Conformity serves little purpose if your goal is to transform the world and improve it.
What defines a rebel to me?
In my view, it requires a specific collection of traits and conditions to be a genuine rebel. I’m not referring to adolescent rebellion; I mean rebellions that bring about significant change. Many teenage rebels resort to self-harm and contribute nothing to the greater good. A teenage rebel is often focused on themselves, whereas a true rebel risks their personal safety to help others.
Therefore, here’s my outline of what defines a rebel for me:
– They must defy the circumstances of their own existence
– They should confront rejection, challenges, and the threat of retaliation
– They must challenge the established authorities
– They ought to question the prevailing beliefs regarding human organization in life
– They should contest the status quo of the affluent and influential
– Their pursuit of a better world places them in direct jeopardy
The list is comprehensive, but it includes everyone advocating for the environment, opposing terrorism without violence, and working in refugee shelters and humanitarian organizations for marginalized individuals. The spiritual guides who say no and inspire significant change, frequently distorted by human influence afterward, but their original messages were profound. Particularly Jesus and Buddha.
Both were rebels against their life situations. I admire that. Rebels exude courage, ambition, and an energetic drive to challenge their life’s status quo. They both said NO. They both departed from their planned paths. They both connected with their inner spirituality and the universal energy known by many names.
They both achieved their destinies, whatever they may have been, even if they diverged from what society and their parents envisioned.
Neither aimed to establish religions, yet they did. That’s where humanity erred – or did they?
Neither intended to create anything; they merely sought to alter how people treated one another and their surroundings. They wished for humanity to learn how to be the best versions of themselves. Their desire was for people to find happiness and understand love above all else. They both spoke in the language of their time to make their messages relatable to those around them.
People at that time eagerly adopted their teachings, declaring, ‘Let’s establish these two men as our new religions, for we are tired of the old ways.’ Naturally, they had their critics as well, so not everyone accepted them, but many recognized the wisdom in their messages and sought to broaden their impact — some seized the opportunity to align with the movement, as is typical of human behavior.
However, most individuals of that era didn’t fully grasp what either was conveying. They caught snippets of the message but only as far as their understanding allowed.
This is a fundamental truth about humanity. We can only comprehend what we can fit within our own mindset. Yet, few truly understood and attempted to share these teachings. A handful experienced profound realizations, but even today, the majority of their followers are not genuinely absorbing what their founders urged them to hear.
Betrayal of the founders
People, the conformist rebels or rebel adherents, who have depended on the original true rebel, then take control. They choose to form organizations with hierarchies, contention, and debate. If there’s any disagreement, even slightly, they create factions all claiming to represent the correct interpretation of the original teachings. Instead of every individual simply embracing the teachings in their own hearts and lives, which is precisely what both esteemed figures desired, we, the ‘non-rebel’ humans, complicate it all with our attempts to establish rules that allow for conformity once again.
That is the human tendency. They discover a wise individual and subsequently twist that wisdom into various convoluted frameworks to make it more fitting and pliable to other human agendas. We elevate the originator to the status of a deity or prophet and overlook the essence of the teachings.
Both men were born into highly stratified and patriarchal societies. They both chose to reject those divisions based on class, race, or gender. They engaged with the sick and the marginalized. Yet, we still ostracize individuals and fail to foster an inclusive society. They preached love and peace, yet we continue to wage wars and take lives in the name of… what is so significant that we resort to violence over it??????? Religion?????
Buddha dismantled the social hierarchies of his era. Born into the highest Indian caste, akin to royalty, he opened his communities to all caste members and treated