This fear of Authority begins with the archetype of the mother and the father. The 18th Gate is the Oedipus-Electra Gate. It is here that we begin to examine the opposite sex, that we begin to challenge whether or not the foundation they are establishing as a role model is something that is going to be valid for us in our lifetime.

Each generation, naturally and genetically, is empowered to challenge the next; it's simply there. The 18th Gate is about challenging that authority, challenging the authority of the mother and the father. However, that challenge is also rooted in a fear of that authority. That authority can be unreasonable, and by being unreasonable that authority can be dangerous.

From the moment that we come into the world, we carry with us a fear that those that are there to care for us may not, in fact, do a good job. Just about everybody who goes through being a teenager laments their fate and their parents; it's built into us. It's built into us to challenge those patterns, not necessarily to bring them down, not necessarily to find that there is something the matter with them. Many times, it is about reassuring ourselves that the pattern is worthy and is correct. But the challenge must always be there.

Gate 28: Fear of Death

When we move from the Collective process to the Individual process, to the 28th Gate, to The Preponderance of the Great, we are dealing with the Channel of Struggle that is part of the Individual moody, melancholic process.

Here we have the fear of death. The keynote of this Gate is the Risk Taker. This fear of death is not about physical death, it’s not about being morbid, but the fear that life is purposeless. It is purposefulness that the 28th Gate seeks. And it fears that life will be, can be, and is without purpose.

This is a deep fear in all of us. To be in form, to be in the world, to be alive is a struggle. Life is a struggle, to carry the burden of a body is a struggle. All of that's a struggle. Is it worth it? The fear of the 28th Gate is that perhaps it's not.

Ra Uru Hu was the Human Design System’s founder and messenger. Ra dedicated 25 years of his life to the development and teaching of the System around the world until he passed away in 2011.