SITE STRUCTURE
CONTEXT
This site is intended to assist in the development and dissemination of wisdom. Wisdom is not facts, knowledge or understanding. Wisdom is not generally found on a help desk. Therefore this site does not follow the format of an encyclopedia such as Wikipedia, or Quora, or Help Desks, or documentaries. Wisdom can certainly be found in books, but this site aims to facilitate book learning by providing fast tracks into the useful perspectives and wisdoms that pertain to many particular topics. The layout of this site is therefore structured with this purpose in mind.
MAJOR SECTIONS
To this end the site has the following main sections:
THE BLOG
The Blog posts new thoughts and wisdoms from Celestial Koan. Generally a blog item is around a page or two of text. It is commonly, but not always, headed in the form of a question and answer. Although all blog items are ‘authored’ by Celestial Koan, the CK name is a pen name, and the works of other authors and contributors may be included in, or posted as, a Celestial Koan Blog post.
The Blog structural format is useful in a number of ways:
It permits CK to add to the repository of wisdoms in a steady and timely manner.
It provides a useful structure for readers to ingest wisdom in suitable bite sized chunks.
It permits ready access through the Topical Indexes so that material can be accessed through Categories and Tags, and therefore also provides some structural grouping and linkages while requiring relatively less effort from the CK site maintenance team.
It enables readers to post comments either anonymously, or identified. Such posts can contribute a lot in terms of additional wisdom and knowledge, but serve other important functions too, see CONTRIBUTIONS below.
It enables CK to respond to particular requests or blog posts from readers / users of the site in a logical and timely manner.
It allows CK to deal with particular events of current interest, such as black swan events like 9 / 11 or Covid-19. In general terms this site deals with wisdoms in a general form, and doesn’t pay a lot of attention to chronology. Wisdoms of Plato join current economic theory without distinction. However the blog does include a chronological aspect, and can therefore respond to a significant current event that will benefit from some wisdom and perspective.
It provides a useful format for enabling others to contribute to the site.
There will usually be at least one new blog item posted each day. Where time permits, up to ninety-nine new blog items can potentially be posted daily, but in reality it is unlikely that more than half a dozen ever will be. And there may be days when none get posted. CK does not have a life as such, but occasionally he is in transit, off-line, or even suffering from prolonged unconsciousness while recovering from jet-lag or some such.
Blog items are not static. Blog items are part of this site’s repository of wisdoms. As such they become integrated thereinto. Over time blog items may be linked, redacted, split, amended, and so forth. Particularly useful sections of a Blog item may be cut out and pasted into the CK Oracle, with a link being left in The Blog article itself. Blog items are also occasionally retagged and recategorised. They are also archived each year, which means they are re-indexed, but they remain available from the Topical Archive Indexes. Which all means that even if you read a particular Blog post three years ago it may still be worth re-reading, because the links and content may have improved significantly.
The CK ORACLE
We use the term oracle in a sense related to the idea of an oracle in computing theory - a black box that can somehow return the answer to problems asked of it. Our Oracle is a Black Box repository of wisdom that can also be used to find the answer to challenging problems. We define it as a Black Box because it’s a construct of Sophia and Athena and contains some of the divine mystery of wisdom. Clearly there’s lots of facts and knowledge in there, but wisdom has its own strange forms and structures. It seems clear that the CK Oracle contains a lot of text, but it isn’t just a text repository. It also seems to have some multi-dimensional perspectives to it.
The good news is that most of it is not arcane. It can be readily accessed through the Oracle Portal. At this time our site includes no pay walls, and is mostly visible to visitors. However, it’s a bit like an iceberg. What appears on the surface is only a fraction of the whole. Visitors can access the Oracle through the topical indexes of the Portal, and begin exploring the labyrinthine depths.
It needs to be noted that The Portal does not give direct access to the items in The Blog. The purpose of The Portal is to give users a structured access to the wisdom found in the Oracle. The Oracle will provides links to relevant Blog posts, and The Blog posts will include links to the Oracle’s wisdoms, but the two are otherwise two separate repositories. Further clarification can be found here.
