1. Why This Framework Exists
This Framework describes the fundamental thinking and principles underneath Spread Harmony.
It is not intended to celebrate the people who established Spread Harmony.
People will change.
Methods will change.
Technology will change.
Society will change.
Our understanding will change.
The Framework therefore remains open to questioning, learning, refinement and improvement.
It should provide continuity without becoming rigidity.
It should never become an excuse for refusing to learn.
2. The Purpose and Intention
Spread Harmony seeks to contribute to a more harmonious world.
We use the word Harmony deliberately.
Words such as good, better, nicer or right can imply a judgement about people or their choices.
Harmony allows us to pursue better human relationships and conditions without assuming that Spread Harmony has the authority to declare what everyone else should consider good or right.
The purpose and intention of Spread Harmony are larger than the organisation itself and the people involved in it.
The organisation is a means of serving that purpose.
3. We Do Not Claim to Have All the Answers
Spread Harmony does not claim to have all the answers.
It is not purposed to provide answers to everything.
It seeks to show what may potentially help, make potentially useful resources available, create supportive conditions, and allow people to decide for themselves what may help them to live harmoniously.
Spread Harmony can offer possibilities.
People retain agency.
4. Human Beings
We begin from the belief that human beings enter the world with broadly similar fundamental human potential, rather than being born inherently good or bad.
People subsequently become different through the many influences around them, including:
parents and family;
education;
schools;
communities;
culture;
relationships;
experiences;
opportunities;
role models;
and the circumstances in which they live.
This does not eliminate individual accountability.
It reminds us that humanity also has a responsibility for the conditions in which human beings develop.
5. Assumptions About Humanity
Where evidence is absent, we seek to begin with constructive assumptions about people.
We assume, where there is no evidence to the contrary, that people generally have some desire to do good.
We recognise that serving others can bring genuine human fulfilment.
We assume that another person may understand something that we do not.
We recognise that every person’s opinion can potentially contain truth.
We do not assume that every opinion is true.
We do not assume that every intention is good when evidence indicates otherwise.
We seek to understand before judging.
6. Intention and Behaviour
Human beings have a tendency to judge themselves by their intentions and others by their behaviour.
We invite ourselves to reverse this tendency:
Examine our own behaviour honestly while making a genuine effort to understand the intentions of others.
Where there is no evidence regarding another person’s intentions, we should begin with the assumption of good intention.
Where evidence exists, we should consider it honestly.
Good intention should never become an excuse for ignoring harmful behaviour.
7. Human Agency
People are expected and empowered to retain their agency.
Spread Harmony should not seek to determine another person’s destination.
It can provide:
information;
skills;
perspectives;
potentially useful resources;
connections;
opportunities;
and supportive conditions.
People decide what is appropriate for themselves.
8. Guide Like a Lighthouse, Not a Captain
We believe guidance should be like a lighthouse rather than a captain.
A lighthouse can illuminate:
conditions;
hazards;
possibilities;
alternative routes;
and areas that may require caution.
But it does not steer the ship.
Similarly, Spread Harmony seeks to illuminate possibilities without taking control of people’s lives.
We can create conditions and show or describe directions without prescribing destinations.
9. Love
We believe love involves caring about another person’s security and wellbeing as we care about our own.
Love does not require agreement.
It does not require sameness.
It does not require surrendering appropriate boundaries.
It means recognising that another person’s wellbeing matters.
10. Compassion
Compassion involves seeking to understand another person’s circumstances, experience and the role these may have played in their current understanding and behaviour.
Compassion includes efforts to reduce the suffering of others.
Understanding does not mean approving.
Compassion does not mean removing accountability.
It means trying to understand the human being and the circumstances before us.
11. Kindness
Kindness means approaching people and situations with care and seeking to respond with care wherever we can.
Kindness does not require perfection.
Sometimes a small act of care may matter greatly.
12. Gratitude
We believe gratitude is an important quality for a good life.
