravity, electromagnetism and the nuclear forces. Then these forces go instantly into new relationships, and new, more complex “things” again emerge. We call them electrons, protons, atoms, light, etc. Again, relationships take effect and more complex things emerge (i.e hydrogen, helium, etc). Eventually the universe creates the conditions for stars, galaxies, planets, life, humans and you to emerge. Then you go spinning happily (or not) into the relationships that make up a human life.

The ongoing nature of this account implies continuity. That one “thing” or phenomena is linked to another. This is inescapable.  Philosophers (and some physicists) call this ontological continuity, which means that all of reality is connected. Does this sound crazy? Either way, Oika takes the proposition of continuity seriously.

Taken part way, ontological continuity threatens to displace our inherited fictions of separation. But taken all the way, it includes them. In other words, the whole cosmic narrative is actually a  personal narrative. It’s all-inclusive and obliges personal participation. If you participate long enough, you learn that you don't have to forfeit your beloved and imagined ontologies because love and imagination are part of nature too. Then the ego can finally stop inflating itself and is free to start truly expanding along with the cosmos.

There is a point in the cosmic narrative where things get a lot more accessible because they get familiar. I think it happens for most people around 7 million years ago because that’s when people started to emerge. You can read about this part as Earthling Theory.