Rebel With a Cause

Quentin Crisp, the English writer and raconteur, argued that the dictionary definition of “narcissism” as “morbid self-admiration” is actually a rare condition among us. What is as common as the cold, though, is the narcissism that wants others to be who we are.

Most of us are content when we find someone who will reflect our chosen image; slightly more fiercely egotistical people become parents so as to be able to see themselves in their children – often with disastrous results. It is not sex, as Dr. Freud thought, that is the mainspring of all human activity, it is self-glorification.

Once we understand that the ratification of the image is some people’s main reason for living, we’re no longer bewildered by what goes on in public affairs. We see that politics are for politicians, not for constituents and that the stage is for actors, not for audiences.

Quentin Crisp’s scathing indictment of the narcissistic motives behind nearly all our actions is a frightening peek at what drives the modern soul and psyche forward. If, as Crisp suggests, we are all so self-immersed and self-possessed that everything we do is for the sake of ourselves, how can we ever hope to step beyond the bounds of our own self-absorption?

The most unnerving of Crisp’s observations is that it is often when we are the most intentionally outer-directed – teaching, preaching, creating – that we are actually the most inwardly turned, grooming our own ego with every step we take.

Nowadays many people have a kind of dual identity – of appearing to do one thing while achieving something wholly different. We think we can lead conforming, yuppie-like lives, while at the same time being rebels. While being a rebel would appear to be the most self-deprecating, devil-may-care attitude conceivable, today it has become a surreptitious way of narcissistic self-gratification.

Rebels have a special place in the heart of Americans. After all, this nation came into being because a motley group of rebels – admittedly an exceedingly well-educated, articulate, and generally well-heeled group of rebels – managed to organize an official rebellion against some absentee British landlords.

Being a rebel today is a lot less demanding. All it takes is a certain kind of certifiable “wildness” that measures up to the “rebel-standards” established by Madison Avenue. In the years since Marlon Brando’s classic rebel film The Wild One (1954), the advertising media has managed to get the rebel image down pat – creating a definitive rebel chic.

The trendiest way to narcissistic self-gratification? Inhabit the role of rebel and appear to dump propriety and convention through a fanciful devotion to the “wild life.” Everyone today wants to be a rebel – everyone wants to march to a different drummer, to resist convention and to be distinctive. The result, of course, is an army of these new “rebels” – all looking alike, talking alike, and acting alike in their attempts to be different.

Remember when tattoos were worn only by bikers and sailors?  Today, it’s de rigueur across all classes of people, as likely to be seen on doctors and lawyers as well as drug dealers and prison inmates.

The trouble with rebel chic is that unlike those who truly hear a different drumbeat, there is no irrepressible rhythm driving these so-called rebels on their walk on the wild side. Theirs is a faked rebellion, as fake as the detachable polymer ponytails available for weekend wear by Wall Street executives.

Speaking of hair, it was at the center of my first (and perhaps only) attempt at rebellion.  As a freshman in college, I decided to discard the side part for the center part fancied by the young male rebels of the day. I then vowed to never cut my hair again and to grow a mustache to go along with my trademark sideburns.  By the end of my freshman year, I discovered that my hair would only grow down to my earlobes and the back of my neck – no further.  And the mustache? It was thin and patchy and looked, well, icky.  My rebellion failed due to bad genes.

Rebels in the past were known for their accomplishments. Today’s “rebels” rarely accomplish anything more than organizing a big motorcycle rally so that they can all show off their identical black and chrome Harleys to each other while wearing identical rebel-wear (black leather jackets). A rebel-attitude used to grow out of years of abuse or impatience with the system. Today a rebel “attitude” is something you can pick up at the local mall in the form of pre-ripped, pre-faded, pre-fabricated jeans.

The old Spy magazine once outlined the differences between rebels past and present, demonstrating the banality of today’s “wild ones.” Real rebels, Spy observed, overthrow fascist regimes; faux rebels punch the paparazzi. Real rebels flout convention; faux rebels go on late-night talk shows while wearing their sunglasses. Real rebels go on hunger strikes; faux rebels don’t wash their hair. Real rebels risk their lives; faux rebels risk their stunt doubles’ lives.

Daring to be wild, to become a true rebel, demands action. God’s love was a wild, rebellious love. In today’s Old Testament lesson, Moses called on the Israelites to dare to rebel against the conventional culture of the Canaanites. “Choosing life” involved choosing a truly wild notion of living. Instead of worshiping a Baal fertility god that could be easily placated with sacrifices of food and ritualized sex, Moses dared the Hebrews to remain loyal to a God who suggested that wild, improbable things were possible: things like creating a society filled with love and truth, a society fueled by justice and mercy.

Jesus demonstrated true rebellion, bona fide outsiderhood, both of which require risk. The true Wild Life demands sacrifice without hope of personal remuneration. Whereas today’s “wild ones” wouldn’t bother to “rebel” if there weren’t good photo opportunities involved, true rebellion promises no glamour or gaze, only grubby anonymity.

Jesus offered us the supreme portrait of the true rebel. He dared compassion. He stared down convention. British theologian and missionary Lesslie Newbigin recognized Jesus’ rebellious nature and called attention to the power of image. Newbigin said:

“One of the books that influenced me as a student was by a grand old Scottish theologian, David Cairns. Its title was The Faith That Rebels. Cairns was protesting against an interpretation of the Gospel that turned it into an invitation to submit; he saw it as an invitation to rebel. He pointed out that there is no case in the Gospels of a man or woman being brought to Jesus for healing, and Jesus saying: ‘Accept your suffering; it will purify your soul.’ There is no such case.

“In every case that is recorded, Jesus immediately responds by action to heal the sick, to cast out the evil spirit. His ministry was a ministry of active challenge to all the powers of the devil, whether in the disease that racks the body, the evil spirit that torments the soul, or the corruption and hypocrisy that poisons the body of society. It was a faith that rebelled.

“And yet, at the very end, there is submission: ‘Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit’; and – immediately following – the great shout of victory: ‘It is finished.’ This, it seems to me, brings us to the very heart of mission in Christ’s way. There is an active and uncompromising challenge to all the powers of evil, yet it is also a totally vulnerable challenge so that the final victory is God’s and not ours. In what seems like defeat, the victory of God is actually won. There is new life, one that does not end in death but begins from death. It is therefore a life that death cannot touch.”

People today want to choose life. They want to incarnate the wildness of God’s love and power in their lives. But they are trying to do so by choosing “false wildness,” a synthetic rebel-chic. Jesus is the one who demonstrated how to live the real wild life.

Jesus is the wild one who ate with known “bad guys” (the tax collectors). Jesus is the wild one who struck up conversations with “bad women” (the Samaritan woman at the well). Jesus is the wild one who waded into situations with a “bad attitude” (clearing the temple). Jesus is the wild one who offers radically new alternatives to the competitive lifestyles and money-obsessed dreams we all claw after.

What can you do? Become a true rebel. Join the rebel band of disciples that Christ sent out into the world. And dare to take a walk on the wild side.