A koan (pronounced /ko.an/) is a story, dialog, question, or statement in the history
and lore of Chan (Zen) Buddhism, generally containing aspects that are inaccessible to
rational understanding, yet that may be accessible to intuition. A famous koan is:

"Two hands clap and there is a sound; what is the sound of one hand?"

In my woodworking, there is not always a rational process of thought in making a
project. Many times I pick up a piece of wood and it "tells" me what it wants to be.
This often leads to items made once; occasionally I will copy that original and make
several, occasionally it makes for interesting firewood.

More on Koans from Wikipedia

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