When we look at complex systems we don’t immediately view the underlying patterns of organization, or indeed self-organization. In much the same way as comparing a maple tree to a fir tree, we only see the surface of what we call a tree, not the patterns and underlying structures and relationships that give rise to what a particular tree is in comparison with other trees, the forest and the surrounding ecology. Using an everyday human analogy we might enter a health club and immediately observe a variety of complex and interconnected activities; people doing step routines, others doing circuits, still others on cardio-machines. Our initial perception might suggest that people are generally doing things that are focused on improving their health through exercise. As we look deeper, we begin to explore and expose the underlying nature of these activities. We observe that some of the exercises have routines that bring people repeatedly back to some point in a circuit, displaying an iterative pattern as people work on different aspects of their physical bodies. Some may be doing exercise for the purpose of body building while others need to maintain cardio-vascular health. We discover the structural aspects (e.g., patterns of organization) that lie beneath the outward appearance of healthy exercise.