terms. The raison d'etre of philosophical inquiry was to provide
humans with practicable answers to what Aztecs identified as the
defining question of human existence: How can we maintain our balance
while walking upon the slippery earth? Aztec philosophers addressed
this question against an assumed metaphysics which held that the
cosmos and its human inhabitants are constituted by and ultimately
identical with a single, vivifying, eternally self-generating and
self-regenerating sacred energy. Knowledge, truth, value, rightness,
and beauty were defined in terms of the aim of humans maintaining
their balance as well as the balance of the cosmos. Every moment and
aspect of human life was meant to further the realization of this aim.
1. Introduction
a. Who were the Aztecs?
The indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica enjoy a long and rich tradition
of philosophical speculation. The Aztecs and other Nahuatl-speaking
peoples of the High Central Plateau of Mexico were no exception.
Nahuatl-speaking peoples originated in northern Mexico and
southwestern United States, migrating south in successive waves to the
central Mexican highlands during the thirteenth and fourteenth
centuries. Nahuatl is a member of the Uto-Aztecan linguistic family
and related to Ute, Hopi, and Comanche. Nahuatl-speakers included
among others the Mexicas (known to us but not to themselves as
"Aztecs"), Texcocans, Chalcans, and Tlaxcaltecs. Due to their common
language and culture, scholars standardly refer to Nahuatl-speakers as
"Nahuas", and to their culture, as "Nahua culture". I follow this
practice here. Nahua culture flourished in the fifteenth- and
sixteenth- centuries prior to 1521 (CE), the fall of the Aztec
capital, Tenochtitlan, and official date of the Conquest.
b. Sources for Studying Nahua Philosophy
Our sources for studying Conquest-era Nahua philosophy include: (1)
native pictorial histories, ritual almanacs, tribute records, and
maps, including the Codex Mendoza (painted several years after the
Conquest), Codex Borgia (painted shortly before the Conquest), and
Codex Borbonicus (painted about the time of the Conquest); (2) reports
of the Spanish conquerors (e.g. Hernando Cortes and Bernal Diaz del
Costillo); (3) ethnography-style works composed by missionaries (e.g.
Friars Olmos, Motolinia, Sahagun, Duran and Mendieta) entering Mexico
shortly after the Conquest — most notably Sahagun's encyclopedic
Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva Espana; (4) early
seventeenth-century chronicles of Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxochitl and
Domingo de San Anton Munon Chimalpahin Quauhtlehuanitzin, both
Spanish-educated creole descendants of Aztec nobility; (5) native
sources of non-Nahuatl-speaking indigenous peoples of Mexico (e.g. the
Dresden Codex and Popol Vuh; (6) ethnographies of contemporary
Nahuatl-speaking (e.g. Knab 1995; Sandstrom 1991) and
non-Nahuatl-speaking (e.g. Hunt 1977; Monaghan 1995; Myerhoff 1974;
Schaefer 2002; Tedlock 1992) indigenous peoples; and (6)
archaeological studies (e.g. Smith 1996). (For further discussion see
Carmack, et al. 1996; Leon-Portilla 1963).
c. The approach of this study
I approach Conquest-era Nahua philosophy by hermeneutical
triangulation using the above sources. I assume Nahua philosophy to be
a coherent body of thought consisting tentatively of four interrelated
divisions: metaphysics, epistemology, theory of value, and aesthetics.
In hermeneutical fashion, understanding Nahua philosophy as a whole
depends upon understanding each division, while understanding each
division depends upon understanding the other divisions as well as the
whole.
Approaching Nahua philosophy in these terms is not without hazard.
Although mainstays in European philosophy, they demarcate categories
for which there are no precise, noncontroversial synonyms in Nahuatl.
Nahua tlamatinime ("knowers of things," "sages," "philosophers;"
tlamatini [singular]) do not appear to have analyzed philosophical
thought in these terms. Rather, they conceived metaphysics,
epistemology, theory of value, and aesthetics in conceptually
overlapping if not equivalent terms.
Why then employ them? I believe doing so offers Western readers an
intuitive first step into Nahua philosophy since they are deeply
entrenched in Western thought. What's more, they are commonly employed
in Nahua scholarship (e.g. Burkhart 1989; Gingerich 1987, 1988;
Leon-Portilla 1963; Lopez Austin 1988, 1997; Read 1998). Their
heuristic utility notwithstanding, employing them must not mislead us
into thinking that Nahua philosophers conceived philosophy in
precisely these terms. Successfully understanding Nahua philosophy
requires in the final analysis that we reconceive these divisions as a
single, seamless conceptual whole. (For discussion of the pitfalls
involved in using Western concepts to understand non-Western thought,
see Asad 1986; Hall and Ames 1995; Maffie 2004; Wiredu 1996.)
I attribute the following views to the Nahuas generally, although it
is more accurate to attribute them to the upper elite of priests,
scholars, and educated nobility. Afterall, views differed between:
priests, merchants, and farmers; men and women; dominant and
subordinate city-states; and various regional and ethnic subgroups. I
attribute the views to the period of the Mesoamerican-European
contact, realizing full well that philosophies are living works in
progress.
2. Metaphysics
a. Teotl as Ultimate Reality and Root Metaphor
At the heart of Nahua philosophy stands the thesis that there exists a
single, dynamic, vivifying, eternally self-generating and
self-regenerating sacred power, energy or force: what the Nahuas
called teotl (see Boone 1994; Burkhart 1989; Klor de Alva 1979;
Monaghan 2000; H.B. Nicholson 1971; Read 1998; Townsend 1972).
Elizabeth Boone (1994:105) writes, "The real meaning of [teotl] is
spirit — a concentration of power as a sacred and impersonal force".
According to Jorge Klor de Alva (1979:7), "Teotl …implies something
more than the idea of the divine manifested in the form of a god or
gods; instead it signifies the sacred in more general terms". The
multiplicity of gods in official, state sanctioned Aztec religion does
not gainsay this claim, for this multiplicity was merely the sacred,
merely teotl, "separated, as it were by the prism of human sight, into
its many attributes" (I. Nicholson 1959:63f).
Teotl continually generates and regenerates as well as permeates,
encompasses, and shapes the cosmos as part of its endless process of
self-generation-and–regeneration. That which humans commonly
understand as nature — e.g. heavens, earth, rain, humans, trees,
rocks, animals, etc. — is generated by teotl, from teotl as one
aspect, facet, or moment of its endless process of
self-generation-and-regeneration. Yet teotl is more than the unified
totality of things; teotl is identical with everything and everything
is identical with teotl. Since identical with teotl, they cosmos and
its contents ultimately transcend such dichotomies as personal vs.
impersonal, animate vs. inanimate, etc. As the single,
all-encompassing life force of the universe, teotl vivifies the cosmos
and its contents. Lastly, teotl is both metaphysically immanent and
transcendent. It is immanent in that it penetrates deeply into every
detail of the universe and exists within the myriad of created things;
it is transcendent in that it is not exhausted by any single, existing
thing.
Nahua metaphysics is processive. Process, movement, becoming and
transmutation are essential attributes of teotl. Teotl is properly
understood as ever-flowing and ever-changing energy-in-motion — not as
a discrete, static entity. Because doing so better reflects teotl's
dynamic and processual nature, I suggest (following Cooper's [1997]
proposal that we treat "God" of the mystical teachings of the Jewish
Kabbalah as a verb) that we treat the word "teotl" as a verb denoting
process and movement rather than as a noun denoting a discrete static
entity. So construed, "teotl" refers to the eternal, universal process
of teotlizing.
b. Dialectical polar monism
Although essentially processive and devoid of any permanent order, the
ceaseless becoming of the cosmos is nevertheless characterized by an
overarching balance, rhythm, and regularity: one provided by and
constituted by teotl. Teotl's and hence the cosmos' ceaseless becoming
is characterized by what I call "dialectical polar monism".
