Last time, we explored Hexagram 22, learning how our inner grace can open up new worlds and new possibilities. Now, the Sun is moving into Human Design Gate 36, which is the Gateway we call “Crisis Resolution.”

In the traditional I-Ching, this gateway is called “the darkening of the light.” We’ve all had those moments in life when it seems like everything’s going along fine and then suddenly the walls start closing in. It’s like going into a tunnel and the deeper you look into it, the darker it seems to be, the harder it is to see your way out. This is the moment of crisis.

Crisis is an experience, an emotional experience of something we have not come across before. It’s a new experience for us. And that’s the nature of the 36th Gateway: encountering new experiences.

So, here’s the great thing about a crisis: there’s always a potential to feel a sense of crisis before you make a move to experience something potentially wonderful for the first time. So how do you get there? How do you move through crisis into new, expansive experiences? As Charlie Chaplin says: “Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long shot.”

Let’s take a look at the Human Design Gate 36 line by line:

First Line: Enduring

The first line provides the foundation for the whole Hexagram. And here, the foundation of crisis, and crisis resolution, is “Enduring: Reflecting inwards when challenged by outer circumstances.” The feeling of crisis is internal. You’re the one experiencing the feelings of crisis. So, the question is, can you reflect inwards and acknowledge those feelings when challenged by outer circumstances?

You manage to handle emotional turmoil even while restraining your impulsive tendencies. When you encounter something you haven’t seen or been through before, you have the ability to handle that emotional turmoil. And what’s the easiest way to do that? Breathe. Breathe as though you’re breathing all the way down to your solar plexus. Connect into that part of your body. Acknowledge the feelings. Accept the feelings. If you don’t, you’re going to distance yourself from the actual experience.

If you magnify and externalize small difficulties, you end up in constant turmoil. Some people live their lives in constant turmoil. They thrive on crisis. They generate crisis situations for everyone around them. These people have never actually acknowledged their feelings. They don’t have that connection with their solar plexus.

Second Line: Being Constant

The second line is called, “Being constant: Being loyal when challenged in the company of others.” When you’re in a crisis situation, you’re looking around thinking “what am I supposed to do here?” The thing is to be loyal to yourself and the ones you trust.

Personal setbacks can give you the stimulation to help and receive help from others. When you’re totally stuck and don’t know what to do, can you get good advice or input from somewhere else? Who are you looking to? Where is the trust possible?

You apply your imagination to further yourself and others through crisis situations. You can see beyond your own needs. Second lines always have this natural quality—provided they allow themselves to engage with it. If not, you run the risk of being in total denial. You’ll walk right past as though it’s somebody else’s crisis and dismiss it as none of your business.

Third Line: Breaking Out

The third line here is called, “Breaking Out.” Earlier, I gave you the image of looking into a tunnel, and the further you look into the tunnel, the darker it seems. The third line is beginning to sense a bit of light in the tunnel somewhere. Perhaps you’re finding that inner resource in yourself that will brighten things up from within and kickstart the transition from darkness to light.

You shift from crisis to resolution when you witness emotional habits that don’t serve you. All of us carry around emotional habits. And the third line is always the experimental one. They’re always the ones that can forge a passage into new ground. Which means that within you lies the ability to recognize emotional habits that don’t serve you and get rid of them. Blaze a new trail.

Yours is a transformative process in which riding emotional crisis defines your personal priorities. You ride the wave. You ride the emotion to find your emotional clarity. There is a time coming when humanity has to become emotionally aware. We can’t carry on with the emotional distress that exists in the world at the moment. But for now, it’s important to recognize that ability to tune in and ride that emotional wave.

Fourth Line: Surveying

The fourth line is always the one that wants to bring other people together, and here the line is called “Surveying: Accessing your way by following your own light through all situations.”

So, as you’re drawing people together and getting everyone on the same page with an experience, remember that any experience is entirely subjective. It’s an entirely personal thing. We each have a different experience of life. So, the key thing is to remember your inner light. Remember your gifts and abilities to find your way through seemingly impossible situations.

In all crises, your passage through life depends on you accepting your own inner clarity or not. For those who have a defined emotion center, this is essential. We have to find our emotional clarity. Some of us have the ability to ride the wave on a consistent basis, and we’re always in touch with our feelings. Others aren’t so lucky. We have to be a little bit patient sometimes. But your inner ability to see beyond obvious concerns and issues can assist anyone in crisis. So, provided you follow your own light and clarity, you can administer beautifully in the lives of others.

Fifth Line: Shielding

The fifth line is the leader, the guide, the natural opener of pathways for people. And here, the fifth line is called, “Shielding: Hiding your intention from insensitive eyes.” Fifth lines always live in a bubble of other people’s expectations.

The fifth line can very easily find a way through crisis. The whole thing is to avoid stirring up more crises. Don’t keep generating crises. Just take them one at a time and you can deal with them. But, in shielding your intention from insensitive eyes, you are not letting people in on exactly how it is you accomplish the movement through crisis situations. You’re not going to be swayed by everybody else’s expectations of what you can do for them. You’re going to follow your own way through. And you’re going to fix all kinds of situations for people, but you’re not going to let them in on how it’s all happening.

Transformation is possible for you when you see your way to thrive in intense experiences. I’ve heard of people getting fully enlightened in the middle of a jail riot. This is a very fifth line thing. And that’s what Human Design Gate 36 can do. It can open up extraordinary possibilities even in the most intense situations.

Sixth Line: Crisis? What Crisis?

The sixth line is called “Being Resolved: Committing to persist in what is right.” Darkness is an absence of light. Whenever we fall into a really dark place in life, remember the inner light, and the darkness will begin to dissipate. The moment you bring your light to the crisis, whatever the situation is, it’s resolved.

Your powerful alignment with pure emotion brings natural healing and transformation. And how amazing is emotional healing? When we get stuck in a trauma, it’s like a scratch on the record. Every time the record goes around, we jump backwards. We have that same trauma effect, that same crisis situation. But when we go back in there and we see what the crisis is and relive it, we smooth out that scratch, and suddenly, the music plays again. The trauma is done.

On the other side of this, your reluctance to resolve crises makes you persist in finding some problem or another. It’s just about never letting go of the crisis. This whole channel is about moving on, progressing. But when we’re stuck with the trauma, when something’s stuck in our emotional body, there’s everything to be said for finding a way to release it. Breathing is a first good step. Breathe into the emotions, connect with the solar plexus, and see what happens. Ride out the feelings. Ride out the wave.

So, there we are, that’s Human Design Gate 36. We’ll check in again soon. In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about Human Design and discover how your own Design informs and shapes your life, get your Free Human Design Report today.