Saturday, February 23, 2008

Security - Defined (An Exploration of the Word Itself)

So this morning, being infinitely intrigued with my friend's query to me yesterday, I took it upon myself to look up the definition of the word "security". Here is what I found:

Security

  1. freedom from danger, risk, etc.; safety
  2. freedom from care, anxiety, fear or doubt; well-founded confidence
  3. freedom from financial cares or from want,
  4. defense against financial failure; financial independence
  5. an assurance; guarantee

This lead to needing to explore the word "secure", which revealed something very similar:

Secure

  1. free from or not exposed to danger or harm; free from risk of loss; safe
  2. reliable; dependable; firm; not liable to fail
  3. free from care; without anxiety
  4. firmly established; sure; certain; assured
  5. free from fear or doubt; easy in mind

But what was the most fascinating ended up being the derivation of the word security.

  • Se = without; apart from
  • Cure = care; restoration to health; correcting or relieving anything troublesome or detrimental
  • -ity = state of being

So SECURITY seems to mean "the state of being without or apart from (the need) for care, restoration or correcting".

When I think about this further, it seems to be implying that when in the state of security, there is no need to restore, heal, cure, fix, correct or relieve anything. Being without or apart from the need to cure, fix or correct is, essentially, wellness.

So SECURITY = WELL-BEING.

This is an incredible revelation to me.

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