Tetsunori Koizumi, Director

Evolution is the most pervasive force that is behind change and transformation of all systems in the universe, from tiny organisms to human beings, from social systems to stellar systems. It is the creative force that has given rise to living systems we observe in the world around us. It was indeed a remarkable insight of Charles Darwin to recognize that it was the creativity of nature itself that is responsible for all the myriad forms of life.

Regardless of the forms they take, living systems are subject to the cycle of birth and death at the individual as well as at the species level. At the species level, the cycle of birth and death corresponds to the cycle of speciation and extinction, which are the two aspects of the same process called evolution, as Stuart Kaufman points out: “Speciation and extinction go roughly hand in hand. … Life, then, unrolls in an unending procession of change, with small and large bursts of speciations, and small and large bursts of extinctions, ringing out the old, ringing in the new.”¹ One way to explain how speciation and extinction come about is in terns of the concept of kata as it is applied to open systems in nature, which living systems are.

An open system, as it interacts with other systems in the environment, is under constant pressure to maintain its homeostatic equilibrium and stability, its structural cohesion and viability. One way in which a system goes about maintaining its equilibrium, stability, cohesion, and viability is by forming a kata, a Japanese word that is widely used to refer to a “structured pattern of interaction” among its constituent elements.

A system has a propensity to form katas because having a well-defined kata confers, if only for a while, the benefits of having a structured pattern of interaction among its constituent elements which contributes to maintaining its equilibrium, stability, coherence, and viability. That a system has a propensity to form katas for its evolutionary benefits is only half the story, however, for there are positive as well as negative sides to katas. While having a well-defined kata helps a system to maintain its equilibrium, stability, cohesion, and viability by assuring its continuity, order, and security, it can also inhibit initiatives and suppress creativity on the part of individual constituents, which is needed if a system is to continue to exist and evolve in its evolving environment. When the negatives outweigh the positives, a system will have to abandon the existing kata in favor of a new kata more suited to a new environment.

The replacement of an old kata by a new kata may not happen immediately. There may indeed be a period during which the old and the new kata contravene with each other before the advantage of the new kata is firmly established. When this happens, the old kata fades into oblivion, or is dissolved. In this sense, the propensity of a system to form katas can be regarded as a fundamental principle of evolutionary change in natural and human systems and involves the four phases of “formation”, “preservation”, “contravention”, and “dissolution”.

The evolution of a system can thus be characterized as a process of successive appearances and disappearances of katas. The “formation” phase of a kata in a species corresponds to what Kaufman calls “speciation” in the quote above. As is especially the case with natural systems, the formation of a well-established kata is the process by which a natural system, or a species, finds its ecological niche in the environment. On the other hand, the “dissolution” phase of a kata leads to “extinction” of a system, or a species, for it can no longer maintain its equilibrium, stability, cohesion, and viability in the face of changes taking place both internally and externally.

That evolution can be seen as the process of successive appearances and disappearances of katas in systems implies that the laws of nature are subject to change and transformation. Rupert Sheldrake is quite justified to ask a rhetorical question, “If everything else evolves, why don’t the laws of nature evolve along with nature?”² This realization has led him to talk about the laws of nature as “habits” which a system acquires during its evolutionary process, which are preserved as “internal memories”, so to speak: “Evolution may be the result of an interplay between habits and creativity. New forms and patterns of organization appear spontaneously, and are subject to natural selection. Those that survive are more likely to appear again as new habits build up, and through repetition they become increasingly habitual.”³ Habits, as well-established katas, help a system, or a species, to maintain its ecological niche in the environment. However, sooner or later changes taking place both internally and externally render existing habits, or katas, unsuitable in a new environment. Speciation and extinction thus go hand in hand, and are inherent in the process of evolution from natural systems to social systems. Moreover, we cannot dissociate consciousness from the process of evolution because it is up to us humans to recognize habits, or katas, in all the systems around us.

1. Kaufman, Stuart A., At Home in the Universe: The Search for Laws of Self-Organization and Complexity, New York: Oxford University Press, 1995, pp. 14-15.
2. Sheldrake, Rupert, Science Set Free: 10 Paths to New Discovery, New York: Deepak Chopra Books, 2012, Chapter 3.
3. Ibid., Chapter 3.

Tetsunori Koizumi, Director

Japan and New Zealand, though located on the opposite sides of the Equator, share many geographical and geological features such as long coastlines, volcanoes, and hot springs. The two countries are also known around the world for their beautiful mountains. However, the commonality between the two countries vanishes when it comes to naming their mountains.

