There is No Money in Human Design

This happens to me frequently when I go traveling. I bump into strangers and have profound conversations that leave deep impressions on me. The geometry of being a 3/5 is magical in that way.

I was in a quad-right existential flow when I bumped into someone also attending the High Desert Human Design conference in Santa Fe. 

(The story actually begins when I’m standing outside of the main venue by myself after a lecture, without a clue on what to do next. Eventually a few people walk out and immediately ask if I wanted a ride somewhere. I said yes, even though I didn’t know where I was going. We got dropped off at someone’s house and I decided to walk to the co-op down the street. He decided to come with me.)

We are talking outside the co-op, broaching various topics and eventually getting onto the subject of money. I tell him I am 25 and he says, “that’s a great age, it’s when you start figuring things out and finding your feet.”

In a panic, I told him, “I actually have nothing figured out and I feel as confused as ever. I don’t have a job, I have no income, I have nothing going for me right now.”

The last year of my experiment has been a year of solitude and living off my savings, with some money coming in here and there. Not enough to make what other people would classify as a “substantial” income. 

(Yet, I am still able to feed myself and have a roof over my head, so there really isn’t a problem.)

I told him I am currently doing human design stuff, but I’m not sure what to do because I’m not making any money and maybe I need to pivot and sort my life out. 

He looked at me deadpan and told me, “there’s no money in human design”. It hit like a freight train of truth. 

He is an artist and has lived many lives (he’s in his 70s I think). He rents an apartment (or maybe it’s his art studio) near Venice Beach in LA. He lives primarily off social security. He tells me he’s not even wearing socks with his shoes anymore as he doesn’t want to pay $20 for fucking socks. 

I had this visceral and sinking feeling of knowing he was right. There is no money in human design. That is, if you’re living your design. 

When we come to HD, there are the usual things we think we need to fix and “improve” on: relationships, careers, and money. The irony is, HD does improve these things, but not in the way you think, nor in the way you like. 

“Improvements” may mean making less money than you did in the past. It may mean reducing your social life by 80%. 

This experiment is about awareness. The only reward for awareness is more awareness. 

There is, however, a great burden lifted off your shoulders when entering into the experiment: you can finally be yourself. The cost of not being yourself, of going against your nature for the purpose of money, power, or status, is not worth it. It takes a tremendous amount of work and energy. The value and richness you get from living life on your terms and according to your own authority cannot be matched. There is no homogenised comparison. 

Money begins to not really matter. Having money in the bank does not mean you are secure. Security really is a false concept; we were never secure. Particularly as we move closer and closer towards 2027, we will lose any semblance of security we have in large institutional structures. They are already breaking down (most people are now realising the “stable job” no longer exists). 

I re-listened to ‘The Money Game’ lecture the other day, where Ra says this amazing quote (paraphrased):

“I woke up in the morning and I was living in a tree, had no money and no food. And it was all okay.”

When we follow our strategy and authority, when we disengage the mind from decision making, when we stop getting in the god-damn-way of our lives, the material plane takes care of itself. This takes an enormous amount of trust and patience. Patience only because it will take time for your mind to accept your material reality without interfering. 

Human design is fundamentally unable to be marketed. This is not for mass consumption. This is not what most normal people want. The homogenised not-self life can be very pleasant and enjoyable. In some ways - especially if you come from a background of socio-economic privilege - much more enjoyable than the path of human design. 

It traces back to no choice. You don’t know why human design found you and you don’t know what it stuck. You don’t know why you somehow seem to “get” it but for everyone else it goes straight over their heads. When you’re on the path, you’re on the path. You can’t get rid of this; I know anyone reading this essay are too far gone to ever return to a “normal” life. 

“Normal” is using your mind to figure out what to do next.

“Normal” is constantly being preoccupied with the material plane.

“Normal” is following the rules and structures society deems is “acceptable” to follow.

If we’re going by what we think is “normal”, then by all means, I am a full-time bum. I barely work a couple hours a month. I don’t have goals or grand plans of ambition. I spend my days walking and reading and sleeping and writing. I have no intention of applying to jobs, even when I keep lying to my parents that “I’m looking”. 

So I’m sitting here with this stranger and suddenly feel very embarrassed I haven’t got a proper job or anything to really show for myself. He says to me:

“I think you’re exactly where you need to be. I think it’s perfect, actually.”

I welled up. It was what I needed to hear in that moment. That I am okay. That what I am doing is okay (aka nothing).

We’re always exactly where we’re supposed to be when we live according to our designs. This is just what’s happening. I accept the fact I have no control. I understand that for most people, this is their deepest fear: the fear of absolutely letting go of any semblance of control. Frankly, I do not want to take on the weight of that responsibility ever again. As someone who is four parts right, it has always induced major fear and anxiety whenever I tried to strategise about my survival. 

Now, as I’m entering into my fourth year of deconditioning, I can’t even try to do it even when my mind wants me to. Even when my mind shouts, “you have to do something about this right now!” my body says back, “yeah yeah, shut up and go back into your corner”. 

There is no money in human design. Because money is not the point. It doesn’t matter to me if I work in human design or not - I never know what I’m going to be recognised for or what invitations may come my way. When you begin to wake up, you realise everything you need is already there in your environment. Anything that is truly correct for you, the resources will appear. And if it’s not, it won’t.  

I find myself caring less and less about material success. It doesn’t matter to me if I live this life with no money or with loads. All that matters is that I lived it for myself. I no longer have the energy to contort myself in any other way for the sake of making money. 

This is a harsh truth. If you wish to work in human design, there’s no money there. Oh yes, there’s lots of money in terms of the not-self; overcharging, selling concepts and beliefs, selling the fantasy of a “better life”. 

(When I say “better life”, it does actually get better. In actuality, it’s  just different. You are the difference. You have a different frequency. You see the world and yourself differently. You meet less resistance. The material circumstances of your life may not even change very much. But the term “better” is relative — it is a measurement of the mind. Being correct means there is no measurement; it just is.)

But to truly live out your design and happen to be working in human design? You get what you need. Nothing more, nothing less. And it’s entirely perfect and the way things should be.