Last time, we explored the Life Themes with the Sun in Gateway 54, the Gateway of “Ambition”. Now, we move on into Gateway 61, the Gateway of “Inner Truth”. What is truth, exactly? We’re all told from day one to be honest and to tell the truth. But what is the truth? It’s not the same thing as knowledge. It’s not the same thing as belief. It’s an inner knowing. When you know, you know. It’s a completely internal and personal thing.
With that in mind, let’s have a look at the Human Design Life Themes associated with Gateway 61:
The Personal Life Theme: The Maya

The Unconscious Sun is in Gate 32, the Gateway of “Duration”, which is always checking to see if we’re on the right track, if we have what we need, and whether or not we need to do some fine tuning to keep things ticking along. The Unconscious Earth is in Gate 42, the Gateway of “Growth and Increase”. So, there’s quite a bit of pressure around this Life Theme.
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- Gate 61 – Inner Truth – Authenticity guides us to what we know to be true.
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- Gate 62 – Expressed Details – Expressing and defining details that are of value to the present and future.
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- Gate 32 – Duration – Adapting to the latest circumstances in a world of constant change.
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- Gate 42 – Increase – Growing your inner and outer resources expands all experiences for yourself and others.
Gate 62 in the Logic Circuitry, and Gate 61 in the Individual Circuitry. Which means that this is one of these Life Themes that’s balancing in many different ways, constantly probing for what’s real. On the one side, we’ve got Inner Truth, that sense inside of us that we know to be true. And truth cannot necessarily be expressed in words. Words can get us close, but they can never quite penetrate into the plain truth. Then on the other side, we have Gate 62 trying to work out how to express things in a way that encompasses that sense of truth?
The word “Maya” in this Life Theme means the illusion of the perceptible world. It raises the question: is there something real about this world or not? And this becomes the conundrum for people born with this particular Life Theme. They’re never quite sure if this is all real or not? It’s essentially an ongoing balancing act. They might put all their energy and trust into something, and it turns out to be nothing. Or they disregard something as complete nonsense and then it suddenly becomes totally evident and clear to them.
So, if you have this Life Theme, the question is, what do you do in this situation? Do you get upset? Or do you find the funny side of it? Do you see that there are great stories to be told here? There are great things to be appreciated about the ephemeral nature of life. Are we a physical being or are we a spirit being inhabiting a physical body? So, this Life Theme really tests all kinds of different parameters about life. The main thing is to be alert. Be present.
Notable people with this Life Theme: Orlando Bloom, Howard Stern, Julia Louis Dreyfus, George Gurdjieff, Penelope Ann Miller
The Fixed Life Theme: Truth

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- Gate 61 – Inner Truth – Authenticity guides us to what we know to be true.
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- Gate 62 – Expressed Details – Expressing and defining details that are of value to the present and future.
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- Gate 50 – Values – Honoring the wisdom and values that enrich both the local community and society at large.
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- Gate 3 – Innovation – Breaking with the old ways and implementing the new.
On the unconscious side, the Sun has moved into the 50th Gateway, the Gateway of “Values”, specifically values that sustain wellbeing for the community. At the same time, the Unconscious Earth has gone into Gateway 3, the Gate of “Innovation”.
People with this Life Theme are always looking for ways to upgrade our experience, to take us closer to a frequency that we can agree on. A frequency that’s truly harmonious. A frequency that works for everybody because it’s truthful. And you’ll know you’re tuned into that frequency because when you hear it, when you’re aligned with it, it just sounds right to you.
The Interpersonal Life Theme: Obscuration

One thing they can do to deal with this is to muddy the waters a little bit. They might point people in the right direction, giving them the essence of the truth without necessarily showing them how they do it. So, you’ll find people with this Life Theme, they’ll tell you so much, and then you realize there’s a whole area of their lives that they keep entirely to themselves and they won’t let you in. Like the Wizard of Oz working behind his curtain, they’re always pointing out possibilities, great pie in the sky illusions, but they don’t want to give away all their secrets.
Notable people with this Life Theme: Martin Luther King, Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Faye Dunaway, Jason Bateman
That’s the essence of the Life Themes associated with the 61st Gateway. If you want to learn more about Life Themes, you’ll find them all in the Book of Destinies, part of the Human Design Trilogy which is available in all good bookstores and audiobook platforms.
If you want to find out more about Gate 61, we encourage you to dive into our blog series on the Book of Lines.
And if you’d like to learn more about how your Human Design informs and shapes your life, get your Free Human Design Report today.

