What Is Human Design (And What It’s Not)

As Human Design teachers and analysts, we have noticed common misconceptions about Human Design System. This article was written to address some of these misconceptions, and hopefully more clearly explain what the Human Design System has to offer.

We begin with what Human Design does not look like, and then we share our perspectives on what it looks like.

Human Design is Not..

A Religion or belief system

Although there are those who believe the Human Design information is a dogma, it does not give you any right to dictate what rules you should follow. It is not a code of morality or a way to improve our self-image and make us more appealing to society. It is a system that reveals how individual each person is and shows us what may be right for one person but not for another.

Human Design is not a religion, but some people may try to use it in a way that is cult-like. For example, the practitioner might use it to place themselves in a position where they have authority over others. Human Design doesn't recognize any external authority as more important or superior than our own process and knowledge, including the system.

Human Design is often questioned by newcomers. They may ask, "Can I do this?" or, "Is it okay?". The answer is usually, "I don’t know, it’s your life, follow you Strategy and Authority and watch what happens." Human Design isn't about what you believe but how you see the world. Everything is in the right place at the right time, according to its nature.

It's only a matter of time, and you don't have forever to do it. This is your chance to discover the truth. It's not the self-construct that brought you here. It's what it means. Don't expect it to be like you imagined. It's not possible to predict what it will look like, and neither do you. It takes seven years for the cell system to regenerate, and it takes that long to get rid of all the junk. People would ask me what the future will look like. I don't know. There are no cookie cutters. It isn't about being the same. This isn't some crazy cult.

It is about individuality. It's all about the individual. I don't know where your destination is. But it would be nice if that you did. I can ask you later about what that was like for them. This is magic. It's you. It will always be you.

Ra Uru Hu

A Personality Typing System

Human Design does not depend on any questionnaires like Myers-Briggs, or the more popularized Enneagram system. These systems have their merits, but they are created and influenced by the mind. These systems, along with Law of Attraction-based programs, seem to be heavily focused on manifesting our desired material reality .

Human Design, on the other hand, is a vast and comprehensive body of knowledge. It includes an individual's unique aura and energetic imprint as well as areas such cosmology and biology. In the context of Human Design, "Type" refers to an absolute mechanical fact that can be seen in each BodyGraph. It would be more precise to call it "auric type", as it describes the signature and pattern of one's bioenergetic field.

Type is a combination of the mind (Personality), and the body (Design). It is not something that we can choose. Understanding Type can help you return to your natural state of awareness and allow you to experiment with the unique processes of the body as a way of navigating through life.

Psychological Therapy

Although Human Design is a deeply therapeutic tool, it's not psychological therapy. A Partnership session, Cycles Reading, Foundation Reading or Partnership session is more similar to analyzing and synthesizing maps in the context one's own real-life experience.

A good reading can be transformative and healing. The ability to accept and not blame your past experiences is a key element in reframe them. Accepting ourselves and being who we are can lead to a release in emotions. Understanding our relationship dynamics can help us see the reasons for the behavior of other people. This will allow us to accept and not blame others.

Although it can be helpful to talk about your feelings and move forward, it is not enough to make a difference in one's life. The same goes for talking about your design, no matter how detailed, does not necessarily make a difference. Human Design is about changing our awareness and learning how to allow the mind to take the back seat to the intelligence in the body.

Strategy and Authority are the two main tools that we have when it comes to changing our lives and dealing with the mind's grip over life. While we cannot change the past, we can make changes and create new opportunities. It may be easier to see the truth or wrongness of current relationships and situations. We can bring more awareness to our experiences and see what we can do about it.

Astrology

Human Design is similar in its ability to create a chart (or "BodyGraph") based on the date, time, and place of your birth. Both systems acknowledge that the relationship between the positions and patterns of planets in our birth charts and the movement and themes of our lives is apparent. Many interpretations of the planets' characteristics are in resonance with or issue from the same principle. The Human Design System starts to deviate from both the traditional and modern systems. Here are a few notable differences:

Human Design recognizes the unique importance of our Design (shown in the chart by the red activations). This unconscious imprint on the body is only half the story of human experience. Most forms of astrology use a house system to explain how the energies from the planets work on an earthly or mundane level. Astrologers often consider the 1st House of the Birth Chart to be the theme and characteristics of the body. Human Design combines two sets of calculations: one for the body and one for the mind.

