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Your Own Authority A Beginner’s Guide to Human Design Dharmen and Leela Swann-Herbert © Copyright 2012 Secret of Being You, LLC All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. Jovian Archive Corporation is the International Rights Holder to the Human Design System, the Global Incarnation Index, Primary Health System and all knowledge derived from the teachings of Ra Uru Hu. Copyright 1992-2012 The Rave BodyGraph TM and Rave Mandala TM Are registered Trademarks of Jovian Archive Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Book Cover Design and Book Design by Devin Ratheal Ra Uru Hu Photograph © Herman Waumans, October 2010 at the Amsterdam, Netherlands Radical Transformation Tour High Resolution Opening © rolffimages, Fotolia.com Mann Frau/Proportion /Da Vinci by © Sonja Janson, Fotolia.com Doll Faces © Tammy Mobley, Fotolia.com 1st Edition: April 2012 Published by Jovian Archive Corporation



Your Own Authority



For Ra This book has become a reality due to the initiation of Ra Uru Hu. The Science of Human Design is a direct result of Ra’s personal encounter with the ‘Voice’, and any omissions or errors in the presentation of Human Design here in this text are a product of our own limitations. In a profound way we are grateful to Ra for being a visionary teacher and guide. Ra initiated this book project with us in 2007, and provided strategic direction to this development of this book. Over the years, this book has evolved, from its earliest versions with the valuable input of Sarah Krakower, Maurizio Cattaneo, Alissa Ferranto and Becky Markley; and to its current version due to the fruitful editing of Carolyn Davis and the book design and layout from Devin Ratheal. Everyone along the way has provided valuable commentary and feedback for the development of this book. iii



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TABLE OF CONTENTS FORWARD ....................................................................... vii CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Human Design ....................... 1 Why Learn About Human Design? ....................................... 1 Decision-Making ............................................................ 1 The Mind and Conditioning .............................................. 1 Fear and the Mind.......................................................... 2 The Mechanical Map ....................................................... 3 Elements of the Human Design System ............................ 5 Empowerment, Trust and Letting Go ................................ 6 Why Hasn’t This Been Taught Before? ................................. 7 A System for Our Time ................................................... 7 9-Centered Humans ....................................................... 8 CHAPTER 2 Form Intelligence and Binary Consciousness .. 9 The Body is the Life and the Mind is Outer Authority ............. 9 Personality Consciousness .............................................. 9 Design (Body) Consciousness .......................................... 9 Correct Decision-Making ............................................... 10 Experimenting with Binary Consciousness ....................... 11 Vehicle, Driver and Passenger: A Metaphor for Binary Consciousness ............................................................. 12 The Observer Changes the Experiment ........................... 12 The Mind as Outer Authority ......................................... 15 Inner Authority, Decision-Making and Purpose ................ 17 CHAPTER 3 Elements of the Human Design System ........ 18 The BodyGraph ........................................................... Unconscious Design – What Others See .......................... Personality – What You See .......................................... The Nine Centers ......................................................... A Guide to the Nine Centers .......................................... Definition and Openness ............................................... How Openness Influences the Mind ................................ Openness as a Gateway to Self-Reflected Learning .......... iv



18 19 23 25 26 27 29 30



Your Own Authority CHAPTER 4 Openness, Conditioning and the Not-Self ..... 32 Openness and Conditioning ........................................... The Law of Attraction and the Not-Self ........................... Not-self Strategies of the Open Centers .......................... The Open Head Center ................................................. The Open Ajna Center .................................................. The Open Throat Center ............................................... The Open G Center ...................................................... The Open Heart Center ................................................ The Open Sacral Center ................................................ The Open Solar Plexus Center ....................................... The Open Splenic Center .............................................. The Open Root Center .................................................. The Program: Life in the Homogenized World .................. Homogenization and the Mind’s Authority .......................



32 37 39 39 40 41 43 44 45 46 48 49 51 57



CHAPTER 5 Type and Strategy: Meeting Life through the Aura ................................................................................ 59 Overview on Type ........................................................ The Manifestor Aura Type ................................................ Manifestor Mechanics ................................................... Manifestor Strategy ..................................................... Famous Manifestors ..................................................... Generators ..................................................................... Generator Mechanics.................................................... Generator Strategy ...................................................... Famous Generators...................................................... Projectors ...................................................................... Projector Mechanics ..................................................... Projector Strategy ....................................................... Famous Projectors ....................................................... Reflectors ...................................................................... Reflector Mechanics ..................................................... Reflector Strategy........................................................ Famous Reflectors .......................................................



59 64 64 65 68 69 69 70 76 77 77 78 85 86 86 87 91



CHAPTER 6 Inner Authority ............................................ 92 Decision-Making According to Your Own Authority ............... 92 Emotional Authority – Decision over Time ....................... 94 Sacral Authority – Decision in Response ......................... 98 Splenic Authority – Decision in the Now ......................... 102 Ego Authority – Decision of the Heart ............................ 105 v



Your Own Authority Self-Projected Ego Authority – Decision of the Heart’s Direction ................................................................... 106 Self-Projected Authority – Decision of the Self ................ 107 Mental Projector Authority Process – Decision in the Experiment ................................................................ 109 Lunar Authority – Decision in the Lunar Cycle ................ 111 CHAPTER 7 Experimenting with Human Design ............ 114 Seven Year Journey to Cellular Transformation .................. 114 Are you ready to let go of mental decision-making? ........ 116 Glossary ........................................................................ 118 Human Design System Resources ................................. 126 About the Authors .......................................................... 126 ~



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FORWARD There is a good chance that if you are reading this book, you have an interest in learning about Human Design. Perhaps someone has shared their experience of Human Design with you, or maybe you have stumbled upon a Human Design website, or you may have obtained a copy of your individual Rave Chart. But most of all, you may be wondering, “Ok, I want to know more about this, so now what?” In this book you will meet the basic mechanics of Human Design. Mechanics are a common language, a symbolic, visual way of seeing. based upon logical principles which operate consistently throughout Human Design. By learning the mechanical fundamentals of Human Design, you can become empowered to experiment and prove the validity and value of these principles in your own life. Nothing in this book is meant to be taken upon faith or belief, rather, Human Design is meant to be tested and experimented with by every individual who meets this information. You will also be introduced to some new ideas and concepts about your life and how it works. Some of these may challenge long held beliefs, or theories that you may have adopted as truth in your life. What is recommended for the duration of reading this book, is that you suspend the way in which you understand your life to operate, and be open to meeting something entirely new. It is not often that we get the opportunity to meet something that may radically challenge our cultural and collective beliefs about the way that life operates. It can be momentarily disorienting; the mind may want to turn away to find something less uncomfortable, something more familiar. It is challenging to be open to meeting something entirely new. You are encouraged to resist the temptation to give in to the fears of your mind, to have the strength to momentarily set aside what you know and what you believe you know, in order to be introduced to something new. Some of you are going to find that your mind has a comment for everything that you are reading. “This doesn’t make sense. This is too weird. This isn’t for me.” That may be true, but what you may want to do for just a few hours as you read this book, is to set your mind aside. Let it talk, but don’t let it keep you from exploring this information. If you are looking for something more, or something that may be missing from your vii



Your Own Authority life; you owe it to yourself to at least take a look at this while suspending the judgment of your mind. The truth of Human Design is that no one benefits from simply reading about this information. Just reading about Human Design will not change your life. So you can re-assure your mind that you aren’t going to ‘do’ anything other than learn about something new for the moment. Learning something new or different may challenge the way you look at the world or at your life, or even the way the world operates. This is courageous work, and when you set aside the judgment of your mind, you can make the process of learning something new a whole lot easier. We have a vast potential that until now has been primarily untapped and unexplored. To use an analogy, human beings at one point had a hardware upgrade, and yet continued to run the same software. We have been running software that is faulty programming, filled with glitches and bugs, generation after generation; and we’ve been running it on hardware that can do more and be more. Old software, old programming doesn’t utilize all of the upgraded potential that is available to us as modern humans. Too often, we remain stuck in past programming, perhaps even turning to ancient software, in order to try and yet again fail to make use of the advanced hardware we know is there. Scientists say that we may use only 10% of our brain’s potential. Most of us know we have enormous unused resources. Human Design offers us the opportunity to access our more advanced hardware, our untapped resources. It is new information, advanced software for the utilization of our potential. Human Design, quite simply, is a new internal process of decision making. This has been the dilemma of seekers for thousands of years. Yes, the mind can become still. But what does the individual then use for decision making? The same mind that has been disciplined into submission? How do you stop the mind from taking over the life once again? The mind cannot both be silent, and the authority for decision making. Always the mind ends up coming back in, and running the life. The ancient Brahmins, Yogis, various Buddhists, Zen Masters, Gnostics and other mystics all knew that the mind, the software in our previous analogy, was the problem. They developed methods to control the mind, to harness the programming through meditation and other practices. They understood that viii



Your Own Authority the limitations of consciousness were connected to the limitations of the software, the limitations of the mind. However, they never could find a way to avoid using the mind for decision making. This is the challenge that has faced us for thousands of years – we can gain awareness through bypassing the mind, but then what do we use to make decisions? We are stuck with using the same faulty software that we’ve spent years learning to suppress, control, or observe. It is impossible to simultaneously break down the mind, while at the same time keeping it in its role as the authority, as the decision maker. Within these ancient practices the state of ‘no mind’ may be the goal; but when the mind is needed to make a decision, then the faulty software is activated all over again. Human Design offers an answer to this dilemma. By making use of our more advanced hardware, we no longer have to be stuck with outdated software. When we operate on our upgraded hardware, we aren’t trapped into operating with old, faulty software and relying upon the mind as the decision maker; instead we can discover the truth of living out our full potential, with highly developed hardware and software. Some of us may be seeking to awaken, and others of us would simply like to have our lives run more smoothly or to meet less resistance as we move through life. Many of us would like to find greater meaning or a deeper sense of purpose in our lives. Some of us want better relationships with ourselves and with others. Most of us would like to lead lives that are free of resistance; lives in which we no longer find ourselves faced with frustration, bitterness, anger or disappointment. Some of us would love to discover a life that is not driven by nervousness, anxiety or fear. If you are completely satisfied with your life, if you aren’t looking for greater success or peace or even surprise, then learning about Human Design may not be for you. If you are searching for something more out of life, however, then you may want to take a closer look at the information in this book. We may have tried to change who we are. We may have explored various philosophies or religions looking for solace or freedom from the mind. We may have become a part of the human potential movement, gone deeply into therapy, or experimented with expansion of consciousness through yoga, meditation, or psychoactive drugs.



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Your Own Authority Regardless of the process that we’ve explored up until now, if we are still seeking something else in our lives, chances are we have not yet discovered what we thought we were looking for. Some aspect of us, somehow, still remains unchanged, unfinished, unexplored. Something or someone is missing from our life. It is at this crossroads, that Human Design can offer a new perspective. Human Design is not a belief system. It is not a philosophy. It is not a religion. It is not meditation nor is it therapy. Human Design is not about following a leader. It is a process that can provide you with the tools for your life to naturally evolve and change. This is not to say that Human Design is a panacea for every difficulty associated with being human. It does offer the possibility of personal discovery that is different for each individual. Through experimentation with its simple, effective tools for living, many people have found their lives changed in ways they could not have imagined. In this book we will explore in depth the tools that Human Design offers for a new internal process of decision making. It is not about turning your life over to the authority of others, or to the authority of your mind, but to discover the source of your own inner authority. This is the empowerment that many of us have been seeking all our lives. Out of our own authority, we can make decisions that are free of influence by others, that are free of mental motives and distortion. Decisions from our own authority bring us our own unique life, a life filled with its natural purpose, not some idea that the mind has dreamed up. When we learn to access our own authority, we begin to tap into the potential of our advanced hardware. Each of us, have within us everything we need to live a fulfilling, satisfying, successful life. For some that is a life filled with relationships, for others it is discovering a more solitary, contemplative existence. The beauty of Human Design is that each person finds for themselves the unique life that is their birthright – not the life that their mind has imagined, or that their parents wanted for them – but the life that arises from your own authority. Knowing isn’t being. The benefits of Human Design are found in experimenting with its tools in your own life. Many people have ‘studied’ Human Design, but failed to put the principles into practice. Consequently, they may not have found any x



Your Own Authority satisfying results in their life. This book will not only provide you with the information about Human Design, it will also provide you with what you need to begin to experiment with it in your life. It is through your own experimentation that you will discover if this information is of use to you, or not. It is through this experimentation that it becomes greater than simply ‘more stuff to know’; it turns into a process through which your life begins to come into its natural alignment. The natural alignment of your highly advanced hardware and software, to experience life at your unique potential, takes place through your own authority. ~



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CHAPTER 1 Introduction to Human Design Why Learn About Human Design? Decision-Making Have you ever considered that all of your experiences are the result of a decision that you made? Decisions dictate the direction of your life including where you live, who you meet, your work in the world and your relationships. Even seemingly minor choices can have a profound impact on your life path. The life you are living right now is the result of a sequence of decisions. Do you know how you make decisions? Most of us have been taught to use our minds to make decisions. Familiar recommendations include: “Use your head, make up your mind, figure it out, think it through, and weigh your options.” Consider the possibility that the mind is not your best tool for decision making. The Human Design System describes a radical new process for decision-making. Human Design shows that we each have an innate embodied capacity to make correct decisions for ourselves and in a way that is more clear and accurate than the faculty of the mind. For most people this innate decision-making capacity is under-utilized or might even be unknown to them. People who are experimenting with Human Design are reporting that this new way of decisionmaking eventually leads to experiencing life with ease and confidence, and that they are more often finding themselves in the right place at the right time with the right people. The Mind and Conditioning The Human Design System points to a key revelation: the mind is not the correct authority for decision-making. The true purpose and value of the mind has largely been misunderstood. Applying the logic of Human Design we can observe that the mind, despite all of its cognitive capacity, is easily conditioned by outside influences. This tendency of the mind to be conditioned makes it a limited and easily distorted mechanism for decision-making. 1



Your Own Authority Rather than for decision-making, the correct role for the mind is to witness and observe life. The mind is a remarkable research tool for observing and recording knowledge and experiences as memory; however as a consequence of deep social conditioning we assume that the mind is capable of directing our lives through its decisions. The mind is a vast data bank of sensory input and information accumulated over a lifetime; it overwhelms and confuses the personal decision-making process. The mind can’t discern what is correct for you because its ‘data storage’ comes from the deep conditioning it takes in from others. The mind internalizes answers, opinions, and ideas from various outer authorities including parents, teachers, religious leaders, spouses, politicians, and the media. Can you see how mental decision-making is based on the influence of these external authorities? With mental decision-making, we’re all vulnerable to living out a homogenized version of life that has little connection to what is healthy, satisfying and uniquely correct for us. It’s likely that the conditions of your life right now are a product of these conditioned influences. The mind is filled with repetitive thought patterns which you may not even notice as conditioned thoughts because they are so familiar to you; they’re running as constant background commentary throughout your day-to-day life. Making mental decisions leads to unconsciously conforming to external expectations and/or following collective ideals and rules that you began identifying with in childhood. Life is robbed of real individuality; it often becomes a superficial facade of a socially-environmentally conditioned concept of ‘normal’. Living a conditioned life brings the experience of frustration, bitterness, anger or disappointment. Fear and the Mind When the mind is making decisions, it is pretending it knows what is healthy and good for you, often trying to manage and control your decisions through deception, distortion, and fear. Fundamentally the mind makes its decisions based on a deep fear about survival. Over time you can end up with a life that is built on so many fears and lies that you feel a constant, generalized state of anxiety. Is it any wonder that 2



Your Own Authority a large segment of western society consumes antidepressant medication on a daily basis? Is it any wonder that so many people today are unsatisfied with their quality of life? People are searching for meaning in a world which is built upon the illusion of mental control. Many are living lives filled with depression and anxiety, thinking that they are not good enough or that they will never succeed in the face of all the pressures of modern society. Many see that our lives are not fulfilling, but very few of us question our decisionmaking process or recognize that our lack of fulfillment is related to mental decision-making. The Mechanical Map The Human Design System offers a mechanism for breaking out of a mentally driven life. Through experimentation with Human Design you can discover the remarkable power of this simple, practical application of the knowledge. The entire Human Design System is vast and deep and there are many layers of information within it. However this book is designed to introduce just the basics of Human Design and it illustrates a simple, mechanical process for correct decisionmaking. The basics are all you need to discover the truth of your unique life and to find the pleasure and ease of living life as your authentic self.



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The BodyGraph is the illustrative map which shows the genetic highlighting of an individual’s design. The Human Design System utilizes the BodyGraph to express graphically the mechanics of each individual design. The BodyGraph shows what makes you unique, and from applying the tools of Human Design you can discover your unique attributes and see and experience how they get expressed in your life. It’s important to understand that Human Design is not a philosophy. It is not a spiritual theory. It is not a belief system. The Human Design System provides a concrete map, via the BodyGraph, of the nature of each and every person on the planet. It provides the tools for seeing your unique self, and a logical process for making decisions which are free from the influence of the mind and all outside authorities. Human Design is not a type-casting system; it offers a mechanical methodology which brings to the surface each person’s individualized genetic differences as represented in 4



Your Own Authority their design. In this book you will find a concise, practical explanation for each of the basic elements of your design. The map of your design shows how to begin your personal experimentation process. Your own experiment in your dayto-day life is the key to uncovering your unique characteristics and recognizing them within the context of your life. Human Design is built on simple mechanics which each person can validate for themselves. You can’t access what the system reveals just from studying the knowledge; it has to be applied in your life, tested, and validated or rejected through your own experimental process. Since Human Design is a logical system, it can be tested. This testing process is highly individualized. As you experiment with correct decision-making, your body’s intelligence and your mind become aligned to their proper functions. The quantum of both becomes an integrated holistic expression of you. Uniqueness is not simply difference, rather it is beyond compare. You may have heard words describing the concept of uniqueness before—however have you ever truly experienced the absolute individuality of your true being? This is our evolutionary potential. We are designed to differentiate; we are not here to live out a generic, generalized experience of life. Does this introductory information interest you? If so, the next step is to begin your own experiment and see for yourself. Elements of the Human Design System The basic elements of the Human Design System are Definition, Type, Strategy and Inner Authority. Each of these will be described in more detail later. There are four distinct human types, these are: Manifestor, Generator, Projector and Reflector. Through analysis of birth data between 1781 and our present time, we have found that each of these four types represents a statistically consistent percentage of the world’s population. Each type has its own strategy for correct decision-making. Remember correct decision-making is how we arrive at the right place at the right time and with the right people. Strategy for decision-making is a specific method for reducing resistance in your life. In other words, strategy helps you to align yourself with the natural flow of your unique life. Inner authority is the inner touch stone or 5



Your Own Authority source for correct decision-making and it is identified through the mechanics of the BodyGraph. Trusting your inner authority, you can navigate through life along your correct trajectory. The term trajectory refers to your unique geometry through space and time and it is commonly referred to as your path or journey in life. Strategy and inner authority are the most essential tools that Human Design has to offer. Through experimentation with these tools you can transform your experience of life and discover your individuality. Operating according to your strategy and inner authority you can see your life changing one decision at a time. Step by step, through each correct decision, your life can become a deeply satisfying expression of your unique self. Over time, you become more clear and confident about who and what is correct for you and eventually you become less vulnerable to the manipulation and control of outside forces and other people—no matter how well-intentioned they might be. Your life becomes beyond what you could have ever imagined, and changes in ways that are distinctly well-suited to you. When you are in exactly the right place at the right time, your life is transformed. Empowerment, Trust and Letting Go It’s empowering to trust and surrender to your own authority and let go of the mind’s control over your life. Empowerment is not passive. Some people have a misperception about what it means to surrender to the body’s intelligence and might associate it with a form of ‘giving up’. Truly all that is given up is the mind’s illusion of control, because practically-speaking, your mind cannot control life. This emerging sense of empowerment can challenge your beliefs about who you think you are or what your life should be. Initially this can be disorienting and uncomfortable for your mind. However over time you can rediscover the beauty of relaxing into the moment-to-moment experience of your life; a return to a sense of presence you likely experienced in early childhood. With the recognition of your own uniqueness, a growing self-love and appreciation for your life emerges. This is what’s possible when you 6



Your Own Authority experiment with following the simple mechanics for correct decision-making.



