My Experience as a 4/1 Profile in Human Design
What it's like living "a bonus life".
I’m a big nut for all of the esoteric systems that help us understand ourselves better.
I wrote a short while ago about how to use numerology to plan your weekly activities. I have a mini-series that explores how each international trip has contributed to my evolution as a person, through the lens of Astrocartography. And I keep infusing astrology into many of my posts, often writing explicitly on how I use it to achieve my goals.
I’ve yet to talk about Human Design, though.
What is Human Design?
You may be familiar with it, as it’s gotten quite popular in recent years.
But, just in case you’ve never heard of it before - Human Design incorporates astrology, Kaballah, the I-Ching, chakras, quantum physics and more, to create a map of your energetic blueprint, as a soul incarnated into a human being.
It provides a roadmap and answers the question to how you function as a human being.
I was introduced to Human Design very serendipitously, after asking the Universe a question and I’ve been on a Human Design binge ever since.
Our Human Design Maps consist of numerous detail and segments, that I wouldn’t be able to go into all of them right now. But for the purpose of this post, I will talk about the profile.
What is a Human Design profile?
The profile is considered to be the role you play in the world.
It consists of two numbers, both being a number from 1-6, and acts as the role you’re meant to play in this lifetime. The first number is what you’re conscious of, and the second number is what you’re likely unconscious of at first, as it has more to do with what your body needs.
There are only 12 configurations and they can be split up into three categories. These are very generic and simplistic descriptions of what they mean:
Right Angle Profiles - 1\3, 1\4, 2\4, 2\5, 3\5, 3\6, 4\6
These are the profiles that are said to fulfil their role on Earth by focusing on their own development first. By doing this, they will discover what they’re here to do, what to work on and will end up helping others. Their karma is considered “personal”.
Left Angle Profiles - 5\1, 5\2, 6\2, 6\3
These are the profiles that will fulfil their roles by interacting with others. There is a big focus on others first and it’s often through others that they will find what they’re here to do. In turn, they end up helping themselves too. Their karma is considered “transpersonal”.
And that leaves us with…
Juxtaposition Profiles - 4\1
This lone profile is pretty rare (only 2-3% have this profile apparently) and they can choose between focussing first on themselves or focussing first on others to find their purpose. But, regardless of their choice, they’re always fulfilling their purpose. Their karma is considered “fixed”.
The number 4 in the conscious part, means that we’re aware of our need and want for solid friendships and relationships. Having a strong community is important to us and many of our opportunities in life, come from our networks. We’re very people-focused, friendly and can have a positive influence on those who we’re connected with.
The number 1 in the unconscious part, means that we need to grow our awareness to how much the right information gives us a sense of security. We are good researchers, who like to collect information and become knowledgeable on topics we care about, and create a strong foundation in life for ourselves and others with that knowledge.
4\1s are often in the role of teachers, who share their knowledge and experiences with the people they feel connected to.
My experience as a 4\1 profile
There’s not that much literature on the 4\1 profile, certainly not from those with personal experience of having that profile.
But there are many thoughts about what it might mean to be a 4\1 profile. Some including that we act as bridges between the right angle and left angle profiles, we have no karma to work out in this life, this is our bonus life to just play, and that our fate is fixed.
I want to get into all of that and share my experience. Contribute to the literature and collective understanding, if you will. And this might help you if you’re wanting to learn more about Human Design, or you want to better understand a loved one who has this profile. Or maybe just get to know me better, even.
So let’s get started.
Is my fate fixed?
Firstly, I’d like to say that I do believe that everyone, including us 4\1s, have free will. There are things we may not get to choose in life, but there are still many things we do.
But where I think the fixed fate thing comes into play, is that as 4\1s we have a very clear direction and purpose in life that we can’t stray from. Everyone has soul purposes and reasons for incarnating; a role to play on the stage that is Earth. But sometimes it feels that I’m following more of a script that the universe has provided, rather than being expected to improvise, based on life experiences and people I interact with.
4\1s often get talked about as trains on a track. We’re all on trains that can take us to any destination, depending on where we want to go. We can change our destination mid journey, too. Because the journey itself is more important than the destination.
However, I often feel that for me it’s the opposite.
I’m still meant to value the journey much more than the destination, but the universe doesn’t give me much wiggle room with choosing the destination. I have to reach the destinations I’m meant to reach.
I can take the scenic route if I want. I can pause at a station for snacks and a breather. I can still use my free will to stop at an extra destination that I want to explore, if it’s en route to where my soul is going. But I can’t drive my train into a completely different direction - unless that was already part of the plan. (Especially as a Manifesting Generator, where we like to pivot and juggle a lot of projects and interests).