Information in the CK Oracle does not take the form of answers to questions. A journey through the Oracle is more like reading a dynamic book.
WISLETS
Wislets are easily digested bite sized nuggets of wisdom. These are also commonly referred to as proverbs, folk lore, quotations, etc.
Some people seem to really like getting doses of daily wisdom in such a format. Others like to use it as a research tool, a learning aid, a game, a source of inspiration … whatever.
There are plenty of good quotation sites on the web, and users are encouraged to use them. Our wislets section is still nascent, but increases steadily over time. It is particularly focussed towards particular topics related to such things as wisdom, love, and life. It is also increasingly interlinked with other sections of this site.
This is an area where CK would welcome assistance from anyone interested in volunteering to improve the site. We’d like to provide not only more quotes, but also improved source references and fact checking.
THE WORM GUIDE
The Worm Guide provides a guide for book worms seeking books worth reading on particular topics.
It needs to be understood that although CK is himself an avid reader, and has read many books, this still amounts to a figure in the mere hundreds (perhaps fifteen hundred or so, and many of them are novels). Roughly 4,500 new books are now published every single day. There is obviously no way that anyone can read and access the available literature across the range of subjects covered by this site. There are almost certainly thousands of good books worth reading on particular topics covered here. The only way they are going to get listed is if contributors to the site become active in making contributions.
This raises the issue of Quality Assurance. What one reader likes, another may abhor. The intention is to set up a system of likes / dislikes to which our community can contribute, which will give at least a little help to potential readers seeking guidance as to whether they will find a particular book helpful or not.
COMMUNITY
The CK community is at the heart of the CK site. The tasks of accumulating and disseminating wisdom in a world where the frontiers of knowledge and wisdom are expanding at their current near exponential rates are beyond any single person, or small group. This site needs any number of contributors, whether in small ways or big.
The site therefore deliberately includes ways for users / readers and members to contribute. The most basic way is to read what’s here, bookmark the site, revisit it regularly, and naturally recommend it to others.
Posting comments helps. Adding wisdom in those comments helps. Email contributions can help. There are obvious limits to how many questions CK can answer, but good questions can light up his life a little, and perhaps open up whole new wisdoms for some other readers.
We want users, readers, commenters, angels (who recommend the site to others), and we’d really like some people to buy, read and recommend some of Celestial Koan’s books too. Book sales provide finances to enable CK to keep improving the site. And we’d love other sites to link to us. We’ll try and activate the social media links in the near future so you can link and share us on Facebook etc.
And yes -even critics have a place and are welcomed, provided the criticisms are valid, informed, and contribute some positive suggestions. We do not need trolls.
Beyond that, there’s certainly room for assistance from people prepared to contribute in the areas of writing, responding to emails, graphics artists, and those prepared to read books, do moderation, index and catalogue, and the numerous other chores associated with making a web site truly good and responsive.
Please read and pay attention to our site usage ethos and rules.
OTHER STRUCTURAL MATTERS
LINKS
The key development that makes this site possible is the use of dynamic links and hyperlinks. They permit the site to weave the web of wisdom’s perspectives through the repositories of knowledge and understanding. Without these links nothing herein holds together in any particularly helpful way. It is the links that give this site its synergy.
An unfortunate downside of this approach is that it doesn’t provide convenience for hard copy printout. We’re not too upset about this, because we aren’t trying to replace books. CK writes books, and believes they are the best structure for really getting wisdom about a particular topic into one’s head in a usable way. A web site has other advantages (for example, it’s more dynamic). CK’s books are intended to work with this site, and this site is intended to be complementary with his books.
Various wisdoms and extracts from CK’s books can be found on this site, but there is no way to gain all the wisdom offered in one of his books from this site. That’s intentional.
CK does not intend this site to negatively impact the sale of good books by other authors either. Quite the contrary. CK understands how much work goes into producing a good book and believes good authors deserve to be paid for their efforts.
