What is Human Design?

I am often asked the question: What is Human Design?
As I browsed the web today I found the best answer yet.
This article was written by Richard Rudd, someone who I admire a great deal, especially for his way with words: poetic yet simple to understand.
It was published in Kindred Spirit Magazine.
Sit back and Enjoy the Journey!
Blessings of Awakening!

Alex :)


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Journeying deep into our individual genetics, The Human Design System claims to show how every one of us has a unique design and a specific purpose to fulfill on this planet. In a most simple and graceful way, it gently nudges us away from the bustle of our everyday lives and reminds each of us why we came here in the first place. Some of the Kindred Spirit team have had individual readings and have found the information both fascinating and useful.
Here Human Design analyst Richard Rudd introduces The Human Design System in the first half of a two-part article.


Every once in a while, a human being uncovers a paragon, something that captures the quintessence of the beauty and mystery of the universe surrounding us; Mozart’s symphonies for instance, or Einstein’s equations.The Human Design System is such a paragon. By unravelling the mysteries hidden within one’s own genetic code, it shows how our very thoughts, feelings and longings are all part of a beautifully orchestrated pattern. To recognise this pattern clearly in your own life is to celebrate your uniqueness without fear. The result is that life can be far easier than we ever imagined possible.
The mystical origins of Human DesignIn 1987 an extraordinary event took place on this planet. For the first time in recorded history it was seen with the naked eye from a mountaintop in Chile. Human beings actually witnessed a supernova. A supernova is the death of a star, a vast explosion of such intensity that it can barely be imagined. According to the source of the Human Design System, that star, now known to scientists as 1987A, bombarded our planet with a deluge of subatomic information with its dying breath.At around the same time on another mountainside, on a Mediterranean island, a man had an experience that shook him to the roots of his being. When he emerged from that experience, which lasted eight days and eight nights, he could barely remember who he was. Even his name had changed and from that moment he became known as Ra Uru Hu.He had become disillusioned with his life as a professor of physics in Canada and sought an escape from the world on Ibiza, where he ended up living as a hermit in a ruined hut. It was here, living wild in the mountains, that Ra received The Human Design System from what he calls ‘The Voice’. This voice gave him immensely detailed and scientific knowledge about the nature of our universe. It even had its own language, referring to human beings as ‘raves’. As a sceptic and a scientist, Ra had no belief in things mystical. In fact, at the time, he didn’t even know his own astrological sign. It is difficult to comprehend exactly what happened to him during those eight days, so in his own words, this is what took place.
‘I was conditioned to believe that science fiction was a genre of literature, that mystical revelation was simply a more antiquated form of the same, and that God, if not dead, was most likely a concept.‘On the evening of January 3, 1987, all that changed. I was “penetrated” by a “Voice”. It was a terrifying experience. My hair literally stood on end. In the shock, a flood of water drained from my scalp.‘The Voice said: “Are you ready to work?” For eight days and nights, I worked, transcribing in detail The Human Design System.’(From the foreword to The Rave I Ching.)
The scienceDespite its mystical origins, Human Design has its roots deeply embedded within the very latest theories in quantum physics. On a sub-atomic level we are all connected like cells within a giant body, that of the universe itself.The Human Design System is founded upon this very premise: that the universe is a living entity, and that we are living in a vast information-feed, consisting of countless minute particles now known to physics as neutrinos. Up until a few years ago, the neutrino itself was half-fictional, in that it was simply a hypothesis. Now science has proved that neutrinos bear mass, and that they pass through us at the rate of about three trillion per square inch. Neutrinos are made in stars, like our sun, and could be seen as the modern day equivalent of what the ancients used to call ‘chi’ or ‘prana’.We live in a dualistic universe. The sun is our ‘yang’, we, the earth are the ‘yin’, and the neutrino is the mercurial intermediary. All life on earth is thus generated and in a sense ‘programmed’ by the sun and, to a lesser extent, the stars. It is also intriguing to think that not only are we humans programmed by the celestial bodies, but we also programme them as well. Remember, the neutrino is not pure energy, but extremely fine matter. Thus, every neutrino that passes through us is changed, and conveys something of who we are out into deep space. Just like the human body, every cell is interdependent upon every other cell and communicates its presence to the whole.
The synthesisThe Human Design System is a pure synthesis of the latest scientific discoveries and the wisdom of the ancients, and like any synthesis, Human Design is far greater than the sum of its parts.On one side we have quantum physics, biochemistry and genetics, and on the other, the four of the great esoteric systems of the world: astrology, the Hindu chakra system, the Judaic Kabbalah and the Chinese I Ching. It is an alchemist’s dream.