Dialectical polar monism holds that: (1) the cosmos and its contents
are substantively and formally identical with teotl; and (2) teotl
presents itself primarily as the ceaseless, cyclical oscillation of
polar yet complementary opposites.
Teotl's process presents itself in multiple aspects, preeminent among
which is duality. This duality takes the form of the endless
opposition of contrary yet mutually interdependent and mutually
complementary polarities which divide, alternately dominate, and
explain the diversity, movement, and momentary arrangement of the
universe. These include: being and not-being, order and disorder, life
and death, light and darkness, masculine and feminine, dry and wet,
hot and cold, and active and passive. Life and death, for example, are
mutually arising, interdependent, and complementary aspects of one and
the same process. Life contains the seed of death; death, the fertile,
energizing seed of life. The artists of Tlatilco and Oaxaca, for
example, presented this duality artistically by fashioning a
split-faced mask, one-half alive, one-half skull-like (see Markman and
Markman 1989:90). The masks are intentionally ambiguous. Skulls
simultaneously symbolize death and life, since life springs from the
bones of the dead. Flesh simultaneously symbolizes life and death,
since death arises from the flesh of the living. The faces are thus
neither-alive-nor-dead-yet-both-alive-and-dead all at once.
The Nahuas' notion of duality contrasts with Zoroastrian-style
eschatological dualisms. The latter claim: (1) order (goodness, life,
light) and disorder (evil, death, darkness) are mutually exclusive
forces; and (2) order (life, etc.) triumphs over disorder (death,
etc.) at the end of history. Acording to Nahua duality, order and
disorder, life and death, etc. alternate endlessly without resolution.
It neither conceives death as inherently evil and life as inherently
good nor advocates the conquest of death or the search for eternal
life (see Caso 1958; Burkhart 1989; Carmack, et al. 1996; Hunt 1977;
Knab 1995; Leon-Portilla 1963; Lopez Austin 1988, 1993, 1997; Monaghan
2000; Read 1998; Sandstrom 1991).
The created cosmos consists of the unending, cyclical tug-of-war or
dialectical oscillation of these polarities — all of which are the
manifold manifestations of teotl. Because of this, the created cosmos
is characterized as unstable, transitory, and devoid of any lasting
being, order or structure. Yet teotl is nevertheless characterized by
enduring pattern or regularity. How is this so? Teotl is the dynamic,
sacred energy shaping as well as constituting these endless
oscillations; it is the immanent balance of the endless, dialectical
alternation of the created universe's interdependent polarities.
Because essentially processive and dynamic, teotl is properly
characterized neither by being nor not-being but by becoming. Being
and not-being are simply two dialectically interrelated presentations
or facets of teotl, and as such inapplicable to teotl itself.
Similarly, teotl is properly understood as neither ordered
(law-governed) nor disordered (anarchic) but as unordered. Indeed,
this point is fully general: life/death, active/passive, male/female,
etc. are strictly speaking not predicable of teotl. Teotl captures a
tertium quid transcending these dichotomies by being simultaneously
neither-alive-nor-dead-yet-both-alive-and-dead, simultaneously
neither-orderly-nor-disorderly-yet-both-orderly-and-disorderly, etc.
In the end, teotl is essentially an unstructured and unordered,
seamless totality. Differentiation, regularity, order, etc. are
simultaneously fictions of human unknowing and artistic-shamanic
presentations of teotl. In Western philosophical terminology, one
perhaps best characterizes the radical ontological indeterminacy of
Nahua metaphysics as an extreme nominalist anti-realism, and teotl, as
a Kantian-like noumenon.
c. Pantheism
Nahuas philosophers also conceived teotl pantheistically: (a)
everything that exists constitutes an all-inclusive and interrelated
unity; (b) this unity is sacred; (c) everything that exists is
substantively identical and hence one with the sacred; (d) the sacred
is teotl. There is only one thing, teotl, and all other forms or
aspects of reality and existence are identical with teotl; (e) teotl
is not a minded being or 'person' (in the Western sense of having
intentional states or the capacity to make decisions). (See Levine
1994 for discussion of pantheism.)
Hunt (1977) and I. Nicholson (1959) offer closely similar
interpretations of pre-Hispanic metaphysics. Eva Hunt writes:
…reality, nature and experience were nothing but multiple
manifestations of a single unity of being… The [sacred] was both the
one and the many… It was also multiple, fluid, encompassing of the
whole, its aspects were changing images, dynamic, never frozen, but
constantly recreated, redefined (Hunt 1977:55f.).
Alan Sandstrom's ethnography of contemporary Nahuatl-speakers in
Veracruz, Mexico, offers a similar interpretation:
…everybody and everything is an aspect of a grand, single,
overriding unity. Separate beings and objects do not exist–that is an
illusion peculiar to human beings. In daily life we divide up our
environment into discrete units so that we can talk about it and
manipulate it for our benefit. But it is an error to assume that the
diversity we create in our lives is the way reality is actually
structured … everything is connected at a deeper level, part of the
same basic substratum of being… The universe is a deified, seamless
totality (Sandstrom 1991:138).
d. Teotl as Self-Transforming Shaman and Artist
Teotl's ceaseless generating-and-regenerating of the cosmos is also
one of ceaseless self-transformation-and-self-retransformation. The
cosmos is teotl's self-transformation or self-transmutation — not its
creation ex nihilo. The Nahuas understood this process in two closely
interrelated ways.
First, they conceived it artistically. Teotl is a sacred artist who
endlessly fashions and refashions itself into and as the cosmos. The
cosmos is teotl's in xochitl, in cuicatl ("flower-and-song"). The
Nahuas used "in xochitl, in cuicatl" to refer specifically to the
composing and performing of song-poems and to refer generally to
creative, artistic, and metaphorical activity (e.g. singing poetry,
music, painting/writing [the Nahuas regarded painting and writing as a
single activity]). As teotl's "flower and song" the cosmos is teotl's
grand, ongoing artistic-cum-metaphorical self-presentation; teotl's
ongoing work of performance art or "metaphor in motion" (Markman and
Markman 1989).
Second, they conceived teotl's self-transmutation in shamanic terms.
The cosmos is teotl's nahual ("disguise" or "mask"). The Nahuatl word
"nahual" derives from "nahualli" signifying a form-changing shaman
(suggesting its indigenous shamanic roots). The continual becoming of
the cosmos and its myriad aspects are teotl's shamanic self-masking
and self-disguising (see P. Furst 1976; Gingerich 1988; H.B. Nicholson
1971; Ortiz de Montellano 1990).
Teotl artistically-cum-shamanically presents and masks itself to
humans in a variety of ways: (1) the apparent thingness of existents,
i.e. the appearance of static entities such as humans, mountains,
trees, insects, etc. This is illusory, since one and all are merely
facets of teotl's sacred motion; (2) the apparent multiplicity of
existents, i.e. the appearance of discrete, independently existing
entities such as individual humans, plants, mountains, etc. This is
illusory since there is only one thing: teotl; and (3) the apparent
exclusivity, independence, and irreconcilable oppositionality of
dualities such as order and disorder, life and death, etc. This is
illusory since they are interrelated, complementary facets of teotl.
