In this chapter, I want to look at the idea that we believe what we are told. Do you believe you think outside the box? Our society ponders the connection between creative and outside-the-box thinkers by linking them with personas that are rebellious. It’s a paradox. But is it really?
We create a world in which our children are taught to be studious, creative and independent. We place a lot of credence in methodologies of education and advancement. But when it comes down to rebellion, our system often puts a stopper on it at the level of adolescence. Parents want their kids to be geniuses, but when they go against the norm, it becomes less acceptable. Stories show that “rebels” learn to be the greatest examples of “higher good” of the people.
Rebel With a Cause: Stereotype of the “Bad Boy”
Using a great cultural iconic example, we have a great respect for the Republic in the Star Wars series and their forces joined by a common enemy, The Empire. We see strapping, young Luke Skywalker (Episode 4) as a rebellious and angry young orphan who uses his anger and inner character to fight against a system of Galaxy-wide injustice. Our protagonist is tapped as a Jedi by his happenstance encounter with the android R2D2 (assistant/guide) containing a hidden message for Old “Ben” Kenobi (teacher) to interpret. As we see throughout the entire 6-part series (the prequels being about the creation of the Dark Force), we find that “good” must overcome “evil” by a battle of the “Force” from the rebels that must defeat its opposition.
Okay, having summarized another fantasy story as an allegory for opposition story telling, we see that this formulaic approach can be used in a lot of influential genres that we have stored in our memory banks. What other rebels-as-heroes can we pick out as triumphant, using their special “powers”, intelligence, and thinking-outside-the-box quick thinking to overcome a darker or larger force? And what historic figures do we automatically draw as our source of dark and evil control that would give us such a continuation of these stories?
There’s of course Indiana Jones outsmarting the Nazis (the obvious antagonist that is actually the theme behind most large-scale American comic villains; we see this even in Batman and Superman comics post-World War II). Besides the anguishing dark sides of our superhero comics, we also see a similar anger and rebellion against a corrupt system in Robert Ludlum’s James Bourne series, the exposure of Russian and other terrorist groups’ corruption in the James Bond series, the hot-bad-guy-turned-good persona in Escape From New York, The Road Warrior’s Mad Max, and even in the venerated James Dean’s Rebel Without A Cause. We are given (in these cases male) personas that lived, ate and breathed their vigilante causes and triumphed as both conquering “evil” but in many cases still wanted by the Law Man.
Let’s stretch outside the box of the typical rebellion story. Defining rebellion can also encompass tragic and heartwarming acts of human courage and bravery against a corrupt and often limited social construct. An obvious example would be Martin Luther King, Jr., who was of course killed for his rebellion against the oppression and segregation of minorities in the South in the 1960’s. But there were also the brave men and women who enabled slaves to be freed by aiding their journeys and creating a system of safe points known as the Underground Railroad which led to the Civil War. There was a large group of free-thinkers throughout Europe who fought against the Nazi tyranny and also created a system in which to free targeted Jewish citizens from Nazi-occupied territories, many of whom where murdered for their roles in rebelling against the establishment. And then we have the non-typical rebellion role, passive and stoic, such as Mother Theresa and Gandhi, who offer a true and amazing change to the idea of the “rebel”.
The National Rebel: World Leaders and the Good v. Evil Construct
Okay, you say, this is well and good--history lessons well taken. Let’s take it to another dimension of rebellion. Jesus Christ, Joan of Arc, and Steven Biko were all martyred for their stances as leaders against corrupt, flawed, and oppressive systems. But what do we know about witch burnings, for example in this country in the early 1800’s? Or how do we view pagan slayings during the Reformation in Europe in the 1600’s? Are we now to look upon these as “good” versus “evil”? Weren’t they martyrs for their beliefs? Many who would honor Gandhi’s stance against oppression as a world leader and peacemaker would never once consider the pacifism of a Salem witch as heroic or rebellious. Less we forget, Gandhi came from a religious point of view as well as a Hindu, yet he was an example of free will and mind. But why do we believe witches were thus closed-minded or “evil”?
Many modern extremists in our country band against the teaching of such peacemakers because they did not share the same belief system. History is often rewritten to include “heroes” that were not so noble and eliminate “rebels” that may have been more enlightened or peaceful than the settlers that conquered them. Do we give homage in this country to Native American shamans and leaders who were advocates of peace and harmony? Or do we remember the names of those who conquered them?