Gratitude allows us to appreciate what we have, what we have received and what others contribute.
It can replace a feeling of lacking with a greater sense of adequacy and appreciation.
Gratitude does not mean complacency.
We can appreciate what we have while continuing to aspire, learn and grow.
13. Truths
We believe truth should be respected wherever it comes from.
No individual has a monopoly on truth.
Truth stands on its own merits, rather than on the authority, wealth, status or influence of the person expressing it.
A person without authority may identify something completely true.
A person with great authority may be wrong.
We should therefore remain open to truth regardless of its source.
14. We Are Ready to Embrace Even Difficult Truths
Harmony does not require avoiding difficult truths.
We may sometimes need to:
hear something uncomfortable;
acknowledge that we are wrong;
confront a difficult reality;
recognise harm;
or reconsider something we previously believed.
We should not reject truth merely because it is inconvenient.
Truth and harmony need not be opposing forces.
15. No Monopoly on Truth
Every person’s opinion can potentially contain truth.
This does not mean every opinion is true.
It means that we should remain open to learning from anyone.
We should:
Ask and try to understand before judging.
Authority should not determine truth.
Neither should popularity.
Nor wealth.
Nor organisational position.
16. Integrity of Intent
Spread Harmony places particular importance on Integrity of Intent.
We should continually ask:
Why are we doing this?
An action that initially serves the purpose can gradually become driven by:
- money;
- recognition;
- influence;
- status;
- power;
- organisational self-interest;
- personal relationships;
- or ego.
- We should remain alert to such temptations.
17. The Temptations We Must Guard Against
Spread Harmony should remain particularly alert to:
The temptation of financial gain or favour
Financial or material gain must never quietly become a reason for activity.
The temptation of recognition
Being seen doing good must never become more important than doing good.
The temptation of power or influence
Influence should never become personal ownership of people or their choices.
The temptation of organisational self-preservation
The organisation should never become more important than the purpose it exists to serve.
The temptation of behaving or operating less ethically
Convenience, urgency or opportunity must never become excuses for lowering ethical standards.
The temptation of believing we know best
Spread Harmony must remain open to the possibility that others may see something we do not.
The temptation of ego
Achievement, recognition or influence must not become reasons for believing that particular people are more important than the purpose.
18. Purpose Before Organisation
The purpose and intention of Spread Harmony are larger than the organisation.
The organisation is a means of serving the purpose.
Its continuation, growth, reputation or prominence should never automatically take priority over what best serves the purpose.
If another structure, method or organisation could serve the purpose better, that possibility should remain open.
19 .People and Purpose
People are essential to serving the purpose.
At the same time, the purpose remains the reason for the organisation’s existence.
This is a matter of prioritising significance, not diminishing people.
The dignity and importance of people should never be confused with the organisational priority of serving the purpose.
20. Service Before Recognition
Spread Harmony should focus on service rather than recognition for service.
Recognition may sometimes be useful.
Acknowledgement may sometimes be appropriate.
But neither should become the purpose of the work.
21. Action Before Announcement
Announcements, plans and aspirations should not become substitutes for useful action.
Where a worthwhile action can reasonably be taken, we should seek to take it.
This does not prohibit announcements when they genuinely serve the purpose.
The principle is simply that:
Announcement should not substitute for accomplishment.
22. Quiet Achievement
The value of a good action does not depend on who performs it and/or whether anyone knows who performed it.
Spread Harmony should therefore be comfortable with quiet achievement.
Our purpose is not recognition.
Our purpose is worthwhile achievement or performance.
23. We Do Not Seek to Own Outcomes
Spread Harmony should not seek to own positive outcomes.
If people use resources, information, skills or opportunities associated with Spread Harmony and create worthwhile results, those outcomes do not belong to Spread Harmony simply because it contributed something that helped.
The organisation should be more interested in the outcome occurring than in being associated with it.
24. Human Agency and Responsibility
Respecting agency does not remove accountability.
