The Rebellion of the black sheep

Art by the amazing Sophie Wilkins

“Rebellion can make us feel ostracized from the group, turning us into the black sheep of our family or community. But the black sheep are the artists, visionaries and healers of our culture, because they are the ones willing to call into question those places which feel stale, obsolete, or without integrity.

The black sheep stirs up the good kind of trouble. Her/his very life is a confrontation with all that has been assumed as tradition. Her/him being different serves to bring the family or group to consciousness where it has been living too long in the dark. As the idiom implies, she is the wayward one in the flock. Her life’s destiny is to stand apart. But paradoxically, it’s only when honors that apartness that she finally fits in.

The world needs your rebellion and the true song of your exile. In what has been banned from your life, you find a medicine to heal all that has been kept from the world. We must find the place within where things have been muted and give that a voice. Until those things are spoken, no truth can find its way forward. The world needs your unbelonging. It needs your disagreements, your exclusion, your ache to tear the false constructions down, to find the world behind this one.”

It was this very excerpt from the Book “Belonging: Remembering Ourselves Home” by Toko-pa Turner which actually made me order it. It spoke to me on so many levels and it is not the first time that I have written about the black sheep. I loved reading about her perspective on the subject and see it in a different view as all too often the black sheep is perceived as someone who is difficult, a little extra, a little hard to handle. But what makes them a little extra, a little difficult and hard to handle? Perhaps it is because they know, see and feel too much, often challenging things that feel out of alignment. To another, not yet willing to confront these issues, this behavior must feel overwhelming and daunting. Perhaps even so stressful that they avoid contact at all or at least minimize it. The black sheep in return often can’t realize or understand the inner working of such dynamic and begins to feel like an outcast, like being punished. It appears like another prime example of prime timing and how fragile, detailed and perfect everything has to be between all involved for life to unfold in a perfect manner. There will always be misunderstandings, different opinions, different points on our journey that will lead to different realities. But what a beautiful description to view the black sheep from a new and much more positive angle.

I am sure that many of you will relate and feel or have felt like this at one point of your journey. Remember that your special gift is needed in the quest of authenticity, uniqueness and finding the world behind this one. And remember that if you ever felt like you are not fitting into this world, it is because you were chosen to help create a new one. So go ahead and inspire on, you are amazing just the way you are.