Last week, we introduced the concept of the Self-Center, that diamond-shaped Center that lies at the heart of the Human Design Life Chart. We alluded to the fact that this Center has everything to do with identity, purpose, and direction in life. This week, we’ll get a little more specific about some of the different types of Self-Centers, namely the Defined and Undefined Self-Center, and what they mean in your Life Chart.

A Defined Self Center

For those people who have the Self Center defined, and thereby connected directly to one or more Centers through defined Channel(s), the way life expresses are fixed.

There are certain characteristics, directions, and patterns of behaviors that are going to be constant. A defined Self Center indicates a degree of stability and dependability in how life is expressed.

There are 4 Directional “Sphinx” Gates (Gate 1, Creativity, Gate 2, Receptivity, Gate 7, Uniformity, and Gate 13, Listening) that tend to aim life in particular ways.

And there are 4 “Love” Gates (Gate 10, Behavior, Gate 15, Humanity, Gate 25, Innocence, and Gate 46, Serendipity) that connect us with Nature.

With a defined Self Center, it is very difficult for someone to mistake you for someone else, and others can rely for the most part on your consistency. There are, for the most part, set boundaries of what is right for you, and what is not, certain ways to go places and express yourself, and certain ways that do not fit.

If the Gate making the connection to the Self Center is part of your Unconscious Design (colored pink), it is perhaps easier for others to see the consistency in you than it is for yourself until you are aware of this feature in your Chart.

However you relate in life with your defined Self Center, you are called on to hold a consistency in expressing yourself in the world that is (hopefully) always aligned with your Type and Authority.

An Undefined Self-Center

For those people who have an undefined Self-Center, that is with at least one activated Gate in that Center, but no completed Channel connecting to another Center, the expression of life is consistently inconsistent. Once grasped clearly, this consistent inconsistency offers an extraordinary level of freedom of expression!

The only things that are consistent are the availability of the wisdom accrued in a Gate or Gates in the undefined Self Center when activated through contact with someone who has a defined Self Center, and/or the potential to be conditioned by identifying too closely with the company you keep.

It is easy to become swayed by the people and circumstances around you and so having any fixed identity is questionable, a flexible sense of identity more appropriate.

In the company of a group of people, there is a fleeting identity and nature of who you are there. Move to a different group, and that is who you are there. Stand with someone else, and that is who you are there.

Throughout life, there is a constant pull of conditioning to be and behave in ways according to the influences around you, and remembering your Type and Authority in all situations is essential to remain true to your own life journey.  Setting sensible boundaries is essential to avoid being overly influenced, taken for granted, or misdirected.

Travel away from a particular living situation into a different environment or country for some time, and come back a changed person who can experience difficulty reconnecting with the ways things were.  You may have a set way of living and expressing yourself for a period of time, however, there can be a sudden shift in identity, priorities, and ways in which things get done.

Everyone sees in someone with an undefined Self Center whoever they are able to see … and mostly, they are getting a reflection of themselves. And here’s the rub: If they like themselves and the reflection they get, fine.  If they do not like themselves and the reflection they get…. Oh, well!

In essence, what happens through you is you hold the potential to reflect the wisdom you’ve gathered in all the ways of the world in your undefined Self-Center, through any active Gate(s) you have there.  You have the potential to remind others to take particular directions in life (“Sphinx” Gates), and love themselves, (“Love” Gates).

So, what happens when the Self-Center has no activations? That’s what we’ll be covering next week when we explore the Open Self-Center. Until then, we invite you to start your own Human Design journey by getting your FREE Human Design Report.