In Human Design, we often focus on the defined areas in our charts or the areas that are colored in. But it is often the open areas that control or create ripples in our lives. These are the white areas in our charts and we are open to being conditioned by those around us. We should live the expressions from these areas less frequently, but when we are conditioned, we take on the habit of living our openness in a defined way. When we live our conditioning it can impact our lives.
Take the example of a mother who has a defined will center. This mother will be able to have consistent access to will energy. The will center is also home to the ego, so will energy is pushy and is often about me or what I want. A child of this mother, who has an open will center can grow up amplifying will energy. Using this will energy can become a habit. As this child grows into an adult, if the conditioning is deep, they continue to use the will energy. But their system is not designed to handle will energy consistently. Their will center is undefined. Just like wiring in a house it is only rated for occasional usage. The will center is physically connected to the gall bladder and the heart. The result of over usage of will energy by this adult child can be gall bladder failure and or heart trouble. The best solution for the child is to de-condition or stop living the energy that they are not defined to live.
While this example is extreme, it is not an uncommon problem. All the areas in the Human Design system are connected to body parts or functions. Over use of energy in undefined areas from prolonged usage can result in physical illness. Thyroid issues, eating disorders, MS, etc can be related to living conditioning in the undefined circuitry.
In addition, consistently using energy that is not yours can come off as being phony. People are likely to feel a lack of sincerity or clarity from you. Take the gate 17 which is to have opinions. If you are put in a job that is constantly requiring your opinions, yet you are not defined in the gate 17 you may have trouble being listened to. By design your opinions will come across inconsistently and not nearly as robust as someone who has defined opinions (gate 17). The solution is to work in a job that doesn’t require opinions all the time or work in partnership with someone who does have the gate 17 opinion energy.
The goal in Human Design is to be wise about our open areas. We can experience through the openness unlimited ways of experiencing the applicable energy. A person with an open solar plexus can feel and amplify emotions in unlimited ways. But on a daily basis we want to live out the consistency of our defined areas. That is how we are wired to live and that wring is integrated into our bodies and right on down to our genes.
Here are some sample charts that display openness. The open areas are circled in pink.
