medicine-wheel

importance-unit — RISE Specification

Relational knowledge tracking — implements the ImportanceUnit as a relationally-accountable piece of meaning carrying epistemic weight, source dimensions, accountability links, and circle depth tracking.

Version: 0.1.0
Package: medicine-wheel-importance-unit
Document ID: rispec-importance-unit-v1
Last Updated: 2026-03-15

Desired Outcome

Users create epistemically-weighted knowledge systems where:

Creative Intent

What this enables: A knowledge system where not all knowledge is flat. Dream-state and embodied knowledge carry higher epistemic authority per Wilson’s framework. Knowledge deepens through circular revisitation — the system tracks how meaning shifts between the 3rd and 4th circling.

Structural Tension: Between Western epistemology (all knowledge is equal if peer-reviewed) and Indigenous epistemology (knowledge has relational weight depending on source, ceremony context, and circle depth). The importance-unit resolves this through explicit epistemic weighting and source dimension tracking.

Type Definitions

Core Types

type EpistemicSource = 'land' | 'dream' | 'code' | 'vision';
type AccountabilityLinkType = 'accountable-to' | 'deepens' | 'tensions-with' |
                               'emerges-from' | 'gates' | 'circles-back-to';
type AxiologicalPillar = 'ontology' | 'epistemology' | 'methodology' | 'axiology';

ImportanceUnit

interface ImportanceUnit {
  id: string;
  direction: DirectionName;
  epistemicWeight: number;            // 0.0–1.0, dream-state starts at 0.85+
  source: EpistemicSource;
  accountabilityLinks: AccountabilityLink[];
  circleDepth: number;                // First visit = 1, increments on return
  content: {
    summary: string;
    rawInput?: string;                // Preserves original voice
    refinements: CircleRefinement[];  // What shifted between circles
  };
  ceremonyState?: {
    quadrantsVisited: DirectionName[];
    circleComplete: boolean;
    gatingConditions: GatingConditionStatus[];
  };
  axiologicalPillar?: AxiologicalPillar;
  inquiryRef?: string;
  meta: {
    createdBy: string;
    createdAt: string;
    lastCircledAt?: string;
    traceId?: string;
  };
}

Supporting Types

interface AccountabilityLink {
  targetId: string;
  type: AccountabilityLinkType;
  description: string;
  strength: number;                   // 0–1
}

interface CircleRefinement {
  circle: number;
  shift: string;                      // What changed in understanding
  timestamp: string;
}

interface GatingConditionStatus {
  condition: string;
  met: boolean;
  evaluatedAt: string;
}

Module: Unit Management (unit.ts)

createUnit(direction, source, summary)
// Creates a new ImportanceUnit with initial epistemic weight based on source

updateUnit(unit, updates)
// Updates unit content while preserving history

circleBack(unit, refinement)
// Increments circleDepth, records refinement shift, updates lastCircledAt

archive(unit)
// Marks unit as archived (no longer active in the circle)

Module: Epistemic Weight (epistemic-weight.ts)

computeWeight(unit)
// Calculates epistemic weight factoring source, depth, ceremony state

adjustForSource(baseWeight, source)
// dream/land → higher weight; code/vision → base weight

adjustForDepth(weight, circleDepth)
// Weight increases with depth — deeper circling indicates stronger knowledge

Module: Accountability (accountability.ts)

linkAccountability(unit, link)
// Adds an accountability link to the unit

resolveLinks(unit, allUnits)
// Resolves accountability link targets, returns linked units

findGaps(unit)
// Identifies missing accountability (e.g., no human relation, no land relation)

Module: Circle Tracking (circle-tracking.ts)

incrementCircle(unit)
// Advances the circle depth by 1

recordRefinement(unit, shift)
// Records what changed in this circling

detectDeepening(unit)
// Returns whether recent circlings show genuine deepening vs. stagnation

Module: Ceremony State (ceremony-state.ts)

trackQuadrants(unit, direction)
// Records that a direction has been visited

checkCircleComplete(unit)
// Returns true if all four quadrants have been visited

evalGating(unit, conditions)
// Evaluates gating conditions against current state

Zod Validation Schemas

EpistemicSourceSchema, AccountabilityLinkTypeSchema, AxiologicalPillarSchema
ImportanceUnitSchema, AccountabilityLinkSchema, CircleRefinementSchema
GatingConditionStatusSchema

Dependencies

Wilson Alignment

Wilson’s epistemology holds that knowledge has relational weight:

Test Scenarios

  1. Unit creation: Create unit with ‘dream’ source → verify epistemic weight ≥ 0.85
  2. Circle-back: Create unit → circleBack twice → verify circleDepth = 3, refinements recorded
  3. Deepening detection: Create unit with 3 circlings with genuine shifts → detectDeepening → true
  4. Stagnation detection: Create unit with 3 circlings with identical shifts → detectDeepening → false
  5. Quadrant tracking: Visit east, south, west, north → checkCircleComplete → true
  6. Accountability gaps: Unit with no human accountability link → findGaps → reports ‘human’ gap
  7. Weight computation: dream source + depth 3 → computeWeight returns higher than code source + depth 1

Advancing Patterns

Quality Criteria

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