Why Hasn’t This Been Taught Before? A System for Our Time You may wonder: if the Human Design System is such a powerful method for decision-making, why hasn’t this been taught before? Candidly, this is new information for our time. Every era of human existence has brought new knowledge contributing to each evolutionary step for humankind. Throughout the stages of human development there have been tools and methods to enhance and enrich human potential, each perfectly suited to their era. Teachings tend to be limited so that they can best serve the level of human development of their time. The Human Design System is being introduced now because as a species we have evolved to our present cognitive and physical development; we now have the capacity to practically apply this knowledge. Over the past 85-90,000 years our species has evolved a vast array of attributes, skills and knowledge which lead to a significant increase in human population and enriched our developmental potential as well. Our earliest ancestors developed body awareness to increase their chances of survival. Then, beginning approximately 50,000 years ago with the emergence of speech, we began to develop our mental awareness. Our species developed sophisticated symbolic communication and a strategic mastery of survival through mind. According to the Human Design System, our most recent human evolutionary shift occurred in 1781. This shift was from the 7-centered human, as represented in the ancient Hindu chakra system, to the current 9-centered human being, as represented in the Human Design BodyGraph. The 7-centered being reached the pinnacle of what could be achieved on the mental plane including mastery of strategic, linear, mental conceptualization and manipulation of the physical environment. Humanity’s potential has evolved beyond this mind-centric dominance and yet in the present 7



Your Own Authority day, the majority of people remain identified with this prior stage of development. 9-Centered Humans Our species has exhausted the developmental potential of the 7-centered mind and now has the opportunity to reach far beyond the cognitive, sensory and awareness capabilities of our 7-centered ancestors. As 9-centered humans we are here to explore living with a form of consciousness that is more advanced than mental awareness. We are designed to experience the realization of binary consciousness: the quantum consciousness of mind and body simultaneously, meaning the conscious awareness of the body living the life and the mind observing it. Binary consciousness brings the moment-to-moment awareness of the body’s intelligence as it makes decisions for the life. The mind resides as witness, observing the movement of embodied life. The correct and highest developmental potential of the mind is to observe life and to communicate those observations, when asked, for the benefit of others. As 9-centered humans we are born with the potential to live as holistic beings, not just as an instinctual physical being or just as a strategic mental being, but to live the full potential of our species at its current stage of development: to experience life as self-reflected witnessing consciousness uniquely embodied in form. Human Design is knowledge for our time. Humanity faces a rapidly changing world and is on the cusp of another evolutionary shift. Now we have the opportunity to learn how to live out our 9-centered potential. We are approaching a new era when the survival of our species and its ability to thrive will depend on one’s unique ability to navigate through life without the protection and support of the social infrastructure and agreements which have previously held our world together. The Human Design System shows you how to explore at the leading edge of human development. Here is the opportunity to live as a unique individual, to live by the decision-making of your body’s inner authority while liberating the mind to observe and be of service to the other. ~



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CHAPTER 2 Form Intelligence and Binary Consciousness The Body is the Life and the Mind is Outer Authority Personality Consciousness In our current stage of human development, our species is primarily identified with the mind and therefore the mind is the dominant source of intelligence. Generally speaking, the mind is not aware of the body’s consciousness as it is focused on and absorbed in its mentally constructed world. Through early socialization and behavioral repetition people have learned to identify with the mind, to assume that it is the controlling authority in our lives, and to believe the mind is who we are. The Human Design System describes the consciousness which functions through the medium of the mind as personality consciousness. The mind makes decisions from a limited, conditioned view of life and this constructed view is actually like an overlay or filter which distorts and even hides what is actually happening in life. The mind as an authority for the life can control decision-making, but are those decisions correct and healthy for the individual? Mental decision-making is based on subjective data and it is highly influenced by deep fears about survival. The mind does not have access to nor can it perceive the vast interconnected, synchronistic movement of events, people, places and circumstances which ultimately brings each of us to our uniquely correct life experiences. Design (Body) Consciousness Consider that every cell of your body has its own intelligence and its own memory capacity. Imagine if you had to mentally direct, regulate, interpret and report on every system within your body. Your mind would have to orchestrate billions of bodily functions with precise timing to simply maintain life. What if the mind had to regulate digestion, body temperature, elimination processes, endocrine secretions, and neurologic activity? Without the body’s consciousness and its intelligence, the mind would 9



Your Own Authority have to direct about 50 trillion cells to perform countless activities every moment until the end of life. It is beyond the capability of the mind to manage the body. The human body’s intelligence mechanically sustains the continuation of life for approximately 84 years— growing, repairing and sometimes replacing damaged parts. Since human beings are primarily identified with the mind and experience life through the mind, most of us take the body for granted. We treat the body like a beast of burden whose purpose is to fulfill the mind’s wants and demands for work and pleasure. For the majority of us the body is a means to fulfill the dictates of the mind. Our body consciousness is designed to direct all aspects of the life including navigating and moving us to our correct experiences in life. A true break-through of the Human Design System knowledge is that it shows mechanically and graphically within the BodyGraph the location of inner authority and it explains how inner authority guides decision-making in life. The body is not aware of the mind; it functions elegantly without it. The body does not need the mind, actually operates innocent of the mind’s strategies, and often in spite of the mind’s agenda. The body is quite literally life itself. We each have a unique intelligence within our physical form and in Human Design terms this intelligence is called design consciousness. Correct Decision-Making On its most practical level the Human Design System shows us how to transfer control for decision-making from the mind to the inner authority. Design consciousness contains the source of each individual’s inner authority and this intelligence is in communication with life at all times. It operates with acute sensitivity reading and interpreting the environment and recognizing the decision-making moments which translate into the correct movement for your life. The mind is a medium for awareness but it is not what actually lives the life, the body is the life. When your body is trusted to live your life according to its intrinsic inner authority then the mind is no longer tasked 10



Your Own Authority with trying to control life. The mind becomes the observer of the body’s decision-making process. You may discover that the form’s decisions are at times contrary to what your mind thinks it wants. Eventually your mind can learn to relax into its role as observer and over time come to see that the form’s decisions are indeed correct for your life. Releasing the mind from the function of decision-making can be both liberating and challenging. Free from the task of decisionmaking, you’ll notice a decrease in mental pressure, anxiety and fear which is quite relaxing and pleasurable; you begin to see the natural beauty, ease and flow of your life. The challenge is in letting go of your patterned, habitual identification with the mind and the fear that you will suffer and die if your mind isn’t controlling your life. Experimenting with Binary Consciousness We have these two consciousnesses which are mostly not aware of each other and therefore experience life separately. Since the majority of human beings are identified almost exclusively with their mind, it takes a process of experimentation with decision-making through inner authority to learn to recognize binary consciousness. The evolutionary advantage of our time is this gift of binary consciousness and from your own experimentation you can discover that design consciousness can be trusted for decision-making and that it is perfectly designed to navigate you through your life. The personality consciousness is designed to witness experiences in life, to see in a very specific and unique way, and to share that unique perspective with others. The mechanism which holds these two consciousnesses together within the human being is called the Magnetic Monopole. The existence of the Magnetic Monopole was just recently discovered by the scientific community and its function within the context of human life is not yet fully understood outside of the Human Design System knowledge. However through Human Design we recognize that the Magnetic Monopole has a direct connection with inner authority and that it functions like a sophisticated GPS navigation device guiding the movement of life through its relationship with the quantum of binary consciousness. With 11



Your Own Authority astonishing accuracy the Magnetic Monopole navigates your form through space and time. Vehicle, Driver and Passenger: A Metaphor for Binary Consciousness One way to understand how the Magnetic Monopole functions in relation to binary consciousness is to use the metaphor of the vehicle, the driver and the passenger. Imagine that the body with its design consciousness is a vehicle; a comfortable, state-of-the art method of transportation like a limousine. The personality consciousness is the passenger sitting in the back seat of the vehicle. The Magnetic Monopole is the driver and the driver knows exactly where to go, how to get there, how long to stay, and where to go next. The personality in its proper role as passenger is free from the duties of transporting or navigating and rests easily in the back seat of the vehicle looking out the windows and watching all that transpires on the journey. The vehicle moves through time and space carrying its passenger and the driver determines the correct navigation for the vehicle. Prior to experimenting with decision-making through strategy and inner authority, the passenger or personality consciousness is busily involved with driving the life and as a result it can’t really see anything at all. Fully occupied with the role of driver, the mind is actively trying to figure out where to go, what to do, who to be with, and all the while making decisions as it tries to anticipate and control life. Before exploring the Human Design experiment, most of us assume that the passenger drives the vehicle and that the vehicle is supposed to move wherever the mind directs it to go. Ironically, the truth is just the opposite, and this becomes vividly clear as you experiment with the power and perfection of binary consciousness. The Observer Changes the Experiment Are you ready to try a brief exercise exploring the relationship between the passenger (mind) and the vehicle (body)? To begin, sit in a comfortable position and observe 12



Your Own Authority your body breathing. Notice that the act of breathing is not controlled by the mind. As you observe your breath, do you experience the expansion and contraction of the rib-cage? Can you feel the push of the diaphragm downward and upward against the solar plexus as well as the movement of your belly against your clothing? Do you notice the sound of the breath as it enters and exits your nose? Can you feel the movement of the air in your nostrils? As you watch your breath, do you see how your observation is subtly changing the rhythm and pacing of your breathing? The natural pattern of your breath changes from the simple act of observing it. Observation can change the depth, shape and the timing of the breath. There are other aspects of breathing that you cannot observe. For example, you cannot observe the breath moving into the lungs; you can only have the external experience of the ribs expanding to accommodate the lung movement. You cannot sense the transfer of the oxygen into the lung capillaries and into the blood stream, nor can you sense the movement of the spent carbon monoxide from the blood stream back into the lungs. Yes, the mind can imagine what is going on inside based on what you may have learned about how the body functions. However these breath movements are not directly observable. The point is that the mind is not situated inside the body although its point of view is typically associated with the head. It is a common perception that the mind is positioned somewhere inside the head and that it looks out through the eyes. The actual location of the mind can be better understood through the metaphor of a web camera device mounted above a computer display. In this example, the web camera actually resides outside of the computer and it captures images of sensory data which are then transmitted to the hard drive of the computer and the data is processed and interpreted by software running on the computer. Like the web camera, the human mind is an observational mechanism located outside of the form and yet it doesn’t record an exact image of what it is observing like a camera. Instead the mind, through the act of observation, changes 13



Your Own Authority what is observed. As we discovered with our breath exploration, the breath pattern was influenced and changed from its natural movement through the act of observing. The mind does not purely reproduce what it sees. Are you starting to see how the connection between the mind and the body is limited? The mind does not run the body and yet it has been conditioned from birth to think that it should be running the life of the form. The Human Design System makes clear that the authority for the life belongs to the form. And with this shift of authority the mind finds its genuine fulfillment as the observer of life. Continuing with the metaphor of the passenger and the vehicle, we can see that the personality has very little understanding of the actual operation of the form. The passenger can sense the movement of the vehicle when it travels across a bump in the road, it notes the vibration of the engine, and its perception shifts as the vehicle turns a corner— but it cannot directly perceive the movement of the pistons in the engine. The passenger can only look out the windows of the vehicle and observe the passing scenery while having some sensory observations of the vehicle and its functioning. Although the mind has its observations and it can talk about them, it literally has no access to the design consciousness that operates your body and moves you in your life. Although it’s common to assume that the mind controls the physicality of your being, in actuality the body moves and operates with an unconscious, instinctual intelligence that is often mistakenly credited to the intelligence of the mind. As radical as it may seem, consider that the mind is not designed to initiate actions, to make decisions, or to navigate you through your life at all. The mind is designed to experience life through its observations, to store information, and to share the personality’s unique perspective. The mind is designed to be the medium through which the passenger consciousness experiences the body’s ride through life.



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Your Own Authority The Mind as Outer Authority When the mind is free from the conditioned role of decision maker and learns to relax in the passenger seat, it becomes a witness to the life. Through passenger consciousness your mind is like an explorer visiting an interesting and exotic world. We each have this extraordinary opportunity to experience consciousness in form. This is the privilege of our evolutionary time; to experience this earthly plane through the life of the body with the mind comfortably observing what it is to be a human being on planet earth. Recognizing, accepting and embracing passenger consciousness is a gradual process and eventually the mind can experience great amusement and delight from seeing what actually happens in life. Initially the mind may resist its true role as observer because for most of us the mind has been socially indoctrinated into expecting life to be stressful, fast-paced and chaotic. The mind as observer may sound boring relative to the conditioned role of mind as controller, decision-maker and doer. The conditioned mind is like a computer with a multitude of tasks to process. It can easily get overwhelmed which is like triggering the hourglass sign on a computer indicating: “Wait, processing data, can’t handle another task right now”. This is the limitation of the mind. It has a narrow capacity for attention and when its attention is focused on decision-making it cannot see life as it is in the present moment. Your mind may complain, “I can’t just sit and watch what my body is doing for 18 hours a day.” The truth is that the body moves, has sensory experiences, interacts with people and places each day bringing a whole variety of stimulation for the mind to observe. Observing the body moving in life is not just about watching what your individual body does, it’s also about watching the whole movement of life as it arises all around you and observing the inner dialogue of the mind as it arises in response to the external stimulation. Retraining the mind to be observer is a process and it can take some time. When the mind accepts its place as the passenger, initially you can expect it to resist this passive role while it continues to try to drive from the back seat. The mind easily slips from passenger watching the view out the 15



Your Own Authority window to trying to make the life go a particular way. The mind recognizes it’s not in control and since your identity has been attached to your mind throughout your life and you’ve assumed your mind is all of who you are, it can feel disorienting as if you’re losing control. This is just a phase in the process. Design consciousness knows how to keep you safe and ensure your survival and has functioned this way throughout your entire life. Many fears can come up for the mind including the fear of not being valuable and of not being loved. This is a big one—the mind confuses being in control with love. Being in control is not love, but it is what the mind believes. When passenger consciousness is allowed to take the role of the observer, the mind gradually stops interfering with the life of the body. The mind becomes witness to the life. And out of the observations of the passenger, it becomes aware of its unique point of view. And from this unique point of view it discovers that it has something to share, something that is of value to the other. As 9-centered beings, we are designed to uniquely filter life and to share our individual perspective of consciousness with others through communication. This unique filtering only happens if you are in the right place at the right time. Do you see that if your movement isn’t correct, you won’t see what you are uniquely designed to see and understand in this life? You cannot reach your full cognitive potential if your point-of-view is distorted and you’re looking in the wrong direction. Being in the correct movement of your life is simple; if you make decisions according to your strategy and inner authority, you’ll find yourself in the right place seeing what’s correct for you to see. Then you truly have something unique to offer others— your unique point of view. Strategy and inner authority align you to your true direction. From this correct movement you discover less resistance in your life and increased ease and pleasure. However, moving in the correct direction doesn’t guarantee that the mind is observing as your body moves through life. The mind residing as observer is like a muscle that needs to be trained 16



Your Own Authority and strengthened. At any time the mind can suddenly reassert control and flip back into strategizing, planning, trying to figure out what it should try to get you to do and making decisions. When you see that the mind is trying to control again, in that very moment of observation, you have returned to witnessing, to passenger consciousness. This is the cyclical learning process. When you truly recognize in your own experience that the mind is not responsible for life, you can see the true beauty of life here on earth—which includes the full spectrum of whatever life brings. When the mind stops trying to make life, you can appreciate how extraordinary life already is as it naturally arises. When you stand in your own authority and no longer seek to manipulate your life or the lives of others with your mind, what you then have to share is your truth, not the Truth, but rather your truth. This is your outer authority. Inner Authority, Decision-Making and Purpose You exist on a planet moving through time and space at just over 487,000 miles per hour. And yet the form knows exactly where you should be and what is correct for you to be engaged in every moment of every day. As driver, the Magnetic Monopole is a highly sophisticated mechanism and is receiving a continual information stream through its connection with the filter of binary consciousness. Inner authority operates from the singularity of your unique form intelligence. You have a specific singular line of navigation through space that is rooted in your design, rooted in the relationship between your vehicle’s intelligence and the Magnetic Monopole and it correctly guides you along your individual path. The form is a part of the material earthly plane however the mind is not. When you make decisions through your inner authority your life moves along its correct trajectory on the material plane. You don’t need to figure out or try to find your life purpose. When you are on your correct path in life you spontaneously meet your purpose; it emerges as a part of the natural movement of your life and out of the unique geometry derived from the decisions of your inner authority. ~ 17



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CHAPTER 3 Elements of the Human Design System The BodyGraph The BodyGraph provides a specific mapping of individual genetic imprinting. No two people are born exactly the same; each is a composite of genetic inheritance and genetic imprinting derived from the collective potential fixed at the moment of birth. From the mystic to the scientific, no prior system has offered a genetic map of the individual’s specific attributes and potential with the precise detail available through the Human Design System.



