Rebellion - Treacherous guide to an examined life

Rebellion -> Critical Thinking -> Ability to filter out information from garbage

As soon as we enter teenage, the one constant feeling most if not all of us have (depending on our situations) is that of rebellion. Suddenly the well oiled hair seem too "champu" or dorky, the clothes we used to wear down-market, the rules we used to follow - an encroachment on our freedom and so on.

It is very important to feel those emotions and more because without that, it's almost impossible to develop critical thinking about anything. If you can't question something without guilt or hesitation, you can never fully understand it, therefore never fully support it. Rebellion affords you the ability to question whatever information is fed to you and critically evaluate whether or not the information is garbage.

In our teenage years, we have enough energy to spend time on arguing over topics like religion, patriotism, culture, morals and more. The older we get, the busier we get with less and less time to spend on these seemingly impractical topics that may not have any utility for you in life. I mean, when you have to submit your thesis, get a high paying job, find the right words to appreciate your loved ones or sustain a business empire - your patriotism or your religious will, under normal circumstances, will not be of any great significance.

For example - Consider a 40 year old grocery store owner who prays to Goddess Laxmi every single day before opening the shop. At the age of 13-14 this grocery store owner could have questioned the relevance of praying to Goddess Laxmi and the tangible difference it may make on his/her life. However, with time, the degree of his/her argument against praying the Goddess would significantly reduce because there are more pressing matters to attend to. And therefore, if you don't rebel against the idea of praying to a Goddess everyday, you will never fully be able to support the belief behind it because your deed wouldn't be backed by spirituality - they would be backed by a combination of blind faith and exhaustion (you'd be too exhausting with life in general to spend energy on questioning something which has been believed by so many for so long).

Rebellion -> Forced Disobedience -> Slave to existing notions

However, just as important as it is to question everything between the age of 13 to 19, it is imperative to identify and contain rebellion without a cause - disagreement for the sake of disagreement. If the rebellion is against an ideology or a geography or a race, then one will rebel with complete disregard to the subject matter of discussion. 

To program your brain into believing that all kinds of rebellion is good and therefore seeing no difference between rebelling against the notion of women not being allowed to vote and rebelling against having a healthy routine is dangerous. 

A teenage should never let go of critical thinking which is a result of consistent rebellion for a decade, but the teenager, as they reach adulthood, must ensure that rebellion is based on breached personal principles. That is the only way in which one can lead a life truly free from the clutches of Hypocrisy.

When your rebellion is a function of external stimuli and not internal analysis, the freedom which rebellion is supposed to provide is turned upside down. Where earlier the rebellion allowed the rebel to expand their perspective, if not controlled, the rebellion will make the rebel a slave to the opposite side of his/her "enemies".

And the loss isn't restricted to that. When rebellion is based on anything other than internal analysis of a situation, it creates a strong belief of "Us vs Them" sentiment which is a sure-fire way to destruction.

For example - Consider a 16 year old student who believes that rebellion is his/her duty and therefore, if his/her parents tell her to, let's say, get the cheapest vegetables for groceries or complete their homework, (s)he feels that a law of freedom has been violated and it needs to be protected no matter the cost.  

Had the rebellion come from internal analysis, the student would have rebelled against the former because health of the family is being put in jeopardy, but not in the second.

Further, if in future the parents were to suggest something which is favourable for the student as well, it would be forsaken by the student just because of the fact that the same is suggested by the parents. Thereby making him/her a slave to the opposition of whatever his/her parents tell her.

Furthermore, consistently forcing his/her brain to rebel against whatever is instructed by his/her parents would create a very strong "us vs them" sentiment in him/her which would lead to a vast generation gap between the parents and the child - without any real reason for it.

In conclusion

Rebellion guides us through the seemingly incomprehensible jungle of information in examining our lives, our actions and the collective conscience of groups of people and humanity as a whole. However, too much of it can recede our minds into spiraling down a rabbit hole, coming out of which is a herculean task.

Perhaps, Rebellion is like hair oil, after all. Too little of it, and your hair will be undernourished and you'll face hairfall and scratchy scalp  for eternity. Too much of it, and you'll attract enough mosquitoes to make your every evening a living hell.

Choose wisely.

Credits

I would have never thought in this direction had a very important friend not pointed me into this direction. Although I met this friend when I was 22/23 and by that time, I was already fully engrossed in rebelling against anything and anyone, he showed me the folly in that line of thinking for which I will forever be grateful. This one is for you - Ajit.