Information Security, Fear Mongers, and Universal Peace
Well, that about covers it doesn’t it?
I’ve been listening to "The Power of Now" by Ekhart Tolle, he makes some very good points. Now, while I’m not a "new age" spiritualist, I’m fairly traditional in my monotheistic beliefs, and I do believe he has something to say, primarily that we spend too much time letting our minds rule our lives (an interesting observation given my nickname is ‘Analysis Paralysis’). The aphorism "don’t borrow worry, tomorrow has enough worries of its own" is a good way of putting it; living in the now helps us combat the fears we conjure up in our mind about "worse case" scenarios.
Here’s the funny thing though; through my graduate studies, I have a graduate education in Information Security/Information Assurance and it seems to me that these studies along with the whole notion of security altogether is contradictory to the points Tolle makes in his book. Wendell Phillips oft quoted “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” made in reference to the slavery movement of the 19th century prior to the American Civil War, is used as a mantra for the homeland security, and information assurance disciplines.
I’ve had this nagging voice, all during the time I was attending grad school, saying to me “Are you being a fear monger?” My struggle has been how I reconcile the lessons learned about securing our future with the connecting to peace through the “Now.” Are they mutually exclusive? As I write this, I believe they are not. One becomes a practical function of the other. As a practical matter, insuring we bring peace to our lives through connection with the infinite requires attention to that around us wishing to impose dissonance.
So where is the balance between the “Now” and vigilance? It sits with every one of us along with the recognition that there are those whose motivations for “peace” are only articulated as vigilance. “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” as Juvenal puts it requires that WE watch the watchmen. Separation of power insures that NO one holds all the keys to the kingdom, and WE can experience the peace we are all, me included, desperately seek.