We can explain, predict, and fully describe things and processes by what we have observed about them. And if we study enough of the individual parts, we will understand how they all fit together as a whole entity or process.

It is generally understood that almost all events, things and processes behave in a certain way. A causes B which then results in C.

In the rare situation where that is not the case, we treat it as a random occurrence - unplanned and unconnected to anything else. It just happens.

There are others in the fields of life sciences, ecology, social sciences and other areas of study and theory who sense that things do not happen in linear or predictable ways. Perhaps our tangible, concrete ways of analyzing and building fact and theory are limited - and limit us from understanding the whole picture.

How do you explain intuition? perception? How do we explain the 'why' of things and processes -- from molecules to social groups to the evolution of life forms -- adjusting and adapting as they are affected by their environment, events or occurrences?

Maybe it isn't 'A causes B which results in C' after all. Maybe it is more like 'A and B change in relationship to one another, and when they change something else changes, too - let's say 'Z'. And maybe all the things and processes around this alphabet change in response to change. Maybe everything changes everything.

Maybe there are entirely new ways we can understand complexity, dynamics, and perhaps even our description of reality. Systems theory is an attempt to understand the previously indescribable and unmeasurable.