The Evil Empire
So who or what do we see now as the “common enemy”? Obviously, Nazi-occupied Germany, Fascist Italy and the Russian Bear are no longer world threats to our “American” construct and way of thinking. We find that our national infatuation with “terrorism” can give us a hefty boost of good vs. evil drama. We know that terrorists in any country are a “threat” to our freedom…right? Is it our sworn duty as a nation to eliminate these threats from the world? Think about this before responding. I am not talking about the individuals who have chosen a path to fight for what they believe is right, like our enlisted forces. I am talking about a social, systematic construct that allows an entire country or group of people to spread an ideal such as Capitalism (and in many cases the ideology of Christianity) to extremist nations that are ruled primarily by fundamentalist factions of Islam—Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan…eventually throughout other nations that also surround our US-protected and venerated Nation of Israel. Can we justify the statement that many of our own citizens believe we are reviving and engaged in a “holy war”?
Let’s talk about terrorist and extremist behavior for one moment. Seriously, this is poignant enough to ponder. Now, as free thinking readers, what is your stance on the allowance of systematic murder in the name of ideology or religion, called “war”? Like the Crusades? Can you tell me there is a rational reason to eliminate Palestinian citizens in the manner in which the national armies of Israel have been allowed to do? And do we as a nation truly support systematic murders?
Think outside the box: who are extremists? We can say they are groups that adopt a belief system and create an inner justification to live and die by its precepts, giving credence to its superiority and unilateral “rightness”. Or more simplified: they believe they are always right and will die and kill for their beliefs. I have heard pastors on Sunday mornings in what are known as “mega-churches” actually claim that we are at war as a nation with Iraq because God told us this is our destiny. Does that make one side “right” and the other “wrong”? So who is killing whom for their beliefs? And do we “serve judgment” on an entire nation because of religion? Some extremists believe that we do.
I took a great class in college on Public Policy. This is the study of how a nation’s government and policies are created, implemented and enforced based upon a common or perceived need. A policy in the United States in the 1820’s that allowed landowners to buy, trade and sell slaves is obsolete in our current country’s system, but the impact and enforcement of that system was a controversy long after its abolishment under President Lincoln. So if we have a policy in our country that “protects” our citizens by allowing the government to monitor every moment of our privacy, can we accept this logic as a necessary means to an end to prevent terrorism? We thought slavery was a necessary means to an end in the 1800’s. We allow our country’s precepts to dominate its ideologies. It is called “ripeness”—the idea that a large movement of thought can sway a whole nation’s policies by implementing what is important in the NOW.
The Days of Our Lives—Back to Individual Thought
How does this affect you? Let’s deconstruct and balance out each of the ideas that surround us. I am not saying by any means that a policy on slavery and The Privacy Act are the same. All policies are different. What I am saying is that they both were right for the time in which they were implemented. Ah, don’t read into this as if I support or endorse either one!! My personal opinion is thus veiled very lightly on the connection. But we as a nation offer several learning points in this discussion:
1. We believe our leaders when they tell us what is “right” for us. This means that we have chosen as a nation to implement a system that works to allow us to run under the idea that we are all given inalienable rights and we all fall under the same guidelines of the Constitution. We have to believe this in order for it to be true. How do we come to believe this? Through our Education: we are taught the precepts of the Constitution and we are told that we all have these rights and freedoms as citizens of this country.
2. We believe what we see, read, and hear. The media tells us what laws are implemented and what laws are broken and often by whom. We are given a myriad of choices through the television networks, the internet, the press and through word of mouth. And often many people believe what they hear without questioning the content or authority from which it came.
3. We also give our credence to authorities we respect within our belief systems. We formulate what we learn from where we learn it--whether it be from teachers, pastors, politicians, or the guy next door who works within the system. So we formulate our beliefs about what is “right” and “wrong” based on those contexts. These experiences are why we are here on this planet and why we are born into our respective citizenships. Right? Are we given what we believe or do we choose it?