Human Design and geneticsOne of the keys to Human Design is the use of the I Ching, the ancient Chinese Book of Changes, evolved more than 5000 years ago. Strangely enough, this ancient system, which charts the cycles and seasons of life, happens to bear an extraordinary similarity to the profile of human DNA – there is an exact correlation between the two disciplines.DNA is made up of two strands of nucleotides, one strand being a perfect reflection of the other. This basic binary is also the foundation of the Yin and Yang of the I Ching. Our genetic code is also made up of four ‘bases’ which are arranged in groups of threes. Each of these chemical groupings relates to an amino acid, and forms what is known as a ‘codon’. There are 64 of these codons in our genetic code.Similarly, in the I Ching there are only four basic permutations of yin and yang, which are also arranged in groups of threes, known as ‘trigrams’. In the same way that the two strands of our DNA reflect each other, each trigram of the I Ching has a partner, and together these create the ‘hexagram’, the basis of the I Ching. Just as there are 64 codons in DNA, there are 64 hexagrams in the I Ching (see Genetic Table right).All human beings share this same basic genetic code, and yet each of us is unique. From the DNA of a single human hair, a forensic scientist can pinpoint its exact owner, out of billions of human beings. In Human Design, the four bases of our genetic code manifest through our chemistry as four basic types of human beings; manifestors, generators, projectors and reflectors. Each type functions very differently, and will be discussed below.
Human design and astrologyHuman Design also relies upon astrological calculation to configure two separate moments of imprinting within the neutrino stream. Many people new to Human Design assume that because of this it is similar to astrology. Nothing could be further from the truth. Although we draw upon the ancient science of astrology in order to arrive at the correlation with our genetics, the similarity ends there. Like astrology, Human Design produces an individual chart (known as a ‘rave chart’), and like astrology this chart is calculated from the time and place of birth. However, astrological data in Human Design leads to exact placement in the body. Through the intermediary of the I Ching, the position of every planet at the time of birth gives us a ‘genetic thumbprint’ left in the neutrino stream.Using The Human Design System, we can examine the nature of the forces that were gathered around us when we were born. It is as though our birth leaves a vapour trail in the ethers. We can then isolate this imprint, and transfer it into a biochemical map of the body, known as a ‘Bodygraph’.
What can we learn from Human Design?So what is all this really about and what do these charts tell us? In a single statement: they remind us of what we already know about ourselves, deep within our hearts. Human Design is in essence a yin teaching. It shows us that human beings are primarily receptive by design. Our prime directive, if we have such a thing, is patience. Buddha used a term known as ‘correct action’, and this is what we manifest when we live our true nature or design. Action that does not come from harmony is desperate action, and usually does more damage than good in the world. Human Design shows us that there is no purer alchemy than simply being yourself.On a deeper level, it is a simple means of harmonising our individual flow within a greater flow. It is about what the ancients called ‘being in harmony with the Tao’.
How does a chart work?When you look into your own Bodygraph, it is as though you are looking at the blueprint of a car. The body is, after all, our vehicle through life. Now, consider how you might feel if you had been driving around in your faithful old car for years and when you took it to a mechanic he told you that all this time you had been driving in first gear?! A Human Design analyst is like the mechanic that shows you how to operate your car, and having shown you, he leaves you the manual so that you can verify the truth for yourself. Human Design is not another therapy. This is not the kind of mechanic that will fix your oil leak for you; rather he will tell you what kind of model you are driving, and how to drive it in such a way that you will never have another oil leak again. To be yourself is to be fundamentally healthy.
What do the colours mean?The first thing you learn from an analysis of your Bodygraph is what is fixed and consistent about your nature. This can be seen wherever there is a centre or a channel in your design that is drawn in colour (see the example of Mozart). In Mozart’s design, the ‘self’ (the yellow diamond-shaped centre) is connected to the sacral centre (the red square) by the ‘channel of rhythm’. This is in turn connected to two further channels, the ‘channel of the archetype’ and the ‘channel of the transmitter’. When you put these three together, you have a man who is here to transmit archetypal rhythms into the world. Wherever you see colour, that represents a part of your nature that is fixed at birth.
The power of conditioningThe magic of Human Design is that it shows us clearly where we usually get stuck in our lives. The nature of our society is that it tends to condition us directly away from our very nature. This conditioning begins the moment we are born. According to our designs, we all fit differently into society.Human Design knowledge is of the greatest benefit to children and parents, since knowing a child’s design means that they can be guided in the direction of their nature, rather than away from it. For most of us as adults, the road back to our true nature is simple, but difficult.
