Last time, we explored Hexagram 12, which gave us an opportunity to stop, breathe, and take stock of our lives. Now, the sun is moving into Human Design Gateway 15, which we call “Humanity.”

Over the last year, we’ve been going through all the 64 Hexagrams in the I-Ching. Now, the Sun has come back to exactly where we started, which was in Gateway 15. And the significance of the 15 is that it’s in one of the solstice points.

With the Solstice approaching, we find ourselves in a time that’s ripe for reflection. It’s a time for us to reexamine. For us to ask: What am I doing here? Am I on track in my life? Am I growing in my life? Am I embracing not just humanity, but every living thing around me in this flow, in this very extraordinary dance?

It’s a gateway that embraces all of humanity and all the extreme ways in which humanity can present itself in the world. When you think about it, humanity is a very flexible thing. Think of all the different climates we can live in, and all the different activities we get involved in. We can dive deep into the ocean. We can fly through the sky and beyond into outer space. We can live in extremes of heat and cold, altitude and depression. There are so many ways in which life can be lived out.

So, I call the gate “Humanity”, but it can also extend to every living thing. Everything that’s got a little bit of a pulse is included in Human Design Gateway 15, because in all of these different extremes of climate and habitat, there is a place and a role for everyone, for every living thing.

In large part, it’s about figuring out your place, your relationship to humanity, and to the world around you. There’s a level of trust that comes through this 15th gateway. Trust in yourself and in those around you. People are naturally drawn to you and people are drawn into your life. But, having friends and acquaintances at all levels of society and nature implies you might have difficulty with being dependent on, or controlled by, anyone in particular. So, the key is to be really clear about who gets how much energy in your life, to be really grounded in your Type and Authority.

Let’s take a look at Human Design Gateway 15 line by line:

First Line: Having Humility

The first line is called “Having Humility: Having the self-discipline to transcend all manner of life’s issues.” We can be very full of ourselves sometimes. But it’s important to recognize that life is an extraordinary gift. And to have the privilege of experiencing that gift is a humbling thing. No matter what the circumstances are, no matter how difficult things get, or how much it seems like the sky is falling, life is still an amazing experience. So, however the journey plays out, it’s important to acknowledge and be grateful that we get to have this experience.

Having the self-discipline to transcend all manner of life’s issues means that you trust in life itself. It’s having the trust to let life play out, to accept it, whatever comes your way. This doesn’t mean you should ignore your Type and Authority, or throw your personal responsibility away and just be a passenger or passive observer in life. But there’s a graciousness in being given this life experience, the good and the bad. We go through it all. We experience it all. We don’t fight against it.

You either maintain a sensibility to your nature and needs, or an insecurity that is immodest. The greatest gift we can give ourselves is self-confidence. Think about it: has anyone ever encouraged you to be self-confident? To truly believe that you might actually know what you’re doing? We are in a time now where we’re moving into the age of the individual. So, self-confidence, trusting in yourself, is paramount. The moment you start comparing yourself, you’re completely lost in somebody else’s story. The nature of the 15th gateway is having the humility to be able to connect with anybody. Nobody is greater or lesser than anybody else. We all have our role to play.

Second Line: Being Persistent

The second line is called, “Being Persistent: Finding reassurance by maintaining your sincerity and integrity.” Second lines always have this very natural quality about things, but there can also be the other side where the moment you lose your sense of self-trust, things go haywire. So again, the 15th gateway has a lot to do with trust, and this is trust in oneself as much as in the company and the situations that life places you in.

Your moderation, as well as your extreme conduct, has a profound effect on others. It’s important to remember that one of the key words with the 15 is extreme. The second line has the ability to adapt to all manner of extremes, all manner of expanded boundaries and different ways of life on this planet. You can move into different cultures and situations and environments and take to them like a duck to water. And your presence there, your difference, standing out within a culture that isn’t your own, can help people move into recognizing that the flow of life is enormous.

You have the strength to accept your own particular ways as natural, but the moment you start doubting yourself, or comparing yourself, things start to come unglued. When you compare your extreme ways to other people’s moderate ones, you can begin to contrive outcomes. And when you contrive outcomes, you instantly step out of the natural flow of life.

Third Line: Being Modest

Third lines are always in this place of breaking boundaries, trying out something new, experimenting, and sometimes getting their fingers burned. Here, the third line calls itself, “Being Modest: An unwavering commitment to finish what you start.” Accomplishing deeds without asserting your supremacy assures the quality of your whole life.

Again, it comes down to trust. You have to trust in the process. Yes, you’ll get your fingers burned every now and again. Yes, things might get messy or awkward from time to time. But you trust, you stick with it, you leave bravado behind and accept that it won’t be perfect every time. That’s how you learn and improve. You jump in, and with each failure or setback you learn a little bit more for next time.