Through the mechanics of Human Design we can see the genetic imprinting of each individual. The two sets of data in the Rave Chart are illustrated within the BodyGraph. One set details the genetic imprinting of the form and is colored in red; this is the design data. The other set details the imprinting of the personality at birth and is colored in black; this is called the personality data. These two sets of data combine within the BodyGraph and provide a diagram of the individual’s unique genetic highlighting. Each BodyGraph is comprised of 64 gates which correspond with the 64 codons of human DNA. How these gates connect 18



Your Own Authority to one another within the BodyGraph illustrate the genetic potential of the 9-centered human being.



Definition in the BodyGraph emerges out of the two sets of data from the Design and Personality calculations shown in the Rave Chart. The design calculation is taken approximately 88 to 89 days prior to birth and corresponds with the start of the last trimester of pregnancy; it signals the moment that the form or body has reached sustainable maturity and is ready to receive the personality consciousness of the baby. The personality is imprinted with its genetic highlighting at the exact moment of birth, the moment when the baby is separated from the mother’s body. Unconscious Design – What Others See The design data represents your genetic heritage from your ancestors; this is what you inherited from your parents and grandparents. It is your unconscious hardwiring. What is represented in red can best be described as how others see you and who they recognize you to be. These unconscious attributes are what you cannot see in yourself. The Human Design System gives you a way to understand and relate to these traits, you can become aware of them even though you cannot see them until they get expressed. The unconscious aspects of your design operate as your design consciousness. Referring back to our metaphor of the passenger, vehicle and driver— the unconscious red data represent the exterior of the vehicle.



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In red is the design information which is transferred from the data wheel to the Rave Chart and illustrated in the BodyGraph. To better grasp this unconscious aspect of your design, imagine sitting high upon a hill overlooking a road below which passes into a tunnel in the hillside. Where the road runs through the tunnel you can no longer see it, although you are aware that the road continues on and you can see where it exits the tunnel on the other side. In the individual’s experience, the unconscious operates like the hidden aspect of the road within the tunnel. You cannot see what is taking place within the tunnel; you can only see the road going into and out of the tunnel. You only see how the unconscious aspect of your design operates after it is externalized. In other words, until those aspects emerge from the tunnel of your unconscious— you can’t see them.



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The BodyGraph of business mogul Donald Trump shows a personality that is consciously aware of its capacity for expressing logical organization and materialism. In the example above we see the design of a person with a defined unconscious Solar Plexus Center. The Solar Plexus is the center associated with emotions and in this BodyGraph it is defined by gates 59 and 6 connected as a channel with a red line; as well as gate 35 and 36 with a red line. These red lines indicate an unconscious connection to Solar Plexus, which is the emotional center. This person is probably perceived as emotional and others may even remark, “You are so emotional,” and yet this person does not see it. This is someone who probably routinely has a fairly even experience of life and then suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, experiences strong emotional intensity. It can be confusing. This person wonders: “Why am I being so emotional? Where did all of that come from?” A person with an unconscious Solar Plexus connection doesn’t identify with being emotional and can only see their emotions clearly after the experience is over through reflection. Someone like this could spend years and years in therapy trying to get in touch 21



Your Own Authority with an emotional nature that is never going to be part of their conscious awareness. When someone with an unconscious connection to their Solar Plexus sees this aspect of their design, it can be quite a revelation. This is the kind of insight available to each one of us. Years of self-criticism and confusion can dissolve away when you come to accept and appreciate how you were born and the limitations and gifts of your unique design. For the unconscious Solar Plexus person, their emotional nature is hidden as if in a tunnel; however the unconscious aspects of their design are not hidden from others. Others can see the emotional quality of this person clearly because their unconscious form is simply living out its emotional way of being and the form is readily observable to others.



The design view of Donald Trump’s BodyGraph has two unconscious defined channels. They are the design of a Jack of all Trades (gates 35 and 36) and the design of intimacy and mating (gates 59 and 6) which in his design is unconsciously seductive.



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Your Own Authority You have no idea how and when your unconscious traits might emerge from the tunnel. Your experience is that they are suddenly ‘just there’ when you can observe them expressed. This can make the mind very uncomfortable as these traits can seem so mysterious. The design consciousness operates independently at all times without the control or even the knowledge of the mind. Seeing these red aspects in your design, you may come to a new understanding about yourself. You may come to understand why people describe you a certain way and yet you never see that about yourself. Although you don’t have conscious access to these aspects, with the knowledge of the Human Design System you can know and accept them as a part of who you are. With self-acceptance of your unconscious traits you begin to fulfill what it is to be your unique holistic self.



In black is the personality information which is transferred from the data wheel to the Rave Chart and illustrated in the BodyGraph the BodyGraph. Personality – What You See The black data in the Rave Chart represents the Personality. It shows the consciousness of the passenger in the vehicle. What is represented in black describes how you see yourself and this information is readily accessible to you. Relating this to our road and tunnel metaphor, the personality information is the visible road. It is easy to see the open road from that hilltop. These attributes are not mysterious 23



Your Own Authority for you. However these are the very aspects of you that are not visible to others! It can be quite surprising when you discover that others do not see you the way you see yourself.



The BodyGraph of actor and humanitarian Angelina Jolie has five defined channels. Notice that in some places both red and black gates meet to form defined channels. The personality is the conscious aspect of who you understand yourself to be. Often we identify almost exclusively with this part of ourselves not realizing that it is the unconscious form which others interact with and see. The personality activations represent your own private view and the way you think about yourself. Prior to experimenting with your design and learning how you are designed to meet life, the personality is ‘who you think you think you are’. After seeing the black data in your BodyGraph you may find that you strongly resonate with those attributes. However, due to the perceptual distortion called the not-self which characterizes life prior to entering the Human Design 24



Your Own Authority experiment, it’s also possible that you may not recognize your personality traits or only see glimpses of them on occasion. The not-self is explained in detail later in this chapter. The Nine Centers There are nine centers in the BodyGraph. The center concept is related to the seven-centered Chakra system of ancient mystical teachings however as a species we have evolved from our seven-centered past into our current nine-centered model. The seven-centered Chakra system was based on the influences of a seven planet solar system. Beginning in 1781 and correlated with the discovery of the planet Uranus by Herschel and subsequent discoveries of the other outer planets relative to Earth, the mutation of the nine-centered form emerged in the human population. It is estimated that by the 1860’s the last of the seven-centered beings died out and the entire population was then comprised of ninecentered humans. One way to understand the centers of the BodyGraph is to look at them as communication hubs within the body. Although they do not translate directly to our human anatomy each of the centers does affect and influence the organs and systems of the physical body. Some centers are strictly mechanical in function and others are mechanical and also have awareness. Several centers are called motors because of their ability to produce vast amounts of energy or power within the being and some act as pressure centers, and pressure is distinct from the motor quality.



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Humans today are nine-centered beings with a greater potential for self-reflected consciousness than our 7centered ancestors. A Guide to the Nine Centers Head Center The center of mental pressure and inspiration, the seat of the personality consciousness, and associated with the grey matter of the brain. Ajna Center The center of mental awareness, the seat of the design consciousness, the source of conceptualization and associated with the neo-cortex area of the brain. Within the Human Design System, the Head and Ajna Centers combined represent the physical brain and the mind. Throat Center The center of action, manifestation and communication, all of the BodyGraph gate circuitry leads to the Throat center; it is the most complex of all centers, associated with speech, metamorphic and thyroid functions. G Center The center of identity, love and direction, the seat of the Magnetic Monopole and associated with the liver function. 26



Your Own Authority Splenic Center the center of intuition, instinct and taste, this is humanity’s first and most primitive form of awareness. Associated with the Spleen, the lymphatic and immune systems; brings our sense of well-being and the awareness of danger and safety. Heart Center The center of ego and will, associated with the heart function, this is the motor of will power. Sacral Center The center of reproduction and associated with the sex organs. The Sacral Center is the generative motor in the BodyGraph and is the source of human lifeforce energy. Solar Plexus Center The center of emotion, feeling and sensitivity and the origin of our emerging emotional awareness, associated with the kidney function, it is a motor that moves in a wave from hope to pain and back again. Root Center The center of physical pressure and stress and associated with the adrenal function. This is the most powerful motor center and it provides the fuel for much of the circuitry in the body. Definition and Openness In most BodyGraphs one or more of the nine centers are colored-in and others are white. The centers in the BodyGraph that are colored-in, as well as the gates and channels connected to the colored-in centers, point to what is fundamentally reliable within the design and this is called definition. These are the consistent and fixed aspects of your design. The defined areas represent the essence of what you are created to live out each moment of your life. The BodyGraph illustrates how your genetic material is configured in a way that is unlike anyone else on this planet. This is your unique imprint.



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Our understanding of openness emerges within the quantum field of the BodyGraph. Discovering your uniqueness begins with the design and personality calculations of the Rave Chart and transferring the red and black data into the BodyGraph; this reveals definition. What’s interesting is that when the data is transferred into the BodyGraph a third thing emerges, which is the white spaces or openness. Openness is where you have no definition and are not fixed. Openness influences how you live your life, yet it has little to do with your fixed nature. Openness is one of the most profound contributions of the Human Design System BodyGraph. The design and personality data are calculated separately and can be understood distinctly, however definition and openness only emerges within the visual field of the BodyGraph. Perhaps the most powerful influence in our human experience is openness. Where you are open is where you can be pulled away from being your unique self. Understood mechanically, where there is openness in the design is where there are receptors that are genetically designed to seek out connection. Every place that is open in your design has an inherent quality of attraction. Imagine each open 28



Your Own Authority place is like a fishing pole with a hook and it casts its line out trying to catch anything that will fill in the openness. How Openness Influences the Mind Your particular openness is yet another unique aspect of your design; these open places relate to the open channels, open centers and the undefined gates in your BodyGraph. Your colored-in gates are magnetically attracted to anyone carrying the colored-in gate situated on its opposite end of the same channel. Together your gate and the gate of the other hook up and create a temporary channel connection while the two of you are in close proximity. The dynamic of openness is what attracts you to others who are different from you. Through the experience of your openness your mind imagines that you are lacking something, as if something is wrong with you. The mind becomes driven to seek out the missing attributes of your openness in an effort to become ‘filled-in’ and ‘complete’. This attraction dynamic related to openness is called conditioning. Openness does not mean empty, rather it shows you where you are easily influenced by others in your environment. The mind, when stimulated by your openness can drag you away from the aspects of your self that are fixed and consistent in your design, and can pull you toward people and situations in an effort to get whatever attributes are not inherent in your design. It’s important to understand that there is nothing empty or missing in you. As you can see the mind is directly connected to your openness. Your mind makes decisions based on what it imagines will provide what it perceives you are lacking. The mind compulsively tries to answer the questions: “How can I be whole? How can I get what I am missing?” This is a major confusion of the mind. Nine-centered humans are not designed to have their openness filled in as a consistent and permanent state of being. With its origins derived from our ancestor’s 7-centered design, the mind’s decision-making objective is to attract and keep consistent conditioning present for all of your open receptors. Over time these mental conditioning patterns become deeply ingrained reflexes, habits, and coping mechanisms; all based on the 29



Your Own Authority pervasive mental demand to get what the mind believes is lacking. The mind’s conditioned relationship to openness is the root of self-hate. Openness as a Gateway to Self-Reflected Learning The good news is that openness for us as 9-centered beings is a natural, beautiful aspect of being human. When operating as a healthy, correct nine-centered being through strategy and inner authority, your life becomes more interesting, educational and enjoyable because of your openness. You do not need to improve yourself or change yourself to satisfy the mental drive to become ‘all things’. Your open centers do not need to be filled. The truth is that you are designed to take in people and their energies as experiences through your openness and to learn through this process. When you let go of mental striving to fill in your openness it frees your mind to bring its attention to seeing who you truly are, and to recognizing what is fixed and reliable about you and how those unique attributes operate in your life. As you live out your uniqueness through strategy and inner authority, openness is no longer the motivation for decisions and instead it operates as responsive receptors bringing a diversity of life experiences to be witnessed through passenger consciousness. Eventually you can learn to appreciate and resonate with who you are. This happens effortlessly out of trusting your design consciousness for decision-making through strategy and inner authority. As your life becomes aligned with your authentic self, you’ll discover that your mind relaxes into its role as witnessing observer and it becomes less and less fixated on trying to make decisions to fill in the openness. You were born as your unique self – your authenticity is always present, however it becomes hidden through the mind’s distorted self-image and through repetitive conditioned mental decision-making based on that openness. You are designed to be open in certain aspects of your design to experience stimulation and variety in life, but not to literally try to be everything in life. Can you see the difference? When you are not mentally driven to seek a 30



Your Own Authority particular kind of connection through conditioning, you can let your open centers be like open windows where the breeze of life passes through but doesn’t get stuck. Open centers are where you can truly become wise about life and about the ways of the world through observing the variety of experiences that come to you through your open receptors. The places where you are designed to be open are where you can meet and understand others. Where you are defined is where you can experience your own consistent nature. Your holistic self is a unique combination of defined, fixed patterns and awareness. The pleasure and fascination of life comes from the varied experiences taken in from the outside through your unique structure of openness. Each nine-centered human being is as unique as the myriad of stars in the vast universe. Human beings live in a world of duality—of what we are and what we are not. Openness provides the contrast that makes possible the awareness of your unique definition. ~



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CHAPTER 4 Openness, Conditioning and the Not-Self Openness and Conditioning Each design carries a unique life force frequency. This frequency radiates outward and is called the aura or energy field. A human aura extends out approximately two arm lengths in every direction from the center point of the G Center. Whenever two or more auras connect the impact of conditioning occurs. Moving through daily life you are continually coming into contact with the auras of people around you. It’s important to understand that conditioning is not ‘bad’ or ‘wrong’ – it is simply a product of auric interaction with others. The precise way that you are conditioned by others is easily seen through the mechanics of design. Attractions, repulsions and various kinds of connections fluctuate between people all the time as we move through life and usually these connections are not consciously recognized. Conditioning is a mechanical product of human existence. The negative consequences from conditioning occur when the mind identifies with the conditioning and makes decisions for the life based on these influences.



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Whenever you are within two arm lengths of another you are in the conditioning field of that person’s aura. Mental identification with conditioning increases substantially whenever you are within the aura of someone whose design connects with your specific open gate receptors. The conditioned interaction that occurs between you and others is a natural aspect of being alive and each variation brings with it a different way to experience yourself and life. The trap occurs when the mind becomes attached to the source of the conditioning and identifies with the conditioned state as who you are reliably and consistently. When it does, the mind may try to manipulate life events and circumstances in order to keep particular people around on a regular basis. The mind tries to direct and control life to ensure consistent and familiar conditioning for the openness. These conditioned connections can become so familiar and habitual that you may come to believe you are the person you experience yourself to be when conditioned. It can be very confusing. 33



Your Own Authority The first experience of conditioning typically comes from your parents and siblings or whomever is in your immediate environment as an infant and young child. A template for future relationships is based upon the way these people connect with your design. Most of us go through life unconsciously seeking out relationships with people who provide familiar conditioning patterns related to one parent or the other. Equally common is the tendency to reject relationships that closely resemble the conditioning pattern of challenging and uncomfortable parental or sibling relationships.



The BodyGraph of singer-songwriter John Lennon shows that he had a consciously activated 48th gate, the gate of depth. It is an open center, so this quality would come and go, depending upon the conditioning of others around him. In the above example, we see the BodyGraph of John Lennon with a conscious 48th gate, the gate of depth, activated in the Splenic Center, but with no gate connected to it. This hanging gate is always attracted to what is missing on the other side, the 16th gate, the gate of skills. 34



Your Own Authority Together these two gates form the channel of talent. The 48th gate has great depth, it is the well from which all creativity arises, and it is attracted to the gate of skills on the other side. With a hanging 48th gate, this is the design of someone whose mind drives them to develop skills and to be attracted to others who have skills.



The BodyGraph of singer-songwriter Paul McCartney shows that he has an unconsciously activated 16th gate. The ability to express skills is something that others recognized in him, but it is not part of his conscious awareness of himself. This BodyGraph shows the 16th gate activated in the Throat Center without the 48th gate on the other side of the channel. This is the design of someone who has skills, but not depth. This is someone who may experience himself as lacking depth and mentally criticize himself about this, and who seeks out others with depth to feel adequate. A connection chart is the view of two individual BodyGraph charts shown together. It provides a look at the conditioning impact of one upon the other. In this chart (below) it shows 35



Your Own Authority the connection between Lennon’s 48th gate and McCartney’s 16th gate, which join together to form the conditioned Channel of the Wavelength, a design of talent.