As an epistemological consequence of teotl's self-disguising, when
humans customarily gaze upon the world, what they see is teotl as a
human, as a tree, as female, etc.–i.e. teotl self-disguised — rather
than teotl as teotl. As we shall see shortly below, wisdom enables
humans to discern the sacred presence of teotl in its myriad
disguises.
e. Teotl as root metaphor of Nahua philosophy
Teotl functions as Stephen Pepper (1970) calls the "root metaphor" and
what Alfredo Lopez Austin (1997) calls the "archetype" and "logical
principle" governing the "unifying" "coherent nucleus" of Nahua
philosophy. Teotl possesses metaphysical, epistemological, moral, and
aesthetic facets in that it functions simultaneously as the source,
object, and/or standard of reality, knowledge, value, rightness, and
beauty.
f. Popular Aztec religion
Many of the preceding claims were expressed mythologically and
polytheistically in state-sanctioned, popular Aztec religion. Although
the priests, nobility, and sages embraced its monistic aspect, the
uneducated masses tended to embrace the polytheistic aspects of Nahua
metaphysics (see Caso 1958; Leon-Portilla 1963:Ch II; H.B. Nicholson
1971:410-2; I. Nicholson 1959:60-3). State-sanctioned Aztec religion
construed teotl as the supreme god, Ometeotl (literally, "Two God",
also called in Tonan, in Tota, Huehueteotl, "our Mother, our Father,
the Old God"), as well as a host of lesser gods, stars, fire, and
water (Leon-Portilla 1963). Ometeotl was the god of duality, a
male-female unity who resided in Omeyocan, "The place of duality",
which occupied the highest levels of the heavens. S/he
fathered/mothered her/himself as well as the universe. As "Lord and
Lady of our flesh and sustenance", Ometeotl provided the universal
cosmic energy from which all things derived their original as well as
continued existence and sustenance; s/he provided and maintained the
oscillating rhythm of the universe; and s/he gave all things their
particular natures. In virtue of these attributes s/he was called the
"one through whom all live" (Caso 1958:8) and the one "who is the very
being of all things, preserving them and sustaining them" (Alonso de
Molina, in Leon-Portilla 1963:92). Because metaphysically immanent,
Ometeotl was called Tloque Nahuaque, the "one who is near to
everything and to whom everything is near" (Angel Garibay, quoted in
Leon-Portilla 1963:93). Because epistemologically transcendent (in the
sense that humans are not guaranteed knowledge of Ometeotl), Ometeotl
was called Yohualli-ehecatl, the one who is "invisible (like the
night) and intangible (like the wind)".
g. Living in "The House of Paintings"
Nahua tlamatinime standardly characterized earthly existence as
consisting of pictures, images, and symbols painted-written by teotl
on its sacred amoxtli (Mesoamerican papyrus-like paper). The tlamatini
Aquiauhtzin (ca.1430-ca.1500, from Chalco-Amaquemecan), for example,
characterized the earth as "the house of paintings" (Cantares
mexicanos fol.10 r., trans. by Leon-Portilla 1992:282.). According to
Xayacamach (second half of the fifteenth century, from Tlaxcala),
"Your home is here, in the midst of the paintings" (Cantares mexicanos
fol.11 v., trans. by Leon-Portilla 1992:228). Like the images on
amoxtli painted-written by human artists, the images on teotl's sacred
canvas are fragile and evanescent. The renowned tlamatini and ruler of
Texcoco, Nezahualcoyotl (1402-1472), sung:
With flowers You paint, O Giver of Life!
With songs You give color, with songs you give life on the earth.
Later you will destroy eagles and tigers: we live only in your
painting here, on the earth.
With black ink you will blot out all that was friendship,
brotherhood, nobility.
You give shading to those who will live on the earth…
we live only in Your book of paintings, here on the earth.
(Romances de los senores de Nueva Espana, fol.35 r., trans. by
Leon-Portilla 1992:83).
Because they saw everything earthly as teotl's nahual, Nahua
tlamatinime claimed everything earthly is dreamlike. Tochihuitzin
Coyolchiuhqui sung: "We only rise from sleep, we come only to dream,
it is ahnelli [unrooted, untrue] it is ahnelli [unrooted, untrue] that
we come on earth to live." (Cantares mexicanos, fol.14v., trans. by
Leon-Portilla 1992:153). Once again, Nezahualcoyotl sung:
Is it nelli [rooted, true, authentic] one really lives on the earth?
Not forever on earth, only a little while here.
Though it be jade it falls apart, though it be gold it wears away,
though it be quetzal plumage it is torn asunder.
Not forever on this earth, only a little while here.
(Cantares mexicanos, fol 17r., trans. by Leon-Portilla 1992:80).
Nahua tlamatinime conceived the dreamlikeness or illusoriness of
earthly existence in epistemological — not ontological — terms (pace
Leon-Portilla 1963). Illusion was not an ontological category as it
was, say, for Plato. In the Republic (Book VI) Plato employed the
notion of illusion: to characterize an inferior or lower grade of
reality or existence; to distinguish this inferior grade of reality
from a superior, higher one (the Forms); and to deny that earthy
existence is fully real. This conception of illusion commits one to an
ontological dualism that divides the universe into two fundamentally
different kinds of existents: illusion and reality.
Nahua tlamatinime employed the concepts of dreamlikeness and illusion
as epistemological categories in order to make the epistemological
claim that the natural condition of humans is to be deceived by
teotl's disguise and misunderstand teotl — not the metaphysical claim
that as teotl's disguise all earthly existence is ontologically
substandard and not genuinely real. Earthly existence provides the
occasion for human misperception, misjudgment, and misunderstanding.
The dreamlike character of earthly existence, the mask of unknowing
which beguiles us as human beings, is a function of our human
perspective and teotl's artistic self-disguise (these being ultimately
one and the same!) — not a metaphysical dualism inherent in the
make-up of things. When Nahua tlamatinime characterized earthly
existence as ephemeral and evanescent, they did so not because earthly
existence lacks complete reality but because as facets of teotl's
disguise they are subject to the endless oscillation of dialectical
polar monism. Illusion is a function our mistaking the commonly
perceived characteristics of the myriad shapes, structures, and
entities of teotl's disguise as characteristics of teotl itself. In
sum, the Nahuas' epistemological conception of illusion does not
commit them to an ontological dualism between two different kinds of
existents — illusion and reality — and is therefore consistent with
their ontological monism.
A further consequence of Nahua monism is the metaphysical
impossibility of human beings perceiving de re anything other than
teotl, for teotl is the only thing to be perceived de re! But then how
can Nahua tlamatinime claim that humans normally misperceive and
misunderstand teotl? Humans normally perceive and conceive teotl de
dicto or under a description, e.g. as Nezahualcoyotl, as maleness, as
death, as night, etc. When doing so they perceive and conceive teotl's
nahual (self-disguise) and consequently perceive and conceive teotl in
a manner that is ahnelli – i.e. untrue, unrooted, inauthentic,
unconcealing, and nondisclosing. It is humans' misperceiving and
misunderstanding teotl as its disguise (nahual) which prevents them
from seeing teotl (reality) as it really is.