Human Design incorporates 64 hexagrams from the I Ching as the field where the neutrino stream is being modulated or filtered through the planetary positions. Human Design analysis does not use the Zodiac signs, except to map the positions of planets to one the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching or gate in fixed positions in either the Zodiac wheel or Rave Mandala.

Human Design is not predictive like traditional astrological systems. Human Design does not tell us what will happen, or what we can expect to get. This is because we don't live in the Signatures of our auric types. The end of the story is not where we want to be, but the beginning point for a journey into the unknown.

Astrology as it is practiced today and Human Design are two distinct systems. They both rely on the relationship between the planets' positions at birth, the unique themes, characteristics and timing of our lives, and how they interact with each other. Each system is valuable and has its own way to orient our experiences in the contexts of our lives.

The Magic Bullet

Human Design is often approached by people looking for quick solutions to their problems. The Human Design System points out that even this search is often fuelled by the conditioned brain. It doesn't matter if there are any magic bullets, Human Design is not a quick fix to a lifetime of conditioned behaviour.

Human Design believes that change can be achieved through deconditioning and realigning with your form awareness to navigate and make decisions. Deconditioning is a slow and gradual process in which our awareness shifts and we stop doing wrong things that are harmful to our life force.

A Human Design session should not be used as a crisis hotline. It is meant to be used when you are stuck or need to make big decisions. To truly experiment with Human Design, we must take responsibility for our lives and be able to manage the basic elements of material life. Human Design will not be able offer much if someone is unable to take a two-hour session, or to save a few hundred dollars for their well-being.

Human Design has been my passion for a long time. It's amazing to see all of it. It's all very interesting. It's not because of your intelligence and openness. You can still take in the information and make sense of it. This isn't going change anything. Only living out your Strategy will change anything. Only after you have lived your Strategy for an entire life cycle, does it really change? You're adults. Since the moment you were born, your conditioning has been deep. Your conditioning is still with you. It's not easy to get rid.

Ra Uru Hu

Substitutes for Living Life

Many people have expanded the Socrates quote that "the unexamined existence is not worth living" by adding "the unlived existence is not worth examining." Human Design suggests both of these are essential for a fulfilled life. Living through our body's awareness and developing self-reflective consciousness is one way to do this. Experimenting with our authority in our lives helps us to trust ourselves.

When working with any system of knowledge or body of information, the first thing you should remember is that the "map is not the territory", a phrase first used by Alfred Korzybski to suggest that a person or thing can be separated from the judgements or perceptions placed upon it. No amount of information, even that provided by Human Design, can replace real-life experience and the ability to function in everyday life.

G. I. Gurdjieff, a Greek/Armenian teacher and mystic, stated that people who are strong in life will be strong in any path, method or work they choose. The same dynamic is seen in those who enter Human Design. This means that if you are unable to manage your everyday life and business in the normal world, you will likely have difficulty learning mystical or spiritual teachings.

Get Rich Quick Scheme

Human Design isn't always a quick way to make a living. Although some people are able to make a living working with the Human Design System for a living, many others have spent decades and even decades developing their process and experiment. Many of them have spent more on Human Design education than they can easily return over many years of teaching classes and doing sessions. They have to find something else.

It is a material world. There is nothing wrong with getting paid fairly for your time, energy and awareness. It's often mind-based conditioning, which distorts security concerns, self-worth, identity issues, and attention-seeking. These types of fixations and coping strategies can lead to a kind of desperation that causes people to spend large sums of money on marketing programs that promise material success.

These approaches may bring some success, but they might not be as valuable as other deep-meaning currencies of life. Human Design knowledge suggests that living in accordance with our nature can bring fulfillment, well-being and purpose. We may discover that our priorities change and we can take care of ourselves differently according to the standards we set for ourselves based on what we love, value and feel as true.

