Rebellion is the other side of the same coin against that which you're rebelling.
Rebellion is stage 1 in what people refer to as the "waking up" process. What a strange concept we humans have of "waking up." I find it infinitely interesting that some humans should be "asleep" so to speak. And anyone who has started the "waking up" process is confounded to understand what it is about them that made them "different." Why at a young age they were questioning things while the people around them seemed to just go around in life in auto mode. Why are some humans closer to a more animalistic state, simply content at just being, while others question why? why? why? Well there are a lot of theories out there about "old souls" and "new souls" and levels of consciousness. In the rebellion stage people will express exasperation and even rage about those who are not "awake," although further along the awakening process we come to understand that everyone is on their own path and that everyone's path is perfect. Why? Because rebellion is part of an intellectual awakening. The next stages involve the awakening of the heart and the intuit knowing of the oneness that we all are and the energy from whence each and every one of us came. We awaken to things that the mind can't understand.
Intellectual awakening has its place. Intelligence is an aspect of a higher level of consciousness. But again, intellectual awakening and rebellion are actually the early stage in the awakening process. Why do I point this out?
When I was beginning to move out of my rebellion phase, an acquaintance of mine said to me, "I'm more enlightened than you." Anyone on the path knows the irony (and hilarity tbh) of making that assertion and statement to another person. (And as someone who's woke af, who am I to compete with that, y'all. ;) ) And then I saw this same scenario happen between two other acquaintances of mine. It seems people stuck in this first stage of awakening think that the more conspiracies they're aware of and the more they can see through the lies of the establishment, the more awake they are. Many of these people scoff at the teachings of Deepak Chopra, The Law of Attraction teachings, heart centered ways of being, and generally anything that can't be proven scientifically, seen with the eyes, tasted, touched, understood intellectually. And there's good reason it seems preposterous: because you're not there yet. When something is too far beyond our current state of consciousness, we are unable to grasp it, and it actually seems silly to us. For example, I once stumbled upon Dr. David Hawkins' work on the map of consciousness, and I thought it rather absurd. One of the first thoughts that crossed my mind was, "Who does this guy think he is to assign levels of consciousness to people?" About a year later I felt compelled to listen again, and I resonated with it on every level. It took my understanding of the world to a whole new place. Currently there are other people's teachings that don't strike anything in me, and there's a strong possibility that they'll have a strong resonance down the road.
In the stage of rebellion there is a lot of ego. It's a rather nasty place to be, actually. We're uncomfortable in the world. Everything is wrong. They should be different. We're in a place of resistance which renders us rather incapable of doing anything meaningful, and all we can really do is sit around and complain. It feels as though our hands are tied. The problems of the world seem big. Gigantic even. We're angry. And there's nothing wrong with anger. Anger is the beginning of taking our power back. The beginning of taking our power back.
What's beyond that? It can only be experienced. And that's why it seems preposterous to the intellect. And that's what keeps a lot of people stuck in the rebellion stage for a long time. To move to the next stage of your growth and awakening you have to meditate. Direct experience of that which is beyond the intellect is the only way to know it. The intellect can keep you away from that for a very long time. And that's ok. :)
Everyone's process is fine, and there's no reason to violently fight against yourself into the next stage of your human evolution. But is does take an awareness of something beyond to start to propel us into the direction of what's next for us.
The farther I go along the path, the more I start to realize that there's no limit to woke-ness. We are literally infinite. Waking up is waking up to our infinity. So waking up is infinite.
***I'm curious how many of you have found yourselves in pissing contests to prove who's more woke or even been told by someone "I'm more woke than you." Do tell!