Maia (also spelled Maya — from Sanskrit) is Ra Uru Hu's term for the material world — the realm of form, experience, duality, and apparent separation that human beings navigate in their lifetimes. In classic Eastern philosophy, Maya refers to illusion — the veil that obscures ultimate reality. In Human Design, Ra used the term Maia to refer to the field of experience within which the Nine-Centered Being operates: the physical, relational, and temporal world. Ra taught that the Maia is not something to be transcended or escaped; it is the very medium through which the human experiential journey takes place. The vehicle (the Design) is here to move through the Maia, and the passenger (the Personality) is here to witness and experience it. The Mechanics of the Maia refers to the specific ways in which the BodyGraph interacts with and navigates this material world.