What Human Design is

An Experiment

Human Design is beautiful and logical. It is possible to test its validity by living and experimenting day-to-day. Through a process of surrendering one's body, the system provides Strategy and Authority to help you approach decision making. It offers the possibility of "passenger", or "witness" consciousness, where we can be aware of ourselves while we engage with the world.

Human Design is a way to experience a different culture. We can start to refer back to our inner intelligence instead of what society and family conditioning tells us. Generators are able to find great joy in using their energy and power to do what they love, rather than following the crowd and chasing the same experiences and things as everyone else.

Projectors can be recognized and successful by establishing relationships that go beyond the traditional definitions of material gain and status. Living a life that is independent and with minimal resistance can help manifestors find peace. Reflectors are able to be amazed by the uniqueness of life, embrace change, and flow with it without becoming lost.

Generators are able to move through life without as much frustration. Projectors are able to see past their bitterness. Anger can be fresh and used to repel those who resist it by Manifestors. It's possible to see disappointment as part of life, and it doesn’t affect you.

There is no other choice

It is the greatest duality in all of it. It is inexplicable. It is completely uncontrollable. It doesn't matter if they do or don't, or if they get to this or another, it is what it is. But, we're in a movie. It's a maia film. It looks like we have all the options in the maia movie. The game must be played.

Ra Uru Hu

Human Design suggests that life's trajectory is predetermined before we are born and that we have no control over it. This can be difficult for many of us who try to keep control of our lives. One might argue that every day we have many choices. These "choices" are important in the context our larger life story.

It could be said that only the undefined centers of the BodyGraph give us the illusion of choice. There is very little choice when it comes to the definition of where our energy and awareness are set. It is possible to see how we try to control the reactions of others by conforming to their preferences, expectations, and opinions. We will find others react and respond to us if we are honest with ourselves, without performing or contorting.

You will be surprised at how many things you cannot control in your life. All of us have been through difficult times and realized that some aspects cannot be controlled. You may have lost someone you love, or discovered that your partner is not the same person as before. You may have to change your priorities or stop doing certain activities or jobs. Sometimes we find ourselves in an unwelcome or unexpected leadership role that we cannot deny or feel a definite need to seek out an experience that will disappoint or upset someone close to us.

What can we do to control our internal feelings, how we fear, what we think about, what we turn on, and what we attract? These are just a few examples of the helplessness we all feel. Acceptance of our helplessness can free us from our futile, obsessive attempts to avoid or deny the inevitable. It can also open up the possibility of greater compassion for fellow human beings as they find themselves in the same situation.

Deconstruction Project

Add things every day to gain knowledge. Remove things each day to attain wisdom.

-- Lao Tzu

Like any other powerful method of awakening, Human Design is a large-scale deconstruction project. The Human Design System views awakening as a process of differentiation, living our unique design. It often means letting go of what you thought you knew and instead focusing on what serves us best and what our natural purpose is. As we stop trying to be someone we aren't, it may mean that we have to deal with some loss, pain, and unexpected change.

We stop putting our energy into relationships that don't support us or are not balanced. We let go of unhealthy relationships that we have been holding on to for a conditioned sense security. We realize when enough is enough, and stop trying to prove our worth by making promises that we don't have the energy or can make. It may be necessary to face the truth about our experiences and stop playing nice in order to avoid uncomfortable situations.

Human Design can act as a shamanic tablet that can drastically alter one's experience and the course of your life. Letting go can create a sense of space and relaxation in our lives. It also opens up new relationships and experiences. Sometimes, things that we once tolerated can become unbearable.

This can seem like an elimination diet in the beginning. We remove foods we suspect we are allergic to in order to find the root cause. It takes patience and time as our system adjusts to a new level of alignment and health. Working with Strategy and Authority can help us to slowly reintroduce foods, people, and other experiences.

Human Design is a great way to get a roadmap, a guide. It explains every step of the way. Each aspect can add great value to your own process. It is here to nurture individuality, to nurture uniqueness. This is what knowledge is all about. It is about being able and willing to help others, to be able serve.

Whatever your imagination takes you, the reality is that we all live this life, this illusion and this maia, no matter what. This is the essence of it all. Oh, how I wish I could help you see the bottom. I also live in the world just like you. This is where we belong. We're here to make it happen in the best way possible. This is the point -- Strategy and Authority.