4. We believe that because we have a system of “right” and “wrong” that our leaders will implement that system accordingly. Our country, as well as many others like ours, are highly educated and have a great movement of nationalism called “patriotism”. We believe that our elected officials under the system of Checks and Balances will “do the right thing” for its people. If not, the imbalance would be checked. Or would it?
5. This idea of nationalism gives our governmental system credence, setting up the belief that we are a just and right nation. We pay our taxes, support our troops, send our kids to public schools, and we take pride in our worldly superiority and progressive leadership among the nations in our stances on Global Warming, Environmental cleanup, World Heath and as the home of the United Nations. But if you personally have seen injustice within our national Law or the Court systems in your own experiences, do we still believe that at a national or international level there is an untainted version of justice? How can we garner respect from others when our own backyard needs cleaning?
6. We thus equate the righteous vigilante and Rebel with a Cause to our nation’s foreign policies and decision-making processes. If we equate the allegory of the fantasy character of justice—Batman, Superman, Spiderman, Luke Skywalker, Underdog, whomever—to the idea that we have a representative to fight the Big Evil, don’t we see the connection between our Rebel-endorsing, John Wayne-loving nation and its “rightness” to implement justice throughout the world?
Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes—Digging Deep Into Memory
Let’s use a closer to home example to show we believe what we are taught. When we were kids, we heard rhymes, songs and tales that ruled our worlds, imaginary and real, and often they were intertwined. My children and I have always loved to sing together. And as all “good” parents and children do, they learn and pass down their songs within their families. Sayings like “don’t step on a crack or you’ll break your mother’s back” were for hopscotch-style play, but they also illicit emotional memories for those that remember what it meant for them. Song lyrics do the same—they attach to memory and ideology and emotion. These are the precursors of system beliefs.
Here are some great examples from my experiences. Again, I was raised an American, Midwestern girl within a Christian-based system. So I learned early on that what I learned in school and at home was “right”. No question.
• I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
• Rock-a-by baby, on the tree top, when the wind blows the cradle will rock, when the bough breaks the cradle will fall, and down will come baby, cradle and all.
• O! Say can you see by the dawn’s early light, what so proudly we hail at the twilight’s last gleaming; Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight, o’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming. And the rocket’s red glare, the bombs bursting in air, gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O! Say does that star-spangled Banner yet wave, o’er the Land of the free and the home of the brave.
• Twinkle, twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are; Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky…
• Silent night, Holy night, all is calm, all is bright; ‘round yon virgin, mother and child, holy infant so tender and mild, sleep in heavenly peace, sleep in heavenly peace.
Can you look back and see how these may have been created and recited to incite ideologies? Here are some stranger ones:
• Peter Peter, pumpkin eater, had a wife but couldn’t keep her, he put her in a pumpkin shell and there he kept her very well.
• Milk, milk, lemonade…(ugh, you know the rest!)
• Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jump over the candlestick (does anyone else have images of The Muppets?)
• Jack and Jill go up the hill to fetch a pail of water, Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after.
Okay, if you can’t see the double-meaning in those, think they didn’t have some kind of early imprint? I was raised during a time of conflict as well. Education took a turn for the better, in my opinion, and my highly enlightened teachers gave me several gifts of wisdom. We had “the whole worlds in our hands.” And even the media and advertising were aimed at One Love. Here’s one of my favorites from Shel Silverstein’s Hug O’ War:
I will not play at tug o’ war
I’d rather play at hug o’ war
Where everyone hugs
Instead of tugs,
Where everyone giggles
And rolls on the rug.
Where everyone kisses,
And everyone grins,
And everyone cuddles,
And everyone wins.
Peace, love and happiness were the more obvious goals of the author’s intent. I wanted that happy ending so badly as a child! I learned about the Vietnam War and those that were drafted—why were we fighting over in a place we didn’t want to be? Or that is what I learned. Do you think I would be more apt to believe in war as a way to solve conflict if I had not been taught messages of peace?
Do you think children don’t have lasting imprints that are detrimental or potentially harmful? Here are some I found that were not part of my childhood experience:
A devil goes through the land,
It's the Jew, well-known to us
as a murderer of peoples,
a race defiler, a child's horror in all lands!
Corrupting our youth
stands him in good stead.
He wants all peoples dead.
Stay away from every Jew,
and happiness will come to you!
