The inner triangle that I've described above and the six term inner pattern tend to be invisible to the casual observer, yet it is these internal relationships that brings the system alive. In paying attention to these relationships, using the enneagram to keep the whole in mind, we can function in the arenas of chaos and complexity. I've used it both prospectively in planning as well as retrospectively to look at problems to find where we'd gone off base. A generic enneagram is shown below. The next model using the enneagram shows how it begins to play out when looking at an individual, organization or community.
Living systems are chaotic systems.
Chaotic systems are driven by mild chaos. Organizations , as living systems,are driven as they come into contact with their environments in the same way. As the chaotic energy flows into and through the organizations, as seen in the living process of the enneagram, emergent and fluid design structures come into being. In using systematics as a way to look at living systems, we can see the patterns of order that lay under the apparent chaos and messiness. We can see the critical elements from which order will emerge.