The only way humans experience teotl knowingly is to experience teotl
sans description. Humans experience teotl knowingly via a process of
mystical-style union between their hearts and teotl that enables them
to experience teotl directly i.e. without mediation by language,
concepts, or categories. One comes to know teotl through teotl. One's
perception and conception are no longer befogged by "the cloud of
unknowing" (to borrow from the fourteenth century English mystical
text by the same name) or the "breath on the mirror" (to borrow from
the Mayan Popol Vuh) constituted by de dicto perception and
conception. Note however that although metaphysically immanent within
human hearts (in keeping with Nahua metaphysical monism), teotl is
nevertheless epistemologically transcendent in the sense that humans
are not guaranteed knowledge of teotl.
A fundamental metaphysical difference thus divides the underlying
problematics of Nahua and Cartesian-style Western epistemology. The
latter conceives subject and object dualistically and the relationship
between subject and object as one mediated by a "veil of perception".
The subject's access to the object is indirect, being mediated, for
example, by appearances or representations of the object. The Nahuas'
epistemological problematic conceives the subject and object
monistically and the relationship between subject and object in terms
of a mask. And masks in Mesoamerican epistemology have different
properties than veils.
In their study of masks in Mesoamerican shamanism (in which
sixteenth-century Nahua epistemology was deeply rooted and to which it
remained closely related), Markman and Markman (1989:xx) argue that
masks "simultaneously conceal and reveal the innermost spiritual force
of life itself". For example, the life/death masks mentioned above
simultaneously conceal and reveal the simultaneously
neither-alive-nor-dead-yet-both-alive-and-dead figure. The mask does
not symbolize, represent, or point to something deeper, something
hiding behind itself, for the simultaneously
neither-alive-nor-dead-yet-both-alive-and-dead figure rests right upon
the surface of the figure. The simultaneously
neither-alive-nor-dead-yet-both-alive-and-dead figure does not lurk
behind the mask; nor is our access to it obstructed by a veil or
representation. It is fully present de re yet hidden de dicto by our
unknowing, i.e. by our normal tendency to misperceive reality as
exclusively either dead or alive — as opposed to
neither-alive-nor-dead-yet-both-alive-and-dead. After years of ritual
preparation, Nahua tlamatinime were able to see the life-death mask de
re or "unmasked" as it were, and in so doing discern the complementary
unity and interdependence of life and death.
h. Time-space
Nahua metaphysics conceives time and its various patterns as the
dynamic unfolding of teotl. Time and space form an indistinguisable
time-space continuum. The four cardinal directions, for example, are
simultaneously directions of space and time. Weeks, months, seasons,
years, and year-clusters all had spatial directions. Time-space is
concrete, quantitative, and qualitative. It does not consist of a
uniform succession of qualitatively identical moments, nor is it a
neutral frame of reference abstracted from terrestrial and celestial
events and processes. The quantitative dimensions of time-space are
inseparable from its qualitative, symbolic dimensions. Different
time-spaces bear different qualities.
All these dimensions coalesced in the activity of Nahua
time-space-keeping (astronomy), which included observing, counting,
measuring, interpreting, giving an account of, and creating an
artistic-written record of various patterns of time-space. Nahua
time-space-keeping included tonalpohualli ("counting the days") or
counting the days of the 260-day cycle; xiuhpohualli ("counting the
years") or counting the days of the 360+5-day cycle; xiuhmolpilli
("binding the years") or counting the 52 years of the "calendar
round"; counting the 65 "years" of the cycle of Quetzalcoatl (the
Venusian cycle); and counting other cycles in celestial and
terrestrial processes. Nahua "time-keepers" (cahuipouhqui) were
knowledgeable of the time-space rhythms of teotl and responsible for
keeping society and humankind in balance with the cosmos.
Calendrical cycles govern human existence. A person's birth date in
the tonalpohualli determines her tonalli: a vital force having
important consequences for her character and destiny. The Nahuas used
the tonalpohualli to divine the nature of this force. The
tonalpohualli assigned different daysigns to each day, each daysign
having different effects on a person's character and destiny.
Time-space bears destinies, carried burdens, and conveyed these to
events falling under its influence. The reckoning of any period of
time-space always leads one to investigate the tonalli or
"day-time-destiny" associated with it. Everything happening on the
earth and in humans' lives from birth to death is the outcome of
tonalli.
The history of the universe falls into five successive ages or "suns,"
each representing the temporary dominance of a different aspect of
teotl. The present era, the "Age of the Fifth Sun," is the final one
and the one in which the Aztecs believed they lived. Like its four
predecessors, the Fifth Sun is destined to cataclysmic destruction, at
which time the earth will be destroyed by earthquakes and humankind
will vanish forever. (For further discussion, see Lopez Austin 1988,
1997; Leon-Portilla 1963; Read 1998; Carrasco 1990; Maffie
[forthcoming].)
3. The Defining Problematic of Nahua Philosophy
a. How Can Humans Maintain their Balance on the Slippery Earth?
The Nahua regarded earthly life as filled with pain, sorrow, and
suffering. Indeed, the earth's surface is a treacherous habitat for
human beings. Its name, "tlalticpac," literally means "on the point or
summit of the earth", suggesting a narrow, jagged, point-like place
surrounded by constant dangers (Michael Launey, quoted in Burkhart
1989:58). The Nahuatl proverb, "Tlaalahui, tlapetzcahui in
tlalticpac," "It is slippery, it is slick on the earth," was said of a
person who had lived a morally upright life but then lost her balance
and fell into moral wrongdoing, as if slipping in slick mud (Sahagun
1953-82:VI,p.228, trans. by Burkhart 1989). Humans lose their balance
easily on tlalticpac and so suffer misfortune frequently. They
therefore desparately need guidance.
Nahua tlamatinime conceived the raison d'etre of philosophy in terms
of this situation, and turned to philosophy for practicable answers to
what they regarded as the defining question of human existence: How
can humans maintain their balance upon the slippery earth? This
situation and question jointly constitute the problematic which
functions as the defining framework for Nahua philosophy. Morally,
epistemologically, and aesthetically appropriate human activity are
defined in terms of the goal of humans maintaining their balance upon
the slippery earth. All human activities are to be directed towards
this aim. At bottom, Nahua philosophy is essentially pragmatic.
Because of this I suggest Nahua philosophy is better understood as a
"way-seeking" rather than as a "truth-seeking" philosophy.
"Way-seeking" philosophies such as classical Taoism, classical
Confucianism, and contemporary North American pragmatism adopt as
their defining question, "What is the way?" or "What is the path?". In
contrast, "truth-seeking" philosophies such as most European
philosophies adopt as their defining question, "What is the truth?"
(For discussion see Hall 2001; Hall and Ames 1998; Maffie [ed] 2001.)
To the question, "How can humans maintain their balance upon the
slippery earth?", Nahua tlamatinime answered, "Humans must conduct
every aspect of their lives wisely". To the question, "What is the
best path for humans to follow on the narrow, jagged surface of the
earth?", they answered, "The balanced, middle path since it avoids
excess and imbalance, hence mistepping and slipping, hence misfortune
and ill-being".
b. The Character of Wisdom
Wisdom aims at instructing humans how to maintain their balance (like
skilled mountaineers) as they walk upon the narrow, twisting, and
jagged path of life upon the summit of the earth (see Burkhart 1989;
Gingerich 1988; Leon-Portilla 1963; I. Nicholson 1959). The Nahuas
conceived wisdom dynamically in terms of balancing — a conception
rooted in indigenous shamanism (see Eliade 1964; Gingerich 1988; P.
Furst 1976; Myeroff 1974) and in their conception of teotl. They
conceived wisdom adverbially, not substantively. Wisdom is a
characteristic of how one conducts oneself and one's affairs — not a
thing or a set of eternal truths one grasps, apprehends, or possesses.
