When we’re struck by something new, a new concept, a new idea, a new form of thought, how do we communicate it to others? How do we share concepts that might be scary, might be challenging to the status quo, in a way that can be received and understood? The answers are in the Human Design System.

Last time, we explored Hexagram 2, learning how to open ourselves up to receive and share the gifts of the Universe. Now, the Sun is moving into Gate 23, which we call “Assimilation.”

Picture a mountain that you can see from your window. Every day you look out at this mountain and it’s the same as it ever was. It’s been there forever. It’s substantial. It’s set in time and space. You can rely on it. Then one day there’s a sudden avalanche. You hear a great big rumble and see clouds of dust and rocks tumbling down from the mountaintop. And after it’s settled, you look out your window again and see that the shape of that old familiar mountain has changed.

That is the nature of this 23rd Gateway. It literally splits apart old concepts, old ideas, old appreciations, old traditions, and renders something completely new and different. So, there can be a great degree of shock in this Gateway, but ultimately it is a Gateway of bringing about stability. A Gateway of peeling away the non-essential to reveal what is substantial.

The 23 makes up a channel, with the 43rd Gateway, called “Structuring.” And this channel is all about expressing individuality, expressing the novel, expressing something different. It relies on speech and being able to say something clearly in an easily comprehensible way.

New insights come in from the 43. New concepts and expressions. It can be jarring. Like a bolt out of the blue. An avalanche. It shakes things up. The job of the 23rd Gateway is to assimilate these insights. To translate and disseminate them. And once they can be conveyed, understood, and assimilated, we begin to peel away the non-essential, the old traditions. And from there we move into a whole new space, put down a new foundation, and start building a whole new structure of understanding.

As the first Gateway in the Throat Center, the voice of Gate 23 is: “I know!” This is very different from “I think,” or “I believe.” It is direct. It does not require expansion on where this “knowing” comes from, and can easily startle people who are used to reasoning, expressed beliefs, and more visual and commonly shared viewpoints in life. In order to convey the “knowing” of Gate 23 clearly, speech skills and attention to the voice’s tonality are essential.

Let’s see how this works as we look at Gate 23 in the Human Design System line by line:

First Line: Validating

The first line is called “Validating: Aiming your attention on what really needs attention.” So as an insight seeks expression, Gate 23 might have trouble finding a way to express it, to give it a voice. So, the first line here is essentially saying, “be focused, put your attention on what really needs to be expressed here and how it’s going to be expressed, especially when it comes to your tone of voice.”

You continuously strive to find your inner conviction when relating to life’s changing circumstances. There is something new coming through all the time. Every time you speak, it’s a new expression. So, the job is to find a way to express what is valid in the current moment.

You express personal insights that may or may not represent what is relevant to others. These expressions that are coming through are extraordinarily powerful. But they carry with them the possibility of being completely misunderstood. Do you have the audience in front of you that is capable of hearing what it is that you’re trying to communicate? Are you saying it in a way that they can comprehend? Because if they can hear it, if they can get it, it’s going to change their lives. It’s going to transform them.

Second Line: Tolerating

The second line here is called, “Tolerating: Naturally relating to circumstances from a personal resolve.” There’s a lot to be said for being comfortable in yourself. You’re not trying to convince anybody. You’re not twisting anybody’s arm. You’re just expressing yourself, or waiting—according to your Type and Authority—for those times when you can express yourself. Knowing when the time is right for others to be able to hear you and receive what you’re bringing through.

Being self-righteous or detached does not necessarily help you express yourself clearly. If you carry an agenda with what it is you’re trying to transmit, it’s not really going to work. It’s not about your personal agenda. It’s about finding that personal resolve in what it is that needs to get expressed here. What it is that’s seeking to come through you as a vessel for expressing pure insight.

It’s the gift of the gab. The ability to talk your way into and through all manner of life’s obstacles. It’s so easy with the 23 to talk your way into trouble. To be misunderstood by everyone around you. But, the second line, in its natural, relaxed state, just has this ability. You can talk your way into trouble, and you can talk your way out of trouble. And you can always have this transformational effect. This ability to raise eyebrows with whatever you have to say. Knowing how to be non-serious is a great asset.

Third Line: Uniqueness

Third lines are experimenters. They’re very quick to jump into things without necessarily knowing the consequences. Here, the line is called “Uniqueness: Trusting in yourself while being committed to others.” It’s about staying true to your own ways, but also noticing how what others do and say affects you.

Other people are going to live their life in their own way. So, it’s up to you to be tuned into that, while trusting yourself to be able get through to them. If you are clear in yourself while saying what you need to say, it will have a profound effect. But you’ve got to find that balance between being receptive and expressive.