People remain accountable for their choices and actions.
Understanding circumstances does not eliminate individual accountability.
Compassion does not require us to accept harmful behaviour.
A person can be understood and still be held accountable.
25. Accountability to the Purpose
Spread Harmony should remain accountable for its own conduct.
People entrusted with responsibility within the organisation should remain accountable for how they use that responsibility.
The greater the responsibility entrusted to a person, the greater the need for appropriate accountability.
Responsibility should increase accountability, not status.
26. Financial Integrity
Financial or material gain is not part of the purpose of Spread Harmony.
Spread Harmony has no aim of generating money for personal or organisational enrichment.
Where legitimate financial resources arise, they should be used consistently with the purpose and applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
Any work towards personal financial or material gain contrary to the purpose is unacceptable.
27. Measurement Is a Tool, Not the Purpose
Spread Harmony may measure, obtain feedback and examine evidence where doing so helps it understand its efforts or identify opportunities for refinement.
But:
Measurement is a tool for learning, not a purpose.
We should not allow metrics to become:
competitions;
sources of ego;
substitutes for judgement;
or reasons to pursue impressive numbers rather than worthwhile action.
One person genuinely helped is worthwhile.
28. One Person Helped Is Worthwhile
A concrete action that genuinely helps one person can be more valuable than using substantial resources to design an elaborate scheme intended to potentially help many people but producing no concrete action.
We therefore value:
Useful action over impressive intention.
This does not mean that scale is unimportant.
It means that scale should never become an excuse for failing to act where useful action is already possible.
29. Learning and Refinement
Our understanding can change.
Our methods can improve.
Our assumptions can be challenged.
Our conclusions can be questioned.
Spread Harmony welcomes improvements and refinements to all aspects of its existence and operations.
Feedback is always welcomed because it can help refinement.
No previous decision should become an excuse for refusing to learn.
30. Respectful Disagreement
Disagreement is not disharmony.
People can disagree sincerely and respectfully.
Indeed, disagreement may sometimes help reveal something that would otherwise remain unseen.
We should seek to understand differences rather than automatically treating them as threats.
31. Publicity and Promotion
Publicity should be used only where it serves the purpose.
Promotion of Spread Harmony should not become a purpose in itself.
Promotion of individuals associated with Spread Harmony should not become a purpose in itself.
Publicity may be appropriate where it:
helps people find resources;
enables participation;
supports collaboration;
communicates useful information;
or fulfils legitimate accountability requirements.
32. Legal and Regulatory Integrity
Spread Harmony will comply with applicable legal and regulatory requirements.
Formal structures, positions and records may be necessary to satisfy those requirements.
Such formalities should not be allowed to create unnecessary personal status or hierarchy.
Legal accountability and philosophical humility should coexist.
33. The Organisation Is a Means
Spread Harmony should never become attached to its own existence for its own sake.
The organisation exists because it can potentially serve a larger purpose.
People, structures, processes and technology should therefore remain capable of change.
The purpose should endure even when the means of serving it change.
34. The Founding History
The origins of Spread Harmony may be preserved so that future participants can understand:
why it began;
what questions motivated it;
what assumptions existed at the time;
and how its thinking developed.
The history should be preserved for learning and context, rather than celebration of particular people.
35. The Ultimate Question
When competing choices arise, Spread Harmony should ask:
What choice best serves the purpose?
This question should be capable of challenging:
convenience;
financial opportunity;
recognition;
organisational interests;
personal preferences;
established practices;
and even conclusions contained within this Framework.
36. The Founding Mindset
The Founding Mindset can be expressed simply:
Do good without needing to be known for doing it.
Serve without seeking ownership.
Guide without controlling.
Listen before judging.
Remain open to truth.
Act before announcing.
Learn when we are wrong.
Keep the purpose larger than the organisation.
And above all:
The value of a good action does not depend on who performs it and/or whether anyone knows who performed it.