6 Steps To Becoming An Information Security Guru

Resonance
has intruiged me since I learned about the concept in high school. For those
unfamiliar, it’s “the tendency of a system to
oscillate
at maximum
amplitude
at a certain
frequency.” Or, to put it another way, it’s the frequency at which something
vibrates the most.

I remember one day being at
7-11
getting a Super Big Gulp. I was holding my cup while my buddy was filling
his (also a Super Big Gulp) with ice. As the ice fell into his cup a couple
of feet away, I could feel my cup vibrating as if it were filling with ice
as well. I tried it with a different sized cup and it wasn’t nearly as
pronounced. I had just recently learned about resonance, and I was quite
impressed.

Anyway, it strikes me that resonance is a lot like understanding. I imagine
we’re being exposed to information and knowledge (potential understanding)
on a constant basis. The various things we’re exposed to as we move through
life are essentially frequencies of experience and knowledge. The real
question is whether or not you resonate at those frequencies.

This is especially true when it comes to experiencing things that are alien
to you, such as different foods, different customs, and different types of
music. Think of gangster rap vs. Motzart. These are very different
frequencies indeed. And you’ll usually find that those who can tune to one
frequency and be affected by it, are not able to really feel the other.

I think cultures determine what frequencies we oscilate at, and that most
are bad at nurturing people who are able to oscilate at many. Most people
are like the walkie-talkies from 20 years ago. They had a single crystal in
them that did maybe 1 to 3 channels. There were THOUSANDS of other radio
signals flying by those radios — so much conversation to be heard — but
those old systems could only hear three little channels. And that’s how most
of us are.

I think we should try and “understand” as many frequencies as possible.
Spicy food. Ice cream.  Yoga. Isolationism. Compassion. 50 Cent.
Cheese. Faith. Environmentalism. Salsa dancing. Hunting. Martial arts. Mars
Volta. Cooking. Hopelessness.

The more frequencies we can adjust ourselves to resonate at the more we can
undertand other people, and the world in general. From those vantage points
we can then try and help others resonate at our favorite pitches, and vice
versa.: