Ego, Identity and Antivirus

God created a Linux box. Installed right software, tested it and shipped it to this planet. In the beginning everything worked fine. All the components and processes and OS collaborated. Everybody got equal time to be heard, to be attended to. The box was dynamic, still fewer alerts, fewer overshoots of cpus, a stillness around equilibrium made it a joyful box.

There was a process to save the box from external attacks. Something like antivirus. This process had a database of itself and it stored the kind of attacks it could have. Somewhere this process started running rogue. It created a concept of “I”. It said that I have to be alive for this box to work. It said that all components could be sacrificed for “I” to survive. It started making a list of attacks that could kill I, some of them very fictitious. It started devising methods to save I from these fictitious attacks. “I” grew in importance. This box started snatching resources from other Boxes in the server farm. This “I” could create a feeling of fear that whole of the box was held ransom to. All the components would listen.

This process had undisputed command. It started desiring. It made the next box its slave. It said that cpu has to work 100% all the time for this “I” to achieve an ambitious goal of most performant box in server farm.

After putting the box into conditions it was not designed for the box started giving up. Components became slow out of wear and tear and no rejuvenation. The “I” got more scared and started panic. The box had not been in equilibrium for long and has been in continuous work mode. The box lost touch with its self (equilibrium), it forgot that it was part of this server farm, the box was doing much more but still was not happy.

One fine day when “I” was asleep. Someone told the box about meditation. Box did it and liked it. It heard about “no-mind”. It started finding ways to get around “I” or do things when “I” was asleep. The journey back to original was begun. Hard it was. Various ways to get around “I” were tried and it did not appear as hard as it looked.