When Lennon and McCartney were in each other’s aura, they formed the conditioned Channel of the Wavelength, a design of talent. In this composite, the sum of depth and skills together brought a talent not accessible to each of them as individuals. John Lennon carried the depth and Paul McCartney the skills. Individually John Lennon had an open Throat Center, yet when they were together their depth and skills became a talent that could be expressed through his conditioned Throat Center as well as McCartney. The two of them formed the songwriting duo as well as performed as a part of the band The Beatles which remains the top selling band in history. Lennon and McCartney’s specific quality of talent and its expression was conditioned as a result of their connection and it was temporary since it dissolved when they were apart. The mind can become attached to the experience of a particular attribute that arises out of auric togetherness. The 36



Your Own Authority mind develops strategies to make this connection permanent or it seeks a similar source for that kind of conditioning or compensates for its absence through acting out behaviors. The presence or absence of conditioning becomes the basis for mental decision-making. Over a lifetime, this mental strategy repeats itself again and again until it becomes a constant habitual method for decision-making. The Law of Attraction and the Not-Self We all have aspects of ourselves that are fixed and reliable, which are represented by what is defined in the BodyGraph. Ironically these aspects are often not seen, understood or appreciated in ourselves and when these same aspects are encountered in others, they typically aren’t very attractive to us. There is no genetic drive to live out how you are uniquely designed. The genes drive you to find and connect with those who are the most different from you. Your unique definition is fundamental and always present, but it doesn’t carry the compulsive seeking quality of openness. The areas of fixed, reliable definition are your unique gifts. The Law of Attraction is firmly established within our current era of human evolution since the majority of people are identified with the mind. The mind is attracted to difference and seeks what it is not. The Law of Attraction supports the genetic imperative to reproduce, which is the basic drive of all species. The most viable offspring are produced through the greatest genetic variation. Genetic variety enhances the survival potential of the child and furthers the development and expansion of the human gene pool. The genetic imperative and The Law of Attraction ensure the survival of the species, but they do not support or cultivate individuality, personal fulfillment or self-realization. The genetic imperative protects the species as a whole without regard for the inevitable loss of individual fulfillment, as well as quite literally the loss of many individuals in the process of sustaining the species. The genetics game is built on variety and what better way to ensure variety than to instill a biological imperative to be attracted to what you are not? For countless generations this is how our ancestors insured their survival, and it still 37



Your Own Authority operates just this way today. Your genes drive you to seek out difference. This drive to seek difference is the inescapable circumstance of being human. As your mind follows The Law of Attraction seeking what you are not, you are living out the programmed myth of lack. In truth, you are inherently a holistic being. Most of us believe we are not whole and live in fear that we will never be enough and this keeps the mind engaged with The Law of Attraction. All of these fears— money fears, health fears, fear of authority, fear of the past, fear of tomorrow, fear of failure, fear that we won’t survive—all of them are basically the fear of not being enough, of not being whole. Out of this essential fear arises the search for something or someone that will make us feel complete. The mind through the open centers and gates drives the search. As you take in conditioning through your openness, it’s easy to become mentally identified with the conditioned state while it is present, and then experience lack when it goes away. Mental strategies are then created to deal with the vulnerability of openness and the confusion that arises from the experience of energies that come and go. The mind applies strategies that are correlated with the specific imprint of each of the open centers and uses them as the basis for decision-making. The Human Design System uses the term not-self to describe the mind which is identified with openness and makes decisions for the life. The mind can look backward and forward endlessly. The tragedy is that the mind can seldom exist in the now because it’s too busy looking at the past, projecting into the future, and generally obsessing over what to do with the life. The mind isn’t aware that the form has a consciousness that keeps it alive. The mind thinks it is responsible for the life. The mind constantly thinks about and applies various strategies based on its past experiences and its projections about the future in the hopes of ensuring survival. As long as decisions are controlled by the mind, your experience of life lacks the joy and contentment of the present moment. The mind operates out of lack rather than out of the 38



Your Own Authority wholeness of who you are. When authority for your life is surrendered to the inner authority of your being, the not-self mind begins to let go and gradually you can see for yourself that your design consciousness very effectively and efficiently navigates you through your unique life. Not-self Strategies of the Open Centers Each center of the BodyGraph has a particular not-self mental strategy for decision-making. The Open Head Center Approximately 70% of humanity has an open Head Center, the center of mental pressure and inspiration. The not-self is conditioned by this open center to focus on thoughts that don’t really matter for you as an individual and to think they are important. An open Head Center takes in the thoughts of those around it, the openness operates like a radio receiver. The confusion comes because the mind perceives these thoughts as one’s own. The not-self mind can be motivated by the open Head Center to make decisions based on the perception that the questions, images, or mysteries that it receives are important and personally relevant. The not-self mind can become obsessive about these mental pressures. The not-self mind of a person with an open Head Center can get lost in mental confusion, doubt and suspicion and become pre-occupied with thoughts absorbed from or triggered by the environment, and thinking that they are personally important. The mental pattern goes something like this: “I’m so confused, I have to make sense of this; I have to know more about this, I have to figure this out; I have so many questions about this, I have some real doubts, I’m suspicious about this; I have to do something with it or about it, so what should I do?” The not-self mind uses this open head center pressure as a motivation for decision-making and taking actions in life.



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The BodyGraph of mystic Georges Gurdjieff shows an open Head Center. The not-self with an open Head Center can become focused on things which do not truly matter and think that they are important, and then use these thoughts as the basis for decision making. The Open Ajna Center Approximately 49% of humanity has an open Ajna Center, the center of mental awareness and conceptualization. The not-self mind with this open center is conditioned to believe it is certain about its ideas, thoughts and opinions. The notself mind with an open Ajna Center is motivated to make decisions with the perception that its beliefs are firm and its opinions are certain and right. It can be argumentative and determined to prove its theories and concepts are correct whether logical proof or substantiation is available or even possible. Some examples of open Ajna thoughts are: “This is right, I’m sure of it; I believe in this, this is the right way; this is the answer for our future, I’m convinced of this; I knew this already, I know this is true.” Thoughts connected to the not-self Ajna center try to convince oneself (or others) 40



Your Own Authority that the position taken is correct and that one is certain about it. It’s ironic that Sigmund Freud, who contributed many ideas and theories about the mind, had an open Head and Ajna Center.



The BodyGraph of Sigmund Freud, the ‘father of psychoanalysis’ shows an open Head and Ajna Center. The not-self mind of a person with a combined open Head and Ajna focuses on things that don’t matter and pretends to be certain about what it thinks about. The Open Throat Center Approximately 29% of humanity has an open Throat Center, the center for expression and action. The not-self mind conditioned by this open center tries to attract or avoid attention. This open center can motivate a couple of different types of behavior: it can be conditioned to be very talkative and can adopt a wide variety of speech patterns and voices, or it can be conditioned to be shy and afraid to use the voice because its speaking constantly changes and is unreliable. The not-self mind motivated by the open Throat 41



Your Own Authority Center makes decisions based on whether the action will or will not attract attention. Examples of the open Throat Center thought pattern include: “I’m not sure what to say; I need to rehearse it before I say it so I say it right; listen to me; look at me; what I have to say is important; you have to understand what I’m saying; I’m going to do this and then you’ll see.”



The BodyGraph of world renowned mime artist Marcel Marceau shows an open Throat Center. The not-self Mind of a person with an open Throat Center can be driven to attract attention or it can be shy and afraid to use the voice. Marceau once performed 17 different silent roles in one film. He was responsible for many innovations in pantomime including his famous routine, ‘Walking Against the Wind’, which is cited as an inspiration for Michael Jackson’s Moon Walk.



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Your Own Authority The Open G Center Approximately 54% of humanity has an open G Center, the center of love identity and direction of the self. The not-self mind is conditioned by this open center to literally look for love in all of the wrong places. Someone with an open G Center can be mentally obsessed about finding love, feeling lost, looking for their place in life, and trying to discover who they really are and the mind makes decisions based on these motivations. The not-self mind of a person with an open G Center tries to answer questions like the following: “If I do this, will I be loved? Where will I find love? If I don’t do this, will they love me? Where is my place in life? What should I be when I grow up?” With an open G Center, a person can spend a lifetime trying to find out ‘who am I?’ and ‘where should I go?’ and never arrive at a consistent answer.



The BodyGraph of Diana, Princess of Wales shows an open G Center. The not-self mind of a person with an open G Center can be focused on looking for love in all the wrong places, or on trying to find a consistent place and sense of identity in the world. 43



Your Own Authority The Open Heart Center Approximately 65% of humanity has an open Heart Center, the center of will-power and the ego. The not-self mind is conditioned by this open center to prove or improve. People with an open Heart Center can be mentally driven to show how worthy they are by trying to prove themselves over and over. They can be highly competitive and over-achievers. These people make unrealistic promises and therefore usually break them; they can damage their physical heart by trying so hard to keep promises. The not-self mind motivates the open Heart Center person to make decisions based on whether or not they will prove their worth. For example, the not-self mind of a person with an open Heart Center arrives at a fork in the road and tries to decide which way to go and thinks thoughts like these: “I will go left, because I can prove I’m a great person if I go left; I will go right, because I promised I would go right, and even though I really don’t want to go right, I can’t quit now, I have to show that I’ll do what I promised to do.”



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The BodyGraph of J. Edgar Hoover, the first director of the FBI, shows an open Heart Center. The not-self mind of a person with an open Heart Center can be conditioned to make promises it cannot keep and to constantly try to prove its worthiness. The Open Sacral Center Approximately 30% of humanity has an open Sacral Center, the source of sexuality, creativity, fertility, the life force itself. The not-self mind with this open center is conditioned to never know when enough is enough. These people can become easily exhausted from being driven by the not-self mind to overdo just about everything: food, sex, sleep, work, exercise, etc. The not-self mind of a person with an open Sacral Center is conditioned to never know when enough is enough and it distorts and amplifies sexuality, fertility and the creative Sacral energy of others. The notself mind with an open Sacral Center is motivated to make decisions based on how to get more and keep going. Examples of the thought pattern for the Open Sacral Center include: “I’m going to ___ all night; use it or lose it; why 45



Your Own Authority wait, let’s do it now; I feel so energized around you; I want to keep going; quitters never win and winners never quit.”



The BodyGraph of actor, singer, model and sex-symbol Marilyn Monroe shows an open Sacral Center.The not-self mind of a person with an open Sacral Center can be conditioned to never know when enough is enough. The Open Solar Plexus Center Approximately 50% of humanity has an open Solar Plexus Center, the center of emotions. The not-self mind of a person with an open Solar Plexus is conditioned to avoid confrontation and truth. This open center is conditioned to take in the emotions of defined Solar Plexus people in a way that distorts and amplifies emotions. The not-self mind with an open Solar Plexus can be explosively emotional, deeply withdrawn or have extremes of feelings when they are conditioned by someone with a defined Solar Plexus. People with an open Solar Plexus are motivated through their notself mind to make decisions based on how they can avoid confrontation and upsetting themselves and others, or by 46



Your Own Authority acting out the emotions of others in an extreme and distorted manner. Before discovering the Human Design System, someone with an open Solar Plexus Center might experience themselves as an extremely emotional person and their emotions as frighteningly chaotic. It can be quite a revelation for the open Solar-Plexus person to discover that they are conditioned to amplify the emotions of others. Defensive mental decisions to avoid confrontation and truth are attempts to be protected from strongly amplified emotions and to keep the emotions of others at a distance. The notself mind of a person with an open Solar Plexus can hide from the truth and keep a ‘stiff upper lip’ about situations in order to not upset people. Typical not-self thoughts include: “If I say something about this someone might get upset, so I won’t say anything; I’ll sacrifice what I really want to keep the peace; the last time I did that we had a fight and I lost my temper so badly I thought I’d gone mad so I’m never going to do that again.”



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The BodyGraph of singer, actor and model Whitney Houston has an open Solar Plexus Center. The not-self mind of a person with an open Solar Plexus Center can be conditioned to avoid confrontation and truth. The Open Splenic Center Approximately 47% of humanity has an open Splenic Center, the source for instinct, taste, intuitive awareness and sense of well-being. The not-self mind of a person with an open Splenic Center is conditioned to try to hold on to people, projects or substances that they think will make them feel good. They can become dependent upon relationships or habits in an effort to try to feel consistently safe and good. The not-self mind motivated by the open Splenic Center makes decisions based upon whether or not the result will make it feel safe or not and it can cling to relationships long after they have ceased to be healthy and constructive. The not-self mind thinks: “If I do this, it will feel good, so I’ll do it; if I do that, she might leave me and I can’t make it without her, so I won’t do that; no matter how badly he treats me, I know he really cares about me.” 48



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The BodyGraph of singer Amy Winehouse shows an open Splenic Center. The not-self mind of a person with an open Splenic Center tends to hang on to relationships, substances or situations which may no longer be good from them. The Open Root Center Approximately 32% of humanity has an open Root Center, the source of adrenaline, stress and physical pressure. The not-self mind is conditioned by the open Root Center to constantly be in a hurry so it can be free of stress and may experience great pressure to get things done in a hurry, to not rest until the work is done, and to feel that the work is never done. The not-self mind with an open Root Center can be addicted to the adrenaline high from activity and stress and tends to ignore the need to relax and unwind. The Open Root Center pressures the not-self mind to make decisions based on how quickly it can relieve the perceived stress and the thought pattern is like this: “If I do this quickly, then I can move on to the next thing; if I just get one more thing done, then I’ll be able to relax and rest.” 49



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The BodyGraph of actor and social activist Elizabeth Taylor shows an open Root Center. Taylor acted in her first film at age nine; she married eight times to seven husbands, the first marriage at age 18 lasted only nine months. The not-self mind of a person with an open Root Center can feel under pressure to get things done in a hurry. These are the basic motivations which arise out of the openness of each center and how the mind uses them for decision-making. Observing the mechanics of attraction you can see how the mind operates and why it is unreliable as the source and authority for decisions. The not-self mind motivated by openness drives life decisions away from the unique gifts and attributes of your design. Decisions made through mental strategies never bring you to your unique self, and instead keep you locked into searching for how to find and hang onto consistent sources of conditioning. This is the dilemma of living as the not-self. Through experimenting with the Human Design System you can see not-self conditioning and begin to live out your unique self. When you make decisions from your inner 50



Your Own Authority authority you actually bypass the mind’s conditioned method for decision-making. This is a way to mechanically break the mind’s control over your life, not by trying to stop it, but through transforming it. It’s impossible to think your way out of the mind’s control. When you allow decision-making through the inner authority of your form, the mind naturally loses its hold. The mind won’t stop trying to tell you what to do, yet you can stop being influenced by its conditioned motivations for your decision-making. The process of deconditioning the mind’s identification with openness is often described in Human Design terms as ‘living your design’ and it’s a seven year experimental process. Deconditioning the body occurs naturally through experimenting with strategy and authority. It is a journey of deconditioning on a cellular level through each decision made by your inner authority. Decision by decision, the life naturally comes into alignment with your correct path in life. Along the way, you gradually becomes aware of the openness in your design that has been in control of the notself mind, and it can be released. It is awareness which brings healing to your life. Through this process you release yourself from the distorted, conditioned personality or ‘who you think you think you are’ and you begin to discover your unique self. The mind eventually lets go of trying to manipulate, strategize and control situations in order to fulfill the open center conditioning. That’s not to say the conditioning messages will ever entirely go away, mental conditioning influences are built into your genetics and memories, but you are no longer moved to make decisions based on the conditioning. The Program: Life in the Homogenized World Life is filled with potential conditioning influences. As previously described, based on your connections with others, the mind adopts conditioned not-self strategies for decisionmaking. There is another powerful source of conditioning that impacts all of humanity on a daily basis and the Human Design System refers to this as The Program. The Program provides a continuous, cyclical conditioning influence upon humanity and it manipulates the mind through openness in the design, reinforcing the use of the mind as the decision51



Your Own Authority making authority. The Program is created by the daily movement of the planets in their orbits around the solar system. According to the Human Design System, it is not the planets themselves which have an influence on our lives, but their cyclical, orbiting trajectory influences the data-stream which permeates all of existence, and this data-stream, which is filled with subatomic neutrino particles, is the very intelligence of the universe. The Program is a global conditioning force which consistently influences all of us, and yet it impacts each individual differently according to the unique structure of your openness. The Program is also the source of the design data which imprinted your form 88-89 days before your birth and of your personality data imprint at the exact moment of your birth.



The moon moves through each of the 64 gates in 28 ½ days and the sun cycles through each of the 64 gates in one year. Some of the outer planets of our solar system can take centuries to complete one cycle through the 64 gates. 52



Your Own Authority To illustrate how The Program influences openness, consider an individual who has an open Throat Center with an activated 45th gate, an open 21st gate on the other side of the channel, in an open Heart Center. For a few days each year the Sun transits through the 21st gate, and when it does, it temporarily brings activation to the 21 st gate. This temporary activation of the 21st gate connects with the person’s activated 45th gate to form a conditioned channel between the Throat Center and the Heart Center. The confusion arises when the mind identifies with the temporary conditioning of this channel. The mind experiences the attributes of this conditionally defined channel and it can make decisions motivated by the influence of the conditionally defined Heart Center. Under this conditioning influence the mind can become willful, controlling and possessive; and make decisions to willfully express thoughts and ideas through the conditionally defined Throat Center. Since these decisions and expressions are conditioned, they can be damaging to this person and to others.



The image on the left is the chart of Judy Garland, with the 45th gate activated in an open Throat Center; the design of someone who could never be sure if she would have control over her voice, or if it would support her materially. The image on the right is the chart of the conditioning brought by The Program on a specific day. It shows the sun transiting the 21st gate – the gate of material control.



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When Judy’s 45th gate was conditioned by the 21st gate brought by The Program, it created a conditioned sense of being in control of her material life, and conditioned her throat expression with willpower. The not-self can become identified with the conditioning provided by a planet’s temporary definition. The mind’s perception becomes distorted by its identification with The Program’s conditioning. Now, consider the earth’s population of over seven billion people, each with a not-self mind running their life according to the transitory conditioning influences of The Program. Once again, let’s look at the example of the Sun’s transit of the 21st gate, for those several days that the Sun’s 21st gate may condition the open Heart Center and Throat Center for millions of people with an activated 45th gate. Millions of people suddenly expressing willfullness, making decisions to be in control, jumping into action; only to find a few days later that the surge of willpower was temporary. Each day The Program creates an illusionary, collectively distorted view of the world. According to the Human Design System, this distorted environment is called the homogenized world, and for most of humanity this is considered to be ‘normal life’. 54



Your Own Authority As each planet moves through its orbit, it cycles through and activates each of the 64 gates of the BodyGraph. Similar to the hands of a clock moving around the dial, with varying speed each planet moves around the wheel of the 64 gates. The Moon will activate each of the 64 gates every 28 1/2 days, the Sun activates each gate in the period of one year, and the planet Pluto takes 285 years to complete the cycle of all 64 gates. Consequently, the length of time that each planet activates a particular gate is different. Consider planets with longer cycles, when the activation can last for several months or even years, under these long-term cycles the mind can easily become identified with this conditioning influence and come to believe that this temporary condition is a fixed aspect of who they are. Here’s another example which demonstrates global conditioning. 50% percent of humanity has an open Solar Plexus Center, the center of emotions. The Program may move into a slow-moving outer planet which results in global Solar Plexus Center conditioning for months or years at a time. When this conditioning influence begins, half of the people on the planet suddenly feel very emotional and instead of the usual not-self strategy of avoiding confrontation, they begin to act on their feelings. Since this emotional conditioning from The Program in this example persists for a long time, open-Solar Plexus people now think that they have somehow changed, gotten in touch with their true feelings, or suddenly learned how to express their emotions. These people may end up making decisions based on this heightened emotionality, not realizing this is simply a temporary conditioning influence. Some people may fall in love, get married, end relationships, quit their jobs, or make any number of life-changing decisions based on how they feel and their new-found energy for confrontation and truth. Eventually the planets move on and the Solar Plexus Center conditioning goes away. One day these people wake up and find that all of that emotionality is gone and they once again think that they should avoid confrontation at all costs. Open Solar Plexus people may question why they got involved in a torrid love affair, or why they did any number of things that felt so right to them when their mind was temporarily



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Your Own Authority conditioned by the transit that may have lasted two or three years and then moved on. Millions of people can be affected by one particular planet’s transit of a single gate. However The Program is more than just one planet, it includes the influences of all the planets of our solar system, as well as the nodal positions of the moon. There are a total of 13 potential influences each day. These can create multiple forms of conditioning in the BodyGraph and can result in global conditioning of centers which can affect up to 70% of the population at one time. The concepts of ‘group think’ and ‘great minds think alike’ arise from the homogenizing and conditioning influence of The Program. It’s the powerful homogenizing influence of The Program that makes the attachment to mental decision-making so strong. Imagine how easy it is for people identified with the not-self mind and living their lives in this homogenized mental field to become great believers in the authority of the mind and its predicative capacity. The Program continually cycles through the 64 gates bringing repetitive daily, monthly, yearly or generational patterns and this repetition reinforces belief in the mind’s ability to predict outcomes and make sound decisions. This belief arises out of collective conditioning. Often what you see and hear in the media or from friends mirrors the conditioning that is going on in your own life. How many times have you walked down the street or entered a social-networking site online and heard people talking about the same topics, seemingly having the same kinds of thoughts at the same time? This is a function of the homogenizing influence of The Program.