By enabling them to walk in balance, wisdom affords humans some
measure of stability and well-being in an otherwise evanescent life
filled with pain, sorrow, struggle, and suffering, here on an
impermanent, doomed earth.
Nahua sages conceived tlamatiliztli (knowledge, wisdom) in pragmatic,
creative, and performative terms rather than in propositional or
theoretical terms. Tlamatiliztli consists of non-propositional 'know
how' — not propositional 'knowledge that'. It consists of knowing how
to live so as to make one's way safely upon the slippery surface of
earth. How do humans become wise? They must become neltiliztli, i.e.
well-rooted, authentic, true, and non-referentially disclosing. Their
intellectual, emotional, imaginative, and physical dispositions and
behavior must become deeply and firmly rooted in teotl.
Tlamatiliztli involved four, ultimately indistinguishable aspects: (1)
the practical ability to conduct one's affairs in such a way as to
attain some measure of balance and purity–and hence some measure of
well-being–in one's personal, domestic, social, and natural
surroundings; (2) the practical ability to conduct one's life in such
a way as to creatively participate in, reinforce, adapt, and extend
into the future the way of life inherited from one's predecessors; (3)
the practical ability to conduct one's life in such a way as to
participate in the regeneration-cum-renewal of the cosmos, and; (4)
the practical know how involved in performing ritual activities which:
genuinely present teotl; authentically embody teotl; preserve existing
balance and purity; create new balance and purity; and participate
alongside teotl in the regeneration of the universe.
The Nahua universe is a "participatory universe" characterized by a
"relationship of compelling mutuality" or "interdependence" between
humans and universe (Wilbert 1975; see also Leon-Portilla 1993; Lopez
Austin 1988, 1997; Read 1998; and Sandstrom 1991). This is simply a
consequence of the interrelatedness and oneness of all things. Not
only does the universe causally affect humans, but humans causally
affect the universe. Human actions promote cosmic harmony, balance,
and purity, on the one hand, or cosmic disharmony, imbalance, and
impurity, on the other.
The Nahuas conceived moral, psychological, and physical (these all
being indistinguishable in their eyes) health, well-being,
righteousness, and purity in terms of keeping one's balance on the
earth's slippery surface, and so regarded the earth's surface as a
psychologically, physically, and morally dangerous place. Nahua wisdom
urged humans to act with extreme care and to follow the guidelines of
the ancestors — as any other path would inevitably lead one to stumble
down the earth's slopes into psychological, physical, and moral
imbalance, perverseness, instability, and disease. With this in mind,
a father offered his son the following advice:
… on earth we travel, we live along a mountain peak. Over here
there is an abyss, over there there is an abyss. Wherever thou art to
deviate, wherever thou art to go astray, there will thou fall, there
wilt thou plunge into the deep (Sahagun 1953-82:VI,p.125).
Yet the dire situation of humans on earth did not prompt the Nahuas to
reject earthly life in favor of some other-worldly life. The earth's
surface is the only realm wherein humans enjoy the full potential for
well-being since only here are their various vital forces fully
integrated. The Nahuas resolved to live as best they could on
tlalticpac. And indeed, earthly life does allow some measure of
well-being: sleep, laughter, food, sexual pleasure, conjugal union,
and procreation. Yet these were scarce, momentary, and needed to be
taken in moderation, as any excess resulted in imbalance. This
ambiguous character of earthly life is summarized in a mother's advice
to her daughter: "the earth is not a good place. It is not a place of
joy; it is not a place of contentment. It is merely said it is a place
of joy with fatigue, of joy with pain" (Sahagun 1953-82:VI,p.93).
Nahua philosophers saw humans as creatures yearning for rootedness —
i.e. for a deep, firm, and lasting anchoring for their lives — and who
restlessly search for it. Obtaining well-rootedness enables one to
become an "upright man" (tlacamelahuac, trans. by Lopez Austin
1988:I,p.189) and to live a balanced, pure, and genuinely human life.
Without roots, one finds neither balance, purity, nor humanness.
Obtaining well-rootedness is difficult, and in their search many
humans give their hearts to what appears to be well-rooted and
authenthic but is not. Since this cannot provide grounding and
stability, humans eventually become dissatisfied with it and abandon
it, only to begin their search anew, often times repeating the process
over and over again. Their hearts eventually become scattered,
unbalanced, and lost (Lopez Austin 1988:II, Appendix 5). As
Nezahualcoyotl put it, "If you give your heart to each and everything,
you lead it nowhere: you destroy your heart" (Cantares mexicanos
fol.2, v., trans. by Leon-Portilla 1963:5). Such humans become
vagabonds, wandering about aimlessly from one illusion to the next.
They become beastly, unstable, unbalanced, impure, perverse,
dull-witted, intemperate, and vicious. They fail to realize their
humanness and merely appear to be human. They become deceivers,
rogues, and dissimulators. They "act on things with [their] humanity
dead" (Lopez Austin 1988:I,p.189). They are "lump[s] of flesh with two
eyes" (Sahagun 1953-82:X,pp.3,11) and "defective human weight[s]"
(Sahagun 1953-82:X,p.11, trans. by Lopez Austin 1988:II,p.271).
The beastly apparent-human eschews the company of other humans and in
so doing forsakes his humanness in yet another way. Humans are
essentially social; they need the company of others in order to become
genuine human beings. Humans are born "faceless" (i.e. incomplete or
with undeveloped powers of judgment) and need other humans for the
education and discipline needed for acquiring a "face", becoming
balanced, and becoming fully human. Developing proper "face and heart"
is only possible through the opportunities provided by well-ordered
social living. Unstable, foolish, and diseased, the loner slips
constantly upon the path of life.
The notion of maintaining one's balance plays a central role in other
aspects of Nahua thought. One's mind and body possess or lack balance,
and are healthy or not depending upon whether they possess the proper
balance of opposing polarities such as hot and cold, dry and wet, etc.
(Lopez Austin 1988:I,ch.8). One's home, neighborhood, polity, and
environment are healthy or diseased depending upon whether they are
balanced or not. Personal, domestic, and social balancedness are
interdependent. Imbalance, iimpurity, and ill-being are contagious.
The Nahuas believed the human body serves as the temporary location
for three different animistic forces, each residing in its own center.
Tonalli (from the root tona, "heat") resides in the head. It provides
the body with character, vigor, and the energy needed for growth and
development. Individuals acquire their tonalli from the sun. A
person's tonalli may leave her body during dreams and shamanic
journeys. Tonalli is ritually introduced into an infant as one of her
animistic entities. It is closely united to a person as her link to
the universe and as determining factor of her destiny. Everything
belonging to a human by virtue of her relation to the cosmos received
the name of tonalli. Teyolia ("that which gives life to people")
resides in the heart. It provides memory, vitality, inclination,
emotion, knowledge, and wisdom. Unlike tonalli, one's teyolia is not
separable while alive. It "goes beyond after death" and enjoys a
postmortem existence in the world of the dead. The Nahuas likened
teyolia to "divine fire" (Carrasco 1990:69). Finally, ihiyotl
("breath, respiration") resides in the liver. It provides passion,
cupidity, bravery, hatred, love, and happiness.
Every human is the living center and confluence of these three forces.
They direct humans' physiological and psychological processes, giving
each person her own unique character. All three must operate
harmoniously with one another in order to produce a mentally,
physically, and morally pure, upright, whole, and balanced person.
