Abstract
Authentic rebellion is not a thing one can see, hear, touch, feel, or taste, or co-opt. It exists beyond our senses because it blossoms verdant in the most fertile soil of each human heart. More particularly, it is a sacrament, an outward sign of our most reverend and fragrant wisdom. Tracing the thought of Camus, and referencing my own recent scholarship on love, this article will demonstrate how authentic rebellion, constituted and maintained for the wellbeing of the oppressor and oppressed alike, is a sacrament. Ideas being the rebel’s real adversary, it will interrogate three ideas that leave justice practice partial today. It will then provide specific and concrete practices and concepts for individuals who seek rebellion. Like the Zen koan about the master pointing to the moon, however, understanding can only be derived; I will share my own personal understanding, but each of us must find truth for ourselves. I intend this work to be useful for the rebel in their preparations for peaceful rebellion.
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DeValve, M. O for a Muse of Fire: Rebellion as Sacrament. Crit Crim 25, 87–102 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-016-9321-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10612-016-9321-z