Synthesizing some of the more nuanced values from Pagodian discussion

<aside> ⚗️ Note: this page came out of reflection and recap of many themes and values across various Pagodian conversations (see a ‘word cloud’ of themes below), followed by grouping and synthesis into the eight points above. Effort was made to try and find the ‘tensions’ or ‘paradoxes’ (close yet open?) underlying our discussions, as these are often closest to the heart of what we value or are seeking.

</aside>

• Word Cloud of input themes

Eight Pagoda Principles [DRAFT]

• 🎴 Being In Service (Of World). We are centered around (protocols of) being human, but with a sense of broader social purpose. Being, spirituality, and enlightenment are fulfilling and worthwhile pursuits in and of themselves, but we are also interested in how and who we can serve by virtue of our personal and spiritual growth (both individually and collectively). Pagoda is not about eternal escape into the mountains (although retreats from time to time can be invaluable), but about bringing home flourishing, abundance, and beauty into the fields, forests, and communities around us.
• 💸 Money Follows Values (Not The Other Way Around). In life, the precious is often priceless. What is the ‘monetary’ value of trust? Of care? Of wisdom? We believe that ‘money’, tokens, coins, and blockchains of the Web3 era are technologies that we can use to coordinate and nurture the values and practices we believe in (e.g., systems for recognizing care work and voluntary contributions); and not intrinsically-valuable ends in and of themselves. We use and build tech to help societies create more of the valuable, not to extract more value out of society. Where others see externalities and institutional failures, we see opportunities for (sometimes Web3-powered) social innovation.
• 🌏 Asian & Adding Alternatives. Pagoda exists out of a deeply-shared sense that Asian culture, philosophy, and worldviews have a lot to offer at the frontires of today’s Web3-era world. But at the same time, Pagoda is absolutely not about ‘advancing’ an Asian domination or hegemony at the expense of others. The goal is not to replace or displace, but to expand and populate the collective imagination with many rich non-zero-sum alternatives: whether from three thousand years past, trends of today, or new hybrid (perhaps even ‘post-Asian’) possibilities of tomorrow.

• 🐚 Part & Whole. We draw inspiration from both the fractal and the mandala, in which each piece is healthy and whole, and yet also a beautiful part of many larger wholes. Pagoda believes in healthy nodes at local scales, and also in a flourishing whole that is greater than the sum of its parts — and that, with careful thought and the right relationship, both scales can nourish each other. Like a healthy body, in which no organ ‘dominates’ the others and all parts have their role to play even though there are bigger organs and channels than others for the system to work, we believe in memberships of different sizes, skills, and resources without any single ‘dominator’. The Light Forest is characterized by feeling safe and welcoming for all, especially the small.

• 🧩 Diverse Yet Interoperable. We celebrate our incredible Asian diversity and wish to nurture and enrich (not homogenize) it. But we also value the power of interoperability, and appreciate the powers and technologies — like globalization, the Internet, and common languages like English today — that enable us to connect, communicate, and collaborate together across historic, geographic, and cultural gulfs. We aspire to build tomorrow’s interoperability layers and devices, while simultaneously seeking to celebrate, deepen, and harness our diverse lives.

• 🐣 Migratory Yet Grounded. Pagoda is a gathering of travelers, yet each of us seek to touch the ground wherever we go. While we recognize that, like so much of Asia, we journey and travel for many reasons (both light and dark) — curiosity, exile, opportunity, business, politics, etc. — we also value finding connection and community (with people, place, and nature) wherever we go, but without getting overly attached to land ownership or borders. We aspire, to paraphrase Airbnb, to belong everywhere, regardless of the many ‘somewheres’ we each come from.

• 🦠 Close Yet Open. We are a community of intimacy, respect, trust, and ease, sharing both the joys of karaoke and the vulnerabilities of generational trauma. Closeness and fellowship are sacred to Pagoda, but we also recognize that we are only the founding cohort, and with that comes the responsibility of extending and opening these circles to the next waves of Pagodians in a way that honors and retains the essence of the Pagodian experience and ethos. Pagoda celebrates closeness, but is not ‘closed’ off to others. The right kind of ‘openness’ is key to Pagoda’s growth without diluting its DNA.

• 🐿️ The Ricemunk. ’Ricemunk’ is a hybrid of ‘rice punk’ and ‘rice monk’, but also derived from ‘chipmunk’. Why? In Asian folklore, a recurring figure is a small and smart animal that finds practical ingenious ways to adapt and survive in the real world (unlike the monk, whose identity relies upon being detached from the world) without being overtly rebellious or confrontational (unlike the punk, whose existence is often in opposition to authority). So something like the chipmunk, or perhaps a neo-mythical ‘ricemunk’ offers a model that is practical and not explicitly political about finding humble and pragmatic everyday ways forward feels a better fit for a quietly-confident Asian-Web3 ethos of building future infrastructures over shouting about them.