The reason I feel this way is because the few times when I didn’t listen to my inner GPS to know which route to take, rather than the universe recalibrating for me the route to allow me to still reach my next destination, it stopped me in my tracks completely. Crashing and burning without warning. All of a sudden. I wasn’t allowed to continue and had to retrace my steps and get back onto my original track.
The general journey is more fixed, because I absolutely must reach certain destinations and there aren’t many routes to each new one I must arrive at. I’m not allowed to wander off completely.
It sounds limiting, but I actually find this quite freeing. It takes away the second-guessing of whether I’m headed in the right direction or not. Because I know that if I’m not, the universe will very loudly let me know. And so, if I’ve taken a wrong turn somewhere but everything is still running more or less smoothly, I must still be en route to my next destination. And I can sit back and enjoy the journey, even if I picked a route that’s a little bumpy.
“Next Stop: The Next Phase of Your Evolution”
Another advantage to this, is that I’ve learned to trust the visions and flashes of insight I get, with regards to what projects and goals (the destinations) I’ll be engaging in, in the far future.
In general, my spirit team has a wonderful habit of giving me a heads up, years in advance so that I can emotionally, psychologically and spiritually prepare for things that are coming my way. Because sometimes these things are so out of my comfort zone, that I need time to battle with my inner demons and wounds in order to be ready for them. Scorpio style.
When I was a pre-teen, my goals were to become a professional singer and musician, performing on world stages, creating albums and enjoying a career in the performing arts.
However, I kept having flashes and visions of myself in my thirties, that looked very different.
I kept seeing myself as a teacher. Talking about my creative process, and still expressing myself, but also sharing whatever wisdom and insight I have amassed over the years, with the intention to inspire, uplift and empower others. I assumed that I would transition into that role, after or whilst accomplishing my initial goals.
My life didn’t end up how I had hoped it would back then. I never became a professional singer and performer, creating music albums and performing in musical theatre. But I did end up becoming a teacher, in more ways than one. And I talk about creativity, spirituality and share what I’m interested in and the insights I’ve gained, here on Wide Eyed Ella.
My life may not have looked like I had thought, but the energy of that vision did come into play.
In recent years, I have received flashes of insight and visions as to what I might be doing in my forties, fifties, sixties and beyond. Things that I feel interested in, but there’s no way I have the will or capabilities to do now.
I shared this with someone who is a Human Design reader once and she said that it might have to do with being a 4\1. If I’m getting a heads up of where my train is taking me, I can likely trust the information I’m getting - because the destinations are fixed.
Do I have no karma?
This idea comes from the notion that 4\1s are here to enjoy a bonus life - they don’t have any karma that they need to work out in this life, and they’re free to play.
It sounds like this goes against my earlier points of having a fixed fate and having destinations that I have to reach. But perhaps they don’t contradict each other.
I don’t subscribe to the notion that I have no karma, necessarily. Certainly if you were to ask me as a child, teen, or in my early twenties, I would have told you that I feel exponentially weighed down by karma. My life felt painfully heavy and burdensome, crushing me with much weight and baggage. Heck, even now I’m finishing up a very karmic situation where I had to learn some very tough lessons.
But, the older I get, I do agree that the karma I felt buried under, maybe wasn’t necessarily mine, but my family line’s.
I’m the oldest sibling in my family unit, and the first grandchild on one side of the family. My family life was filled with trauma, abuse, terrible mental health and very toxic and dysfunctional dynamics. My ancestors have suffered genocide, loss, brutalities and some of the worst that human beings can suffer.
Now, in my early thirties and having done a good job of healing a lot of it, I feel much freer than I did before. I feel lighter and that I get to just exist; playing and co-creating my life with the universe.
If we’re talking from a spiritual perspective, I hold the view that I incarnated into my family line, to help them clean up the family’s karma and transmute it. (Again, Scorpio style.) Because I had the strength and capabilities to do so. I don’t know for sure, but if I came in with lots of my own karma to work out, maybe my soul wouldn’t have been able to help my family and wouldn’t have picked to incarnate into that unit?
I undoubtedly still have many lessons to learn, and I’m painfully far from perfect. But the life I’ve created for myself certainly doesn’t feel as heavy as it once did. I do feel like I get to just play and choose what I want to experience, knowing that it can’t and won’t negatively affect what I did come here to do.
I once had a mini session with a unique psychic who received messages for me via listening to my singing voice. She said that my guides told her that I essentially came back to Earth to make mine and others’ existence on Earth sweeter, during these times of transition. How freaking cute is that?!
You may walk on my bridge
4\1s are often seen as bridges, connecting those who have personal karma (the right angle profiles) to those who have transpersonal karma (left angle profiles).
I have no idea if the situations in which I’ve connected people to each other, have been specifically between someone who’s a right angle profile and another who’s a left angle profile. But I have definitely found myself in spaces, where the only reason I was there (in retrospect), was to connect people with each other, or to connect people with ideas I was carrying.