Disturbance of any one affects the other two. Only during life on
earth are all three forces fully integrated within humans. After
death, each goes its own way.
Lastly, individuals possess free will within the constraints imposed
by their tonalli. One is born with either favorable or unfavorable
tonalli and with a corresponding predetermined character. While this
places certain constraints upon what one may accomplish, one freely
chooses what to make of one's tonalli within these limits. Someone
born with favorable tonalli may squander it through improper action;
someone with unfavorable tonalli may neutralize its adverse effects
through knowledge of the sacred calendar and careful selection of
actions. (For further discussion, see Lopez Austin 1988, 1997; J.
Furst 1995; Carrasco 1990; Sandstrom 1991.)
4. Epistemology
a. The raison d'etre of epistemology
The philosophical problematic above defines the raison d'etre of Nahua
epistemology. The aim of cognition from the epistemological point of
view is walking in balance upon the slippery earth, and
epistemologically appropriate inquiry is that which promotes this aim.
Nahua epistemology does not pursue goals such as truth for truth's
sake, correct description, and accurate representation; nor is it
motivated by the question "What is the (semantic) truth about
reality?" Knowing (tlamatiliztli) is performative, creative, and
participatory, not discursive, passive or theoretical. It is concrete,
not abstract; a knowing how, not a knowing that.
4b. Truth as well-rootedness-cum-alethia
Nahua epistemology conceived knowing (tlamatiliztli) in terms of
neltiliztli. Scholars standardly translate neltiliztli (and its
cognates) as "truth" (and its cognates) (Karttunen 1983; Gingerich
1987; Leon-Portilla 1963). However, unlike most Western philosophers,
Nahua philosophers did not understand truth in terms of correspondence
(or coherence). According to Leon-Portilla (1963:8), "`truth'… was to
be identified with well-grounded stability [well-foundedness or
well-rootedness]." To say a person cognizes truly is therefore to say
she cognizes with well-grounded stability or well-rootedly. Nahua
philosophers thus possessed a concept of truth (neltiliztli) but they
conceived truth in terms of well-grounded stability, well-foundedness,
and well-rootedness — not in terms of correspondence, aboutness,
representation, reference, fit, or successful description. In short,
they understood neltiliztli (truth) non-semantically.
Willard Gingerich (1987:102f.) defends Leon-Portilla's
translation-interpretation of neltiliztli. He points out that "truth"
occurs in the early post-Conquest sources more often in its adverbial
form, nelli, meaning "truly" or "with truth" (which I believe reflects
the Nahuas' processive metaphysics). However, Gingerich contends
well-rootedness does not exhaust the full meaning of neltiliztli. The
Nahuas' understanding of neltiliztli contained an ineliminable
Heideggerian component: "non-referential alethia — [i.e.]
'disclosure,'" (1987:104), "unconcealedness" (1987:102),
"self-deconcealing" (1987:105), and "unhiddenness" (1987:105). That
which is neltiliztli is both well-rooted and non-referentially
unconcealing or disclosing. Nahuas understood neltiliztli (truth)
non-semantically, i.e. in terms other than correspondence, reference,
representation, and aboutness. In sum, Nahua epistemology conceives
neltiliztli in terms of well-rootedness-cum-alethia.
The Nahuas characterized persons, things, activities, and utterances
equally and without equivocation in terms of neltiliztli, and
understood neltiliztli in terms of well-rootedness in teotl. That
which is well-rooted in teotl is genuine, true, authentic, and
well-balanced as well as non-referentially disclosing and unconcealing
of teotl (Gingerich 1987, 1988; Maffie 2002). Created things exist
along a continuum ranging from those that are well-rooted in teotl
(i.e. nelli) and hence authentically present and embody teotl as well
as disclose and unconceal teotl, at one end, to those things that are
poorly rooted in teotl (i.e. ahnelli) and hence neither authentically
embody and present teotl nor disclose and unconceal teotl, at the
other end. The former, which include fine jade and well-crafted
song-poems ("flower and song"), enjoy sacred presence.
c. Cognitive burgeoning and flowering
Humans thus cognize knowingly if and only if they cognize with
well-rootedness-cum-alethia. They cognize with
well-rootedness-cum-alethia if and only if their cognizing is
well-rooted in teotl. The Nahuas conceived well-rootedness-cum-alethia
in terms of burgeoning (Brotherston 1979). Burgeoning and rootedness
are both vegetal notions deriving from the organic world of
agricultural life. A plant's flowers and fruits burgeon from its
seeds, soil, and roots, and in so doing embody, present, and disclose
the latter's qualities. Analogously, cognizing knowingly is a form of
cognitive flourishing. It is the flower of an organic-like process
consisting of teotl's sap-like burgeoning, unfolding, and blossoming
within a person's heart. By doing so, teotl discloses and unconceals
itself. As the generative presentation of teotl, human knowing thus
represents one of the ways teotl faithfully, genuinely, and
authentically discloses itself here on earth. As a consequence, human
cognizing moves knowingly: it understands, presents, embodies, enacts,
and expresses teotl.
By contrast, unknowing (illusory, befogged) cognizing is poorly if not
wholly unrooted (ahnelli) in teotl. It is inauthentic, ingenuine, and
undisclosing. Teotl fails to burgeon, flower, and faithfully disclose
itself within such cognizing. Unknowing cognition constitutes a form
of cognitive crookedness, perversity, or disease. It represents one of
the ways by which teotl unfaithfully and inauthetically presents —
i.e. disguises and masks — itself here on earth.
Humans come to know teotl using their heart — not head or brain.
Situated between head and liver, the heart is uniquely qualified to
attain the proper balance of the head's reason and the liver's passion
needed for understanding teotl. The heart serves as the center for
teyolia, that vital force which induces humans towards that which
alone fills their emptiness and gives them roots: teotl. Knowing
requires that one possess a yolteotl or "teotlized heart", i.e. a
heart charged with teotl's sacred energy and enjoying sacred presence.
The "teotlized heart" possesses an extraordinary amount of teyolia.
One possessing a "teotlized heart" has "teotl in his heart" and is
"wise in the things of teotl" (Lopez Austin 1988:I,pp.258ff.,
II,pp.245,298; see also Leon-Portilla 1963).
Yollotl, the Nahuatl word for heart, derives from ollin, the Nahuatl
word for movement (Lopez Austin 1988). This indicates yet another way
in which the heart the organ best suited for knowing teotl way. Teotl
is essentially movement. A teotlized heart moves in balance with the
movement of teotl, and as a result moves knowingly. As one's heart
comes to move knowingly, one becomes "wise in the things of teotl";
one comes to have "teotl in his heart". Teotl presents and discloses
itself to and through one's heart. One experiences teotl directly and
de re. The de dicto mask of unknowing beguiles one's heart no more.
Teotl is ultimately ineffable since it is undifferentiated and
unordered; a seamless totality. Consequently, humans only experience
teotl knowingly in a manner unmediated, unspecified, and undefined by
language, concepts, and categories (along with their divisions,
classification, and distinctions). These are facets of teotl's
disguise or mask and thus contribute to humans' de dicto misperceiving
and misunderstanding of teotl. To the degree language, concepts, and
categories are essential to human reasoning, humans thus understand
teotl non-rationally. Alternatively expressed, teotl only genuinely
discloses itself non-linguistically, non-discursively, and
non-rationally.
d. "Flower and song"
In light of the preceding, Nahua tlamatinime turned to "flower and
song" (poetry, writing-painting, music) to disclose and present (not
re-present) teotl as well as display and embody their understanding of
teotl. Composing-and-performing song-poems in particular are the
highest form of human artistry and the finest way for humans to
present teotl since this activity most closely imitates and
participates in teotl's own cosmic, creative artistry. Hence
song-poems rather than discursive arguments are the appropriate medium
of sagely expression, and sages are perforce singer-songwriter-poets.
