The hexagram can be looked at from countless perspectives. It can be seen as a whole, a binary, a trigram, and as six lines. It can be used to determine a person's profile and it can be used to give further meaning to a gate. And these are just a few.

The first important point you should remember is the hexagram as a trigram. The lower three lines have a different quality than the upper three. The lower are introspective and do not know there is a gate on the other end of the channel. The second three are aware of the gate on the other end of the channel.

For example in the channel of Talent 48-16 you have gate 48 - Depth - and gate 16 - Skills. Somebody with 48.1 is not aware of what skills are needed to bring out their depth. They do not even know there is such a thing as skills. Someone with 48.4, however, is all about finding the skills that will allow them to externalize their depth. This is not to say that somebody with 48.4 should be focused on learning skills since that is not their job, but they will be inherently aware of the the need to couple their depth with skills.

In the 17-62 Channel of Acceptance (design of an organized being) the 17.1 one line doesn’t know what details will support its opinions, doesn’t even know that there are details to support it. The 17.4, on the other hand knows the details are out there and is alert to any opportunity to find the details so it can externalize its opinions.

The second important point is to understand the flavor of each line so that you can apply it to the keynote of the gate. If the gate in question is 48 - Talent - then 48.1 is about studying talent to establish a foundation and they might never express the talent, whereas 48.5 is about universalizing talent and they might not study it at all. Or if it is the 17, then 17.1 is about studying opinions – though the opinions might never be expressed. The 17.5, universalizes opinions but doesn't necessarily study them.

So the qualities of a gate with a first line might never be apparent to other people. A person with the first line in gate 22 - Openness - might not appear open at all and yet they could be obsessed with what makes a person open socially. The 22 with a second line, however, would appear terribly social and would be surprised if you told them so. Another example is the first line in gate 35 - Change - They might not appear to change at all and yet they might study how people change. The 35 with a 2nd line might appear to be part of changes, yet they don't see it themselves.

The MOST important thing to understand about the lines is that they are neither good or bad, right or wrong. These are behavioral strategies that are part of humanity, and have been for tens of thousands of years. They are part of the genetics of our species. Why? Because they have proven themselves over the millennia. These behaviors work. Successful strategies are those that continue in time. They survive and reproduce. Unsuccessful strategies die out simply because they aren’t effective enough to reproduce themselves.

So, when you see lines like Greed, Corruption, Perversion, Insanity, and Conflict don’t look at them as bad or wrong. And when you see lines like the Savior, Leadership, Victory, Assuredness, don’t think of them as good or right. If you read much of human history you will easily see that the Individual, the Tribe and the Collective have been with us for a long, long time and the specific strategies of the lines in those circuits serve extremely well.

Perhaps the greatest gift of Human Design is the opportunity it gives us to understand ourselves and others. To really see what is going on. To appreciate the validity – even the necessity of all these diverse behaviors. Herein is freedom.

"I'm not bad. Love me"

So here is the trick: Show your client how their Design is unique and absolutely necessary. If they have a line called Greed, for example, understand it is not morally bad. It is about realizing that sometimes you need more than you need at the moment in order to be safe for the future. Are chipmunks bad for collecting more nuts than they need?

Self Study: Look at your own gates from the point of view of the trigram structure and them look at them from their line flavor. Is it a lower trigram gate, looking inwards or is it upper trigram looking outwards. What is the flavor? Introspection? Projection? Universalization? Aloofness? Share your thoughts in the Forum.

Key terms:
1st line - introspection.
2nd line - hermit.
3rd line - trial and error.
4th line - externalization.
5th line - projection.
6th line - role model.

 

Congratulations! This is the end of the Section C.

Go to the Conclusion of the ABC.