One example is when I took part in an education initiative that brought Jewish and Arab teachers together, to discuss how to nurture relationships between the students of the two sectors. It’s a topic I’m passionate about, which was why I joined the group of teachers when it had just formed.
But I wasn’t there for very long and I felt my train quickly moving on from that stop. So I moved on.
However, looking back on that time, I realised that I did do two things while I was there: I introduced a music teacher colleague to the group who was looking to partner with Arab teachers; and I shared a unique idea of creating sister school partnerships, like how there are twin cities in different countries.
Last time I had checked, two teachers had managed to form the beginning stages of a partnership between their schools and were discussing the kind of activities that they could do together, as well as how to build a program so that more schools could participate.
I often find myself acting as a bridge for people, allowing for others to come across a new way of thinking that they may not have come across before.
As I’ve grown in my understanding of myself and I've intuited what I’m here to do, I realised I’m here to be one of the bridges between the old world and the new world, that is still being born through us. Helping others make their way over, if that’s what they want.
Can’t be influenced - sorry, not sorry?
One thing that I think is common about 4\1s is that we’re not easily influenced. I think this goes back to the fixed fate energy - we can only do what is meant for us and we can’t be swayed. You’re invited to jump onto my train, if you like where I’m heading - but you can’t influence where I’m going. We have an innate knowing that if we trail off our tracks, we crash and burn. So, we don’t. Because we know we’re not supposed to.
Sounds terrible, but I find it protective. I have a strong sense of who I am and what I’m supposed to be doing, and I will feel the direction in which I need to head. Those who try to influence me otherwise, well… good luck with that 😅. I’m still going to do what I need to do. Especially if it comes from my soul.
The thing is, because we’re so friendly and don’t like to create dramas, when others are trying to influence us, we tend to just nod and smile, letting them think what they clearly want to think, and then we just do what we were going to do anyway, when we have the space to be ourselves again. And when they realise that they hadn’t succeeded in influencing us, they get mad (somewhat understandably) and decide it must be because someone else had successfully influenced us. Which is hysterical, but also quite condescending. (Hey, I know where I’m going and what I’m doing, and I have my own mind. Thank you very much.)
We don’t take kindly to others trying to influence us, or guide us in the direction of their choosing. It doesn't mean we’re never open to new ideas or different perspectives. But we like to do things our way, no matter how strange or unique, and it feels extra painful to try and do things in any way that isn’t ours.
The funny thing, is that while 4\1s aren’t easily influenced, we are meant to be quite influential ourselves. We just don’t know when exactly we’ve influenced someone, unless they’ve come and told us.
I’ve had many conversations with friends where they share with me something along the lines of, “By the way, I also (insert huge decision in life, that resembles one I’ve made and shared to them about, months prior).“
I’ve often forgotten that I had shared my own experiences with them. But because they felt the need to share with me this update, I remember our previous conversation and realise that something about what I shared must have resonated and influenced them in some way.
It certainly wasn’t my intention to influence. In those moments, I was only expressing myself, sometimes even being nervous to do so. (“What if I’m seen as weird, because I had made this decision, or think these thoughts?”)
But, long after the conversation took place and I’ve already forgotten about it, something about what I expressed stayed with them and helped them realise something about their own lives.*
They were influenced by our example and our authenticity, not by our intention to influence.
*My particular cross (the particular ‘purpose’), is the Juxtaposition Cross of Self-Expression - I’m literally meant to just express myself, bring new ideas forward and others will either resonate with them and take them on, or not.
Can’t all of this be applicable to everyone, though?
Of course! It all can. I’m sure many people who aren’t 4\1s can relate to at least parts of this. Maybe even all of it.
But sometimes, concepts or patterns or energies, just feel extra prominent in your life, y’know? More than the vague sense of, “Yeah, this is how we are as human beings” or “Yeah, I'm sometimes like that”.
I’m certain I can relate to other profiles too. But when I look at the overview of my life and dissect the patterns of myself and of my life that are consistent, would I say that I relate to the other profiles 100% of the time? 50% of the time? What resonates with me the most? What is the most me?
I definitely relate to being a 4/1 profile… it was one of the elements of my chart that resonated the most and reflected back to me a lot of my quirks.
Want to read your own Human Design Map?
If you’re interested in learning more about your Human Design, I recommend getting your map through this link.
There's a lot to understand and you don't have to understand everything straight away. Besides, your map is not meant to be understood, so much as it's meant to be embodied.
Take one element and contemplate how it might resonate for you. And experiment.
Could you relate to any of this, even if you’re not a 4\1 profile in Human Design? What is your Human Design profile and how does it resonate with you? Feel free to comment below!
Speak soon,
Love, Ella x
I think human design is fascinating!