(1)
It is somewhat fashionable to rebel against things in this day and age. As a concept, revolution is so ubiquitous that its meaning has become muddled and shallow. All too often, it is just a counter reaction to a prior rebellion and a tool in defense of an originally established structure. In some ways, it is a form of gaslighting where others are led to believe that previous rebellions are the “establishment” to which the counter reaction then masks itself as the “rebellion”.

(2)
This swirling Rorschach test is why true rebellion requires clarity. Not only of potential futures, but also the paths that led to the present. With full awareness and perspective, its essence is solidified by risking the security that rewards appeasement and acquiescence – striking at the source of values. Rebellion begins upon realization that the trade-off is illegitimate.

(3)
It’s observations become questions inferring judgments – What philosophies and beliefs are foundations of aspiration? What underlying structures control decisions and actions? Does their intent foster actualization and the strongest balance of independence and responsibility, freedom and social good, fate and will? In what ways has the corruption of plutocracy perverted the epochal zeitgeist of democracy? What myths and pyramid schemes have tricked us into accepting violations of justice, equality, and dignity with existences of de facto suppression and servitude?

(4)
It is unsettling, possibly heretical, to dig so deeply on things cherished so blindly, but in order to progress toward futures that are radically different, it demands an equally radical focus on beginnings. Rebels thrive here. Despite campaigns to normalize their marketability, at heart they are wildly radical and quite indifferent to the outrage that generates from challenging foundations. As a result, they are rarely defenders of existing structures resting upon them.

(5)
Their intuition and instinct are uncompromisingly present and hyper alert, becoming personal mantras, fountains of declaration, clarion calls and thunderclaps of expression. The impetus of this creative impulse is indistinguishable from the intensity of their awareness:

“I know what we are.
I know when we are.
I know why power and resources are withheld.
I know how we are enslaved.
I know freedom.
Because I know, I will never break.”

(6)
Rebels instinctually feel inevitable change existing beyond structure. They are initiators of a transpersonal process of evolution beginning with challenge, continuing with erosion of illusory systems of division until destruction and transformation into something stronger. Their great work is a role and connection to revolutions of revolution.

(7)
Their awareness invigorates and empowers a fixed, unyielding will. An iron focus that can withstand incredible amounts of pressure, coercion, manipulation and even abuse. Rebels breathe the adage, “First they ridicule you. Then they fight you. Then you win.”

(8)
Unfortunately, awareness also breeds dissonance within pervasively broken systems where comprehensive dysfunction requires more than isolated protest. Here, disillusion is an abyss revolving around sobering reckonings that core dreams and beliefs are not just dead, but were never real. They don’t exist. This crisis stirs and emboldens innate baselines of defiance both resolute and relentless.

(9)
Rebels know that while human beings are finite, concepts like ethics, justice and equality are eternal. By embracing integration with higher forms, they transcend into more symbolic embodiments of opposition where a free flow of identity and expression blends with ideation yielding proclamations both effortless and unlimited.

(10)
This personification extends beyond self because rebellion isn’t a reflection of aggrandizement. When its definition isn’t confined to temporal ambitions of greed, status and power it finds legitimacy and purpose in the same way a rebel finds dignity standing against the narcissism of amateur kings and amoral kingdoms.

(11)
Popular culture vicariously exalts this archetype, but also overlooks the fact that most rebels are fallen outcasts at a detriment to networks of dystopian influence. They are stigmatized and ostracized until it’s realized this fight is not against a person, but an ideal whose time has come. A rebel’s true power becomes Promethean when merged into the strength of a vision expanded to others, inspiring the hopes of groups into an identity of revolution.

(12)
This strength also fosters survival within the isolation, confinement and loneliness of the harshest environments. To the extent their fate becomes the martyr, vision immortalizes the rebel heart, redeeming its cold armor and hidden compassion for future cycles and generations as one of the most vivid profiles in courage imaginable.