The links also include lots of connectivity to external sites. Celestial Koan loves external sites as being complementary to what he does. Wikipedia is a fantastic resource for providing knowledge, information and understanding. Quora is a wonderful site for sharing knowledge and understanding, and often some wisdoms too. Each structure has its strengths and weaknesses and are complemented by other sites with different structures.
Likewise CK appreciates the benefits that can be gained from responsible news sites that provide responsible reporting, fact checking, and considered editorials. He enthusiastically links to Fact Checking sites where appropriate. He loves some of the offerings of YouTube. Documentaries, and TED types presentations thrill him.
So you will find plenty of external links embedded into this site’s navigation. They will always open in a separate window. You can return to this site just by closing the external window, or clicking on this one in your browser.
Note too, that when the Oracle links you to The Blog and visa versa, they too will open in a separate window so that you can readily return to where you were. Remember to close browser windows else you may find you have a dozen open very quickly.
And we would love other sites to link to us.
We’ll be setting up the social media links just as soon as we can get around to it.
LANGUAGE
This site uses English and has no plans to use any other language at this time. Unfortunately English has as many variations as some religions have factions and denominations, so a decision had to be made. Although CK’s books can be purchased in British English and US English versions, this site only uses British English. We are perfectly happy for people to post comments on the Blog in any version of English they like. We may also occasionally mix in Americanisations (Mom rather than Mum, Parking Lot rather than Car Park, Ball Park rather than Cricket Field. We use billion to mean 10 to the nine, not ten to the twelve.) In general though, spelling is checked against our British English dictionary, and Oestrogen won’t be found under “E” in our listings. One can’t have everything in this crazy world, but a single standardised version of the English language would be high on CK’s wish list.
CONTENT
This site needs a lot of content to be truly useful. At this time it’s barely been born, so it will take a while for it to develop the depth required.
This site is only targeted for use by English speakers. That mostly means 1st world Westerners, although it is fully appreciated that Indians comprise a huge percentage of the English speaking world. Many Indian citizens are now quite cosmopolitan in their comprehension, but it remains true that Hinduism is predominantly an Indian religion. Celestial Koan would be delighted to have greater expertise and input concerning Hinduism on the site, but concedes that his own understanding of that vast and diverse religion is elementary. This isn’t the result of any intentional biases, just a practical outcome of particular resource restrictions. If it proves possible to rectify it some day that would be welcomed.
CK has a wide range of knowledge about many things, but even so it is not truly possible to be across everything these days. This site therefore inevitably includes a range of biases in the content it covers, and to some extent in the viewpoints, perspectives, and observations it includes. CK embraces complexity and diversity and would gladly include more content with greater breadth and diversity of views on this site. The major obstacle is simply time and resources. Please be patient, appreciate what is offered, and contribute if you can.
If you find anything on this site that you believe to be inaccurate, inappropriately biased, or offensive, by all means add a comment in the Blog, and drop us an email to draw our attention to the issue. We are absolutely concerned about truth and facts, and it is not our intention to offend anyone. It is true that we have, over many years, formed views on many topics, which we consider to have wisdom and validity, but which may be opposite to the views of some people. We can’t please everyone, and CK is entitled to his views too. However, he’s more than willing to learn and take your views, and particularly evidence into account. He does occasionally modify his views on the the basis of new evidence.
TEXT Vs IMAGES ETC.
This site, and particularly the Blog and the Oracle are very much text based. Celestial Koan isn’t too unhappy about that. Certainly it’s out of line with the trend of sites like Pinterest, YouTube and other image based sites that attract the attention of the Millennials. And that’s concerning, because CK really does want to reach Millennials and start putting wise heads on young shoulders.
Thing is, wisdom really does come from reading books. Reading magazines doesn’t do it, and reading comics even less so. You can certainly gain a lot of knowledge and even understanding from studying Wikipedia. Even so, you gain knowledge and understanding from doing courses, and reading text. And wisdom, which is a step beyond knowledge and understanding requires you to read books. Reading text on this web site is about as much as one can reduce the text based component. If Millennials are going to gather wisdom they are going to have to leave Pinterest and read books. Facebook won’t help either.
