- Essays on Lingua Lincoln -

- The 16 aspects of human knowledge -

by Lincoln Sayger

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I may or may not have mentioned this here before, but I've been making a study (from time to time) of the ways in which we categorize things as human beings. I have come to the conclusion that all of human knowledge can be categorized in a finite number of distinct categories. These categories can be found by combining 16 aspects. Every topic contains these 16 aspects, and every topic fits into one of these aspects of the base topic "Everything".

I hope to engage in discussion with all of you out there of how any specific topic (or even products) fits into these categories defined by combining aspects. To make the discussion easier, I have determined to define the various aspects and to give each a name (and suggested pronunciation) for use in the discussion, so that ideas can be conveyed as simply as possible.

The sixteen aspects are found in groups of four, as we will see.

The first of each group is the vision aspect, covering things that appear, or things that are visionary, or things that can be shown.

The second of each group is the rule aspect, covering things that are decided or essential, especially things that must be.

The third of each group is the man or human aspect, covering things that are done, decided, or pursued by humanity.

The fourth of each group is the time aspect, covering things in relation to time, or to how long things have been as they are, or things that might be.

The first aspect of human knowledge is the Hol Aspect. Hol (hall) represents the whole, or multiplicity. It includes meta-topics, as well as collections. It is symbolized by the Sphere or ball. The ball reminds us of the globe, the whole world, and a sphere is an object with one face.

The second aspect of human knowledge is the Ras Aspect. Ras (raas) represents the core, or generality that is not a multiple-unit set. Where Hol is the topic itself or a collection of related topics, Ras is the unified kernel of the topic. It includes core principles, reference, and general knowledge. It is symbolzed by the apple core. It's a little corny, but really, the apple core is at the center of the apple, as the Ras aspect is at the center of a topic.

The third aspect of human knowledge is the Dua Aspect. Dua (dwaa) represents the mind, or mentality. It includes philosophy and psychology. It is symbolized by the half moon. The half moon has two sides, a light side and a dark one, like our philosophies on many things, either because of positive and negative features, or because of known and unknown features, or because of good and evil perspectives on a topic. There are very few topics, in addition, that do not have two camps with opposing perspectives. Thus, the philosophy aspect, Dua, has its own duality, as man's perspective is often dualistic.

The fourth aspect of human knowledge is the Uay Aspect. Uay (ooway) represents the distant past, or memorability. It includes traditions, history, memory, and old age. It is symbolized by the tree. The tree is a sentinel that stands through years and eras, largely unchanged by most things that happen around it. In history, it represents the distant past.

These four form a group representing aspects that cover primacy, usually things that have always been this way as long as they've been around.

The fifth aspect of human knowledge is the Sho Aspect. Sho (show) represents the shared, or communicability. It includes transmission, transportation, education, and childhood. It is symbolized by the trumpet horn. The horn has been used throughout history as a means of communicating an incident that should have our attention.

The sixth aspect of human knowledge is the Tul Aspect. Tul (tool) represents the machine, or technology. It includes technical aspects, or anything that multiplies the usefulness of a resource or topic. It is symbolized by the hammer. The hammer is both a symbol of technology and an example of a tool that has changed as technology progresses. Even today, the technology available in an area dictates the shape and style of a hammer. Also, the hammer is arguably a core tool of any civilization.

The seventh aspect of human knowledge is the Mak Aspect. Mak (mock) represents the place, or spatiality. It includes locational or community aspects of the topic, or extraplanetary aspects. It is symbolized by the milestone or marker stone. Humanity uses the marker stone to separate the land into distinct and identifiable regions.

The eighth aspect of human knowledge is the Bar Aspect. Bar (baar) represents the recent past, or provability. It includes objectivity, realism (as opposed to the surreal or fanciful), empiricism, and the hard sciences. It is symbolized by the weighing scales. The weighing scales are how we measure things against established amounts.

These four form a group representing aspects that cover establishment, usually things that have been so for a long time, or methods for establishing facts.

The ninth aspect of human knowledge is the Arz Aspect. Arz (ahrz) represents the seen, or artistry. It includes the arts, vision or visionary aspects, things we can see but not touch, and matters of style. It is symbolized by the paintbrush. The paintbrush is how painters turn their vision into paintings.

The tenth aspect of human knowledge is the Ord Aspect. Ord (ohrd) represents the ruler, or legality. It includes policies, governing structures of the topic, political science, and laws or rules. It is symbolized by the plumb bob or truing weight. The plumb bob is one of the simplest tools, and an essential part of building squared walls.

The eleventh aspect of human knowledge is the Pan Aspect. Pan (paan) represents the basket, or sustainability. It includes provisional aspects of the topic, as well as maturity, continuation, plant life, horticulture, and procreation. It is symbolized by the basket (of bread). The basket is humanity's means of moving food from the field to the storehouse.

The twelfth aspect of human knowledge is the Fin Aspect. Fin (finn) represents the present, the now, or vitality. It includes growth, health, and leisure, as well as animal life, medicine, and recreation. It is symbolized by the pair of fish. The fish are the quintessential mascot of the moment, as in giving a man a fish to feed him for today.

These four form a group representing aspects that cover formation, usually how things become established.

The thirteenth aspect of human knowledge is the Lum Aspect. Lum (loom) represents the unseen, or rituality. It includes faith and religion, as well as processes, algorithms, procedures and standards. It is symbolized by the lit candle. The candle is the things that light our way in the darkness of the world.

The fourteenth aspect of human knowledge is the Nir Aspect. Nir (near) represents the group, or sociality. It includes social impact, social aspects, and social sciences. It is symbolized by the square paddock. The paddock is one of the common features of many societies, separating one person's livestock from another's.

The fifteenth aspect of human knowledge is the Iyu Aspect. Iyu (eeyoo) represents the individual, or specificity. It includes the personal, the biographical, the subjective, and the exemplary. It is symbolized by the stick figure. The stick figure is a nearly universal symbol of a person, one that mankind even sent toward the stars.

The sixteenth aspect of human knowledge is the Ech Aspect. Ech (etch) represents the unknown or unaccepted, or marginality. It includes controversy, conjecture, the taboo, the mysterious, the future, predictions, and abnormalities or outliers. It is symbolized by the inverted question mark. The inverted question is how some romance languages begin questions in writing, and inverted things are often a sign in western cultures of something wrong, suspect, or troubling.

These four form a final group representing aspects that cover seeking, usually the newest, most uncertain, or hardest to quantify.

Combinations of these sixteen aspects can be represented by a sequence of hexadecimal digits, with Hol being represented by #0, Ter being represented by #4, Arz by #8, Lum by #c, and so on to Ech as #f. For example, the history of photography, being a combination of Arz, Bar, Hol, Uay, could be abbreviated as #8703.

Aspect combinations are order specific. #eb is not the same as #be. The first would be something like biographies of medical figures, while the second would be something like personal health and fitness.

Some aspects lend themselves to specific subaspects rather than a further division with the main aspects. Uay, if it is not the fourth aspect in a chain, is more appropriately divided into eras than into aspects. Mak is often more appropriately divided into regions than into aspects. And topics of a specific language have their own unique subaspects within Sho. But almost all other areas will fit neatly into these 16 main aspects as subaspects.

These are the principles of the HolOrdIyu system. It's the Whole, made up of the Organized grouping of the Individual items.

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