Gate 5: The energy to tune into the flow of life
Human Beings are probably the only creatures who have trouble waiting. Our complex evolution has allowed for so much conditioning that most of us think our minds are superior to the cells of our body as far as knowing what action is correct.
Human Design, of course, emphasizes the importance of waiting in some capacity. Gate 5, the Gate of Fixed Rhythms, is one of several of the Mandala preoccupied with this active restraint of waiting. In fact, it immediately follows Gate 9, the Gate of Focus, in the Mandala.
Although Gate 5 is not an awareness gate, it nonetheless empowers us to tune in to a certain ineffable tempo or rhythm. It provides the essential energy to connect to the flow of life itself, something that all living creatures naturally do.
Called Waiting in the ancient I Ching, Gate 5 is located in the Sacral Center and is one of its two logical outlets. Gate 5 points up to Gate 15 in the G Center to form the Channel of Rhythm, which allows the body to respond and act exactly as oneself.
The Logical/Understanding Circuit, being Collective, is here to test and experiment with patterns. It’s constantly checking and verifying that society is living in a healthy and sustainable way. Gate 5’s role in this is to wait in a sort of active, alert gestation until the sacral response literally fixes into place the pattern that feels correct.
It is “waiting as an active state of awareness” until just the right moment to move or engage one’s energy. According to Human Design elder Alokand Díaz, Gate 5 “waits for life to reveal what you need to understand.” It is about not jumping ahead of life and rather letting it mysteriously unfold.
If you have the Gate of Fixed Rhythms, you relish your routines. For example, you likely have a regular bedtime and indulge in a favorite morning ritual such as making coffee, stretching, walking the dog, or meditating.
Your patterns of living are regular and predictable, and you do not like them altered or disturbed in any way. In fact, it is unhealthy for you to ignore the way that feels natural for you to move through your days.
The tagline of Gate 5 is “The fundamental attunement to natural rhythms.” Again, this patterning is inherent in every plant and animal. It is a primordial capacity to tune in to the energetic flow of life itself.
And yet there are infinite ways to participate in the flow of life. And tellingly, the harmonic of Gate 5 has quite a different frequency. Gate 15, the Gate of Extremes in the G Center represents the Love of Humanity in all its myriad expressions.
Ironically, this love of humanity is a cool, calculating assessment. It embraces all ways of being, as long as they are grounded in authentic response.
The Channel of Rhythm is one of three potent and influential Tantric channels connecting the Sacral Center to the G Center. All three are pure fuel to exist, love and move as your unique self. To have three Sacral gates dedicated to this self empowerment reveals a lot about the role of authenticity in human evolution.
Those who have the full channel 5-15 (also called a quantum) have a natural pace or rhythm to their daily routines, their very own pattern of moving through the world. Their auras tend to be very magnetic and draw others into their life patterns and way of living.
If you have one gate or the other, however, and you come into contact with the electromagnetic, it might feel uncomfortable. For example, Gate 15 might feel constrained by the predictability of Gate 5, while Gate 5 might feel disturbed by the seemingly erratic behavior of Gate 15.
“Music is the space between notes,” observed composer Claude Debussy. Ultimately, Waiting is a sacred act. It is getting out of the way of the larger pattern at play, the exquisite and intricate web of life we all contribute to and benefit from. Waiting allows for the mastery of patterns, affirming that if the pattern works, we can trust that life is safe.