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The homogenized world is an illusionary, collectively distorted view of the world which is commonly experienced as ‘normal life’. Homogenization and the Mind’s Authority When the not-self initiates a decision for the life there is no guarantee that the decision is correct or that it will bring a sense of fulfillment. In fact, how can it? The mind doesn’t know what is correct for your life, it is literally making stuff up based upon the conditioning influences in any given moment. As long as the mind is the authority for the life, you are hooked and enthralled by an illusionary mentally contrived version of life and distracted from the clarity of the present moment. When the not-self mind runs the life, instead of bringing you to a life filled with uniqueness, you may find that your life looks more or less like anyone or everyone’s life. Instead of showing you the beauty of who you are, the mind keeps driving you to be ‘normal’. Instead of discovering your intrinsic value, the mind drives you to seek approval and acceptance from others. Ironically, the not-self mind brings 57



Your Own Authority much pain and suffering even while promising happiness, success, and love. The cost of mental decision making and initiation takes its toll on the body. The mind doesn’t consider the body when making its decisions. The not-self mind can literally run the body into the ground for the sake of its goal. The mind doesn’t care about the body until the body breaks down from the burden of trying to accomplish the mind’s objectives. Imagine the vast amount of untapped human potential that is wasted because most people are trying to be someone they are not, trying to get life to work the way the mind thinks it should work, and subjecting the body to the whims of the mind. The modern world is filled with the frustration, bitterness, anger and disappointment from countless lives trapped in the illusionary fabricated world of the not-self mind. ~



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CHAPTER 5 Type and Strategy: Meeting Life through the Aura Overview on Type The Human Design System reveals four distinct aura types within the human species. These types are mechanically determined and statistically consistent over time and across the global population. Each type has specific design mechanics; however there are endless unique variations within these groupings. The four aura types are called Manifestor, Generator, Projector and Reflector. The Manifestor and Generator are considered energy types because they each have a form of motor center definition for generation or manifestation that gives them consistent access to energy. The Projector and Reflector are referred to as non-energy types because they either have no motor definition at all or they have a motor definition which brings limited access to energy for generation or manifestation. Each of the four types experience life and express themselves through the mechanic of their unique aura or energy field. The BodyGraph represents a blueprint of the energy frequency of the being and the unique qualities of each person are expressed through the aura type.



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The BodyGraph of painter Frieda Kahlo shows the design of a Manifestor: The Solar Plexus Center (a motor) is directly connected to the Throat Center and she has an open Sacral Center.



The BodyGraph of inventor and founder of Apple Computer Steve Jobs shows the design of a Generator; he has the Sacral Center defined. 60



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The BodyGraph of United States President Barack Obama shows the design of a Projector. In a Projector design the Sacral Center is open with at least two centers defined and no motor center connected to the Throat Center. In Obama’s chart, we see he has the Root Center and Solar Plexus Center defined (both motors), but they are not connected to the Throat. He does have the G Center connected to the Throat Center; however, it is not a motor center.



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The BodyGraph of film and stage actor Richard Burton shows the design of a Reflector; He has no centers defined and only gate activations. The aura of a person identified with the not-self mind has a distinct energy or frequency distortion relative to the aura type. This distortion intensifies as the person experiences repeated encounters with resistance in life. There is a specific kind of resistance which serves as a signpost for each type, signaling this not-self distortion. For the Manifestor the signal is anger, for the Generator it is frustration, for the Projector it is bitterness and for the Reflector the signal of distortion is disappointment. For all types, the experience of resistance is a key sign post for recognizing that the not-self mind is trying to control life. It’s important to notice those moments of resistance when they happen because they are a clear indication that the not-self is in control. Resistance happens when the mind tries to make decisions and direct the life according to its distorted and conditioned viewpoint. The continual process of meeting resistance in life puts great wear and tear on the body and it negatively impacts the personality as well. We 62



Your Own Authority aren’t designed to repeatedly encounter resistance. These not-self signposts are immediate and direct feedback throughout the process of deconditioning from the mind’s control. Each type also has its own strategy for correct aura mechanics and applying this strategy reduces resistance in life and encourages the mind to relax as the witness. Human beings are designed to move smoothly through life according to a unique rhythm and correctly along a particular life trajectory. To live life without resistance means no longer being mentally driven to control what happens and letting go of what the mind thinks it must do or what it believes it must avoid. Living without resistance means no longer using the mind to make decisions. Following your aura type’s strategy moves you easily along your path in life and it allows your aura to meet life without resistance. Eventually the mind can learn to relax, observe and be present to whatever happens. The aura type signature is a signal that the life is operating free from the control of the not-self, and they are: peace for a Manifestor, satisfaction for a Generator, success for a Projector and surprise for a Reflector. Fundamental for the health of all types is the practice of sleeping alone in one’s own space away from the aura of others. Sleeping alone does not interfere with sexual relations, love or intimacy because in the sleep state we are not consciously engaged with one another. Sleeping alone protects the aura at a time when the body is most vulnerable to the influence of conditioning. When sleeping with another person, all throughout the unconscious sleep experience your body is pulling in conditioning from the other person’s design and your design is conditioning the other, therefore neither person is able to fully rest. Being constantly conditioned during waking and sleeping states is a barrier to the recognition and experience of your uniqueness. Waking up in one’s own aura facilitates the emergence of your unique self. The practices of following the strategy of your type and trusting the decision making of your inner authority and sleeping alone in your own aura are important first steps toward fulfilling the potential of living 63



Your Own Authority your unique life. As you experiment with sleeping alone in your aura, you’ll likely discover that you sleep more deeply and wake refreshed and reinvigorated.



The Manifestor Aura Type Manifestor Mechanics Manifestors represent approximately eight percent of the population. The Manifestor type is revealed in the BodyGraph when the Sacral Center is undefined and at least one motor center is defined through a connection to the Throat Center. The Manifestor can freely initiate and act in life. Manifestors have the power to do what they say, their words become deeds, and their actions have an impact on others. Unlike the Manifestor, the other three aura types need to interact cooperatively with others to bring correct power and action to their words.



The BodyGraph of Russian President Vladimir Putin has a motor (Root Center) connected to the Throat Center via the Splenic Center, and he has an open Sacral Center. He is a Manifestor. 64



Your Own Authority Manifestor Strategy The aura of a Manifestor is closed, tight and repelling. It is not a welcoming energy field. No matter how friendly and open a Manifestor may try to be, people cannot get very close. Even those most intimately related to the Manifestor cannot get a clear sense of what is going on with the Manifestor because their aura is designed to keep other aura types away. Repelling the aura of others is actually healthy and correct for them, as Manifestors are not here to be influenced by anyone. Without an understanding of this aura mechanic, others might feel uncomfortable around a Manifestor and criticize them for being unpredictable, uncontrollable and even unknowable. Representing an eight percent minority in the world, the Manifestor type can feel like an outsider since others experience life so differently and don’t understand the Manifestor’s aura. The Manifestor strategy is to inform others before acting. When the Manifestor informs they build trust with others, which can protect them from being misunderstood and interfered with in their actions. The Manifestor strategy protects them from social conflict and personal persecution. The strategy of informing for the Manifestor reduces resistance in their lives and leads to greater acceptance and understanding from others. The Manifestor is the only type designed to initiate action in the world without others. They are not to be interfered with and when left alone to initiate they can have a strong and beneficial impact. It is important for the Manifestor to learn how to deal effectively with others so they can avoid experiencing painful interference and resistance in life. When the Manifestor follows their strategy of informing, they find their signature reward of peace. If a Manifestor acts without first informing others, people become suspicious that the Manifestor might be withholding something. Remember, their aura is closed and doesn’t reveal anything, it’s repelling. Manifestors can seem foreign and disturbing for the other types because they simply take action without any discussion or warning. The Manifestor seldom recognizes that their actions impact others and without an understanding of their own aura mechanic, they 65



Your Own Authority become confused and left with the painful experience of resistance.



The BodyGraph of actor Sophia Loren has two motor centers (Root and Solar Plexus) connected to the Throat Center, and she has an open Sacral Center. She is a Manifestor. Resistance for a Manifestor leads to not-self anger. They don’t understand why people stand in their way and try to control them. Manifestor anger usually arouses further mistrust and resistance from others. Through the strategy of informing, Manifestors gain the protection that is necessary for their survival in the social world of the other types. The Manifestor learns to be socially cooperative through informing first before initiating action, and also from honoring their inner authority so they can discern when and who it is correct to impact. While identified with the not-self mind, the Manifestor typically is doing whatever they want without awareness of others. The Manifestor can actually be surprised to discover that others notice them at all and are impacted by their 66



Your Own Authority actions. Since they do not have a deep connection with the other types, as not-self, they do not recognize the impact their words have upon others. The strategy of informing helps the Manifestor to develop the ability to recognize the power of their aura mechanic and to recognize who will be impacted by their actions. Through the strategy of informing a Manifestor grows in their understanding that each action taken creates a ripple effect in the environment and that their actions impact the whole. Over time the Manifestor can develop a conscious awareness of others. Through following their strategy the Manifestor can make a unique contribution to the collective and fulfill their purpose. When the Manifestor informs others before taking action, their unique purpose naturally finds them. Strategy can lead to a rewarding life for a Manifestor however in the beginning it may not feel natural or comfortable. Informing might seem like a burden and the Manifestor may resent having to check in all the time to tell others what they are doing. As Manifestors experiment with strategy they soon discover that informing eliminates resistance in life and eventually they notice that they are less and less angry. Having been informed, people begin to relax around them and leave the Manifestor alone to do what it is that they want to do. Manifestors are an energy type without a defined Sacral Center, which is the source of human life force energy. They cannot maintain energy output at the level of a Generator and instead their energy operates in spurts with the need for periods of rest. Manifestors benefit from going to bed before they are fully tired. The Manifestor may enjoy spending time in quiet activity before sleep either reading, listening to music, watching movies or simply being left alone. As with all types, Manifestors need to sleep in their own aura free from the conditioning influence of others during the sleep state.



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The BodyGraph of Human Design System founder and teacher Ra Uru Hu has the Heart Center (a motor center) connected to the Throat Center through the G Center; and he has an open Sacral Center. He is a Manifestor. Famous Manifestors Maya Angelou, Jennifer Aniston, Alexander Graham Bell, Juliette Binoche, George W. Bush, George Carlin, Tom Cruise, Tony Curtis, Robert De Niro, Johnny Depp, Art Garfunkel, Al Gore, Hermann Hesse, Adolf Hitler, Katie Holmes, J. Edgar Hoover, Jesse Jackson, Johannes Kepler, Helmut Kohl, J. Krishnamurti, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, Sophia Loren, John Malkovich, Marcello Mastroianni, Helen Mirren, Bob Newhart, Jack Nicholson, Vanessa Redgrave, Tim Robbins, Cliff Robertson, Susan Sarandon, Jerry Seinfeld, Brooke Shields, B.F. Skinner, Tommy Smothers, Bruce Springsteen, Sylvester Stallone, Martha Stewart, Liv Tyler, Ra Uru Hu, Paramahansa Yogananda, Mao Zedong.



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Generators Generator Mechanics Approximately 70% of humanity is a Generator. The single defining attribute of the Generator aura type is a defined Sacral Center. The Sacral is the source of life force energy for humanity and it is associated with sexuality, reproduction, fertility, creative power and the flowering of life itself.



The BodyGraph of singer and actor Christina Aguilera shows a defined Sacral Center. She is a Generator.



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The BodyGraph of singer, songwriter, and actor Justin Timberlake shows a defined Sacral Center. In his design the Sacral Center is connected to the Throat Center through the G Center, this is the design of a Manifesting Generator. A Manifesting Generator has a Generator aura and strategy, and is a Generator. Generator Strategy The aura of a Generator is open and enveloping. It literally takes in everything. This is an aura that cannot close and it takes in whatever is defined in the people who come into their auric field. With an open and enveloping aura, the Generator is receptive to and embracing it all. It is very easy for a Generator to become mentally identified with energy once it is pulled into their aura. The benefit of this open and enveloping aura is that others tend to experience Generators as engaging and accessible people. Since the Generator type represents the majority of the world’s population, being unguarded and allencompassing seems like a ‘normal’ way of being. When a 70



Your Own Authority Generator meets one of the other aura types, this other person can seem unfriendly, detached or hard to understand, and yet what they are experiencing is just the different qualities of the other aura types. People with a Generator aura need to wait for life to come into their aura and then respond to life from their Sacral Center. The Generator strategy simply stated: wait and respond. Responding comes from the state of being attentive in the present moment. Generators are designed to wait for life to naturally and spontaneously flow to them. It is through the strategy of response that the powerful Generator life force energy is properly engaged. The responsive Sacral Center has an embodied primal voice and its evolutionary origins come from the pre-verbal communication of our species. The sacral voice responds with sounds—grunts, groans, growls, moans, ahhs, ah-huhs, un-uns and a myriad of other sounds. Generator children naturally use their sacral voice until they are taught language and then they become conditioned away from using it. The vibrancy of the sacral voice is intrinsic for all Generators, however most adult Generators have been mentally cut-off from the spontaneous expression of their sacral response and its sounds. It can take some time and dedicated practice to regain their full range of sacral sounds. The truth is Generators are responding to taking life into their aura every moment. The dilemma is that the mind then thinks they need to ‘do something’ because they have responded. The truth is, unless a Generator is asked a specific question, they are simply responding to life. When a Generator tastes something delicious, they might respond with a sound of ‘mmmmmmm’. Or when seeing a beautiful view outside the window they might respond with the sound ‘ahhhhhh’. These are every day examples of the sacral’s response. The sacral doesn’t push towards anything and it doesn’t seek to do something; pushing and seeking are the behaviors of the not-self mind. The sacral motor is properly ignited through response as it receives and embraces life. The sacral doesn’t initiate, it responds to whatever life brings. Through sacral response, Generators can learn to know themselves. 71



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The BodyGraph of singer and songwriter Lady Gaga shows a defined Sacral Center and no motor connections to the Throat Center. She is a ‘pure’ Generator. At the beginning of their experiment with Human Design it can be challenging for Generators to know themselves, especially if they are continually around the auras of other people. With an open and enveloping aura, the energy of other people is coming into them all the time and the reality is that they cannot keep the energies of others out. The sacral motor is constantly responding to input from the world. After a lifetime of conditioning, it can be difficult for Generator adults to experience their natural gift for sacral discernment. When correctly engaged, the power of the Generator is a vast resource. Yet after a prolonged period of absorbing and identifying with repetitive conditioning patterns, many don’t realize that they possess this power. Most Generators have been conditioned since childhood to try to initiate activity like a Manifestor. Generators are taught that they can do whatever they think they can do. Like a fist banging repeatedly against a concrete wall, Generators work and work to fulfill the demands of their 72



Your Own Authority mind and in the process they meet a tremendous amount of resistance in the form of frustration. Frustration is the predictable outcome of mental decision-making and initiation for a Generator. Manifesting Generators experience the compounded resistance of frustration mixed with anger. A Generator identified with the not-self mind is endlessly initiating projects, relationships, conversations, business proposals, creative endeavors, and on and on. Just as easily as they can start things, they might quit. Generators predictably quit things if they meet resistance and get frustrated. Generators can hurt their bodies and create much distress when they don’t honor the source of the life force power dwelling within them. Constantly meeting resistance from trying to make life conform to the dictates of the mind can result in living out the not-self Generator experience of frustration, fatigue or poor health. Impatience is the driving force for not-self Generator. It takes patient dedication to learn the strategy of waiting to respond. Generators are designed to wait, surrender to what life brings to them and respond with their sacral voice. One of the most challenging dilemmas for new experimenters with Generator strategy is confusing their sacral response with the urge to initiate something. For some Generators their sacral is also their place of inner authority for decision making, which can confuse decision making with the strategy of their aura. An example of this confusion is: “I responded, therefore I can initiate doing something from that response”. As an inner authority, which is explored further in the next chapter, the sacral voice can provide the ‘ah-huh’ or ‘unh-unh’ to a yes or no decision. However, waiting to respond to what comes into the aura itself is the strategy for determining if there is a decision to be considered. In order to operate correctly the sacral motor must be ignited from outside of the aura; the relationship, project or action must begin as a question from outside the aura, it cannot be self-generated or it will result in frustration. The Generator signature reward is the experience of deep satisfaction from their energy being used correctly. This satisfaction can be much more valuable than achieving any particular end result or accomplishment. 73



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The BodyGraph of golfer Tiger Woods shows a defined Sacral Center. He is a Manifesting Generator. Note that in his design the Sacral Center connects to the Root Center which connects to the Splenic Center, and this is separate from the Heart Center connection to the Throat which is a manifesting potential. This channel of manifesting potential identifies his design as a Manifesting Generator. The mind is the most challenging barrier to following the Generator strategy of response. The not-self mind fights for control with thoughts such as: “Things won’t just come to me; if I don’t go after things, I won’t get them; if I wait for Prince Charming, he won’t find me; I have to do this now, it’s stupid to wait for things to come to me; I can’t wait; or, I’m afraid to wait.” The not-self mind is profoundly afraid that it won’t get what it wants and will be left with nothing but emptiness, frustration and dissatisfaction. The not-self mind can be powerfully dominant. Generators can learn through their own experience that everything and everyone who is correct for them comes to them and with perfect timing. With consistent practice, Generators can learn to trust their strategy of waiting and responding and eventually 74



Your Own Authority experience for themselves the correctness of what life brings. A Generator identified with the demands of the mind actually reinforces and strengthens the not-self mind’s control. Generators are not separate from the nature of existence— their aura carries the very essence of existence and all of life. Their unique purpose comes to Generators who respond.



