Ua Mau ke Ea o ka ʻĀina i ka Pono
Pono:
Pono is a Hawaiian word that is usually translated as “righteousness,” or “judged proper by the gods.” While Pono is a Hawaiian word, it captures the universal pre-modern idea that human happiness and a good society can only be achieved by collectively acting consistent with human nature and natural order. It is similar to the Greek concept of Areté, which means “excellence of any kind,” or what Buddhists call “right action.” It captures both definitions of the term “right”, as in the morally right thing to do, and the factually correct answer to a question.
Ethos:
Ethos is a Greek word that is often translated as "character," “custom,” or “culture.” It describes the guiding ideas, ideals, and emotions that characterize a person, community, or ideology. An Ethos is characterized as much by the art and beauty it fosters as it is by its intellectual ideas and moral prescriptions. For the Greeks ethos was also a rhetorical strategy to inspire trust, in the speaker, the community, and the nature of reality. It was achieved through a speaker’s sound reasoning, healthy moral character, and goodwill.
Pono Ethos:
Therefore, to paraphrase the Hawaii state motto , Ua mau ke ea o ka ‘āina i ka pono (the life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness), in the broadest sense, pono ethos is a way of being in which the life of the earth and humanity are perpetuated in truth, beauty, and righteousness.
About
Pono Ethos is a Hawaii based nonprofit organization with the goal of facilitating the survival and evolution of humanity. Pono Ethos will participate in facilitating the survival and evolution of human culture and society by facilitating conversations between visionary prescribers, and the best thinkers on the nature of prescription.
What we mean by the prescription is the individual and collective practice of systematically distinguishing those things or events that are good for us from those that harm us; and then advocating for a set of practices intended to reduce harm and suffering and increase well-being and happiness for ourselves and others.
This means that our goal is bring together prescribers and those that study the dynamics of prescription to talk about our collective fate and what we can do to influence it, by changing the ways we survive and flourish on our planet home.
We see Pono Ethos as one manifestation of a growing global phenomenon, the recognition that our species continued existence is not guaranteed, and that the primary threats to our continued existence come from the things we do to survive and flourish as individuals and groups.
Or as Pogo the possum famously said on the first Earth Day poster. “We have seen the enemy and it is us.” Around the world, humanity is rethinking its relationship to the rest of our planet, and what it means for not just our continued existence, but also for our individual and collective wellbeing and happiness.
Pono Ethos hopes to facilitate a uniquely Hawaiian formulation of this global conversation by drawing inspiration from its indigenous culture and using its ancient cultural framework and combining it with the ancient indigenous culture that gave rise to the “western” civilization that now dominates our planet.
We hope to facilitate scientific discussion prescriptions for a better world, by engaging with scientists, artists, and political activists who are advocating for specific prescriptions to make the world “better”. Our goal is not just to draw on ancient values, but instead to reframe our understanding of the relationship between facts and values in a new scientific approach to prescription.
This approach does not see science, art, and politics as separate and distinct human activities, but instead see them all as part of the universal human activity of prescription. Our goal is to get better at this most fundamental and universal human activity.