Ra Uru Hu

A Road Map

Human Design is a way to understand what it means to be unique as yourself. It's a body knowledge that recognizes our individuality, and acknowledges that we are a constantly evolving species. It can help us to love and know who we are and recognize other people as they are.

Human Design indicates what is stable and reliable about us, and what is variable and susceptible to influence. The channels and centers provide a key indicator of the themes, characteristics and frequencies that are reliable and fixed in our experiences. Undefined channels, centers, and gates are another reference point that shows where our experience is contingent or circumstantial in relation to influences from the environment.

Human Design, as well as the characteristics of each individual's design, provide a lot of information and reference points for living in accordance with our true nature. This definition reveals who we are and how we were designed to live our lives. We can be open to the world around and observe how it affects us. This allows us to meet the influences and conditioning that are affecting our Strategy and Inner Authority. Our design's substructure, including the characteristics of Line, Color, Tone, are indicators for refinement and specificity.

It is very obvious to me that Human Design at its most basic level is a part the maia. It's the mechanics of maia. It helps to align people to the things that will lower their pressure and make their lives more enjoyable and comfortable. It's also very difficult at the deeper levels. For someone like me, it's one those difficult, dark ironic situations. I don't hesitate to say it. But what do you do? One side of me teaches that there is a way. On the other hand, it is all up to you. The line of geometry was drawn for those who can reach the correctness.

Ra Uru Hu

The mechanics of the Maia

The Human Design System is a description of the shared reality that all members participate in. It is also known as the Science of Differentiation, which reveals the unique nature of each individual through the imprint of their birth chart. Human Design covers almost all aspects of human experience and is a guide for understanding the mind and body. Although it is fascinating to learn how things work, it can lead to a distraction from the actual experience of living your design. As with a car: merely memorizing and explaining the manual to others does not make it a better way to learn how to drive it.

Ra Uru Hu, who was the original inventor of the system, frequently said that knowledge is not power. This can be easily seen in the Human Design BodyGraph mechanics. Minds are competitive to see who can memorize the most information. While the not-self mind desires more knowledge, more information and more of what another person has, it is often only about less. This is evident in people who come to Human Design and want to know more about the substructure and how they can apply that knowledge. It is also evident in those who are Human Design "Readers" or teachers, who promote certain details of the design, such as Variable ("The Arrows"), as more important than an understanding and personal exploration about Type, Strategy and Authority.

Human Design has a tremendous depth and richness below the surface. A lot of the social discussion about the design's substructure can be seen through the basic concepts of Human Design such as definition, aura, openness, and definition. These topics can be just as attractive and sellable as discussing Variable, Cognition or one's Dream Rave. As we have said, the majority of what we see in substructure is a guideline and not something we can use for our own benefit or gain.

A Surrender Into Ourselves

True self-remembering is not about trying to change others or oneself. It's about overcoming one's weaknesses and recognizing oneself. There is no one to blame. One can take what is and make it your own.

Rodney Collin

Many people believe that if they wake up, they will get what they want. Many people enter Human Design with the same mindset. The inside joke is that you get the same life you had before you were born. Ra Uru Hu used the expression, "stupid prior to enlightenment and stupid after enlightenment". It seems that awakening makes it easier, with less internal resistance and less suffering. Stop judging yourself. It is possible to let go of the need to be a victim and accept who we are and what life has in store without having to fight or sabotage ourselves.

It is interesting to see how many people believe they know their life's purpose, for better or worse. However, without actually living out one's potential auric type and design. Deconditioning often means letting go of false beliefs and opening up to the truth. To align with nature, it is important to be radically honest about the truth, to acknowledge our individual roles in the whole of life, and to allow ourselves to accept our natural limitations, so they can fulfill their purpose. This choicelessness can be used to accept and love your part in the play that is life.

The core Human Design principle is to "Love Yourself". This simple idea can be found in all the information within this complex and rich system. Let life unfold through you by loving and respecting yourself as we are. This love may lead to acceptance and recognition of others.