The BodyGraph of actor, dancer and singer Jennifer Lopez shows a defined Sacral Center that connects directly to the Throat Center. This is the design of a ‘pure’ Manifesting Generator. Notice that she has two additional motors (Heart Center and Solar Plexus) which connect to her Sacral Center. Generators are advised to not go to bed until they are completely exhausted and ready to sleep. The sacral motor operates like a rechargeable battery, it recharges better if it is allowed to run down completely. Generators need to wait until they are tired to go to bed, and then sleep undisturbed until they are completely rested. In this way, they wake up with replenished energy ready to meet the new day. 75



Your Own Authority Manifesting Generators, with their manifesting potential, are advised to go to bed before they are tired and engage in activity in bed until they are fully exhausted. With an open and enveloping aura, which takes in everything and can’t be closed, all Generators need to protect their openness by sleeping alone. Famous Generators Jessica Alba, Christina Aguilera, Mohammed Ali, Maya Angelou, Marie Antoinette, Christian Bale, Antonio Banderas, Tyra Banks, Drew Barrymore, Halle Berry, Orlando Bloom, Barry Bonds, Bono, Truman Capote, Jonny Carson, Charlie Chaplin, Julia Child, John Cleese, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Sean Connery, Bill Cosby, Jacques Cousteau, Russell Crowe, Marie Curie, Matt Damon, Ram Das, Gerard Depardieu, Cameron Diaz, Celine Dion, Walt Disney, Bob Dylan, Albert Einstein, Peter Falk, Aretha Franklin, Marlon Brando, Morgan Freeman, Sigmund Freud, Lady Gaga, Mahatma Gandhi, Greta Garbo, Judy Garland, Kahlil Gibran, Mel Gibson, Mikhail Gorbachev, Hugh Grant, Che Guevara, Arlo Guthrie, Tom Hanks, Mata Hari, Dustin Hoffman, George Harrison, Selma Hayek, Hugh Hefner, Whitney Houston, Hugh Jackman, Etta James, LeBron James, Steve Jobs, Billy Joel, Elton John, Angelina Jolie, Janis Joplin, Carl Jung, Garrison Keillor, Nicole Kidman, Martin Luther King, Beyonce Knowles, The Dalai Lama, Bruce Lee, John Lennon, Lucy Liu, Jennifer Lopez, Madonna, Dr. Phil McGraw, Liza Minelli, Alanis Morrisette, Mozart, Eddy Murphy, Friedrich Nietzsche, Yoko Ono, Gwyneth Paltrow, Camilla Parker-Bowles, Dolly Parton, Luciano Pavarotti, Anthony Perkins, Sidney Poitier, Elvis Presley, Prince, Julia Roberts, Carlos Santana, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Paul Simon, Will Smith, Sting, Meryl Streep, Patrick Swayze, Mother Teresa, Nicola Tesla, Justin Timberlake, Lilly Tomlin, John Travolta, Donald Trump, Keith Urban, Vincent Van Gogh, Robin Williams, Venus Williams, Prince Charles Windsor, Amy Winehouse, Oprah Winfrey, Kate Winslet, Tiger Woods, Catherine Zeta-Jones.



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Projectors Projector Mechanics Approximately 21% of humanity is a Projector. The Projector does not have a defined Sacral Center like a Generator and they do not have a motor center connected to the Throat Center like a Manifestor. They do have at least two centers defined, so they are not Reflectors. There are many possible variations for the Projector design, they can have as many as eight centers defined or as few as two.



French President Nicolas Sarkozy is a Projector. His BodyGraph shows the Splenic Center connects to the Heart Center (a motor center); and a separate connection between the Ajna and Throat Center. The motor does not connect to the Throat Center, so this is not the design of a Manifestor. The design has an open Sacral Center, so this is not a Generator. Having at least two centers defined determines his type as a Projector.



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Your Own Authority Projector Strategy The aura of a Projector is focused and absorbing. It is focused with a laser like quality on the G Center of the other. The Projector aura can only focus on one person at a time. No matter what the Projector’s intentions might be, the moment there are three or more people in a room someone will feel slighted by the Projector. With an aura mechanic designed to focus on the other, it can be challenging for Projectors to see themselves. Some people in the Projector’s life may enjoy receiving such powerful attention and others might intensely dislike it and feel as if they are trapped under a microscope. Projectors have the potential ability to see the other person clearly, observe how they use their energy, and they can see how energy could be used more effectively and efficiently. In group situations around the other aura types, the Projectors can seem invisible. All types transform their lives by following their strategy and making decisions from their inner authority. Projectors, however, may need extra time to learn how their strategy operates. The Projector Strategy is to wait to be invited. Projectors are here to be invited to life’s banquet. For a Projector, the strategy of waiting and then discerning correct invitations can seem like a long and arduous journey, especially at the beginning of their experiment. Initiating from the mind is deeply conditioned for them after a lifetime of pretending to be a Manifestor or Generator. The strategy of waiting to be invited can seem like being sentenced to solitary confinement. However after experimenting with more alone time and a slower pace, the Projector often discovers how exhausted they were, after years of trying to keep up with all the energy types. Eventually the slower pace becomes nurturing and enjoyable and they begin to have a sense of wellbeing which arises out of solitude and selectively connecting with only the energy beings that are correct for them. As Projectors begin their process of experimenting with their strategy, they may find that they enjoy focusing on the study of Human Design or some other system of knowledge. Projectors need to acquire knowledge and master systems in 78



Your Own Authority order to clearly understand and guide others. Projectors and Reflectors operate best as mechanics in the Human Design System. They’re not here to make things happen or get things done like the energy types; rather they find success in helping energy types operate more effectively. The ability to understand others cannot be mastered in a moment. It takes time, study and dedicated development for the Projector to achieve mastery in their understanding of others. Projectors are designed to specifically guide the energy of Generators. When following their strategy of waiting to be invited, Projectors receive invitations from Generators who recognize their talented perception and receptively give them access to their energy. It is through this energy exchange that a Projector gains the fuel they need to have effective relationships and fulfill their potential. Without the proper invitation, Projectors can’t experience the fulfillment of successfully guiding the other. Correct relationships are essential for the Projector because of their unique energy needs. When a Projector is invited, they use their inner authority to discern if the invitation is delicious enough for them, in other words, if the energy of the other person feels correct. A Projector who has not learned discernment often accepts invitations from all kinds of people simply for the sake of having access to energy. Projectors are designed to take in conditioning from the other person’s definition. If a person is not correct for the Projector, what they take in from the other won’t be healthy for them. They literally take in the frequency of the other and are being conditioned every moment by the other person. Discernment of others and their invitations is of vital importance to Projectors and one playful way that they can learn to discern who is right is by asking: “If this person’s energy were food, would I want to eat this energy?” An essential aspect of operating correctly for a Projector is to learn that their correct invitations come from people who recognize them for their value as a guide and for the traits and skills which make them unique according to their 79



Your Own Authority design. For example, if someone comes along and comments about a Projector’s boundless energy, this is clearly someone who does not recognize them. Regardless of how attractive an invitation might seem, if it is not from someone who recognizes the Projector, the connection will not bring success.



United States First Lady Michelle Obama is a Projector. Her BodyGraph shows the Root Center connected to the Solar Plexus (both motor centers) and a separate connection between the Splenic Center and the Heart Center (also a motor center). None of the defined motors connect to the Throat Center, so this is not a Manifestor. The design has an open Sacral Center, so this is not a Generator. Having at least two centers defined determines her type as a Projector. The not-self Projector fears that no one will invite them. They usually don’t realize how attractive their attention is for a Generator. Their strategy of waiting for the invitation draws to them the energy of the other. The mental fear of not being wanted can lead them to initiate invitations to others or accept invitations that aren’t correct for them. The 80



Your Own Authority mind truly cannot know what energy is correct. Projectors might become incorrectly connected to someone and then find it extremely difficult for them to detach from that person. This continuous plugging into others just for the sake of being energized is unhealthy and can lead to bitterness. Not-self Projectors often fail to be recognized because they are so busy trying to be energetic and make things happen. Until the Projector learns to wait for invitations, they do not get recognized for their potential; instead, they are simply following their conditioning, trying to get energy in any form. Failing to be recognized for their unique gifts can often mean that the Projector’s great potential to guide goes unrealized. The Projector meets tremendous resistance if they share their keen observations without an invitation. People can find the intensity of their spotlight aura very uncomfortable and without being invited to share, the Projector’s comments and advice are usually unappreciated, rejected or ignored. Resistance from others leads to bitterness for the Projector. In the not-self world, the Projector begins life disadvantaged because as a non-energy being, they are usually not seen or understood in a world dominated by energy types. In childhood they are conditioned to initiate and encouraged to make things happen like a Manifestor and expected to have boundless energy and commitment like a Generator. The not-self Projector child trying and failing to keep up can become bitter and exhausted. When Projectors first begin to experiment with their strategy, invitations may be few and far between. Invitations for a Projector are not necessarily what we commonly think of as a social invitation, although social invitations do provide the Projector with opportunities to refine their discernment. Projectors need to wait for invitations to engage energetically with the other. Projectors need to wait for the correct timing of invitations and to go through the necessary process of disentangling themselves from incorrect relationships. The deconditioning process does require patience and time. Projectors must 81



Your Own Authority wait for the correct invitations to initiate them into relationships, careers, places to live and any other major life decisions. The number of invitations or the quantity of people in the lives of a Projector are not important, it is the quality of the energy that they are being invited to access that is essential.



Actor and film producer Brad Pitt is a Projector. His BodyGraph shows the Root Center (a motor) connected to the Splenic Center. The motor does not connect to the Throat, so this is not a Manifestor. The design has an open Sacral Center, so it is not a Generator. Having at least two centers defined determines his type as a Projector. Projectors have great leadership potential and they can provide the kind of attention that acts as a catalyst for the Generator. A Projector can ask the perfect questions to guide the other to see more clearly how to engage their energy in life. It is through this leadership and guidance that a Projector experiences success. When guiding Generators to effectively use their energy, the Projector achieves their own 82



Your Own Authority success. All of this unfolds from following the Projector strategy of waiting for the correct invitations.



Martial arts master, action choreographer, director, producer, comedian and actor Jackie Chan is a Projector. His BodyGraph shows the Root Center connected to the Splenic Center separate from the Head Center connected to the Ajna Center. The Root Center (motor center) is not connected to the Throat, so this is not a Manifestor. The design has an open Sacral Center, so this is not a Generator. Having at least two centers defined determines his type as a Projector.



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Mystic, philosophy professor and Guru Osho is a Projector. His BodyGraph shows the Root, Spleen, G Center and Heart Center all connected, but separate from the Ajna connection to the Throat Center. The Ajna Center is not a motor, so this is not a Manifestor. The design has an open Sacral Center, so he is not a Generator. Having at least two centers defined determines his type as a Projector. As a non-energy type, Projectors can easily become exhausted. Naps and frequent rest periods are useful. They need to go to bed before they are tired and relax in bed before sleeping. Of all the types, Projectors benefit the most from a regular routine bedtime. Although they may choose to read or listen to quiet music while in bed before sleeping, it’s good for Projectors to have reduced stimulation at bedtime. Cultivating a calm relaxing bedtime environment on a routine basis is beneficial for falling into a deep resting state. Due to the openness of their Sacral Center and sensitivity to energy types, like all aura types, Projectors are advised to sleep alone in their own space.



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Your Own Authority Famous Projectors Woody Allen, Kirstie Ally, Candace Bergen, Tony Blair, Napoleon Bonaparte, Jon Bon Jovi, Bertolt Brecht, Nicholas Cage, Michael Caine, Jimmy Carter, Fidel Castro, Jackie Chan, George Clooney, Penelope Cruz, Salvador Dali, Michael Douglas, Thomas Edison, Melissa Etheridge, Chow Yun Fat, Whoopi Goldberg, Josh Groban, Goldie Hawn, Hugh Hefner, Ron Howard, Katherine Hepburn, Mick Jagger, James Joyce, Diane Keaton, John F. Kennedy, Nelson Mandela, Karl Marx, Henry Miller, Marilyn Monroe, Demi Moore, Ralph Nader, Paul Newman, Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Osho, Pablo Picasso, Brad Pitt, Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II, Brett Ratner, Isabella Rosellini, William Shatner, Steven Spielberg, Joseph Stalin, Ringo Starr, Barbra Streisand, Donald Sutherland, Quentin Tarantino, Elizabeth Taylor, Tracey Ullman, Denzel Washington, Serena Williams, Virginia Woolf, Zi Yi Zhang.



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Reflectors Reflector Mechanics Approximately one percent of humanity is a Reflector. Reflectors are easy to identify in the BodyGraph because they have no centers defined. All of the centers are open and no gates connect to form channels.



Actor and film producer Sandra Bullock is a Reflector. Her BodyGraph shows no centers defined and only gate activations.



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Writer Fyodor Dostoyevsky is a Reflector. His BodyGraph shows no centers defined and only gate activations. Reflector Strategy As the Reflector’s design is completely open in all the centers, it might seem like they would be very vulnerable to the conditioning influence of other people. However their aura is designed to only let in small samples of information or energy from people, kind of like a polling service. This semi-impervious aura protects the Reflector from being overwhelmed by the definition of others. They need to sample effectively to determine who is healthy for them. The Reflector’s openness doesn’t mean that they are somehow deficient, these are people uniquely designed to function with all their centers open. In fact, they are less exposed to conditioning by other people through their open centers because of their selective, sampling aura. However, like all aura types, they do become conditioned through identification with the not-self mind. Even so, the Reflector has a unique ability to live in the world with all of their openness in a way that is different than the other types. 87



Your Own Authority The other aura types are solar beings and deeply connected to and influenced by the cycle of the sun as it sustains life on this planet. Reflectors are not solar beings, they are lunar beings connected to the cycle of the moon. Lunar cycles influence gravity, govern the tides of the oceans and move the very liquid in our cells. In fact the lunar cycle makes possible all life on our planet. The Reflector’s strategy and authority are connected to the cycle of the moon. The 28 ½ day cycle of the moon creates cyclical patterns of conditioning as it activates each of the 64 gates of the BodyGraph in its movement around the Rave Wheel. The moon’s monthly activation pattern and its impact on their BodyGraph is the only stable pattern for the Reflector. Observing their unique monthly cycle of the moon and its impact on their design provides the Reflector with their strategy: to follow the cycle of the moon. The Reflector aura is resistant and sampling. This is a Teflon-like, resilient aura. Reflectors only let people in enough to sample them; they take in a bit of the other’s energy and then compare it to everyone else they have met. Most people’s energy falls into regular, predictable patterns which aren’t interesting enough to sample further. Others seldom notice the Reflector because their aura is so different compared to the other types. The Reflector aura is not completely open, nor is it totally closed, and it is not focused on the other either. Like a chameleon hiding in plain sight, Reflectors always seem to be watching and waiting for something. All of the possibilities for conditioning within the Reflector’s chart are experienced during each monthly transit of the 64 gates by the moon. Yet even with the varied pattern of temporary conditioning, the Reflector remains a Reflector. Every 28 ½ days the Reflector has the opportunity to experience and see life through the lens of the consistent pattern of the lunar cycle. As the moon transits, it may activate a gate creating conditioning pattern of the Splenic Center conditioned by the Root Center; as the moon continues to move a few hours or a day later it may create the conditioned pattern of the Solar Plexus conditioned by 88



Your Own Authority the Throat Center, followed by the moon transiting gates which create no conditioning between centers; then an gate transit that forms a conditioned pattern between the Sacral Center and the Splenic Center, and so on. This exact pattern of gate transits and temporarily conditioned channels and centers repeats itself every 28 ½ days throughout the lifetime of the Reflector. It might be necessary to chart the monthly moon cycle for at least a year before the Reflector comes to know and truly understand their unique rhythm and pattern of transit movement and conditioning. Although the moon’s cycle around the wheel is 28 ½ days, the planets rotate around the wheel at varying speeds according to their individual cycles, and they have their own influence on humanity. For a Reflector, the daily movement of the moon and planetary transits are their teacher about Human Design mechanics. The deep wisdom of the Reflector arises out of their attunement and natural receptivity to the neutrino data feed derived from transit movement of the moon and the planets, which is called The Program. Watching The Program teaches the Reflector about themselves and about The Program’s impact on all of humanity. A Reflector’s sampling capacity allows them to be able to clearly see who is caught up in the conditioning influence of The Program or not. The Reflector can observe that the majority of people are being swept along lost in the homogenizing pattern of The Program. The Reflector signature of surprise comes from finding those who are ready to step out of The Program and live a differentiated life. Prior to learning about the unique, consistent lunar cycle, life can be confusing for the Reflector who is identified with the not-self mind. The Reflector openness and inconsistency can make life feel chaotic. To others, the Reflector can seem self-contained and chameleon-like and they may appear to be unreliable with no fixed identity. Reflectors have no power potential in the world, they aren’t energy types, and alone they don’t really have what it takes to sustain themselves in their relationships, jobs, or careers. For the Reflector nothing is fixed in their life experience and this can be challenging for them when they try to fit in to the 89



Your Own Authority ‘normal’ world. What can seem vital and important one day may seem non-essential the next. Until they learn to operate correctly, the not-self experience of disappointment may be the only consistency in a Reflector’s life. Following the Reflector strategy can be difficult at the beginning because just as it is for all types, the Reflector is conditioned to initiate their life from the mind. Due to the inconsistent nature of their body mechanics, mental conditioning can leave the Reflector feeling confused. Not being equipped energetically like Generators, and not having the capacity to initiate like Manifestors; the Reflector can become intensely disappointed in themselves and the world. Most of the time the not-self Reflector is simply trying to fit in and when they sample something or someone that doesn’t fit, they may try to change the situation or the person or try to change themselves. The not-self Reflector can be disappointed after looking for consistency and never finding it and can get lost in what they are sampling by identifying with it. It can be a big disappointment for Reflectors after they try and try and yet find that what they perceive to be ‘normal’ patterns of living don’t ever work for them. Reflectors are a specialized force on the planet. There are so few of them and each one has a unique sampling aura, so the quality of each person’s reflections is directly related to their unique purpose. Reflectors are like a canary in the coal mine; they are sensitively attuned with and sample the behavior of people around them. Approximately one in every one hundred people is a Reflector; they are intended to serve a community of about that size. In an ideal world each community would have their own Reflector and the Reflector’s health and well-being would serve as a reflection of the health and well-being of the community. A Reflector who is experienced with following their strategy of observing the lunar cycle becomes proficient at sampling all 64 gate energies and can become an awareness signpost for differentiation. The Reflector can point the way by identifying for the other where they may be off in their life process and what’s needed to be aligned. Reflectors can see 90



