Rebel Within Us

The Rebel Within Us

Strange as it may sound, all of us have a rebel in us. It started when you were a baby refusing to drink milk when thrust upon, by pushing the hand away. Does it mean that we are rebellious all the time and for all the issues?

Rebellious is essentially the resistance to authority. When we are very small, we get used to getting whatever we want. When we grow up, we face more and more strictures and taboos. When we resist the same, we are given punishments. The punishments can either stop you from resisting or make you hardened.

The adolescent period is the time when the rebel in us assumes significant proportions, partly influenced by external forces. If not managed properly it could even spoil one’s life.

The rebel in us is not just against strictures and punishments. As we grow up, we start thinking in our own style. Contrary philosophies and prophecies are either accepted or rejected. When these philosophies are thrust on us, the rebel in us surfaces openly. We then look for support to our contrarian views and form groups of like-minded people. It takes the rebellion to another level. We see every day that any good thing that happens around us is criticized and protested vehemently by certain people whose rebel in them overpowers the sense of direction.

The rebel in us is not always of such great magnitude to have a social impact. It could simply be a case of aversion to certain individuals, communities, social strata or even the style of talking and walking. The aversion could result in the utterance of strong words, physical gestures, written notes, and sometimes even conniving against them. We cannot forget how a certain foreign coach was rejected by the Indian cricket team, right or wrong. An otherwise cool person can react strongly against his adversaries for even petty reasons. Some people do not show an aversion to action but certainly, rejoice if the adversaries go away from his life.

For the rebel in us to manifest, it should overweigh the threshold level of non-acceptability of traits that we have benchmarked in our minds. Our mind, inadvertently, makes an evaluation of the adversaries in terms of traits and features against pre-set parameters already fixed up within our minds. As long as they are within the limits, the rebel in us does not manifest itself.

If we want to totally block the rebel in us from exhibiting itself at any time, it is necessary to search within ourselves on the likes and dislikes that are deep-rooted within us. These could be color, creed, caste, personalities, languages, cultures, styles, etc., We need to list out our aversions and give them ratings based on the strength of the aversions.

Once our aversions are identified by us, they need to be mitigated by suitable techniques. While books, shrinks, and gurus can certainly help, it is better done by the individual himself through introspection. Till we set them right, the rebel in us will sustain within us and would explode some time or other.

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