When you do get it right, when you’ve successfully pulled off the experiment, you remain unassuming. All of us have the possibility of being boastful when we feel we’ve really pulled something off. But this is about being in the flow of life. This is about embracing humanity and all the different ways in which things can be lived out. There is ultimately no right or wrong way of doing anything. There’s only the way of being true to yourself.

Fourth Line: Centering

The fourth line is called, “Centering: Restraining any extremes in your life that do not reflect love.” Remember: the whole basis of the 15th Hexagram is love of humanity, love of life itself, love of the flow of life, being in the flow of life. So, if love’s not on board here, something’s not right.

Being loving and true to the flow of life requires you to constantly check your inner guidance. And this goes for all of us. We all need to check our inner guidance: What’s really going on inside? What am I really about here? Am I living true to my life? Or am I blindly following someone else’s pathway? Do I have the humility to achieve my best in a way that is in accord with my highest ideals?

We all know those times when we’re absolutely in touch with our life. We’re totally on board with what we’re doing. We’re crystal clear in embracing our highest ideals. And our highest ideal is to be in this presence of love in life, and to be in love with whatever it is that’s going on around us, from the inside. But when you try to bend the flow of life, when you adopt a dogmatic approach to going your own way to achieve your goals, you quickly lose your center. You step out of the natural flow of life.

A Quick Centering Meditation

I’d like to share a very quick meditation that you might find useful any time you’re confronted by a situation where you’re a little off balance and need to find your center. I call it the Elastic Bands meditation:

Imagine you’ve got a massive a rubber band, and
as you’re sitting or standing somewhere, you drop
this rubber band, and it goes right down into the
center of Mother Earth. It touches the center and
then it springs right back. And then right after that,
you send it off into the sky, up into the middle of
nowhere, and it comes swinging back. And as you
follow that movement, you’ll find you’re totally
connected, you’re grounded, you’re clear, you’re
centered, upwards and downwards at the same time.

Fifth Line: Fellowship

The fifth line is called “Fellowship: Attuning to the needs of all those in extreme positions.” Fifth lines are the natural leaders, the guides. They can be quite visionary. They can see extraordinary potentials and possibilities. But, there’s always the challenge of making things practical.

In terms of fellowship and humanity, you see the possibilities and outcomes, but the trick is also to see who are the people that could benefit from associating with you. Who could really benefit from having this sense of humanity, this sense of being embraced, recognized, trusted? A lot of people find themselves out on a limb and they don’t know where to make that connection. The fifth line can really help them to feel like they’re involved. Can you attune yourself to all those in need, those who are in extreme positions?

You guide those with less experience through tough situations by virtue or by being brash. When it’s by virtue, you’re just there to help things play out with perhaps a slight guiding hand. When the person or circumstance calls for something more brash, you might just grab the wheel and sort it out for them yourself. The problem many fifth lines run into is that they get caught up in rescuing everybody else. Like the auto mechanic who neglects his own car, you can get lost in other people’s problems and lose track of your place within it all. So, it’s very important to be clear on who you engage with and how much energy you’re able to expend.

Sixth Line: Respect

The sixth line is called “Respect: Setting an example by taking responsibility for your own circumstances in life.” Sixth lines are always in this position of being the most capable among us. You can see exactly what it is that everyone needs. You can see all the different levels within any hexagram, all the different capabilities for providing this love of humanity, or this sense of trust, or giving people the sense that they belong here.

Like we saw with the fifth line, there’s always this possibility to go overboard on everybody else’s behalf. So, the key is to be clear on your own circumstances before you feel obliged to get involved in anybody else’s. By accepting and appreciating who you are, you are able to find a clear course through life.

This again comes down to self-confidence, self-knowledge, self-appreciation, self-love. In the end, that’s all that’s required of us in this lifetime. All you have to do is be true to the nature of your Chart. When we get that, when we understand and fully appreciate that, we find we’ve been given a master key for this lifetime. If you want to be in the flow of life, recognize what your design is telling you. It really is that simple. You can grab the wheel and take charge of any situation at any time, and do so with humility, but only if you’re clear in yourself.

On the other side of it, seeking harmony in all interactions, you can blame others when things appear to go wrong. It’s very easy to put the blame on somebody else when things don’t turn out how we expected. But, part of this movement that’s happening for humanity in this time, this rapid expansion in consciousness that’s taking place at the moment, means that we are moving out of an age of blame. We’re moving out of the age of the collective, where it was always everybody else’s fault, where we could always point the finger somewhere else.

We’re moving into the age of the individual, where we have to take individual responsibility. The beauty of this 15th gateway is that it reminds us that humanity is all around us. Life is all around us. Life is a miracle. This planet is a miracle and we’re all here to have this extraordinary life experience. However that life experience turns out, the bottom line is that it all comes down to self-acceptance, self-appreciation, self-love.

So, there we are, that’s Human Design Gateway 15. We’ll check in again soon. In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about how your Human Design informs and shapes your life, get your Free Human Design Report today.