Your Own Authority who acts from alignment. They are designed to be the sign post for their community, to know what is healthy and what is not. The Reflector’s not-self disappointment with life can transform into an experience of surprise as they discover the gifts and talents of others and are able to sample uniqueness in the individuals around them. Reflectors are here to be a master of the experience of life, not to have particular experiences themselves. Reflectors are non-energy beings and need to go to bed before they are tired. It’s common for Reflectors to have erratic sleep patterns due to their changing lunar cycle. They may experience more energy when they have lunar conditioning in a motor center and stay up later at those times then when they are conditioned in a non-motor center. Like all aspects of their life, understanding their unique lunar cycle can be helpful to recognizing and accepting their sleep patterns. Regardless of lunar conditioned definition, Reflectors benefit from going to bed before they are tired even if the actual bedtime shifts throughout their cycle. If a Reflector sleeps within the aura of another person, it compromises and may even prohibit their reflective capacity. Famous Reflectors Amma, Yul Bryner, Sandra Bullock, Sir Richard Burton (actor), Sir Richard Burton (19th century explorer), Rosalynn Carter, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Uri Geller, Scott Hamilton, Vladimir Horowitz, Michael Jackson, Stacey Keach, Dick Smothers, H.G. Wells. ~



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CHAPTER 6 Inner Authority Decision-Making According to Your Own Authority The most revolutionary teaching offered from the Human Design System is about correct decision-making, which arises through the inner authority of the body or form. The process of attuning one’s attention to the inner authority of the body, and utilizing its distinct form of guidance for decision-making leads to a personal revolution: the natural unfolding of the life of the body along its unique path. Strategy and inner authority free the mind to develop its unique expression as an outer authority in service to others. Inner authority for about 97.5% of the population is centerbased; the inner authority of the body arises through the functionality of a specific defined center in the design. Approximately 2.5% of people do not have a defined center functioning as an inner authority. These individuals also have access to the intelligence of their body for decisionmaking however it is a process based inner authority which involves an externalized communication process. For all individuals, correct decision-making requires a developed discipline of observing the body’s messaging system and learning to ignore the loud, internal voice of the conditioned mind. A first step in the Human Design experiment is learning how to release the life from the mind’s control. What will stop the mind from trying to direct life and make things happen? Following your inner authority for decision-making effortlessly orients decision-making away from the mind. The mind continues to run its commentary but it no longer has the power to make decisions. In the beginning the mind is fearful of losing its control over decision-making. Like a caged bird sitting before an open door, the mind seems to fear being released from its bondage. The mind doesn’t initially recognize that once released from its attachment to decision-making, it can 92



Your Own Authority experience great ease and purpose in simply observing life unfolding. Your first experiment with trusting your inner authority to make a decision is an important experience. Through it you are able to see that life turns out ok, and with that observation there is a great sense of relief. Observing is key to the Human Design experiment. You can see that everything worked out this time. Now you can experiment again and again and watch the results. Seeing those positive results from making decisions with inner authority is just as essential as seeing the resistance which comes from mental decision-making. Step by step, decision by decision, the mind starts to witness the natural process of correct decision-making. Soon you’ll discover that the fears and anxieties that have scared you for years are simply habitual conditioned thought patterns that the mind plays over and over to hold your attention. Following your inner authority is what frees you from the mind’s control. Many people who become interested in the Human Design System have spent years seeking guidance from others, engaging in spiritual practices and pursuing a variety of other methods to gain a sense of freedom. Your own guidance is available every moment of your life through the mechanism of your inner authority. Once you are established in your strategy and inner authority, you start to discover the unique possibilities that your particular life has to offer. Liberated from the dominance of the not-self mind, you can experience the gifts and promise of your design. You can enjoy your connection with others while remaining clear as yourself. You are designed to experience conditioning with others, yet not to confuse those experiences with who you are uniquely and consistently. At the deepest level, self-love is letting go of the fear that you are not satisfactory, that life won’t work, and that you won’t survive. When you stop using your mind to try to make something happen in your life, you relax and discover that your body already knows how to navigate correctly through life and already knows how to survive. As the mind watches, self-love grows with the recognition of your 93



Your Own Authority uniqueness. Eventually you discover that you have the courage and the capacity to stand in your own individuality. Feelings of empowerment naturally arise in the process of experimenting with and following your inner authority. A growing sense of awareness arises as you discover the intelligence of your embodied awareness. Emotional Authority – Decision over Time Approximately 50% of people are defined through the Solar Plexus. As a powerful motor with awareness potential, whenever present in a design, the defined Solar Plexus center is the inner authority.



The BodyGraph of operatic soprano ‘La Divina’, Maria Callas shows a defined Solar Plexus Center which establishes the Solar Plexus Center as her inner authority. The defined Sacral Center determines her type as a Generator. This is the design of a Generator with Emotional Authority.



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The BodyGraph of actor, producer and musician Johnny Depp shows a defined Solar Plexus Center which establishes the Solar Plexus Center as his inner authority. The Heart Center (a motor) connected to the Throat Center determines his type as a Manifestor. This is the design of a Manifestor with Emotional Authority. The defined Solar Plexus is a powerful motor which operates in a continuous wave of emotions, feelings and sensitivity. All the varying dimensions of emotionality are experienced through this center, and they are constantly in motion ranging from the peak of excitement to the depths of despair. In addition to being a powerful motor this center carries the potential for our emerging emotional awareness. A defined Solar Plexus person experiences the up and down of the emotional wave and also carries the potential of being aware of emotions. Emotional authority brings emotional clarity, and an emotional sense of correctness that can only be reached over time. Emotional authority dictates that there is no truth in the now. An emotionally defined person is not designed 95



Your Own Authority to make spontaneous decisions. The emotional authority monitors the ever-changing wave, from hope to pain and back again. Emotions rise and fall, yet over time one can discover a place of equanimity, of relaxation within the wave when clarity arrives. Possessing this inner authority requires patience and waiting for clarity to arise over time because no feeling in the moment can express the whole truth. The defined Solar Plexus person examines a decision while experiencing the various feelings within the up and down of their wave and sees different perspectives from each point in the emotional wave. When an emotional person operates correctly and waits through the passage of time, there is a potential for masterful depth in decision-making. It is unhealthy for an emotionally defined person to make a snap decision in the moment from any one place in their wave. If they make a decision when they are up in their wave, as they start to come down, a strong sense of nervousness begins. As the positive feeling fades, doubts about the decision and questions arise about whether it was a good decision or not. If they make their decision when they are down in their wave, as they start to rise again and feel more upbeat what seemed like such a bad decision may seem like a good option. Once again there is doubt and nervousness. The process for correct decision-making for the emotionally defined person is to patiently wait through the excitement and dread until the nervousness around the decision subsides. Finally a clarity comes which includes all the various dimensions brought with the movement of the emotional wave.



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The BodyGraph of actor, director, producer, screenwriter and humanitarian George Clooney shows a defined Solar Plexus Center which is his inner authority. The Sacral Center is not defined, so this is not a Generator. The Heart Center and Solar Plexus are both motors, but neither is connected to the Throat Center, so he is not a Manifestor. This is the design of a Projector with Emotional Authority. It is important to understand that emotional clarity does not mean absolute truth in the decision-making process since the emotional wave is constantly in motion. For most decisions, the emotionally defined person can reach 70-80% clarity after waiting out their emotional process. Experiencing the movement of varied feelings and sensitivities, the individual with emotional authority is waiting to reach an emotional balance in the wave, a synthesis of the whole decision-making process that leads to an emotional equilibrium.



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Your Own Authority Sacral Authority – Decision in Response The Sacral is the inner authority for all Generators without a defined Solar Plexus. The sacral motor is not an awareness center; it has a strictly mechanical function. In the beginning, when a Generator first learns about their sacral authority it may seem mysterious and confusing. However the Generator is consistently, spontaneously responding to life and likely just does not recognize it. For example, in a conversation if the Generator agrees with what is said, a spontaneous ‘ah-huh’ may arise expressing understanding or agreement. Observing these spontaneous sounds is an important first step toward trusting the sacral voice in decision-making. The Sacral response is often very different than what the mind thinks would be a good decision. A Generator cannot know their truth until they hear the in-themoment response of their sacral voice. A Generator response does not include reasons and/or an opinion. It is an embodied mechanical on/off in the now. The sacral energy is ready and available to be engaged or not. It is important that the Generator understands that the sacral can only operate as an inner authority if the yes or no question arises from outside of their aura. The sacral motor must be ignited from the outside, decisions cannot be selfinitiated. Decisions placed before the sacral authority need to be formulated as yes/no questions. In that way, the sacral voice with its mechanical on/off, either grants or withholds the energy in response to the decision. Correct decision-making is found in the moment-to-moment truth of the Sacral’s response: “Do I have the energy to see this (project, relationship, action) through to completion or not?”



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The BodyGraph of Singer, songwriter and actor Madonna has a defined Sacral Center and an open Solar Plexus Center. This establishes her Sacral Center as her inner authority. This is the design of a Generator with Sacral Authority. After a lifetime of mental conditioning starting in childhood, it can be difficult for a Generator to respond with their sacral sounds. The sacral voice may be atrophied from lack of use. The mind can be judgmental about its perception of the intelligence or lack of intelligence inherent in the sacral voice. Intelligence, as a mental concept has nothing to do with sacral authority, as it is strictly mechanical. It does, however, operate as a conduit for the intelligence of the body to get to the surface, where it can be recognized. A Generator can learn to observe their spontaneous response to yes and no questions which arise from outside of their aura. Since this is a mechanical process, it’s possible to practice response when being asked yes and no questions. For example: “Do you want to go out to dinner?” says the person to the Generator, and the Generator responds with, “ah-huh”. The sacral has responded. The 99



Your Own Authority energy is available and ready to be fully engaged in going to dinner. This is very different than, “What do you want to do tonight?” It’s not possible for the sacral mechanism to respond to this kind of open-ended question. The sacral is either available or not. Before learning about sacral response, it’s common for Generators to believe that they have trouble making decisions because mental decisionmaking is confusing! Previously in their life, the Generator may have rarely been asked the yes/no questions that support their sacral response.



The BodyGraph of singer, songwriter and actor Beyonce Knowles shows an open Solar Plexus Center and the Sacral Center defined; this establishes her Sacral Center as her inner authority. Her Sacral Center is connected to her Throat Center, which determines her type as a Manifesting Generator. This is the design of a Manifesting Generator with Sacral Authority. Getting the sacral voice operational is like priming a pump. It can be slow to start but once it is engaged, it keeps going and going and going! Some Generators may find it helpful to 100



Your Own Authority work with a practice partner responding to yes and no questions as a way to activate their sacral voice. You can begin with easy questions such as: “Do you like coffee?” “Do you like chocolate?” “Do you like ice cream?” “Do you enjoy eating lasagna?” This process of responding to nondecision variety of yes and no questions gives the sacral voice practice responding to questions and allows the individual to get a sense of when the sacral is engaged and moving. Generators are energy beings and therefore the underlying sacral decision to any yes/no decision is: “Do I have energy to see this through to completion? Will I be able to use my energy correctly?” When the sacral responds with an ‘ah-huh’, the correct use of energy leads to Generator satisfaction.



The BodyGraph of Aishwarya Rai, Miss World 1994, model, actor and Bollywood film star, shows an open Solar Plexus Center and the Sacral Center defined which establishes her Sacral Center as her inner authority. The Sacral response is imbued with splenic awareness due to the direct connection between the Sacral and the Splenic Center. This is the design of a Generator with Sacral Authority. 101



Your Own Authority When a Generator pays attention to their sacral response they soon discover what is truly correct for them through the experience of a positive response. They discover what is not correct whenever they have a negative response. With their sacral response a Generator grants or denies others access to their energy and either withholds or contributes their energy for actions, projects and relationships. The Generator can never know who and what is correct for them until the moment of response. There is no planning for the sacral authority Generator. Planning is a mental trap. Generators with sacral authority are here to work, create and build through moment-to-moment correct response. Operating correctly, the Generator surrenders to their sacral response and honors the body’s intelligence, no matter what the mind thinks about the decision. Splenic Authority – Decision in the Now Without a defined Sacral Center or a defined Solar Plexus Center, the next center of inner authority is the Splenic Center. Approximately 10.5% of all people have the defined Splenic Center as their inner authority. The Splenic Center is an awareness center. It is endowed with the physical awareness associated with our physical wellbeing. In addition to its survival and defense mechanisms, the Splenic Center is the bedrock of human intelligence. All of these attributes establish the Splenic Center as an inner authority with its spontaneous instinct, intuition and judgment in the moment. Splenic awareness recognizes danger or threats to one’s health or survival in the Now. It will only decide once; this is not like the repetitive sampling process of the Solar Plexus. The splenic awareness is extremely subtle and can easily be ignored until one develops the acuity to be aware of it. It doesn’t speak in words, but rather through body sensations and spontaneous ‘recognition’. It’s a sense that is highly individualized. It may be experienced as a gut lurch, hairs raised on the back of the neck, or a hunch. There can be a 102



Your Own Authority sense of danger, a feeling to avoid, to step back, or even to run, which signals ‘this is not a correct move forward’ or ‘this is not a safe person or situation’. With the splenic authority there is no concrete voice of ‘yes’ or ‘no’, there is only a sense of warning which is interpreted as ‘not safe/not correct’ from the vigilant awareness of the Spleen. It is common for people with splenic authority to realize later after an event that they had a sense that something wasn’t going to be safe before the event; and yet because they were identified with their mind, they ignored their intuition. Eventually it’s possible to be aware of the splenic authority in the now.



The BodyGraph of writer J.K. Rowling shows an open Solar Plexus Center and an open Sacral Center. The Splenic Center is defined which establishes the Splenic Center as her inner authority. The Heart Center (a motor) is connected to the Throat Center, which determines her type as a Manifestor. This is the design of a Manifestor with Splenic Authority.



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The BodyGraph of Nelson Mandela, President of South Africa 1994 – 1999 and former anti-apartheid activist and leader, shows an open Solar Plexus and open Sacral Center. The Splenic Center is defined which establishes the Splenic Center as his inner authority. His Splenic Center is connected to the Throat Center and the G Center (all non-motors) which determines his type as a Projector. This is the design of a Projector with Splenic Authority. The key for a person with splenic authority is to understand that their truth is in the now and not forever. There is always the next moment in the now. A correct splenic decision ensures safety and security in the present moment. Things can change quickly so it is important for the splenic person to be open to fluctuating circumstances and not to be attached to any relationship, project or place. It’s possible for a splenic decision to bring a long-term commitment; however the health and safety of that commitment is continually recognized and experienced in the moment. It is through learning to trust this sense of wellbeing and safety with its moment by moment awareness that the splenic 104



Your Own Authority person can move confidently and safely through life; guided by subtle impulses, spontaneous change and the consistent experience of physical sensing in the now. Ego Authority – Decision of the Heart Without a defined Sacral, Solar Plexus, or Splenic Center, the next center of inner authority in the hierarchy is the Heart Center. Approximately 1.2% of humanity has the defined Heart Center, the center of the ego as their inner authority for decision-making.



The BodyGraph of Al Gore, United States Vice-President (1993-2001), author and environmental activist shows an open Solar Plexus Center, open Sacral Center, open Splenic Center, and a defined Heart Center which establishes the Heart Center as his inner authority. His Heart Center (a motor) is connected to the Throat Center, and this determines his type as a Manifestor. This is the design of a Manifestor with Ego Authority. 105



Your Own Authority The Heart Center is the center of the will and ego. Mechanically it operates as a motor without awareness. It carries the determination to master the material plane and to prove one’s worth. This is the center of self-esteem, and of making bargains, deals and promises. The Heart Center has a powerful force of will which wants to ensure its material survival and to see that its legacy is preserved within the family, community and tribe. Decision-making is based on what the heart is committed to; and not what the mind wants or what someone else thinks is correct. With ego authority, these people need to discover what their will is, because correct decisions are made from being in control and getting what they want. If an ego person can’t get what they want, then it isn’t correct for them. If they can’t have it their way, it isn’t correct. This will power authority does not work from thinking about wanting something. The mind is not in control of the life. The decision-making literally comes from their embodied will power. It’s like a race horse that must win the race, where the entire force of that being is behind the movement. Ego authority people need to be engaged correctly in their work, relationships and in family life. With the Heart Center as inner authority, work is going to be central in their life and family is going to be directly connected with work, their life’s purpose, and their legacy. Self-Projected Ego Authority – Decision of the Heart’s Direction The Heart Center connected to the G Center is called SelfProjected Ego Authority. It is extremely rare. Less than 1% of the population has this inner authority, and it is only found among Projectors. To operate correctly, self-projected ego authority requires patience, deep awareness, and experimentation.



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The BodyGraph of film director and producer Brett Ratner shows the Heart Center connected to the G Center. This is the only channel which establishes this kind of inner authority and it is only found in Projectors. This is the design of a Projector with Self-Projected Ego Authority. This is a type of ego authority that follows the heart and identity for decision-making. This is not the romantic heart; this decision-making comes from the will of the self. If the will is not fully invested, then it is not a correct direction for the self-projected ego authority person and it won’t be healthy for their sense of self. Self-Projected Authority – Decision of the Self Without a defined Solar Plexus, Sacral, Spleen, or Heart Center, the next center in the hierarchy of authority is the defined G Center. Approximately 3% of the population has the inner authority of the G Center and it is called SelfProjected Authority. This authority is only found in Projectors. 107



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The BodyGraph of singer and actor Barbra Streisand has an open Solar Plexus, Sacral, Spleen and Heart Center and the G Center is defined. This establishes the G Center as inner authority. She has the G Center (non-motor) connected to the Throat Center so she is not a Manifestor. This is the design of a Projector with Self-Projected Authority. The G Center is the center of love, direction in life, and is the center of one’s sense of self. This is an identity-based inner authority. This is not to be confused with a mentally constructed identity; it is a pure existential identity. This self-authority can spontaneously express through the Throat Center. The decision-making process for a Projector with self-projected authority comes from speaking however this is not the premeditated speaking constructed by the mind. It is important for these people to listen to their spontaneous expression so they can hear their truth. Their inner authority comes from speaking from their identity, from what they love and from their direction in the moment. Whatever this person is identified with is what is correct for them. 108



Your Own Authority Mental Projector Authority Process – Decision in the Experiment Less than 1.5% of humanity has the design of a Mental Projector. A Mental Projector has only the Head and Ajna defined, or just the Ajna to the Throat defined, or has the Head, Ajna and Throat Centers defined together as the only definition in the design. This person’s inner authority can be tricky to recognize and understand because it arises through a decision-making process quite distinct from the centerbased inner authorities. The mind is never the authority for decision-making for the life, and yet for Mental Projectors, there are no other centers defined other than the mind. This decision-making process requires diligent attention to listening to one’s externalized expression to others. This is distinct from not-self decision-making. It’s really about learning to use mental awareness as a decision-making tool without succumbing to the not-self mind’s control.



