"Radical Transformations"

More From the Personality Variables

“The moment your mind has to make a decision for you is the moment you have an agenda. You've got a reason. You're making things up. You're going to get stuck with all that stuff. And in the end it comes back and it bites you. Every time the mind is in control of your life is when you are no longer a passenger. You‘re just caught up in the mess.” - Ra Uru Hu, Radical Transformations

I think I’m beginning to understand why Ra (the creator of Human Design) referred to Variables as the “Radical Transformations.” In my experiment currently, this is especially the case in noticing the operation of Motivation and View. With Variables, we’re really able to see how the mind works. I mentioned in a previous post that Ra said the absolute worst thing you can do with information about the Variables is, ironically, to try to do anything. They’re not about doing, but about witnessing and better understanding how we’re designed.

Just because you’re seeing and/or motivated “correctly” - in my example, viewing “Possibilities” and motivated by “Guilt” - does not mean you’ll know what decision to make or action to take. Decisions are always and forever the exclusive domain of Strategy and Authority in Human Design. With my Possibility/Guilt combination, I’m designed to see all the ways any and all situations could be improved. Very few problems or circumstances with room for improvement are any of my actual business, however. But I am built to see the world that way.

So, recognizing that even when I’m correct, 90%+ of the whatever’s going on in my life movie is not something I have to, or should, take action on per my Authority. I experience my transference (to Probabilities/Hope), like a movement away from authentic power and value-based, intrinsic motivation into the land of extrinsic motivation, based in the fear of the unknown. Because incorrectly motivated Hope is just avoidance in disguise.

The stoic philosopher Hecato said, “cease to hope and you will cease to fear.” Because Fear and Hope both see us investing our power and belief in the unknown, uncertain future. Fear and Hope are also the 1st and 2nd Color Motivations in Human Design. In fact, if you look at all six Motivations, you’ll see they are pairs of opposites. After (1) and (2) you get (3) Desire / (4) Need, then (5) Guilt / (6) Innocence. The first pair is motivated by the unknown, the second by satisfaction and the third by responsibility - or lack thereof.

Basically, if I’m in land of drawing up worst case scenarios (Probability) about things beyond my control (Hope), I know I’m in trouble. It tends to be those situations that feel threatening and close to home - goings on at work or with my loved ones - that pull me into transference. I find myself fretting outside the bounds of the serenity prayer: neither accepting the things I cannot change, nor changing the things I cannot accept and without the wisdom to tell the difference.

And I’m a Manifestor, after all. I have to protect my Peace at all costs. Which is why, after Strategy and Authority are under our belts, looking to the Variables can have radically transformative effects. I can watch my mind at work, creating an endless menu of other people’s problems to solve. It constantly ventures into the unknown, outright inventing scenarios that “need” my attention.

Our minds want to be the authority and tell us what we should be doing. Knowing the “Guilty” flavor of it all - that I’ll constantly be telling myself to take responsibility for this or that thing outside of my control - helps me to see the farce for what it is. Correctly motivated Guilt that is obedient to my Authority gives me the potential to be a very helpful, supportive person. Especially as a 6/2, this often looks like stepping back and allowing space for people to learn to help themselves.

I’m no longer taking everything on, making myself responsible for everyone’s feelings and circumstances. Those extrinsic motivations to feel needed, like a hero or important just aren’t as compelling as they once were. My true Authority guides me whenever a situation requires my action and attention. Outside of that, I just enjoy watching my mind’s unending attempts to stoke my Guilt and unsuccessfully provoke me into action.

Happy watching!

-Leslie