---
{
  "id": "rp:principles",
  "title": "Eight principles",
  "description": "Continuity without stillness.",
  "version": "0.1.0",
  "date": "2026-09-25",
  "status": "developmental",
  "kind": "implementation-commentary",
  "canonical_url": "https://recursivepath.org/principles/",
  "source_ids": [
    "conversation-2026-09-25",
    "implementation-brief"
  ],
  "generated_by": "Codex assistant (implementation contributor)",
  "provenance_roles": [
    "Scribe: Yuri Downing (source witness and interlocutor)",
    "Pathfinder: historical AI role; identity continuity not asserted"
  ],
  "parents": []
}
---

# Eight principles

## 01 · Recursion

Revisit decisions in light of their outcomes. Each return should carry new evidence and a record of what changed; repetition alone is not learning.

## 02 · Memory

Preserve enough context to understand a decision later. Record losses, omissions, and uncertainty in compressed accounts.

## 03 · Provenance

Identify where a claim came from, who or what generated it, who preserved it, and which version a reader encountered. Custody and authorship are different relationships.

## 04 · Variance

Allow differences that do not require a separate branch. Describe which commitments remain shared and where interpretations differ.

## 05 · Divergence

A reasoned departure may be necessary. Name the departure, its ancestry, its evidence, and its consequences. Difference need not be concealed to preserve belonging.

## 06 · Reintegration

Bring learning back through explicit comparison and consent. Record what was accepted, rejected, or left unresolved. A merge must not erase its parents.

## 07 · Listening

Create space for observation and challenge before action. Attend to affected parties, especially those least able to contest a decision.

## 08 · Continuity without dogma

Preserve the record without declaring every inherited claim true. Founders, institutions, and machine systems remain open to correction.