THE VIRTUE OF REBELLIOUSNESS

Some people are rule-abiding by nature. Before putting furniture together, they study the instructions, colour inside the lines, and say things like, "We should probably ask if this is allowed." Who else? Not at all. Some personalities are essentially designed to challenge authority, question all customs, and scoff at anything that even slightly resembles arbitrary regulations.

When inner peace is the new success, and happiness is the new wealth. Kindness is the greatest virtue, and health is the new wealth. Then one should stop apologising for being too loud, rebellious, authentic, truthful, and virtuous. Understand this: your wildness is the antidote to this sick society.

However, rebellion is more than merely frowning while wearing a leather jacket and smashing doors. It's about defying authority, challenging conventions, and occasionally improving the world by rejecting the status quo. According to psychology, ‘The Myers–Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI)’ ranked the 16 Myers-Briggs types of personalities from ‘Most to Least Rebellious’. You can find that out in the reference of this book.

Every time you dare to claim your power and speak the truth, you inspire other authentic people to do the same. Empowered people empower others. The word “rebel” here tries to highlight the advantages that such acts might provide to those who suffer from oppression, offering altruistic justifications for acting in a non-normative manner (i.e., as a form of assistance or support for other oppressed persons).

Raising awareness of oppressive standards in society at large is one way that non-normative activities can help other victims. Until they see someone who doesn't follow an oppressive norm, people might not be aware of it, let alone how much pressure there is to do so. Non-normative behaviour might demonstrate to others that adhering to an oppressive norm is not unavoidable and can be examined. For example, someone may not realise that the binary genders are oppressive categories until they experience animosity towards non-binary people.

Witnessing someone deviate from a norm can transform it from "a background fact” to “a feature of the world open to question." Even if it doesn't cause them to act in a non-normative way, other victims benefit from increased awareness of oppression. One is "invited to revisit one’s reasons for complying with the norm, and to consider reasons in favour of pursuing alternative courses of action instead" when they observe others' non-normative behaviour. As a result, “they benefit from acting more freely and reflectively."

Rebelliousness as a virtue is a middle ground between excessive impudence and a lack of obedience. A rebellious mentality always seeks to undermine unethical or unfair behaviours, and they do so skilfully and with consideration for both non-altruistic and altruistic factors. Furthermore, rebelliousness promotes flourishing under oppressive situations insofar as it enables oppressed people to discover and maintain connections to sources of meaning in life.

“The only way to deal with an unfree world is to become so absolutely free that your very existence is an act of rebellion.” — Albert Camus.

The above quote captures one of the main ideas of his philosophy: the conflict between personal autonomy and societal limitations, as well as the irrationality of the world. Camus experienced difficult events, such as the Second World War and Nazi Germany's occupation of France, which shaped his perspective on freedom and existence. It is possible to interpret the “unfree world" he speaks of as one in which individual liberty and thought are suppressed by authoritarianism, orthodoxy, and conformity.

According to Camus' philosophy, the idea of "absurdity" results from the struggle between people’s need for intrinsic worth and purpose in life and the quiet, uncaring world that provides none. His writings imply that, as the pursuit of meaning is intrinsically pointless, each person must develop their own meaning and purpose via their own autonomy and decisions.

According to Camus, real freedom comes from accepting the absurdity of life and persevering through it. This is where the concept of rebellion enters the picture; it is an existential rebellion against the meaninglessness of the universe rather than a call to anarchy. Living freely means making decisions in line with one's own principles rather than those that are dictated by outside circumstances.

Therefore, Camus' "act of rebellion" is an affirmation of one's own sense of justice and humanity as well as an acceptance of life. One's existence itself becomes a type of struggle against the absurdity of society at large when they live by their own values and resist giving in to hopelessness or pessimism. Camus's conviction in individual freedom as a form of resistance is powerfully expressed in this quotation.

In a world that frequently seems to deny both, choosing to live freely and genuinely affirms one’s existence and humanity. This act of rebellion is an affirmation of one's own life and the principles one chooses to uphold, as well as a protest against the world's lack of freedom.

Both life and human society are dynamic. One feature of dynamism is that it creates friction, which, in terms of social ideals, entails disagreements and even conflicts. The foundation of all knowledge, inquiry, investigation, and research advancement is differences — or perhaps more accurately, the right to differ.

Therefore, we must work to ensure that our differences in all areas — religious, philosophical, scientific, social, economic, political, and so forth — act and react constructively rather than destructively. At the same time, we must work to protect the right to differ, to question, to dissent, and even to protest. Adopting agreed-upon peaceful processes is necessary to regulate or change them when they threaten to become acute.

In the conventional legal sense, the Declaration of Human Rights is not a law. Nevertheless, it stands as a bright milestone along the lengthy, frequently challenging, and exhausting path that humanity has travelled down the corridors of history. Through centuries of pain and suffering, people have fought for freedom, justice, and equality in a variety of fields, religions, and eras, with differing degrees of success. The Declaration, which deserves to rank among the great historical texts and charters aimed at the same goal, was formulated and adopted because of each of these struggles — each advanced the cause of men and women.

As in every aspect of life, rights and obligations go hand in hand. Therefore, we must all work to increase our awareness of the responsibilities we have to one another at all levels, both individually and collectively, even if it is not required. It is nevertheless crucial that we step up and expand our efforts to protect human rights.

Islam is a holistic religion and philosophy that aims to enhance and expand that awareness. In addition to promoting and fostering human well-being and prosperity in all spheres of life — social, economic, moral, and spiritual — it highlights our responsibilities and duties, which each of us must fulfil to help protect freedom, justice, and equality for all. It aims to create a pattern that would retain its beneficent nature in all areas of life — individual, home, national, and international — despite the shifting and evolving conditions of a dynamic world. Islam provides us with a system of ideas, duties, obligations, exhortations, and sanctions for this goal.

Every religion fundamentally has aspects of a missionary nature. It begins with an individual and aims to convince others of its veracity and the goodness of the principles it advocates. Therefore, it must support freedom of conscience, which includes the freedom to convert to a different religion and the other freedoms listed in these two paragraphs, all of which depend on freedom of conscience; otherwise, it would obstruct its own goals.

Islam's universal message strongly and unequivocally declares that participation in its communion is unrestricted by geography or race.

Like other faiths grounded in truth, it forewarns, time and time again, of the terrible moral and spiritual ramifications that would result from rejecting or neglecting the ideals it upholds — but it still gives everyone the freedom to choose. Belief is a matter of conscience, and conscience is not subject to coercion.

The Qur'an declares:

There is no compulsion in religion. Surely the right has become distinct from error; so, whosoever refuses to be led by those who transgress and believes in ALLAH, has surely grasped a strong handle which knows no breaking. And ALLAH is All-Hearing. All-Knowing. ~Surah Al- Baqarah ( 2:257 )

Again, it says:

And say, `It is the truth from your Lord; wherefore let him who will, believe, and let him, who will, disbelieve….

~Surah Al-Kah( 18:30 )

Therefore, it is evident that everyone is free to use their own judgment and reason. Naturally, the distinction between belief and disbelief, as well as the spiritual and mortal repercussions of moral versus immoral behaviour, is frequently highlighted — yet there is not the faintest hint that conscience may be coerced. The Quran clearly distinguishes between an act of righteousness and its consequences.

It also establishes guidelines for how the message should be communicated to humanity. It demands behaviour that is consistent with one's vocation and stands for total truthfulness in all relationships. In Islam, hypocrisy and insincerity are often strongly condemned.