Circuit groups

KNOWING AND CENTERING CIRCUITS

SUPER KEYNOTE - EMPOWERMENT

KNOWING CIRCUIT

CENTERING CIRCUIT

We begin with the Individual Circuit Group because ofits close ties to, and yet distinctive differences from, the core Integration Channel. Individuality has both the capacity and the responsibility to be a force for change in the world, to bring mutation to the Tribe and the Collective. The challenge is to do so without being rejected by either group.

The Individual Circuit Group is the most complex of the three groups, and encompasses the frequencies of all nine centers. It is oriented to the present moment with attention focused on listening to the beat of its own drum, and its determination to follow its own direction. The Individual's drive for uniqueness becomes a living example that inspires or empowers or awakens a latent potential in others. Mutation and empowerment, the keynotes associated with Individual Circuitry, are at the heart ofThe Human Design System, and of evolution itself For the Individual, these keynotes imply a passion for being true to one's self, for thinking about and being uniquely attuned to the present moment, and for living independent of the norm. Individuals, when their knowing becomes clear, stand ready to embody inspiration or differentiation, which is their way of leading by example. Their gift is recognizing the mutative potential in everything and everyone, and the intuitive sense of the possibility for empowering it.

Individual knowing isn't based on either proven facts or experiential learning, but rather on intuition and/or the inspiration in the moment, which is why Individuals do not fit easily into society. It is imperative, as well as advantageous, that Individuals learn how to explain themselves from childhood on. They need to be able to communicate what they hear as inspiration in the moment, and what they know inside to be true. This ability to explain facilitates their effectiveness as agents for change, and eases their personal feelings of being different.

Individuality attracts attention, but Individuals usually need and like to be left alone to explore their creative and melancholic inner world. They can become so caught up in the moment that they often appear deaf to the voices of experience and reason. This is because they are here to be true to what is new in the moment, and to model it, act on it, or communicate it. In order to be comfortable with their position in the scheme of things, and to be ready to connect with others in that precious yet illusive empowering moment, it is necessary for the Individual to stay closely attuned to their Authority and follow their Strategy.

The Individual Circuit Group is composed of one major circuit, the Knowing Circuit, and one minor circuit, the Centering Circuit.

UNDERSTANDING CIRCUIT

SENSING CIRCUIT

The Collective Circuit Group is composed of two major circuits: the Understanding/logic Circuit and the Sensing/abstract Circuit. Sharing is a part of every channel and gate in the circuit. For the Collective, sharing is akin to a drive or social obligation or need to tell you what they think, what they have experienced, or what they have judged to be ofvalue or not.The Collective is quick to share opinions, dilemmas, solutions, criticism, expectations, fantasies, inventions, medical breakthroughs and more, but the sharing is not personal. The Collective's inherently social orientation is objective, impersonal and not necessarily reciprocal, and it is best to avoid taking the Collective's sharing personally no matter how personal it feels.

When indiscriminate sharing is expressed unbidden, driven by the not awake and unaware notself mind, it can be a real nuisance. For example, those in crisis will catch themselves unwittingly sharing their situation with the clerk, the postman, or the person next to them at the bus stop. Learning to wait to be asked to tell their story, or to give their opinion, is part of becoming sensitive to the receptivity of others, and the key to sharing that is satisfYing, effective and transformative. The mutuality and social nature of humanity, along with its need for harmony or uniformity, is embedded in the Collective. This circuit group drives consciousness forward by sharing what has been learned through experimentation and experience. With its focus on society, the Collective establishes what is good for the majority, as opposed to what is good for anyone specific Individual. The idea that "what is good for one is good for all so stay with the pattern that works" comes from this circuit group. It might be terrible for you personally, but since it is for the greater good you put up with it. Citizens of a country for instance all share the same rules, the same monetary currency and the same public institutions.

Without the Collective's collegiality, majority rule and obligation to share, today's larger societies could not stand; they would still be a cluster offiefdoms competing for the same resources. With the Collective at the helm in recent history, the educated and privileged classes have entered the era ofthe global village. We have nearly reached the ultimate potential and goal ofthe Collective Circuit Group. The Collective is suspicious of the nonconforming, impetuous Individual, and it has never trusted the primitive demand for loyalty and the bargaining ofthe Tribe.