Most mountains in Japan are named after their geographical locations such as Tokachi-dake, Iwate-san, and Tsukuba-yama, where dake, san, and yama are variations in Japanese for the word “mountain”. There are also many mountains whose names literally capture their visual images such as Tsurugi-dake (Mt. Sword), Yariga-dake (Mt. Spear), and Hakuba (Mt. White Horse). What is most striking about the choice of names for Japanese mountains is the fact that not a single mountain of the so-called “one hundred famous Japanese mountains” is named after a real person. The sole exception, if it can be called that, is Sobo-san, which would be Mt. Grandmother in English as the Japanese word “sobo” means “grandmother”. The name of Sobo-san was given to this mountain in the southern island of Kyushu because on its top is a shrine in honor of Toyotamahime, not a historical figure but a mythological figure who was the grandmother of Emperor Jinmu, the legendary first emperor of Japan.

In New Zealand, in sharp contrast to Japan, most mountains are named after historical figures such as Mt. Cook, Mt. Tasman, Mt. Vancouver, Mt. Hicks, Mt. Hamilton, Mt. Graham, Mt. Dixon, and Mt. Darwin. It goes without saying that Mt. Cook is named after the British explorer Captain James Cook (1728-1779), and Mt. Tasman after the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman (1603-1659). In fact, the names of Cook and Tasman also appear in the names of a strait, Cook Strait, and a sea, Tasman Sea, the former for the strait between the North and the South Island and the latter for the sea between New Zealand and Australia. Other mountains listed above are also named after real persons whose lives are connected with the history of New Zealand in one way or another. Charles Darwin (1809-1882) is credited with one mountain named after him because he was in New Zealand in 1835 during his trip around the world on the HMS Beagle.

Crossing the Tasman Sea from New Zealand to Australia, we come across an interesting example of a mountain—or a rock formation—named after mythical figures in the region called the Blue Mountains in New South Wales. Known for the dramatic scenery with rugged mountains, steep cliffs, deep canyons, underground rivers, and cascading waterfalls, the Blue Mountains is one of the places Charles Darwin visited during his stay in Australia in 1836. The sandstone rock formation called “Three Sisters” is one of the most spectacular landscapes in the Blue Mountains, attracting millions of visitors every year. Of the three rocks that comprise it, Meehri is the tallest at 922 meters, followed by Wimlah at 918 meters, and Gunnedoo at 906 meters. It is not difficult to infer that these are Aboriginal female names. According to an Aboriginal legend, the three sisters, who lived in the Jamison Valley as members of the Katoomba tribe, fell in love with three brothers from the rival Nepean tribe. Since inter-tribal marriage was forbidden, the three brothers decided to capture the three sisters by force, inciting a battle between the two tribes. A witchdoctor of the Katoomba tribe turned the three sisters into rocks in order to protect them from being captured. When the witchdoctor was killed in the battle, no one was left to turn the three sisters back into humans. Thus, they still stand as rocks to this day, overlooking the beautiful valley, and will continue to stand there until rain and wind gradually erode their gracious figures into a pile of sands.

There is another mountain with the name of “Three Sisters” in the Canadian Rockies near Canmore, Alberta, which lies to the east of the Banff National Park. This is a massive mountain with three peaks, much bigger than “Three Sisters” in the Land Down Under.

The three peaks are named: Big Sister (also called Faith), which is highest at 2,936 meters, Middle Sister (Charity), which is 2,769 meters high, and Little Sister (Hope), which is 2,694 meters high. The three peaks were once called “Three Nuns” because they were said to resemble, when covered with snow, the figures of three nuns praying. The current name, “Three Sisters”, was given by George M. Dawson (1849-1901), who did an extensive survey of Western Canada, as this name appears in a map he created in 1886 of the area covering the Canadian Rockies. Calling them Faith, Charity and Hope after martyred saints, some have argued, would not sit well with Canada’s Protestants. But for all Canadians—and for all visitors from around the world—these majestic peaks stand high into the sky as a reminder of three Christian virtues of faith, hope, and charity.

The way in which mountains are named thus varies from country to country. But does it matter how mountains are named? After all, is not a mountain a mountain no matter in which country it is located? It certainly does, for by giving the name of “Three Sisters” we feel more affinity to a rock formation than just calling it “Three Rocks”, leading us to develop an awareness about the importance of living in harmony with the natural environment. As for “Three Sisters” in the Great White North, calling “Middle Sister” Charity reminds us the importance of observing the universal virtue of agape in our relationship with our fellow human beings, for as Paul the Apostle writes in his First Epistle to Corinthians, “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.”