This week is all about becoming a systems practitioner. This cartoon depicts a person over time. As unique human beings, we
are part of a lineage, and our history is a product of both ontogeny, which means biological growth and development, and social
development. Together, these form what I will call a tradition. A tradition is the history of our being in the world. Traditions
are important because our models of understanding grow out of traditions.
The various shapes in the clouds above the practitioner's head in the cartoon are used to depict how our models of understanding
change over time. The light bulbs depict how, over time, we can become more aware of our embodied understandings, which in
turn influences systems practice. I've portrayed a practitioner with a prior model of understanding and a current model of
understanding in the cartoon. From their current models, it need not be one. The systems practitioner connects with a real-world
situation and makes a distinction.
Based on this distinction, the practitioner can probe or construct the history of a situation. This cartoon displays a refinement
of the processes of being and engaging, two of the balls from my juggler metaphor at the start of the course. But to be an
effective systems practitioner also requires attention to how you contextualise your approaches to those real-world situations
and the ways you manage your involvement with those situations.