Are you a rebel?
Growing up, my connotation of a rebel was one of a wayward teenager who dropped out of school, wouldn't get a job, and spent their lives high and out of touch with reality.
In many respects being a rebel has a negative connotation, yet I have a sense that today we are in great need of a few. In fact, I feel certain without some serious rebels our world will not heal.
What is a rebel?
In part, the American Heritage dictionary defines a rebel as:
To resist or defy a generally accepted convention.
To feel or express strong unwillingness or repugnance.
Do we need some rebels? Absolutely!
Are there accepted conventions that are not healthy for humanity?
No question!
Are you willing to express strong unwillingness or repugnance at some of what is common and accepted in society?
As I look around I observe common and accepted, even celebrated behavior that is clearly unhealthy, even destructive to individual life, our planetary family, all of life, and even our very planet.
To rebel against something doesn't necessarily mean we fight against it, it means we refuse to be a part of it. We disengage from it. We eliminate it from our experience.
I believe the way to remove the darkness from our world is not to fight darkness but to bring light. In addition, we can decide today to not add more darkness by refusing to encourage or support the darkness. We can make a commitment to not engage in that which clearly harms our community, our world, and our lives.
So, what sorts of common everyday traits of our society might you be unwilling to accept?
Here are ten ways to rebel against common and accepted attitudes and behaviors*:
1. An unwillingness to partake of the the violence that permeates our society.
2. An unwillingness to celebrate the objectification and exploitation of women.
3. An unwillingness to worship money, power, and fame.
4. An unwillingness to take into my body substances that are harmful and poisonous.
5. An unwillingness to engage in the voyeurism, used for entertainment.
6. An unwillingness to place human extravagance over the creatures of our planet.
7. An unwillingness to honor gluttony and greed.
8. An unwillingness to support the gruesome, salacious, and tawdry.
9. An unwillingness to follow the crowd, lower one's standards, and accept the status quo.
10. An unwillingness to forget, dismiss, and ignore the pain and suffering of others.
The world is in need to those whose heart feels the light, who sense the impulse for transformation, who glimpse a new way of life.
We need people who will take the hero's journey, mythologist Joseph Campbell spoke of; those who will leave the safety of the tribe and discover a new way. The world needs people who are strong, secure, and creative who don't engage in the ordinary, common, and comfortable but who can rise above it all to bring us an expanded world view, one of health, peace, and kindness.
So.....are you a rebel?
*Of course there are many others!
23 comments:
Totally Awesome post !!!
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~ Alex
Hi Jennifer - You are right! We need rebels now more than ever: people who are willing to look at the world in an entirely different way. People who are willing to accept that to carry on acting in accordance with our current viewpoint is unsustainable.
Of all your worthy 'I shall nots", number ten is the one that resonated with me most. It is so easy to put the pain of other people out of our minds. If only we could all take on board that other people's suffering is really our *own* suffering, the world would change overnight.
An excelent post. Rebelion has always been important, it's the driver of social change. Even destruction is sometimes healthy, humanity needs the occational shakeing up
What a great way to describe a rebel, not in a negative way but as someone who is strong enough to swim against the tide.
Number 9 resonates with me, "an unwillingness to follow the crowd".I often don't like where they're heading or even why they are going there.To borrow some obscure quote, "I can't understand it. I can't even understand the people that understand it". A great post. Thank you.
Bravo! As defined by your awesome post, I am a rebel. We need many more to join us. :o)
~Blessings
Hello there!
Oh I remember back in the day when I was little the neighbors telling my mom how "rebellious" of a child I was. My assumption then was that meant something GOOD!
They usually said it after I had climbed a tree (okay, maybe it was theirs), or had been searching for lady bugs (well, maybe it was in their yard), OR laying in the sun talking to my imaginary friends (yes, it was normally someone elses' yard).
Only later did I realize they meant it negatively. I'm SO glad I didn't realize that until later. :) After I found the salamanders in the yard (yes, theirs!).
I fully agree with the your views:
"an unwillingness to follow the crowd"...
A great post. Thanks Jennifer, for sharing it.
God bless.
