Defined, undefined and open: the three states of a centre

Unverified draft. The structural facts below are checked against our own chart engine. The wording has not yet been reviewed by a Human Design professional.

Note
introductory Human Design material commonly uses undefined and open interchangeably for any centre that is not defined
Open
no activated gates in the centre at all
States
defined, undefined, open
Defined
a completed channel runs through the centre
Undefined
one or more activated gates but no completed channel through the centre

A centre is defined when a completed channel runs through it. Defined centres work consistently and are the part of you that does not change; they broadcast outward to everyone you meet. A centre with no completed channel through it is usually called undefined, sometimes open, and it works the other way round: instead of broadcasting, it takes in and amplifies whatever is around it.

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This entry is part of the reference library Bella reads from when she answers questions about your chart. It was written by us, with the structural facts pinned to our own chart data rather than to a general model's recollection.

Provenance: written 22 August 2026 from research verified this session against humdes.com's centres knowledge base (which states the professional terminology explicitly: open means no activations at all, undefined means hanging gates) and Jovian Archive's material on completely open centres, including Ra Uru Hu on openness as defencelessness. Added because per-centre entries did not surface for general questions about centre states. Not yet reviewed by a certified practitioner.