CK’S VISION FOR THE SITE
Celestial Koan recognises that one of Humanity’s great needs in this turbulent overpopulated world undergoing exponential growth in knowledge and technology, is wisdom.
Accordingly this site has been established to assist in the development and dissemination of wisdom.
Wisdom is not information, knowledge or understanding. These things are essential stepping stones in the begetting of wisdom.
Celestial Koan believes that sites that share information, knowledge, and understanding, are therefore complementary, not competitive, with this site. Accordingly this site applauds and commends sites like Wikipedia, and Quora, and contains many links to them.
Wisdom can be obtained in many ways from many sources. The path is long, and CK does not believe that Wisdom in itself is the ultimate goal. Celestial Koan sees life as being a spiritual journey up a mountain. We all start from different places at the bottom, and we all head up the mountain by different routes. Yet, although it may initially seem that we are all pursuing different routes to different places, in reality we are all journeying up the same mountain, and we are all destined, some day, to reach the same summit. As to what we will find there, we’ll only know for certain when we arrive. Meantime, let’s all concentrate on the climb, because it may be that the journey is more important than the destination.
In this metaphor, wisdom is merely one of the higher levels one must reach on one’s journey. Celestial Koan has no dispute with Guru’s, Zen Masters, and others, who advise that one must go beyond wisdom and knowledge to reach true spiritual revelation, awareness, satori, awakening, or whatever terms one uses to describe reaching some of the highest levels of the mountain / the summit.
CK would like this site to be for all people, but that’s an impracticably big aim in a world with so many people, nations, religions and languages. Accordingly, this site is focussed on English speakers, predominantly in the Western developed world, although it is certainly hoped that many English speakers in India and other parts of Asia and Africa may benefit from it too.
Celestial Koan would like the site to benefit from the wisdoms of all peoples, cultures and religions. CK himself is a follower of Joshua of Nazareth, and largely familiar with Christian theology and practice, but recognises that all major faiths have much to offer. Christianity has no monopoly on love and ethics, and is not the only pathway up the mountain.
CK is also widely versed in science and the scientific method, and seeks to reconcile the truths found by application of the scientific method with the truths revealed through the revelations of religion. However, he also understands that not all scientific findings are necessarily entirely correct, and not all religious beliefs are factually correct. The application of wisdom and discernment is required.
He also recognises that religion and spirituality are very different, albeit related, things. Religion has all too often been as much an obstacle as a benefit to pursuing spirituality. Nevertheless, spirituality without religion often struggles, just as creativity without the benefits of a discipline such as architecture, seldom yields much fruit.
Accordingly this site is not a platform for particular religious, cultural or political views, but an environment for spreading the discovered truths and wisdoms from all sources. Users are encouraged to contribute through the various forums provided. Initially this is the Blog comments, and by email. It is hoped that further interactive forums can be added in due course. Offers of assistance from those willing to volunteer their time and expertise to improving the site are welcomed, and may even be taken up where logistics permit. Your attention is drawn to our site usage ethos and policies.
The site is structured to serve its functions as described above. Celestial Koan also writes books as a means of disseminating wisdom, and the books and the site are supposed to have a complementary relationship. The site has the benefit of being more interactive, more dynamic, and more updatable. Books have the advantage that one can draw together wisdom about a topic in a larger, more structured way. Books also convert to a paginated, hard copy format much better.