A systems road map

I feel that the reason systems surprise us is that few understand the location of a defined set of boundaries within the larger system. If you can understand the overarching principles that gave rise to our universe, then one is better able to properly place any given system on the map and will be less prone to unexpected surprises. The problem is not that we tend to focus on events, nor that we have difficulty anticipating nonlinear factors, but that we lack the understanding of the underlying structure of all systems and the agility to know when to use each specific tool in our systems thinking tool box.

I think the shortcomings of systems thinking aren't because it lacks the ability to deliver accurate answers to our systems problems, but that our perspective for the most part can't grasp the complexity of systems to a high enough degree. Maybe Wolfram Alpha's Singularity will give us access to that type of computational ability, but for now, the only real chance we have is to raise our level of consciousness.

Chapter 5 was, I think, a step in the right direction, but we need to take it a step further. For systems thinking to be truly predictive, we need to understand the relationships between the boundaries of our systems, the space where our systems overlap.

My question then is how do we begin to do this? How can we place systems in their appropriate context? How do we look at a part without loosing track of the whole?