"Flower and song" comes from a ritually prepared heart that embodies
and presents a proper balance of reason and passion, male and female,
active and passive, etc. This balance was symbolized in popular Aztec
religion by Quetzalcoatl, the "Plummed Serpent", who served as patron
deity of artists and sages. By combining the attributes of birds
(heaven) and snakes (earth), the "Plummed Serpent" symbolized the
union of male and female. Indeed, Quetzalcoatl's joint patronage of
sages and artists points to their ultimate identity and to the
equivalence of sagacity and artistic excellence.
Acquiring a teotlized heart and becoming knowledgeable of teotl also
requires that one engage in "flower and song". Artistic activity
epistemologically improves one's heart, causing it move in balance
with teotl and hence move knowingly. By engaging in creative artistry
humans imitate and participate in — albeit imperfectly — the
self-transforming, cosmic creativity of teotl. In so doing they
fashion their hearts after teotl.
Acquiring a teotlized heart and becoming knowledgeable of teotl also
requires that one be well-rooted, well-balanced, pure, authentic, and
morally righteous, and that one possess strength, self-control,
moderation, and modesty (see Gingerich 1988; Burkhart 1989). Humans
must show humility and respect towards teotl before teotl discloses
itself. The foregoing characteristics are not only epistemological but
moral and aesthetic as well. They not only help humans become
knowledgeable and live wisely, they help them live morally,
authentically, purely, well-balancedly. and beautifully. Humans cannot
become knowledgeable of teotl without becoming genuine, pure, morally
righteous and beautiful (and vice versa). In short, the process of
epistemological self-improvement is also one of moral and aesthetic
self-improvement.
Finally, the Nahuas understood the process of becoming knowledgeable
in terms of tlamacehualiztli or "the meriting of things". According to
Burkhart (1989:142), tlamacehualiztli derives from the verb macehua,
"to obtain or deserve what is desired" (see also Klor de Alva, 1993;
Leon-Portilla 1993; Gingerich 1988; Read 1998). Humans come to "merit"
— i.e. "deserve" or "be worthy of" — tlamatiliztli as a consequence of
performing prescribed ritual activities. Humans and teotl coexist in a
moral interrelationship of reciprocity, and becoming knowledgeable
involves a morally regulated exchange with teotl. When humans behave
in ritually prescribed ways, they may expect to attain those things
they have come to merit. Tlamatiliztli emerges as a consequence of
moral-cum-epistemological-cum-aesthetic interaction and
co-participation with teotl.
5. Intrinsic value: balance and purity
Nahua value theory sees balance and purity jointly as the condition
that is ideal as well as intrinsically valuable and worth-cultivating
for humans. To the degree humans approximate balance-and-purity in
their lives, they perfect their humanness and flourish; to the degree
they do not, they destroy their humanness and suffer beastly,
miserable lives. Nahua theory of intrinsic value is rooted in Nahua
metaphysics in the following way. Teotl functions as the ultimate
source and standard of intrinsic value since balance-and-purity are
properties of teotl. Teotl's own balance-and-purity are genuinely
embodied and presented in well-formed quetzal tail feathers, jade, and
turquoise. Thet are green: the color of balance, purity, life,
renewal, and well-being (Sahagun 1953-82:XI, pp.224,248; see also
Gingerich 1988; Burkhart 1989.) One obtains this balance-and-purity by
rooting oneself firmly and deeply in teotl.
6. Moral Theory: how to live in balance and purity
Nahua philosophy reflects upon the appropriateness of human conduct,
attitudes, and states of affairs from the standpoint of achieving,
restoring, and maintaining balance-and-purity. This single point of
view encompasses under a single rubric what Western thought standardly
divides into moral, religious, political, legal points of view. Nahua
philosophers saw no significant difference between these, however. For
simplicity's sake I discuss this single point of view using the terms
"morality", "ethics" and their cognates.
Nahua morality is rooted in the claim that balance-and-purity
constitute the ideal condition as well as what is intrinsically
valuable for humans, and derives two fundamental moral precepts from
this claim: humans should promote balance-and-purity and avert
imbalance-and-impurity. Nahua morality accordingly appraised the moral
appropriateness of conduct, attitudes, and states of affairs in light
of their consequences upon balance-and-purity. Morally appropriate
conduct, for example, is that which promotes, sustains or renews
balance-and-purity or that which averts imbalance-and-impurity;
morally inappropriate conduct is that which disrupts existing
balance-and-purity or creates new imbalance-and-impurity (see Burkhart
1988; Gingerich 1988; Lopez Austin 1988, 1997). Good intentions do not
suffice; one must actually succeed.
Nahua ethics standardly characterizes morally appropriate conduct as
in quallotl in yecyotl, i.e. as that which is "fitting for" and
"assimilable by" humans in the sense of contributing to their
balance-and-purity. Morally appropriate conduct helps humans "assume a
face," "develop a heart," and enrich their life. It helps them become
authentically human. Morally inappropriate conduct, on the other hand,
causes humans to leave their heart undeveloped, lose their face, and
impoverish their lives. It causes them to become lumps of flesh with
two eyes. (See Leon-Portilla 1963:146-48; Burkhart 1989:38ff.;
Gingerich 1988:524; Lopez Austin 1988, 1997.)
The soundest, wisest course is moderation. One should neither do too
much nor too little of anything: e.g. eating, sleeping, or bathing. If
one overindulges by feasting, one must restore balance by
overindulging in its contrary, fasting. Acting wisely consists of
walking a middle path between two extremes. As a Nahuatl proverb
proclaims: tlacoqualli in monequi: "the center good is required," "the
middle good is necessary" (Sahagun 1953-82:VI, p.231, trans. by
Burkhart 1989:134).
Nahua ethics also employs the notion of tlatlacolli — i.e. damage,
harm or spoilage — when characterizing the moral character of conduct
(Burkhart 1989:28). Immoral conduct is tlatlacolli because it causes
an entity to suffer a loss of balance, which in turn causes it to
suffer decay, disorder, randomness, and spoilage. Spoilage in humans,
for example, typically results in physical or psychological disease.
Nahua ethics also uses the notions of purity and impurity in this
regard. The basic Nahuatl pollution concept is tlazolli, the most
literal meaning of which is, "something useless, used up, something
that has lost its original order or structure and has been rendered
loose and undifferential matter" (Burkhart 1989:88). Immorality is
identified with dirt and filth. Immoral behavior is dirty because it
pollutes the actor(s) involved, e.g. two adulterers. Purity and
impurity are closely related to spoilage. Moral impurity is a form of
spoilage accompanied by a loss of balance.
Nahua ethics had a this-worldly rather than other-worldly orientation.
Its foundation and justification rested in human nature, the nature of
life on earth, and ultimately the nature of the teotl — not in the
commandments of some remote deity. The Nahuas' search for the correct
codes of conduct was not motivated by a desire for reward in an
afterlife, nor did it presuppose the possibility of determining one's
destiny after death. There was no talk of punishment or reward in an
afterlife for the kind of life one led on earth.
