Lockpicking

“Nothing on 1. 2’s binding—set. No binding on 3, false set on 4. Counter Rotation from #1, similar resistance on 3; set. Something’s overset—relaxing tension—#1 dropped; set. Full core rotation.”

I’ll admit, lockpicking jargon is confusing at first. Well, to be fair, so are locks. Before I began picking them, they seemed like magic. A lock’s innards are hidden, impervious to scrutiny. So, for most people, locks just work. Magically.

But of course, I found deeper study to replace that magic with more concrete elements. I began simply, but continually encountered vistas of design to which I was previously oblivious: shaped pins, disc detainer locks, warding, paracentricity, sliders, and so much more. While these advanced locks I studied were far beyond my skills and equipment to open surreptitiously (which, in the world of lockpicking, means “without an angle grinder”), their designs grew increasingly compelling. I became so involved that I even tried to share my interest by starting a lockpicking club at my school. (Emphasis on “tried.” For some incomprehensible reason, my school wasn’t exactly thrilled by the prospect of high schoolers learning to pick locks.)

As I grasped the engineering of locks, less tangible benefits emerged. When I picked, I did not do so alone. Every tool and technique was passed down, the product of the lineage of hobbyists and professionals preceding me. Suddenly, lockpicking was so much bigger and more beautiful than the endeavors of any one person. This revelation led to another—every lock was a visceral composition, actualized by an artist in pragmatic physicality. In this way, lockpicking united analysis and emotion. Understanding could not lessen wonder—Locks were more magical than ever. This perspective, which I found through locks, is shockingly versatile.

Take music, for example. Intuitively, Music is emotional, magical. But music is also quantifiable, mathematical: frequencies, harmony, melody, timbre, counterpoint, polymeter, and so on. When I studied music, it was not reduced to math. My enjoyment was elevated. These disparate ends of music coalesced, and my passion became simultaneously cerebral and visceral. As with locks, knowledge doesn’t restrain my appreciation—it opens my mind to more satisfying levels of comprehension.

Even apart from music, the heart of lockpicking was everywhere. It recontextualized my understanding of Computer Science. As with lockpicking, I built upon the vast traditions of open-source algorithms and utilities, and recognized a community in dedication to creative problem solving. Martial arts was lockpicking. It embodied the familiar spirit of dignity and self-control, and the will to strive towards improvement. In all my hobbies, all my studies, probing deeper didn’t just produce knowledge—it produced perspective.

My discovery contained existential implications. For all my love of objectivity, biological sciences had instilled me with a distinct unease. The objectification of life was unsettling. Humanity, uniquely beautiful and intrinsically valuable, could be made deterministic. I was terrified by a well-substantiated prospect: that I was a mere machine, an incidental product of purposeless neurons. In this mechanism, I struggled to substantiate the value in which I believed. But lockpicking showed me that even locks, metallic and dead, could hold magic. Humans, in their similar objectivity, are so much more than machines. No amount of quantification could lessen my worth. I exist as an actualization of something intangible. My conscience is a snapshot of the human lexicon—an amalgamation of knowledge and perspectives I have been endowed by a humanity greater than myself. I am like a lock.

So many parts of my life were aligned under the philosophy of lockpicking. They subtly clicked into place along a cognitive shear line. With a little tension, the core of my world had rotated. Popped open—like a lock. Locks are magic, and they are not alone. I will remember this magic, born from the beauty of collective intellect, as I push forward to new endeavors; to studies of science and logic, art and emotion, magic and wonder. One and the same.