The third line can be extraordinarily innovative in conveying insight to people. But there is always the risk of speaking in a way that can attract concerns, suspicions, and retribution. It’s very easy for people to feel unbalanced when you’re expressing things that you have this intuitive knowing about, but can’t justify with reason or data. If you aren’t tuned into what’s needed in the situation, what really needs to be expressed, it’s not going to land clearly with people.

Fourth Line: Diversifying

The fourth line is called, “Diversifying: Individual strength overcomes all tribulations.” The fourth line always wants to bring people together. When you express something that’s coming through you, you want it to connect with everybody. You don’t necessarily need everyone to agree with you, but you’d like them to go along with what it is that that is coming through you.

Your individual, impulsive expressions often confound generally accepted ways of life. It again comes back to trusting yourself and being clear. Can you be strong in yourself when you speak out? Is there going to be blowback? Have you learned the essential speech skills, mastered your tone of voice? Have you learned how to get through to people. Are you really clear on the fact that what’s going to come through you has the potential to blow people’s minds?

The effect of the things you say requires you to question what it is you hear yourself saying. The voice of Gate 23 is going to affect everybody. It’s a transformational voice. But it’s an individual expression. So, are you capable of hearing what it is that you say or how you say it? Is it comprehensible? If not, expressing your insights will invariably result in your isolation from the mainstream.

Fifth Line: Acquiescing

The fifth line is called “Acquiescing: The mutual benefit in offering differing and sometimes contrary choices.” There’s always the sense that the fifth line knows what they’re doing. That we need to pay attention to the fifth line. They’ve got the vision. They’ve got the overview. They’re the natural guides and leaders. So, the fifth line has to be very versatile in how the knowing gets expressed.

You, the individual, have the means to interact with others for personal or collective advantage. Different expressions are needed for different people and different situations. People can ask the same question and you can give them completely different answers that are tailored for whatever it is they’re seeking to get. So, what we’re seeing here is that the 23rd Gateway is a very individual expression, but by the time you get to the fifth line, it can actually be able to express things according to the needs of society.

You have the gift of being able to relate your personal insights for everyone’s gain, but on the other side of it, you can be driven by a need to cooperate for personal ease rather than mutual benefits. There is the potential to placate people, to tell them what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear. Expressing your knowing, expressing totally novel concepts isn’t always easy. So, there can be a temptation to take the easy way out.

Sixth Line: Synthesizing

The sixth line is called “Synthesizing: Creating new forms by combining many different possibilities.” This is the key to assimilation. With all the different ideas and concepts coming through, people with the sixth line might find themselves hesitating, waiting for all the bits and pieces to come together before it comes out in a language, a stream of words, a knowing.

Remaining neutral while under pressure from the status quo allows you to propose new visions. There’s always an ambient pressure to maintain the status quo. Don’t shake things up. Don’t break from tradition. Everything’s fine just the way it is. But, once something new lands and everyone sees the possibilities for empowerment and uplift, the consciousness suddenly changes, and we can start building from this new concept.

By the way…

Again, the 23rd Gateway is very powerful, very transformational. And on a personal note, it just so happens that my conscious Sun is in Gateway number 43, and so my Earth is in the 23. So, I’m going to assimilate here some of the realizations I’ve had from the many thousands of lifetimes on planet Earth.

Here we go:

• • You are unique. There’s little point comparing yourself.
  • Religions are based on various interpretations of other people’s lives.
  • Science keeps reinventing itself. It’s never going to stop.
  • We all know intrinsically what is right and what is wrong. Rules are for people who’ve not been able or had the inclination to work things out for themselves. Beliefs are for people who are not living a life of their own.
  • Meditation is the key to you.
  • The origin of the word sin means to forget. We’ve forgotten, that’s all. We can remember (Meditation helps in this).
  • Life is a mystery (my-story), and hopefully not an ongoing problem.
  • You don’t get rich working for someone else.
  • Spend time in great company and in great solitude.
  • If you’re going to have allergies, be allergic to stupidity.
  • Your salvation is living in the present.
  • Nature is a great ally and only knows how to be natural.
  • You have a singular choice in life: You either find the joy, the fun, the adventure, the love, the laughter, the celebration and delight. Or, you can just be a miserable son of a bitch. Attitude is everything!

So, there we are, that’s Gate 23 in the Human Design System. We’ll check in again soon. In the meantime, if you’d like to learn more about how the Human Design System informs and shapes your own life, get your Free Human Design Report today.