(The Poisonous Mushroom, by Julius Streicher, Nazi Germany)
A slaughtered little girlie,
In the park and made her bed:
Her hair all gold and curly,
And a bullet through her head.
(The Little Girl, by Agniya Barto, Russian WWII poem)
I think I have said enough on the subject that we believe what we are taught for you to make your own determinations. Go back and think about what you have learned. Now, with the internet, Saturday morning cartoons, Public Television, and advertising, we can remember more about the plights of Big Bird, Oscar, Bert and Ernie than we can those early rhymes. And we learned our earliest sharing lessons from Ronald McDonald. So what do you remember?
Taking Your World by the Horns
Let’s deconstruct this balance even further. We have established that where we are born, what body we are born into, determines our national, local, and often religious identity. We are given a set of parents, neighbors and teachers that influence our decision-making (teachers can be, like Obi Wan Kenobi, from anywhere). We are also surrounded daily by drive-by news and short-term internet posts. We try and educate ourselves, but isn’t it completely overwhelming? How do we catch up with it all? It’s impossible, even as an adult who has all the free time in the world, to glean a true and proper understanding from everything we see, read, hear or know.
So, what can we do? First, remember that everything I equated together is through MY filters and processing. Everything I have brought together thus far gives my knowledge and experiences these angles and this structure. I think in rebellious ways. So we can throw the whole thing out above and you can tell me to jump in a lake. Everything I know and have learned may be nothing at all.
Or you can think about your own life and put pieces of the puzzle together as I have done. Once we start to add pieces to the picture, the picture becomes clearer and clearer. But any good puzzle maker knows that the picture has to be very detailed and very complicated to be of a greater size. I’m no longer doing 200 piece puzzles; 1000 and above, that’s my motto. So what can you see as your own image as you add the pieces together?
So I ask you some personal questions. This will make individually incorporating your thoughts easier to identify:
1. What country are you from? Where are your parents from? Your grandparents? Have you read or informed yourself by reading its bylaws, precepts and governing ideologies? Do you know the real meaning behind its stances? Is it a democratic, republic, monarchy, communist, socialist or theology-based country?
2. Where do you stand in relation to your government’s system? For instance, are you a card-carrying Republican, Democrat, Independent, Libertarian or Green Party member? Do you believe in more conservative or liberal principles in your own life? Are you for the idea of taxation, against it, or don’t care? And do you have an opinion and use your right to vote? Do you believe in the military and the right to bear arms? Do you believe in social services and public education? These seem like petty ideas compared to the study of the entire Universe, but I’m trying to prove a point ☺.
3. What do you believe about spirituality? Do you believe in the existence of a God, a higher power, or a driving universal force? Or do you believe that nothing truly exists but our energy forces and the matter we call existence. Do you base your opinions and ideologies from a spiritual point of view or do you run them through a scientific filter first?
4. Do you have knowledge and wisdom about other countries, religions, beliefs and ideologies, past and present, in our modern world? Have you been blessed to study human history in different capacities? Are you aware of what exists out there? Have you been exposed to individuals of other beliefs as well—if you are a Christian, do you know any Muslims? Or Buddhists? Or Atheists? Or Pagans?
5. So with this educated mind you have been given, do you see that other systems of beliefs, ideologies, religions, politics and laws may be “right” for the citizens in those respective countries, groups and regions throughout the world? Can we judge what others have learned by their experiences? What if we had been born in abject poverty in a gang neighborhood, in Nazi Germany, or in Russia’s Communist years, or in 16th Century England?
“Right” and “Wrong” as Illusions
Do we have a right to say our way of thinking therefore is “right” and others are “wrong”? Certain belief systems, including Judaism, Christianity and Islam, have claims in their tenets that their systems are the only “right” systems. Of course, both of the latter religions coming from Judaism; do we not see that they were created by the same family at the same time? Isaac and Ishmael were brothers, both the sons of Abraham. Isaac was Abraham’s favorite son, according to the Christian Bible, so therefore his descendents were the “chosen” people—Judaism—which then with the coming of the prophesied Messiah, we have Christianity. That’s an amazing leap of faith to give credence to one brother over another to say that God gave them that “right” over the other.
