An introduction to Human Design by David Wilson Barnes

“What is Human Design? First of all, don’t believe anything I’m about to tell you. Human Design is not to be believed, it’s not based on a belief system, it is to be experienced. It’s an empirical system that can be understood through experimentation and confirmation. And the reason for this is because existence is a mechanical process. And Human Design is the objective understanding of this mechanical process, it’s known as the science of differentiation, because it’s the science of understanding the extent of our individual uniqueness and how to take advantage of that uniqueness in life.

So everything you’re about to hear is simply a framework for a possibility. The possibility to discover how you are your own Authority in this life and how you don’t need anything or anyone else but yourself to guide you. And that self discovery and understanding the mechanical nature of who you are in relationship to all of existence is possible. And it’s possible through a simple practice that focuses your awareness and deepens your perception. With deepened perception comes deeper understanding. And with deeper understanding comes the greater possibility of a life that’s filled with satisfaction and success, a greater sense of inner peace and more pleasant surprises. Overall, just a much more fluent existence, with far less mental stress and greater physical health.

So what you’re looking at now is called the Bodygraph, it’s otherwise know as a Human Design Chart. So everyone on Earth has the same basic Bodygraph. It’s the shapes and the lines that connect those shapes and the numbers within those shapes, those are the same on every Chart. So what makes a Bodygraph unique are the elements that are then colored in and this is determined by the birth data that is supplied. It’s this data that defines each persons differentiation within the science of differentiation. And every completed Chart then becomes the blueprint of the mechanics of who a person is and how they function in the world, revealing each individuals place in the ongoing evolution of humanity. So unlike the transition from Neanderthal to Cro Magnon to Homo Sapiens, our most recent evolutionary leap was an internal one, there were no external changes in the physique, such a skull structure or bone density. And this is because we underwent an evolution in our capacity for awareness. It was an evolution in our field of consciousness. And the only physical manifestation of this evolution was the transition of humanity from being what we call 7 centered human being to being a 9 centered human being.

So we, you and I, are 9 centered human beings.

The Centers in the Human Design Chart are based on the Hindu Chakra system and this was discovered in India over 2500 years ago through the Hindu Vedic sciences, which described seven fields of subtle energies within the body or Chakras. And each field represented a different quality of our nature. In Human Design we don’t call them Chakras, we call them Centers. So this was the 7 centered human being. In the 7 centered human they focused on the navigation of life through mental strategies or decision making through the weighing of pros and cons and acting on the potential viability of those pros and cons. And all of our current institutions, so our churches, our schools, our governments, our morality, our ethics, these are all based on the 7 centered strategic mind. And today we’re still being educated from the 7 centered point of view. And this has effectively homogenized the entire Earth to navigate life through mental strategies of the 7 centered being and has built the world that we have now for better and for worse.

You know, there have been a lot of advancements in science, in medicine, in social organization, specially over the last 400 years. But then there’s the other side of that equation with all of its dysfunction and inconsistent and often disastrous results. So in the evolution of the 7 centered being to the 9 centered being, we went from our minds relative awareness being our Authority in decision making, to a system today in which our body’s instinctual awareness can now be relied on as the Authority for our decision making process. It all boils down to decision making.

Because the story of our life is simply a tapestry that is built on a sequence of events made from one decision to another. You know, you wake up in the morning and you decide what you want for breakfast, you decide what kind of socks you’re gonna wear and what route you might take to work that day. So from those seemingly small decisions to the larger ones of where you’re gonna live and what you’re gonna do with your life and who you’re gonna spent your life with. All of life is just decision making. But most everyone on Earth is still making decisions with the mind, you know, they’re using the old 7 centered strategic system. But decisions made with the mind, they always come with a degree of uncertainty. Because trying to predict outcomes by weighing pros and cons only brings clarity after the fact. You know, you make the decision and then; ‘Yes that worked’. ‘No that didn’t work’. ‘Yes that was a good decision’. ‘No that was a bad decision’. So it’s all a bit of a crap-shoot at the end of the day. And the bigger the decision, the bigger the uncertainty. And the greater the uncertainty, the greater the mental stress and the anxiety and the physical breakdown.

So what Human Design is offering, is an insight into the mechanics behind the art of decision making through your body’s individual, instinctual awareness. And this is all achieved through a simple practice that you experiment with over time. And it’s the only thing that one needs to utilize the full potential of what Human Design has to offer. So it doesn’t matter how much anyone knows about Human Design or how long they’ve been in this process, this practice is the only thing that matters, whether you’re a beginner or you’re 25 years into your experiment. And the practice is called; Strategy & Authority.

Strategy & Authority.

So Strategy & Authority is the only thing you need to start your journey in Human Design. And if it speaks to you, is the only thing you need to practice it for the rest of your life. It’s the key to Human Design and it unlocks the mechanics of your nature.

Everyone on Earth has a specific active Strategy that can guide them and a specific Inner Authority that they can surrender to for all decision making. And when you learn to trust your Design through experimenting with your Strategy and your Authority and surrendering to the innate wisdom of your body’s awareness, your mind is then no longer being pressured, is no longer being pressured to strategically predict the future for its survival. And this in turn expands your mind’s ability to take in its environment, this is literally an expansion of your consciousness. And in doing so, you’re increasing the potential for discovering purpose, either a new purpose or an increase sense of purpose in what your life has already become.

This is the possibility behind the Human Design System. And as I mentioned, don’t believe anything I’m telling you, Human Design is about practical knowledge, it either works, or it doesn’t and you’re the only person that can determine that, for you.” – David Wilson Barnes

transcript by Evelyne Beyer