We, descendants of AION, hold thusly:

That, to experiment sensibly and fruitfully, we must have a hypothesis; that experiment without purpose does not teach us and wastes valuable research material; that the proving or disproving of hypotheses in the way of the ancient tradition is the most valuable method by which to apply our efforts;

That testing the same hypothesis numerous times to confirm the results are sound does have value; that experimenting with the same hypothesis through different methods confers as much knowledge as repeating the same experiment twice; that iteration is the key to learning;

That we must try to prove hypotheses affirmatively, rather than to prove negatives; that the lesson of absence, while valuable, requires too much of us in this time and at this place to bring us true learning; that it is impossible to fully and without question prove something does not exist;

That we must begin with a question and formulate the hypothesis as an answer; that acting thusly confirms that the hypothesis has relevance to the moment, and thus may further our sacred mission to understand the universe around us;

That we base a hypothesis upon facts that we have observed about this universe, rather than suppositions or assumptions; that a hypothesis is a reasonable prediction that we may gain knowledge from, rather than something unreasonable and easily disproven, which gifts us with no new learning;

That to formulate a poor hypothesis can lead to the formation of a poor experiment; that we are bound by our sacred duty to treat each hypothesis as though the universe itself rests on it; that we must have honesty with each other and ourselves about the utility and soundness of any given hypothesis; that we must proceed forward in learning at all costs, any arrogance sacrificed on the altar of peer review.

And that we will fail, and by that failure learn.

In the service of HYPOTHESIS, this do we promise: Every year, we begin anew. In the season that was once spring, we revisit experiments we have conducted before, hypotheses already tested—ours, or our ancestors', those passed down to us as inheritors. We set aside our existing processes to celebrate previous experiments, and we transform our current studies with new hypotheses based on those facts we once acted on. In this way, we do not let old studies lie idle, for much may be learned by examining old facts in new lights.

This we are commanded: Reason practically, theorize testably, and learn from each experience. Blessed is every disproved hypothesis, and beautiful the broken glass of failure. Sing praise to every micron's increment of progress, for it all has a great worth, every scrap. In the mistake is written the Anomaly's call, and in the proof, our answer.