The white centresThe secret of how we are conditioned in life lies in the white centres in our design chart. Wherever you see a centre or channel in your design that is not coloured in (known as an undefined centre), you are looking at something that is deeply attractive to you. The white centres are where we are not fixed; they are what we long for. At the genetic level, we are only interested in what is different from us. Look again at Mozart’s chart. You can see clearly that his throat centre is the only centre that is not drawn in colour. The throat centre is where we express ourselves. What Mozart most longed for in his life was to express his music, but how and when it was expressed was never in his hands. If he had understood this, he might have felt less frustrated in his life. Undefined centres are where we are designed to be conditioned by others.Through understanding the basics of our own design chart, we can see exactly how and where we are conditioned by the forces around us. In this way, we can take advantage of our conditioning, rather than trying to escape it, which is an impossible task. Take the example of someone with an undefined spleen centre. The spleen centre represents our immune system and is one of three awareness centres in humans. It is our spontaneous instinct for survival. If you have an undefined spleen centre (the brown triangular centre at the bottom left) you love to be spontaneous, but there is nothing more dangerous for you than being spontaneous! If those instincts are not a fixed part of your nature, then you cannot rely on them. Some people are designed to live spontaneously, while others are designed to take more time over their decisions.In Human Design, wherever there is a limitation in our design, there is also always a gift. Thus those of us who have to take longer in making up our minds can also gain a deeper understanding into our life process. In the same way, those of us who are more vulnerable and less fixed in our nature are also more sensitive and often have an uncanny ability to ‘read’ the people around us. These undefined white centres in our design are the places where we can ultimately attain wisdom.Knowing and understanding our design protects us from being a victim of our own conditioning. We are all conditioned all the time, whether by the chemistry of those around us or by the ‘neutrino weather’ from the greater cosmic environment in which we live. Science is now increasingly showing us how we are affected deeply, not only by the moon, but also by sunspot activity thousands of miles away.
Human Design readingsAs a Human Design analyst, one of the first things my clients usually hear from me is: ‘Don’t trust me, and don’t believe anything I say.’ The reason for this is that Human Design is an experiential system based on logic, and logic requires repeated testing. You have to see for yourself that it works. It has to get in under your skin and reprogramme every cell in your body with YOU. This takes a full seven years, since that is how long it takes for every cell in our body to be physically renewed. In a Human Design reading you will learn where your inner authority lies; that is, you will see what you can rely upon in your nature to consistently make clear and correct decisions in all areas of your life. You will also see where you are vulnerable to conditioning, whether that be through your mind, your emotions, or even through your very identity.When you receive a personal reading from a Human Design analyst, this often strikes a very deep chord within you. Many things about yourself which you or others might find difficult to accept can then be acknowledged as part of your genetic code. An example might be if you have a gene which demands that you begin new things without ever finishing them. Some of us are designed this way, and as long as we understand this, we can accept it as a unique part of our nature without self-judgement or guilt. There is always someone in the world with the opposite design – the ones who are great at finishing off what others have already begun!
Living your designHearing your design and living your design are two very different things. To live according to your nature takes great courage. For most people who come to Human Design readings, the greatest challenge is patience. You can learn to understand your design intellectually, but there are no workshops in living your design. That can only be learned from life itself.To follow your design, your true nature, is to realise that your life is choreographed by forces that are far beyond the understanding of the mind. When the mysterious ‘voice’ began to explain The Human Design System back in 1987, one of the first things it told us was that the universe itself has not even been born yet. We were only conceived at the big bang. For this reason, there are many things that we still cannot know, since the full splendour of what we are has not yet been revealed. The very most we can do is simply accept the nobility of who we are as individuals, and enjoy being part of a great adventure that goes beyond our own lifetimes. This is the secret that the Human Design System truly offers us: that life is designed to be effortless, and that to live out your nature is to see your role in the great mythic play of life. It is to realise that the unique role you have been given is the very one you have always dreamed of.Here are some simplified examplesof channels that can occur in people’s charts:The channel of transitoriness:people who don’t stay with one thing for very long.The channel of initiation:people who are usually highly competitive.The channel of the alpha:people who are natural born leaders.The channel of charisma:people who are endlessly busy.The channel of the prodigal:people who require frequent periods of retreat in their lives.
The Human Design System is symmetrical and logical, and once a rave chart is drawn up it is simple and easy both to analyse and explain.


