Words, apophatikē theologia, and “Evolution”

When I hear Kazumasa Oda's famous song “Kotoba ni dekinai (Words can't do it)” (1982, Japanese pops), I tend to rush into it. I always say to myself, “You've already got the words!” And I am not surprised.

In Christian theology, there is something called “apophatikē theologia (negative theology)”. The theory is as follows.

God cannot be conceived, nor can He be named. We can only say that God is not like this.
　(Shueisha Encyclopedia of World Literature / Dionysius Areopagita / by Hiroaki Tanaka)

The nursery rhyme “Urashima Taro” also says, “If you come to the Dragon's Palace, you will see a beauty that cannot be painted. This is a good example of how a “picture” cannot be painted, but a lyric can be written.

This is a good example of the power of words. Words are omnipotent in the world of “language”. I think that it was probably after the acquisition of “language” that the human race lost the need to evolve in terms of physical “phenotype”.

From the reverse side, this is equivalent to the fact that humans chose the survival strategy of sustaining life by forming a “society” different from other animals' “herds. This is because “language” needs a “receiver” in addition to a “sender,” and both are effective together. In animals other than humans, evolutionary knowledge is stored in genes that determine physical phenotypes. In humans, on the other hand, evolutionary knowledge is accumulated as a “language” in the “society” between “humans” and “humans. If “evolutionary knowledge” is accumulated in “language” as media, there is no need to deform the “body” at all.

*See also,
〔参照〕
言葉は意味を孕んでいる Language conceives meanings and images: 本に溺れたい
言葉は意味を孕まない（Language doesn’t conceive meanings and images.）: 本に溺れたい
インターフェースとしての言葉（ Language as an interface ): 本に溺れたい

** This article is an English translation of the following Japanese article.
「言葉にできない」と言葉にできる／ You can say "I can't make it into words" : 本に溺れたい