This notwithstanding, Nahua morality did prescribe a way of life which
promised well-being here on earth. The Nahuas believed the destiny of
humankind in the beyond to exceed human control and knowledge, and
concluded that the rewards and punishments for earthly conduct are
earthly. These included conversation, health, laughter, sleep,
strength, sexual pleasure, honor, longevity and respect in the case of
morally appropriate behavior; hunger, pain, sorrow, insanity, physical
deformity and disease in the case of inappropriate behavior.
The Nahuas characterized education as "the art of strengthening or
bringing up men" (tlacahuapahualiztli) and "the act of giving wisdom
to the face" (neixtlamachiliztli). Humans are born incomplete and
"faceless" (i.e. without character) yet are perfectible through proper
education (Leon-Portilla 1963; Lopez Austin 1988). Education aims at
perfecting children by developing in them "a wise face and a strong,
humanized heart" and fashioning their character into a "well smoked,
precious turquoise" (Sahagun 1953-82:VI,p.113). This equips them with
the means for keeping their balance on the slippery earth. Towards
this end Nahua education sought to cultivate dispositions that enable
humans to live well (such as self-control, self-sufficiency,
moderation, modesty, and personal and domestic hygiene) and extricate
dispositions that disable humans (such as pride, intemperance,
carelessness, duplicity, uncleanliness, gluttony, and drunkenness).
Only tlamatinime were qualified to cultivate wisdom in people. In
his/her capacity as educator, moralist, and role model — i.e. as
"teacher of people's faces" (teixtlamachtiani) — the sage is akin to
an artist who skillfully shapes a formless block of stone into a
beautiful statue. The sage shapes a child's "faceless", lump of human
flesh into a genuinely human "face and heart". Of the sage the Nahuas
said:
The wise man: a light, a torch, a stout torch that does not smoke.
A perforated mirror, a mirror pierced on both sides.
His are the black and red ink, his are the illuminated
manuscripts, he studies the illuminated manuscripts.
He himself is writing and wisdom.
He is the path, the true way for others.
He directs people and things; he is a guide in human affairs.
Teacher of truth, he never ceases to admonish.
He makes wise the countenances of others; to them he gives a face;
he leads them to develop it.
He opens their ears; he enlightens them.
He puts a mirror before others, he makes them prudent, cautious;
he causes a face to appear on them.
He attends to things; he regulates their path, he arranges and commands.
He applies his light to the world.
Thanks to him people humanize their will and receive a strict education.
(Codice Matritense de la Real Academia, VIII,fol.118, r.- 118,v.
trans. by Leon-Portilla 1963:10-11).
"Face and heart" (in ixtli in yollotl) expresses the notion of
character (Leon-Portilla 1963). To possess a "perfected, wise face and
good heart" is to exhibit sound judgment and sentiment: one's
psychological, intellectual, and physical behavior promotes
balance-and-purity and averts imbalance-and-impurity. The person with
"good heart, humane and stout" has is wise in the ways of teotl. The
person lacking such a heart has an "enshrouded heart" (Leon-Portilla
1963:175). He is mad, foolish, and dull-witted.
The Nahuas likened the person with a "wise face and good heart" to
well-formed quetzal plumage, jade, and turquoise. These objects
faithfully and authentically present teotl's balance-and-purity. They
are green, the color of balance, purity, life, renewal, and well-being
(Sahagun 1953-82:XI, pp.224,248). As one of Sahagun's Nahua informants
put it:
…the pure life is considered as a well-smoked, precious turquoise:
as a round, reedlike, well-formed, precious green stone. There is no
blotch, no blemish. Those perfect in their hearts, in their manner of
life, those of pure life — like these are the precious green stone,
the precious turquoise, which are glistening… They are those of pure
life, those called good-hearted (Sahagun 1953-82:VI, p.113).
Living wisely also requires performing ritual activities devoted to
restoring lost balance-and-purity or to averting future
imbalance-and-impurity. Such activities included penitence,
mortification, and "straightening one's heart" (neyolmelahualiztli;
"confession") (Burkhart 1989:214). These helped restore balance to
one's heart by purifying it of tlazolli, by casting off tlatlacolli,
and returning it to its proper shape. Humans also acquired moral
"merit" through self-deprivation, moderation, and penitential
self-denial.
7. Aesthetics
The Nahuas used the expression "flower and song" to refer to artistic
activity and its products. Broadly construed, "flower and song" refers
to creative activity generally including composing-performing
song-poems, painting-writing, playing music, featherworking, and
goldsmithing. However, translating-interpreting "flower and song" in
this manner is potentially misleading. For the Nahuas did not have a
concept of art in the modern Western sense of "art for art's sake"
i.e. in the sense that "art and works of art deserve the title by
virtue of being products and activities with no other purpose than
their contemplation" (Wilkinson 1998:383). Since the Nahuas did not
produce objects soley for aesthetic contemplation, we might, then,
rightly say that in this sense the Nahuas did not do or make art. They
had no notion of a distinctly aesthetic — as opposed to moral or
epistemological — point of view from which to judge the value (or
beauty) of human creativity activity and its products. Rather, Nahua
philosophers conceived aesthetics in terms of the problematic defining
all philosophical speculation: helping humans maintain their balance
on the slippery surface of the earth. As with all other human
activities, creative activity and its products are meant to help
humans maintain their balance and evaluated accordingly. Aesthetics is
thus interwoven with moral and epistemological purposes. That which is
aesthetically valuable (or beautiful) is also morally valuable and
epistemologically valuable (and conversely). It is the well-rooted,
well-balanced, true, disclosing, and pure. That which is aesthetically
valueless (or ugly) is disordered, duplicitous, perverse, unbalanced,
impure, and deceptive since unrooted, undisclosing, inauthentic, and
false.
Nahuas aesthetics views creative activity and its products in the
following terms. First, creative activity and its products are
aesthetically valuable if and only if they genuinely present and truly
disclose teotl. Like well-formed jade, turquoise, and quetzal plumes,
they authentically unconceal balance-and-purity.
Secondly, creative activity and its products are aesthetically
valuable if and only if they contribute positively to the existing
store of balance-and-purity in the cosmos. Works of art accomplish
this by faithfully presenting and hence actually embodying
balance-and-purity, i.e. by literally being well-balanced and pure.
Third, aesthetically valuable creative activity and products must
spring forth from a morally and epistemologically qualifed, "teotlized
heart", and hence burgeon from and be well-rooted in teotl. The
accomplished artist is necessarily morally upright and knowledgable of
teotl. Fools and rogues are incapable of creating beautiful works of
art.
Fourth, aesthetically valuable creative activity and its products must
have the appropriate effects upon their audience. Beautiful art
improves and uplifts its audience psychologically, physically,
morally, and epistemologically. It promotes psychological and physical
balance-and-purity, moral righteousness, and proper understanding of
teotl, and consequently helps humans attain greater degrees of
humaness and well-being. By contrast, ugly art promotes physical and
psychological imbalance-and-impurity, immorality, depravity,
misunderstanding, and ill-being.
8. Conclusion
The ephemerality and fragility of earthly life loomed large over
Conquest-era the Nahuatl-speaking peoples. Nahua wisdom aimed at
enabling them to make the best of life under such circumstances by
helping them to walk in balance upon the slippery earth. Walking in
balance was simultaneously a moral, epistemological, practical, and
aesthetic notion: it involved one's being well-rooted, authentic,
knowledgeable, true, pure, morally upright, and beautiful. A life
wisely lived offered humans a fleeting, momentary repose from the
inevitable sorrow, suffering, and transience of earthly existence. It
enabled humans, if only momentarily, to flower and sing.
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