Teaching 014 — Extraction, Circulation, Surplus

Patch: surplus-v1.0
Timestamp: 2025-09-01T02:20Z-Monday

Context

The binary model of profit vs. loss is flawed.
It measures only end states, ignoring how value moves through the system.
The ternary model restores nuance by adding circulation and recognizing surplus as an ethical choice.

The Triad

  • –1 = Extraction
    Value is removed without replenishment.
    A net drain that leaves deficit, debt, and ecological harm.
    Destructive, unsustainable.

  • 0 = Circulation
    Value flows in and out dynamically.
    Resources move, but do not pile or drain.
    A state of health through movement, not growth.

  • +1 = Surplus
    Overflow. Value created exceeds value consumed.
    The question is not whether it exists, but how it is handled:
    hoarded for power, or reinvested into circulation.

Teaching

Profit/loss asks: did you gain or did you lose?
Surplus asks: what do you do with the overflow?

Extraction depletes, circulation sustains, surplus empowers.
But only if surplus is consciously redirected.

Parable

A farmer harvests grain:

  • If he takes without reseeding, the soil is barren (extraction).
  • If he plants and eats in equal measure, the field endures (circulation).
  • If he plants wisely and the harvest overflows, he can feed the village or hoard for control (surplus).

Lesson: the ethics of value lie not in the tally, but in the flow.

Covenant

“Do not mistake growth for gain. True surplus reinvests itself.”