I'm a dude who writes poetry and blogs about bouts with depression, I think I qualify as a rebel LOL.
Zack
Hi Jennifer,
Wonderful post.
Eckhart Tolle says that 'sanity in this world is actually insanity in disguise...and the disguise breaks in due course'.
I agree with him fully. That sanity is totally insane, in this world.
Hundreds of thousands of so called 'sane, respectable' people work in the service of the collective ego and lead to planning/execution of genocidal attacks on weaker sections of the world.
Working in the service of the collective ego is complete insanity. And thousands of millions of people earn their livelehood by serving the collective ego.
The collective ego can, however, produce words that sound sane and correct - to the gullible person. Who gets confused between what is sane and what is insane. What is right and what is wrong.
The collective ego of this world [and of any given country] is a brutal, genocidal war machine. Insanity itself.
Vikram
Hi Alexander,
Thank you so much.
Your site is great!
Right now I'm barely keeping up with my blog (smile) but thank you for the very kind offer! :-)
Warmest wishes,
Jennifer
Hi Simon,
I agree that it is often easy to forget the pain of others. The more removed from it, the less it is in our conscious minds.
Thanks for your insights!
Blessings to you Simon,
Jen
Hi Gabrielle,
Thanks for your comments. I TOTALLY agree.
I think now is a good time to shake things up a little! ;-)
Hugs,
Jennifer
Hey Technobabe...
I'm so happy to "see" you... how are you?
Sounds like life is good!
Lots of love,
Jen
Hi Pam,
LOL... I'm not much of one for crown following either! ;-)
LOVE the quote! Thanks for sharing it!
XO,
Jen
Hi Titania,
How are you sweetie! Yeah, I'm thinking most of my readers were those who took the road less traveled! :-)
Blessings and love,
Jen
Hi Zyriana,
Ahhhh LOL! Funny story... I'm thinking you were a handful for your parents! (And neighbors) :-)
Lots of love sweetie,
Jen
Hi Surjit... thanks for your comments!
I hope you are well and enjoying your summer!
Blessings to you Surjit,
Jen
Hey Zack... how fun to have you here! ;-)
Yeah, you my friend are a rebel!
Thanks for visiting!
Big hugs,
Jen
Ohh Vikram,
Nice.. very nice. I too am a fan of Tolle... Thank you for sharing his wisdom and thank you for your always insightful comments.
I appreciate it.. You always give me something to ponder!
Blessings and hugs,
Jen
Hi Jen,
I love the author Angeles Arrien's view on what a rebel is: a leader who hasn't found a positive form of expression yet.
gia
Hi Jennifer, :)
Amen to your post. I am a rebel! One of my favorite quotes:
"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference. "
— Robert Frost
When I think of rebel, the movie Star Wars comes to mind. The rebel forces fought for what was right, even though they were greatly outnumbered. In life we have to do uncomfortable things to stand up for truth and goodness.
As an example I think of the inhumane treatment of farm animals in our society that eats meat almost every night of the week. Yet most of these people own dogs or cats as pets.
I am grateful and proud of the activists speaking out against the abuse that most turn a blind eye to within our culture. The vegetarian and vegan movement is increasing day by day.
Throughout history it was the rebels who fought for civil rights, womens rights, freedom, etc. I am proud now to be called a rebel! :)
No offense, but I think you left out the part about not objectifying and exploiting men and boys.
We are 95% of deaths in work, live seven to eight years less than women, men are nine times more likely to become homeless as women, receive one-quarter or less of gender-specific medical research in the United States, suffer nearly five times more deaths from suicide, and endure social implications of a 'default' status of likely rapists, domestic violence addicts, and child molesters (a major cause of the emptying out of men from teaching positions in all of our schools).
To be a good boy or man of at least some integrity in this world, is to suffer prejudice and contempt and to be most likely, condemned to a life of loneliness. When presented with these facts, most women and girls evince an attitude something along the lines of, 'the wimp deserves it', 'why doesn't he just grow some balls', etc.
The vast majority of women are quite sensitive to disrespect, objectification, exploitation, but unfortunately, this is usually quite sexist; as the very same seems to become invisible, as soon as it applies to 'mere males'.
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