I do not mean to offend my religious brethren. However, examine it this way: If one was chosen as “special” over the other, and not by the father on earth but by the “father in heaven”, wouldn’t God then have gotten rid of the other? Or wouldn’t his chosen have been able to rid the earth at the time of the other belief? Or maybe we can examine it that they all have the same root systems, all have the same “rightness” philosophy, and all use their philosophies and tenets as a system that effectively runs a world-wide campaign to recruit and encompass millions of believers?
When we examine our own precepts and tenets of beliefs, whatever you believe in, do you cross-examine everything? Do you tear it apart, chew it up, and swallow it in a way that you are totally sure of what you believe is true? If that is the case, then I agree with you—Your beliefs are for You. You can feel the presence of your God as I can feel the presence of my God. So what if my God is different from your God? I still know the Presence is there. I still know what I believe is “right” because I have experienced it. So why is mine “right” and yours “wrong” because we don’t have the same faith system?
What do YOU Believe?
So if you truly are a “rebel”, do you question your ideology? Do you truly have conversations with God that answer your questions? Do you feel lost? Or right on target for your life? Do you find ways to justify your beliefs even if they are contradictory to your human or divine natures? Do you examine what you were taught by your teachers, your parents, your community? Do you read your civil rights? Do you have a stance that you can say is “right” without having to say “because I said so”?
I was raised in a very religiously-biased community. But I can guarantee that if I go to my peers and friends that I have known for life, I will find two types of believers. There are those who believe in their faith without question—they act, live, breathe and do what they are told based on a system of “Fear”—fearing the reaction or wrath of one’s God or one’s community within that faith. When I charged head first against that system and took the bull by the horns, I was shunned and ostracized by that community.
Then, there are the other types of believers that I know. And I still love and commune and co-create joy with them today. These are the Rebel Forces—they question God, they question faith, they question their tenets and their pastors and their beliefs. They constantly examine their own lives and how they are as humans and how they treat others as themselves. And they are living and loving truly! These are the friends I praise and admire and learn from everyday. They live on the system of “Love”—embracing the world around them, everyone from every belief and finding the God-spirit in all beings and knowing that we all have the capacity within us.
Going back to our Protagonist—the anguished Superhero type—when you truly examine your favorite characters, do you see where the authors may have added in elements of doubt, darkness, controversy and shame into the reality of the rebel? So can we see how “right” and “wrong” are irrelevant in many ways when deconstructed. “Balance” and “imbalance” are more closely aligned to the idea of being “centered”, and I will discuss this further when understanding more on how to reconcile what we believe with who we are. So let’s go down the rabbit hole further and look at a more detailed breakdown of feelings and emotions and how they can remedy internal conflicts and justifications. What is “Truth, Justice and the American Way”? And where do these attachments come from? Maybe it’s better to examine “To Infinity and Beyond!”
Make a List of What You Believe
I highly recommend at this point you find a blank notebook. This will be a great place to start. Go back through this chapter and write down the answers to all the questions written for you. Where did you get your beliefs from and from whom? Do you believe in a specific form of a Divine Creator? Do you believe in the soul? And write down as much detail as you can. Do you have any specific memories or stories that stand out to you? Do you have any memories of events or conversations that gave you the evidence to what you believe (like if someone made a racist comment and you had a change of feeling about racism because of that comment; or someone did something harmful to you and it made you take a stance on your belief).
Now, go back through what you wrote and say thanks for all you have learned up to this point. If you wish to keep going on this, write down how each of these beliefs makes you feel (“good” or “bad”). And finally, make a list of questions for yourself. Why do I believe each one of these things is true? Question those beliefs—do you see where it is true for me and not for everyone? Do I truly believe that all people in this town I remember were stuck-up, or mean, or all friendly? Do I truly believe that my Creator is the only one or greater than any other? Do I believe that war is a good thing and why? Do I believe that I am a rebel in my thinking? Or do I just believe what I am told? Do I believe someone that influenced me lied to me? Or do I see where they were telling the truth because they believe it?
So finally, remember that emotions are illusions. They are not concrete objects, but real for the experiences you had or have. Go through your list and write a plus or minus next to every belief and feeling. If you believe it is neutral, put both. The truth is every belief is a positive or negative charged system. These beliefs will be reconciled and you can find balance in them. I will be discussing how to do so in further chapters as we explore emotions.
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