This memorandum is intended to give common language to work already underway. It is not instruction, but articulation. Where the terms are unfamiliar, the practice already exists.

We distinguish between what is heavy and what is light.

Heavy wealth is that which must remain where it is placed. Land, buildings, fixed plant, reputation and titles belong to this category. They are useful, but they draw attention and invite interference. They cannot be moved when conditions change and therefore cannot protect themselves.

Light wealth is that which may move without being seen. Knowledge, skill, method, training, organisation and trust belong to this category. They are carried by people and persist when forms alter. Light wealth survives change because it does not announce itself.

The work of the ki is to reduce dependence on heavy wealth and to cultivate light wealth wherever possible. This is not an investment choice. It is an imperative.

Where something essential comes from outside the House, it is to be treated as rain and sun. Necessary, but not controllable. We do not plan on rain. We do not store the sun. We build so that either may come or go.

Accordingly:

If we do not know how to do a thing, we are to learn.

If a thing exists and is essential, we do not buy the product. We acquire the capability.

What cannot yet be done is not forbidden, only unexplored.

Repeated dependence is weakness. Repeated learning is strength.

A task done once is labour. A task done the same way each time becomes a system. Systems, not effort, sustain the House.

Errors are not to be hidden. They are to be remembered. Each repetition of an unexamined mistake will appear as a new surprise. This is wasteful.

The Arborists are not charged with ownership. They are charged with continuity. Their duty is not to preserve form, but to preserve capacity. Where a branch can no longer bear its own weight, it is to be supported, not abandoned. Where growth is possible elsewhere, grafting is preferable to replacement.

The ki does not seek recognition. It seeks endurance.