With the recent release of Donella Meadow's posthumously published Thinking in Systems (Chelsea Green, 2009), advocates of systems thinking got another shot in the arm from a pioneer who communicates with uncommon clarity and impact.

This delightful essay on "Dancing With Systems," which appears in the new book, was also previously published Whole Earth and The Systems Thinker. It is a quotable, memorable summary of the "dancing lessons" required of systems thinkers.

People who are raised in the industrial world and who get enthused about systems thinking are likely to make a terrible mistake. They are likely to assume that here, in systems analysis, in interconnection and complication, in the power of the computer, here at last, is the key to prediction and control. This mistake is likely because the mindset of the industrial world assumes that there is a key to prediction and control.

I assumed that at first, too. We all assumed it, as eager systems students at the great institution called MIT. More or less innocently, enchanted by what we could see through our new lens, we did what many discoverers do. We exaggerated our own ability to change the world. We did so not with any intent to deceive others, but in the expression of our own expectations and hopes. Systems thinking for us was more than subtle, complicated mindplay. It was going to Make Systems Work.

But self-organizing, nonlinear feedback systems are inherently unpredictable. They are not controllable. They are understandable only in the most general way. The goal of foreseeing the future exactly and preparing for it perfectly is unrealizable. The idea of making a complex system do just what you want it to do can be achieved only temporarily, at best. We can never fully understand our world, not in the way our reductionistic science has led us to expect. Our science itself, from quantum theory to the mathematics of chaos, leads us into irreducible uncertainty. For any objective other than the most trivial, we can't optimize; we don't even know what to optimize. We can't keep track of everything. We can't find a proper, sustainable relationship to nature, each other, or the institutions we create if we try to do it from the role of omniscient conqueror.

When it's time to step back and make sense of what you are seeing in a complex system, would you rather try to capture the relationships in a causal loop diagram or engage in a dialogue about what really matters? At the Pegasus Conference you'll find opportunities to do both--sometimes simultaneously--with the help of skilled facilitators.

Stop by the Causal Loop Clinic to try your hand at mapping the dynamic relationships inherent in your organizational or personal challenges. Facilitators Kristina Wile and Rebecca Niles Peretz will be on hand to provide guidance and answer your questions. Bring your "diagrams in progress" or practice diagramming some sample scenarios. Schedule appointments for more-focused, personalized assistance.

Or drop in to the Conversation Space to engage in various conversational change methodologies. Peggy Holman, Deb Gilburg, and other experienced hosts will draw on facilitation tools as well as mind/body practices and the creative and expressive arts to help you reflect together, integrate your learnings, and build collective intelligence.

Also look for opportunities to blend these two approaches to refining your systems perspective, when causal loopers bring their tools to the Conversation Space.

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