Bachir GhandourEssayObedience and DisobedienceENG 204AUB Spring 2014Humanity is a list of struggles and revolutions that have led to our current evolution. Until now, revolutions are constantly happening. Revolutions can be of different nature, ranging from intellectual to technological and even political, which is what we are currently witnessing, especially in the Arab world. Yet alongside this diversity of nature, we discover that disobedience is the driving force behind them. It therefore appears that disobedience is a necessity to evolve as a species and that obedience is what prevents us from reaching our highest possible level of “intelligence”. Humans are, after all, social animals and must be part of a group to survive. However, obedience is also essential for any society to continue and exist in a healthy atmosphere, because without it chaos would appear and there would therefore be no chance of innovation and evolution. As we will see, being part of a group can be accompanied by what we call a group mentality. It is therefore essential to find the right combination of obedience and disobedience if humans are to continue their forward evolution. In fact, as the writer Fromm says: “If a man can only obey and not disobey, he is a slave; if he can only disobey and not obey, he is a rebel (not a revolutionary).” According to this statement and as will be explained later, to be Human means to have the freedom to both obey and disobey. Disobedience is often associated with bad behavior. Children are taught from a young age not to disobey their parents at home or any older person, whether at school or elsewhere. At the same time, disobedience has resulted in many successful innovations and discoveries that propel...... middle of paper ......solutions to convince others. In the end we see that evolution is a very delicate process. For humanity to evolve, humans must find the perfect balance between obedience to the laws that keep us together from chaos and disobedience to that which is evil and malicious. This may explain why revolutions take time to happen, because disobedience is like a row of dominoes. People are first under the spell of obeying the group mind, but then, if just one courageous person has the courage to stand up and resist, this will also encourage others and a chain will be formed. However, after this disobedience, if no one obeys the general agreed rules, society no longer has room to exist. And here is the difference between being a human free to obey and disobey and between being either a slave capable of only obeying or a rebel controlled by his passion to disobey..