SEEING SYSTEMS

Leonardo da Vinci implored us to "learn how to see that everything connects to everything else".  This is an easy thought to entertain and to parrot.  It is much harder to actually do it:  

To actually see and interact with deep underlying patterns, rather than the surface manifestations that are more easily visible.

Systems Thinking is a pattern of perception and thinking championed by Donella Meadows, and made popular in management theory and practice by Peter Senge.  It gives people distinctions to enable them to see and enact reality in terms of interwoven systems within systems.

It is common understanding that our bodies can be understood as many interrelated biological systems: from our circulatory system, to our immune system, to our digestive system, to our nervous system, to name just a few.  Our nervous system - which has many branches with complex interactions - is perhaps the most important to understand for those who working in the field of psychological healing and transformation of themselves and others.  But even a nuanced understanding of the human nervous system is not enough... 

Together all of our biological systems can be seen as one larger system, which then interacts with other layers of our being such as the system of emotional experience (which is more complex than most realize) and the system of all the various thought patterns within each of us.

Our approach is based in mindfulness how the systems of the physical body are closely linked with, but not exactly the same as the system of our emotions and the system of our conceptual identity and other thought patterns. 

Expanding beyond the level of the individual organism, each of our relationships can also be seen as a system.  If you and I are in a relationship - and you see me in a certain way - then that way of seeing me will tend to influence the way you interact with me - which in turn will affect how I see you - which generally will affect how I respond to you.  And how I respond to you then affects what you feel in relation to me, what you think about me, and how you next respond to me.  

All this is rather obvious when it is spelled out as it is in the last paragraph.  However many of us don't see things in this way when it is most needed.  For example, when in a conflict with someone else most of us don't see the other person's actions as only the surface manifestations of a deeper relational system that we ourselves have unconsciously co-enacted.

As we move from the system of a relationship between two people to the level of groups, teams, and whole organizations - the system of perceptions, feelings, thoughts and interactions obviously grow more and more complex.

This complexity continues to grow as we expand our horizons from organizations to whole industries, to whole sectors of society, to nation states, to all of the human world, to all of the Earth [all of the human systems interwoven with all of the natural living systems (plants and animals) and non-living systems (weather, climate, etc.)]

As we gain proficiency at seeing systems we get better at seeing the structures that underlie complex situations.  This in turn allows us to discern what leverage points might be available for a maximally effective intervention.  There are often relatively simple actions that can stop a vicious cycle or promote a virtuous loop, but we will probably fail to perceive this if we don't have the inner capacity of seeing systems.

In a similar vein, seeing and understanding systems can help us avoid wasting time and effort pushing on a given system in a way that are completely ineffective because that system naturally responds with a counterforce.  

In summary, the inner capacity to see systems helps us to understand ourselves and our environments better, and therefore act and interact in more effective and powerful ways.