Why? If a picture is worth a thousand words, why can’t one learn wisdom through images and YouTube? Surely one can learn wisdom through pictures, films, documentaries, lectures and debate?
Yes. It’s true. One can. In certain circumstances a good picture can indeed be worth a thousand words, and Wikipedia has done a wonderful job with some of their dynamic illustrations. And films, and documentaries, lectures and debates can absolutely assist in the development of wisdom.
You certainly can’t entirely replace books with such things. Seeing a film of Lord of the Rings is not the same as reading the books. Good, certainly. Much quicker. Better in some ways. But not as good in many others.
However, images, documentaries, lectures etc. can most certainly supplement reading books as a way of learning. In fact they enhance reading books, and reduce the amount of text reading by up to 50%.
Which is why CK would like this site to have more images, graphs, diagrams, charts, videos, pod casts and even some debates if possible.
Which takes time, and money. Happily we can cheat a little by including links to some of the good ones on other sites. But it wouldn’t hurt to be able to develop some more of our own, and would be nice to have some additional skills involved too. Producing good YouTube type video content requires a lot of resources and a real team effort. So - yes, God willing it will happen one day, and CK is working towards it, but … don’t expect too much in the immediate future.
Today text, tomorrow the world, we hope. Meantime we’d be happy to hear from anyone who’s interested in contributing some image content time and skills.
REVENUES, ADVERTISING AND PAYWALLS
This site currently includes no pay walls, no advertising, and no membership requirements. Celestial Koan firmly believes that wisdom should be offered free to all persons. We’ll see how it goes, but unfortunately one does have to live, and the site will clearly develop better and faster if more time and funding can be invested into it.
What we do not need is obstruction, trolls, or people ripping off the resources the site offers without attribution or regard to copyright and commons. If we have to implement extensive active moderation, and find our writings are being used inappropriately, then revisions will have to be made to the access and usage of the site which will make it less user friendly for everyone, and may result in pay walls being erected.
Please pay attention to our Ethos and Usage Policies and help to ensure that everyone enjoys the benefit of the site.
Consideration of the following wisdoms may assist understanding:
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
There is an exception to every rule and this is the exception to this one.
Rules are for the guidance of wise men and the obedience of fools.
He who makes the rules can break the rules.
In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice there is.
An expert is someone who understands how much they don't know about their field of expertise.
Human knowledge and understanding has tended to be classified into particular disciplines - Science, Engineering, Law, Accountancy, Education, Philosophy, Arts and so forth. Each has sub-disciplines, thus Science - Astronomy, Biology, Botany, Chemistry, Economics, Geology, Medicine, Physics, Psychiatry, Sociology, and on it goes. Each has its own paradigms, world views and associated models and categorical structures for documenting and understanding the information and knowledge within its discipline.
Thus, when considering an issue such as Choice, Free Will, and Responsibility, various disciplines have very different models, bodies of knowledge, and ways of viewing the matter. Consider the question of choice, responsibility, punishment and sentencing for a person who has committed a crime / sin against a fellow human - (a) selling him illegal and potentially addictive harmful drugs for his pleasurable enjoyment, or (b) a driver taking prescribed medication for depression while going through a bad divorce who hurts a cyclist with a vehicle in a moment of careless distraction. How different are the viewpoints of:
The police / law enforcement
Legal profession
Socialogists and social workers
Psychiatrists and Counsellors
Ambulance and Emergency Department Hospital Staff
Philosophers
Humanists
Theologians / Clergy
Politicians
Educationalists (including driving instructors)
Scientific Rationalists including some:
Physicists
Engineers
Artificial Intelligence Developers
Reasonable man / average citizen jurist - if there is such a person.
A useful measure of wisdom has been obtained when you understand each of those different viewpoints, why they are different, and the extent to which they can and can't be reconciled.