The BodyGraph of artist Pablo Picasso shows only the Head, Ajna and Throat Centers defined, and this establishes that 109



Your Own Authority he has no center of inner authority. This is the design of a Mental Projector with a process for inner authority. For correct decision-making, the Mental Projector can never enter into anything spontaneously. They cannot reach a correct decision in the moment. They explore potential decisions with an experimental process. They engage in repeated discussion with others in order to hear what they themselves are saying. They need to hear their own outer expression to reach a correct decision. For example, when a Mental Projector receives an invitation, it’s important to discuss it many times, with many different people. In this process they are not looking for advice or for someone to make the decision for them. As they discuss the invitation with others, they are engaging their mental awareness while interacting with a variety of different auras, and from that process they integrate what they hear themselves say in conversation with others. Through this experimental process the Mental Projector can hear their expression and come to understand what is valuable and important for them, and this becomes the basis of their decision-making. They are not listening for the thoughts, ideas or knowing that fills their inner dialog that they talk about with others; they are listening for realization, insight or formulization that arises naturally, spontaneously and uniquely through their expression to others.



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The BodyGraph of tennis player Serena Williams shows only the Ajna and Throat Centers defined, and this establishes that she has no center of inner authority. This is the design of a Mental Projector with a process for inner authority. Lunar Authority – Decision in the Lunar Cycle Approximately 1% of humanity are Reflectors, a type with no centers defined and therefore no center of inner authority. A Reflector derives their inner authority from the process of observing their decision emerge through their lunar cycle. They arrive at their decision by examining it through all of the changes of conditioning that the daily movement of the moon brings to their design, and by discussing the decision with others and listening to what they themselves are saying about their decision. For Reflectors, decision-making is recognized through the monthly lunar cycle.



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The BodyGraph of singer, dancer and actor Michael Jackson shows all open centers and only gate activations. This establishes his type as a Reflector with a process of inner authority through the lunar cycle. The Reflector uses the lunar cycle to reflect upon decisions and potential life changes and this is their process for decision-making, their process of inner authority. The important decisions about career, love, relationships and the correct places to live are made through contemplation over a lunar cycle. Like Generators and Projectors, opportunities arise naturally in the movement of life for a Reflector. They do not initiate the decision process with their mind. A decision needs to be placed before them in order to be considered, and then they need to see this decision from every facet of their design as they follow the monthly transit of the moon and the temporary channel conditioning it creates. Each day, as the moon rotates, it ticks through the gates of the Rave Wheel, and the Reflector gets a different perspective about the decision they are considering. Decision making for a Reflector comes from their unique experience 112



Your Own Authority of the lunar cycle. Following the lunar cycle, month after month, the Reflector finds their truth. A Reflector needs a circle of allies. This is a group of people who have been sampled and demonstrate a consistent capacity to care for the Reflector. During the 28 ½ day lunar decision cycle Reflectors may discuss with their allies what they are discovering during their process, not to get feedback, but to hear what they themselves are saying. It is through this cyclical process of reflection and sharing that the Reflector comes to know their decision. The correct decision arises from the 28 ½ day process which is a direct personification of the Reflector’s sampling capacity. The Reflector samples the lunar cycle as it relates to each decision at hand. ~



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CHAPTER 7 Experimenting with Human Design Seven Year Journey to Cellular Transformation Strategy and inner authority are the catalysts for the cellular deconditioning process and lead to experiencing life in alignment with your unique potential. After you begin following your strategy and inner authority, deconditioning the body is a seven year process. The majority of human cells replace themselves every seven years. Each cell has its own intelligence and memory which gets transferred to its replacement cell. As you experiment with your strategy and inner authority you are changing the imprint of each new cell and bringing it into alignment with the pattern of your unique design. Moment by moment, decision by decision, as you follow your strategy and inner authority the conditioned patterns dissolve away. Each decision made with your own authority builds momentum and movement away from the not-self and towards your unique life. Initially, it requires discipline to break the habits of the mind; however after a while cellular regeneration hits the tipping point and it gets easier to let the body guide you. By the end of seven years the body can effortlessly navigate through life and the mind can rest easily as the witness. The Human Design System is most beneficial for children who are raised from birth according to their strategy and inner authority. These children naturally develop according to their unique design and will not have to experience a deconditioning process. At this point in time, most people are discovering the Human Design System as an adult. Adults have accumulated life-long not-self conditioning and the ingrained habit of mental decision-making. These entrenched not-self patterns take time to be released on a cellular level. Gradually, slowly, over a seven year period transformation happens. This process is called an experiment because it’s designed to be tested. When you try following your strategy and inner authority, you can observe what happens. Try it over and over again, under different circumstances, with different 114



Your Own Authority decisions, and see what happens. The Human Design System isn’t a belief system; it’s a practical, applied learning process. Belief is a phenomenon of the mind. Knowing is an embodied experience. Over the seven year deconditioning process, gradually, through your own lived experience you learn to trust in the decision-making of your inner authority. You see the validity of the body’s ability to guide the life. Experimenting with your strategy and inner authority cleanses the mind of identification with traits that are not you and deconditions the cellular memory of the body. The Human Design System is validated through your personal experimentation and direct experience with the deconditioning process. Studying Human Design without actually experimenting with the knowledge does not bring transformation because merely conceptualizing the knowledge keeps the mind in control; it thinks because it understands the information, it has accomplished something, which is a false premise. As you experiment with strategy and inner authority, your uniqueness naturally emerges in your life experiences and is observed by your mind. The not-self is the persistent barrier to being your unique self. Trusting your strategy and inner authority dissolves that barrier. The mind desperately wants to retain its control of your life and it feeds on fear. It’s not possible to get rid of fear. The experience of embodied fear is intrinsic to all living beings, it ensures survival, and in human beings it is the root of intelligence itself. Fear motivates us to grow, change, and explore our expanding human capacities. From experimenting with the Human Design System, you can learn to let go of the illusionary fears of the mind and embrace the body’s extraordinary ability to successfully navigate through a world that includes dangers and the experience of fear as a natural aspect of living. There are two possibilities for human beings in this life: to live out the potential of the unique holistic self or to live out identification with the not-self. Your unique life is an expression of the beauty of life itself. It’s important to understand that you can’t expect this recognition of your unique self to come immediately. It takes time to let go of 115



Your Own Authority the years, perhaps decades, of mental conditioning. Eventually you can discover deep, genuine love for yourself, exactly as you are. The pleasure of life comes from watching the experiment unfold each day. Perhaps the greatest gift of our time is being able to observe and accept life just as it is. As you live out your unique design you further refine your individual point of view, and this perspective spontaneously gets expressed as you communicate with your outer authority. When you live correctly as yourself, you have unique and original observations about what you observe and can offer them to others. There are tools such as books, recorded lectures, courses, software and other study materials available through a variety of websites on the internet. Jovian Archive (www.jovianarchive.com) is the central hub for authentic Human Design resources and for connecting with trained professionals. On this site you’ll find links to Human Design Analysts and Human Design National Organizations located worldwide offering various types of readings which can help you understand more about your unique design. Human Design Teachers and Guides offer classes and courses independently, through a variety of national Human Design organizations and through the IHDS (International Human Design School) to enrich your understanding of the Human Design System and they can support your experiment and the unique unfolding of your deconditioning process. Are you ready to let go of mental decision-making? Now that you have a general understanding of what the Human Design System has to offer, “Would you like to begin your own experiment?” If you are a Generator, did you recognize a response to that question? If you are a Projector, is this a delicious invitation? If you are a Manifestor, you can inform others when you decide. As a Reflector, you can wait a full lunar cycle and see what decision arises for you. This may be your very first opportunity to be aware as you make a non-mental decision. Through your own step by step verification process you can determine the value of the Human Design System. This is 116



Your Own Authority an opportunity for you to know your truth. Only your own inner authority recognizes what is correct for you; and only your own inner authority can guide you decision-by-decision to your unique experience of life. ~



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Glossary Ajna Center: The center of mental awareness, seat of the design consciousness, source of conceptualization, associated with the neo-cortex. Within the Human Design System, the Head and Ajna Centers combined represent the physical brain and the mind. Aura: The aura is the frequency of the life force present in your design. This frequency radiates outward around each person. A person’s aura extends approximately two arm lengths in every direction from the center point of their G Center. Every individual is naturally conditioned by coming in contact with the aura of a person who provides gate activation and/or channel conditioning to their openness. Binary Consciousness: The separate consciousness of personality and form. Humans have a personality consciousness which filters information for the mind’s expression of outer authority, and a design consciousness which filters information for decision-making by the inner authority of the body or form. The awareness of binary consciousness is also referred to as self-realized consciousness in form. BodyGraph: The BodyGraph is the illustrative map which shows the genetic highlighting of an individual’s design. Centers: The nine centers act as communication hubs within the BodyGraph. Each center affects and influences specific organs and systems of the physical body. Some centers are strictly mechanical in function while other centers have awareness. Some are called motors due to their ability to produce vast amounts of energy within the being, and some act as pressure centers. Conditioning: The openness in the design is attracted to anything that will mechanically fill the open receptors and thereby create conditioned channels and centers. This dynamic of the openness is what attracts us to others, and what motivates us to try to be what we are not. This is called conditioning. The not-self mind is driven to 118



Your Own Authority mechanically fill the open areas of the design and attempts to secure a consistent and reliable source of conditioning. Deconditioning: This is the seven year process of cellular transformation of the body which occurs when an individual consistently lives according to the strategy of their type and the Authority of their form for decision-making. Sleeping alone in one’s own aura is essential to the deconditioning process. Definition: The colored-in areas of the BodyGraph show what is fundamentally reliable within the design. These are consistent and fixed aspects. The defined areas represent the essence of what we are designed to live out each moment of our life. Design Data: The characteristics and attributes of the body or form, which are derived from the red data in the Rave Chart. The design data represent the unconscious aspects of a person. Sometimes described as the vehicle or form, the design data describes the body. The design is the realm of the inner authority, and the source of correct decisionmaking for the life. The body is the life. Design Consciousness: The source of consciousness for the form. Design consciousness operates separately from the personality consciousness, yet is an aspect of our binary consciousness. The design consciousness filters information for the correct decision-making for the inner authority of the form. In the not-self mind, the design is not recognized as a consciousness. Driver: An analogy for the Magnetic Monopole. Emotionally Defined: An individual with a defined Solar Plexus Center. Gate: There are 64 gates within the design, which correspond to the 64 hexagrams of the I’Ching and the 64 codons of human DNA. A simple way of thinking about a gate is to imagine the BodyGraph is like a circuit board. A



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Your Own Authority gate is one of two connectors between the nine centers of the design within the circuit board. Generator: One of four aura types, the Generator is an energy type. Mechanically defined by the presence of a defined Sacral Center, the Generator strategy is to wait to respond. Genetic Imperative: The basic drive of all species is to reproduce and expand the gene pool. (See also: Law of Attraction, as the genetic imperative is closely associated with the Law of Attraction.) G Center: The center of love, identity and direction, home of the Magnetic Monopole, associated with liver function and the blood. Head Center: The center of mental pressure and inspiration, seat of the personality consciousness, associated with the grey matter of the brain. Within the Human Design System, the Head and Ajna Centers combined represent the physical brain and the mind. Heart Center: The center of the ego and will, a motor, and associated with the heart, stomach, and gall bladder function. Holistic Being: The Holistic Being is experienced as one is living from the inner authority of the form for decisionmaking and with the outer authority expression of personality. The Holistic Being is the potential of unique binary consciousness and is also referred to as the True Self or Unique Self. Homogenized World: The homogenized world is a collectively distorted and illusionary view of the world which is commonly called ‘normal life’. Human Design: The Human Design System is a logical, mechanical, and graphically illustrated system which maps each individual’s unique genetic highlighting. The Human Design System provides education to enhance and enrich 120



Your Own Authority the experience of binary consciousness through the use of strategy and inner authority. Inner Authority: Inner authority is the source for correct decision-making, which is revealed through the mechanics of the BodyGraph. Transferring decision-making from the mind to the authority of the form, the individual becomes aligned to their unique path in life. Inner authority is center-based in a majority of the population, however a small percentage of people have process-based access to their inner authority. Law of Attraction: An attraction to difference and the persistent drive to try to be what you are not. Related to the genetic imperative to reproduce and diversify the gene pool, it describes the drive toward conditioning. Magnetic Monopole: The Magnetic Monopole resides in the G Center where it serves two vitally important functions in life: to attract and hold personality consciousness and design consciousness together in the illusion of separateness, which forms the Holistic Being; and as the ‘Driver’ guiding the body or form through space and time along its specific trajectory in life. Manifestor: One of four aura types, the Manifestor is an energy type, and mechanically defined by the presence of a non-Sacral motor connected to the Throat Center. The Manifestor strategy is to inform others before taking action. Mechanics: A symbolic visual language which is based on logical principles which operate consistently throughout the Human Design System. Mind: The mind is the medium of translating observation and externalization of conceptualizations through outer authority for the personality consciousness. As the not-self, the mind functions as the decision-making authority for the life. Like the brain, the mind is considered to reside in the combination of the Head and Ajna centers, however it is not physical nor is it alive. Humorously, Ra sometimes referred to the mind as ‘brain gas’.



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Your Own Authority Not-Self: The mind as decision-maker for the life. When the not-self mind is identified with the open aspects of the design it is driven to make decisions to compensate for the openness as a survival strategy. The not-self mind finds the missing traits associated with the openness in others and tries to hang onto those people even if the relationships aren’t healthy. The not-self also tries to imitate the attributes represented by the openness. The not-self mind mechanically seeks out what it considers to be ‘missing’ in the design. Openness: Aspects of the design which are not defined (or colored-in). Openness is where the individual is vulnerable to conditioning. After the deconditioning process, openness is the source of unique wisdom; it is where we are available to the variety that life offers through the experience of others and the transits. Openness does not operate in a fixed and reliable manner. Outer Authority: Outer Authority is the expression of unique conceptualizing from the personality consciousness based on differentiated perspective and externalization through the mind. Passenger: An analogy for the experience of self-realized consciousness in form. Personality Data: The personality is the sum of the black data in the Rave Chart filtered through the mind. People have conscious access to this aspect of their design. As the not-self, the Personality represents ‘Who I Think I think I Am’. After deconditioning it has the potential to express as outer authority; it becomes the ‘Who I think I Am’ of the personality. Personality Consciousness: The source of consciousness for the personality. Personality consciousness operates separately from the design consciousness and is part of binary consciousness. The personality consciousness filters information for the differentiated and unique expression of outer authority through the mind. In the not-self, the personality consciousness is not recognized as the observer 122



Your Own Authority of life. Most people lack awareness of this witnessing aspect of their consciousness and instead mistakenly identify with the mind as the driver and decision-maker for the life. In the holistic being, it is like the passenger sitting in the back seat observing from the window of the vehicle. Program, The: The Program is the daily movement of the planets in their orbit and has a systematic impact on humanity. This impact can be illustrated in the 64 gates of Human Design BodyGraph. The planets filter the neutrino data-stream, which is the very intelligence of the universe. The Program is a global conditioning force and it consistently influences life on earth, and uniquely impacts each individual through their openness. The Program influences an individual when it provides a temporary planetary transit creating conditioning in an open gate, and the mind then uses this conditioning as the basis of decision-making. Projector: One of four aura types, the Projector is a nonenergy type. Mechanically defined by having no Sacral Center definition, no motor connected to the Throat Center, and having at least one channel defined. The Projector strategy is to wait to be invited. Rave Chart: A Rave Chart represents the calculation data and the display of that data within the BodyGraph. It shows the unique combination of the birth data for the personality and the design data which is set 88-89 days prior to birth for the form. It provides each person with an illustration of their complete design. A Connection Rave Chart is the view of the composite view of design of two people and it diagrams the conditioning impact of the relationship. Reflector: One of four aura types, the Reflector is a nonenergy type and mechanically identified by having no channels defined. The Reflector strategy is to follow the cycle of the moon. Root Center: The center of physical pressure and stress, associated with the adrenal function. The Root Center is the most powerful motor center and it provides the fuel for much of the circuitry in the body. 123



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Sacral Center: The center of reproduction, associated with the sexual organs. The Sacral Center is the source of human life, as it is the generative motor. Signature: Each of the four aura types has a frequency potential that is exhibited once a person is free from the control of the not-self. These signatures express outwardly as satisfaction, success, peace, or surprise, depending upon the specific type. Solar Plexus Center: The center of emotions, feelings and sensitivity. This is the source of our emerging emotional awareness, associated with the kidney function, and it is a motor that operates in a wave from hope to pain and back again. Splenic Center: The center of intuition, instinct and taste, and the place of humanity’s most ancient awareness. It is associated with the spleen, the lymphatic and the immune system. The Splenic Center is the source of our sense of well-being and our awareness of danger and safety. Strategy: Strategy is a specific method for navigating through life and reducing resistance. Strategy aligns a person with their proper frequency, bringing their life into its natural flow. Each aura type has a different strategy. Throat Center: The center of action and communication. All of the gate circuitry leads to this most complex of all the centers; it is associated with speech, metamorphic and thyroid functions. Trajectory: Describes each person’s unique geometry through space and time, and it is commonly called the path or journey in life. Alignment with trajectory occurs from following one’s strategy and making decisions according to one’s inner authority. Type: Through the mechanics of the BodyGraph, each design is classified into one of four groups – Manifestor, Generator, Projector or Reflector. Each aura type has its own 124



Your Own Authority mechanics defined within the BodyGraph and its own strategy for operating correctly in the world. Type has been proven to be statistically consistent over extensive population samples. Vehicle: An analogy for the body, form or design. ~



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Human Design System Resources Free Rave Chart http://www.jovianarchive.com/Get_Your_Chart Jovian Archive Newcomer’s Center http://www.jovianarchive.com/Newcomers Human Design National Organizations http://www.jovianarchive.com/National_Organizations Human Design Professionals by Country http://www.jovianarchive.com/Professionals International Human Design School www.ihdschool.com



About the Authors Dharmen and Leela Swann-Herbert met Human Design in 1999, and were students of Ra Uru Hu from 1999 until his passing in 2011. They were chosen by Ra to be a part of the initial staff of teachers in the online IHDS in 2007. They currently teach and write near Santa Fe, New Mexico. They have a wealth of experience between them:  Dharmen is a Reflector, and he is a certified Human Design Analyst, as well as holds certifications in Partnership Analysis, Child Development Analysis. He is a Living Your Design Guide and Teacher, and he has completed his education as a Rave Psychologist.  Leela is an emotionally defined Generator, and she is certified in Child Development Analysis and Family Practice Analysis. She is also a Living Your Design Guide, a Radical Transformation Teacher, and she has completed her education as a PHS Practioner. Together they offer original classes and experiential workshops based upon the teachings of Ra Uru Hu and the Human Design System. Contact them at www.secretofbeingyou.com 126