THE NINE CENTRESHEAD – Inspiration: The Pressure Centre from AboveAJNA – The Mind/Conceptualisation: The Centre of Mental AwarenessTHROAT – Expression: The Centre of ManifestationHEART/EGO – The Will Power MotorG – Identity/Direction/Love: The ‘Higher’ SelfSACRAL – Sexuality/Creativity: The Fertility MotorSOLAR PLEXUS – Emotions: The Centre of Emotional AwarenessSPLEEN – Defence/Cleansing/Intuition: The Centre of Splenic AwarenessROOT – Kundalini/Stress: The Pressure Centre from Below


The Genetic TableThe Genetic Table (see diagram) represents the exact mathematical correlation between the ancient Chinese I Ching and the human genetic code.
Four types of human beingsOf the infinite possibilities that lie within our genetic material, Human Design shows us clearly that we humans are perhaps not as complicated as we like to think, for there are only four basic types of human being! Of course, there are millions of differences within these types, since each of us is unique. Each of the four types below operates according to a set of very simple natural laws.• Manifestors are pure energy beings. They are designed specifically not to be controlled by anyone. They often meet a lot of resistance in life because of this, and they can end up feeling very cut off from people. As with all the four types, when they understand the simple laws that govern their nature, life can suddenly be a lot easier for them.• Famous manifestors: Adolf Hitler, Paul McCartney, Alice Bailey, Sigmund Freud, Elisabeth Kübler-Ross.• Generators are designed to respond to life. Unlike manifestors they have no idea of where they are going until they respond. Therefore they have to wait until life initiates them first. Generators are potentially the most powerful of all the types, but unless they understand how they work, they are the most frustrated people alive.• Famous generators: Mozart, The Dalai Lama, Prince Charles.• Projectors are people whose specific gift is to work with and guide the energy of others. They alone can understand both manifestors and generators. They also have a design to wait, and the key that unlocks their power is recognition. Unless they are recognised, they are powerless. Once they are recognised, they can achieve almost anything.• Famous Projectors: Ramana Maharshi, Osho (formerly Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh), Karl Marx, Princess Diana.• Reflectors are the rarest of the four types, since they have nothing fixed in their nature to rely upon (none of the nine centres is coloured in). These people can be the wisestpeople among us, since their life rhythms are directly governed by a celestial body: the moon. But if they do not understand how their design works they can feel deeply lost and overwhelmed by life.• Famous reflector: Uri Geller.

Richard Rudd's web site:

www.genekeys.co.uk