Notice how the Collective Circuit Group, viewed in the illustration, forms a kind of outer shell and inner core which appears to both bind and buttress the BodyGraph. There is an unusual balance and beauty in the opposition that exists within this symmetry. It is like a dance between yesterday (Sensing/abstract) and tomorrow (Understanding/logic), between cycles and patterns, between experiencing and proving. Life is built on logic, but lived out through the abstract cycles oflife.The Sensing (abstract) Circuit tries to codifY experience or make sense ofthe past, and the Understanding Circuit (logic) tries to anticipate the future. The Collective is not as focused on the now moment, which is the Individual's contribution. Out of this circuit group's internal opposition, its seesawing back and forth between past and future, comes its reputation for conservatism or maintaining the status quo. "If it isn't broken, don't fix or change it." A level of stability also emerges from this circuit group that says with some pride, "I understand. I have the facts. It is like this." Or, "I have experienced it. I've been there, done that. All you have to do is listen to me." Logic is experimental; it's about the way things are supposed to work. The abstract Sensing Circuit is experiential, and deals with desire and the unexpected.

DEFENSE AND EGO CIRCUITS

SUPER KEYNOTE: SUPPORT

DEFENSE CIRCUIT

EGO CIRCUIT

When we enter the Tribal realm, we meet interdependence as support, as well as the not-self in the form of co-dependence. Interdependence is the mutuality and reciprocity upon which early societies were structured and maintained. The job of the Tribe is to deal with the consequences of being alive by devising ways for people to live together that increase productivity, and maximize our ability to protect ourselves. The Tribe connects us to life and each other through the senses, through bloodlines (ancestry), and through loyalty to the blood bargain. The Tribal heart is a communal heart, where everybody else's business is everybody else's business. This is in part what gives the Tribe its reputation for being 'sticky' and possessive. For the Tribe, support is about having. The Tribe is sensitive to people's basic need for food, shelter, clothing, and a structure to hold everything together. When these are provided, there is peace in the kingdom. When they are lacking, the Tribe is equipped to revolt in order to establish equilibrium between those who have more than they need, and those who do not have enough. Revolution is a form ofTribal justice.

Two circuits make up the Tribal Circuit Group: one major, the Ego Circuit, and one minor, the Defense Circuit. The Ego Circuit has a double focus. Its initial focus is on the business of the material world, such as family, or the creation and distribution of monetary resources. Its second focus balances humanity's need to survive on the material plane with our deep need for God (spirit). The Ego Circuit creates the two forces of continuing support that keep people in the Tribe. The Defense circuit is concerned with generating, caring for, nurturing and preserving human life (the Tribe), and the laws and values ofTribal relationships.

In our exploration of the BodyGraph as a circuit board, the core Integration Channel is resolutely separate, the epitome of self-sufficiency. The Individual Circuit Group empowers the quality of uniqueness in humanity that paves the way for mutation, and the Collective Circuit Group is staunchly communal, socially interactive and mutually respectful in its orientation. The Tribe's strong communal structure is founded on loyalty to a hierarchical chain of command. The Tribal Circuit builds a wall around itself, and would label all of the other circuits outsiders, while the Defense Circuit pulls even the most strident outsider into the bonds of communal living with its penetrating intimacy, and its promise to nurture and provide resources.

The Spleen's instinctual survival awareness relays messages through the senses, particularly smell, touch and taste. This awareness compliments and focuses the Tribe's extraordinary capacity for personal loyalty and sexual intimacy. It is also what guides the ways communal expectations and support are expressed. For example, the famous family recipe that is handed down as a form of family identity, the handshake or kiss that seals a deal, and the blood bond between best friends.

The Tribe's most distinguishing characteristic is the bargain, or making deals that guarantee support. "I'll scratch your back if you scratch mine. I'll clean the house and feed the children if you go out and work to make money for the family." The bargain, which permeates all channels in Tribal circuitry, imposes or pre-supposes loyalty to a larger, hierarchical system ofrulership and values. "I will see that you are protected from invaders if you pay me homage and taxes." Tribal bargaining ensured our species' survival. Throughout history, the Tribe has been the bedrock that held us together as a family unit or a nation. It has determined for us how to raise our children, choose a vocation, make the laws and police our streets, and worship our gods. Without the Tribe, we would not have been able to look after ourselves within a society. It gave each of us a place in its support net, and as long as we stayed in our place and made our contribution, it kept us safe.