{"id": "card_n_b3dff7685a9e", "kind": "note", "title": "A parable — Kerckhoffs", "body": "A locksmith made a lock so clever no one could open it. His pride was the lock itself. When a thief studied the lock long enough, the lock fell open like all locks fall open, and the locksmith had no key, for the key had always been the secret of the lock.\n\nAsk yourself: Is what protects you the key, or the secret of the key?\n\nFLOOR — protect what survives the secret being known. Anything else fails the day it is studied.\n\n(A Narrow Highway original teaching parable — not a parable of Jesus; a made story that carries a true edge.)", "source": {"label": "Narrow Highway — original parable", "url": "", "ref": "almanac_crypto_kerchoffs", "authority_tier": "operator"}, "shelf": "codex", "box": "parables", "bands": ["parable", "original", "witness", "teaching", "authority_trust", "information_encoding", "FLOOR"], "connections": [], "author": "operator", "created_at": "2026-07-10T21:00:05.284658+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-07-10T21:00:05.284658+00:00", "visibility": "public", "lifecycle_stage": "public", "volatility": "permanent", "surface": "witness", "metrics": {"paperclips_count": 0, "helpful_count": 0, "not_helpful_count": 0, "cite_count": 0, "walks_through_count": 0, "flagged_count": 0}, "source_hash": "56351f6089f3b0c7f41d6331af66aed0d69d48fefa9ff24f5c856214a3289782"}