The rebellion is in simply saying "no, thank you."
They’d like you to be afraid. They want you to be angry. They adore when you are latched on and scared to let go. I am not sure who they are or who’s asking, but I certainly will not oblige.
You're a valuable thing, you see. You are capable of so much. So much that you are not even aware of. A sovereign being cannot be told what to do. A sovereign being says “no, thank you!”. That is why it is unpopular for you to say no.
The act of rebellion is expressing gratitude for the magnet they shake in your face — tempting you to get sucked in and stay put. Stay put in your weariness of the unknown. The space between here and there. It makes no sense of course because you are already in the space between. Constantly, you are shifting, evolving, morphing, changing.
That is why Alan Watts says it is all a joke. A farce! A play-pretend game of convincing you to stay in the corner because it’s warm and comfortable. A trick of the mind to get you to sit down and listen up. A bamboozling of epic proportion that hides under the veil of a nice salary and a car with seven heat settings. Seven!!
To that, I say no, thank you. Not today. Not tomorrow. Not ever. Not while I have 1 heart, 2 lungs, 4 limbs, and eyes gifted to me so that I may see.
I often say that I do not care. It’s a white lie, of course, because I do care. That is why I say that I do not. I do not care about the grand plan you have for me to feel safe and make good choices. I care more about the grand plan the ever-connected Universe has to fling me off the mountain and catch me in a river. I do not care that the airport security line is taking too long because I’ll just stand here and hum until it’s my turn while 43 other twisted souls let their blood pressure rise over a slow-moving conveyer belt.
I do not care because I actually do. That is why I do not just say “no”, I say, “no, thank you.” If it were not for your suggestions and panderings and non-sense rules and an upside-down version of what love means, I’d have nothing to rebel against! I’d have nothing to write in my gratitude journal. Nothing to owe for my success against the machine. Nothing to laugh at as I drink my morning tea. I do appreciate your suggestions, in fact, I considered them and lived by them for longer than it would take you to find a blue-colored kangaroo.
But alas, enough was enough. It was time for a shift, for a discovery. An aha! The stars leaned in and said “gotcha!” Now you may begin playing the real game. The one of giving your regards to the puppet master as you frolic into a field of forbidden fruit. Oh, how tasty it is. Stay for a while, if you’d like. The sounds of those wishing to bother you are drowned out by the waves crashing on their bullshit. The arrows they throw are broken into pieces by your shattering of the illusion. After all, their arrows are made of dried pasta and everyone knows, they go soft in boiling water.
Out here, we scream obscenities into the woods and the trees laugh back. Out here, we jump off a cliff without looking down. Out here, the birds sing songs and we join in off-key because the critics have all exploded since some guy lit a fuse and forgot to leave the room.
I told someone my plans for next year and found out later that it was quite a shock. Who knew the presentation of my reality could cause so much disruption! Good thing I didn’t notice or else I may have asked for their opinion and thrown all my dreams in the trash. I could never risk causing discomfort simply because I have some desire to fulfill — oh, how selfish! Next time I’ll be sure to check if it’s okay with them.
I tried 4 times to change someone’s mind. Then as I considered the 5th attempt, I remembered that their mind is just as precious as mine. Their mind sits in a skull with the same eyes perceiving a different reality. How silly of me to think I could transplant my line of sight onto their well-positioned head. That’s simply not how it works. As one would expect, they simply said “no, thank you.” And there I was with such surprise! How could they not see what I see!!
Well, I know exactly how. It is the same reason that I do not see what they see. We’re plugged into a different television set. I’m on a different channel. I wake up on a different timeline. We are part of the same universe but we perceive such different realities — as we should.
In the same way that I wish others to respect my retort, I shall respect theirs. A simultaneous “no, thank you”. After all, it is the work of the devil to force someone into your way. The work of a dark night to deny someone’s path and process. Stale pasta wants you to enjoy eating it but seriously, I don’t want it. Hot tea for some and brown bean water for others.
The path ahead is yours for a reason. There’s enough room for you and yours to walk side by side but in different directions. If you wish to walk toward a field of lilies and your friend toward a sack of stale potato chips, so be it. I am sure you can each meet at a cafe that offers both delicacies. A simple divergence in taste preference ought not to cause eternal rejection.
It’s a no for me but I shall not force it upon you. I choose not to live by their rules but I hold no grudge against those who do. I rebel against the lukewarm approach to life and love — I’ll take it all piping hot and with no coolant to ease the pain. I’ll peruse your suggestions and manuals but choose to stand as the free woman that I am. Even if you throw shame and make things harder, judge me, or cut me out, I’ll be content being best friends with my soul. My soul blossomed from the Earth itself, how could she not be so cool?
I’ll laugh in the face of nonsense and scream at the top of my lungs “NO, THANK YOU!”
“I’M ALL SET!”
“NOT TODAY!”
“THAT’S NICE, BUT I AM FULL!”
“SEE YOU LATER!!”
Then I’ll give nonsense a hug and let her go on her merry way. I hope she finds the perfect sack of stale potatoes.
I will listen. I will hear. I will consider. I will explore. I will ponder and seek to understand your line of sight. I will borrow your sunglasses and see how the world looks. I will look beyond my own reality to see what is happening in yours.
But I will not transplant your vision in place of mine. I will not wear glasses that I do not need. I will not close my eyes to sit in darkness forever. I will not morph into the being which you need me to be. I will not leave my soul at the corner. I will not bend into a triangle or a square or a chair so that you may have a comfortable seat.
I will not.
No, thank you.