Translation:True History of the Profound Mexico/12

by Guillermo Marín Ruiz

11. PHILOSOPHY.

The philosophy is the basis of any civilization. The society fundamental structure is located in a complex explanation, which gives meaning and sense to life and the world. In the case of the Anahuac civilization, it is the point with the most colonizer intolerance and blindness, from yesterday and today. There are few contemporary authors that raise the existence of a deep and complex system of ideas of the world and life, to fully explain the existence of human beings, the link with nature, the cosmos and its material creations, and fundamentally, the way to find the spiritual existence significance from consciousness. Carlos Lenkersdorf is one of those few scholars who have gone humbly to learn from the anahuacas people, in this case from the tojolablaes:

"The language, therefore, takes the place of the speech or philosophical treatise. We must deepen in the language, just as we go deeper into a treatise. The explanation has to follow a narrow, winding, sometimes barely visible or at times broken paths to discover a culture philosophize, of a non-western thought and actions. We call it PHILOSOPHIZE, because Greece was not the cradle of all kinds of philosophy, nor the source of universal culture. The Greek philosophies, which in different ways has formed the Western philosophize, has to recognize that there are many ways to be a "friend of wisdom", that translates in tojolabal as "already have a heart" (´ayxa sk´ujol). It is a philosophical hunch, perhaps rather cordial, and not so intellectualized, without rejecting thought." (Lenkersdorf. 2005 p.28)

Nowadays, Dr. Carlos Lenkersdorf teaches Toltecáyotl to young people at the UNAM, the "tojolabal way" in the 21st century and like him, some other people are fighting against the intellectual colonization that denies the Anahuac civilization, the possibility of having our own philosophy. However, the “feel, see and hear the world” style which developed during seven and half millennia in the Cem Anahuac has not, even remotely disappeared. It is still alive and manifests itself in many attitudes and feelings of the now so-called "Mexicans". But there are these texts, preserving this millennial thinking, which is totally ours.

"I feel out of sense,
I weep, I worry and think,
say and remember:
Oh, if I never died,
If I never disappeared...
I should go where there is no death,
where victory is achieved!
Oh, if I never died,
if never disappeared...
(Ms. Mexican folk songs.)

A philosophy that explain and integrate into a consistent whole, human development of over seven and a half thousand years. A philosophical thought that interprets and links the material creation, (pyramids, stele, sculptures, codices, pottery, frescoes, etc.), with the rites, ceremonies, legends, myths, poetry, traditions and customs, as well as the supreme aspiration of all conscious beings, that is in the upper vertex of their civilization. In other words, life spiritual transcendence.

"Where shall I go?
Where will I go?
The dual God path.
By fate, is your house the place of the emaciated?
Perhaps inside the sky?
or only here on earth is the place of the emaciated?"
(Ms. Mexican folk songs.)

The Ontological problem of being.

When a human being or a social group reaches a higher consciousness stage, tries responding to the Being ontological^[1] question. “Who am I, where do I come from and where I am going." Rummaging through mythical time to find a convincing answer, to affirm them in the present, and successfully explain its evolution. To define its responsibility, self and being at a given time, its relationship with nature, the universe and the immeasurable. And like all peoples, to scrutinize the reality that exists beyond death.

"We just came to sleep,
we only came to dream:
it is not true. It is not true
that we came to live on earth!
As grass every spring
We are turning:
Are re-greening, taking out sprouts
Our heart.
Some flowers produced by our body
and over there it withers."
(Ms. Mexican folk songs.)

This is how; humans create philosophy to answer these basic existence questions. All peoples in the world, when they managed to satisfy their basic subsistence needs, immediately seek to find their existence meaning.

"Shall I go as the flowers that perished?
Nothing shall remain of my name?
Nothing of my fame here on earth?
At least my flowers, at least my songs!
Here on earth is the region of the fleeting moment.
Is it also like this the place
where we somehow live?
Is there joy, friendship?
Or just here on earth
we have come to know our face?"
(Ms. Mexican folk songs.)

Once they have a thought "basic theoretical framework", people are beginning to find their answers to their everyday world and create "culture", by giving meaning to their acts. Each culture is based on a group of ideas, highly developed and complex or little developed and simple, but all satisfactorily respond to the ontological problem^[2].

"Where will we go?"
Only came to be born.
Our home is over there:
Where is the place of the emaciated.

I suffer: joy never reached me, happiness
Have I come here only to act in vain?
Is this is not the region where things are done.
Certainly nothing turns green here:
Open its unhappiness flowers."
(Ms. Mexican folk songs.)

In the history of humanity, all peoples have developed a complex system of ideas, which are usually deeply linked to the family and community life. So we can commonly find philosophical responses of life, closely interwoven with their religion, their education, their traditions and customs. Only the European culture, which has biased knowledge, has made philosophy a "science of thought", abstract and "pure", but that is always extremely difficult to apply by ordinary people in everyday life. This is why, in addition to being the dominant culture, the reason why European and American researchers deny the existence of an Anahuac philosophy. To date, they have been unable to find —and will not find— in the ancient history of the Anahuac, a European style philosophy.

We live where there is only sadness?
Is it true, perhaps it is not true as they say?
Don’t let our hearts grieve.
How much of what they say is really true
What is true or not true there?
You show only inexorable, life giver.
Do not let our hearts grieve."
(Ms. Mexican folk songs.)

The colonizing fallacy, of yesterday and today, in that the ancient grandparents did not have a philosophy, it is part of the disdain and demeaning valuation with which our mother civilization has been "studied" by foreign scholars and that up to date, the invaded civilization is truly unknown to them. The first fundamental step to recover —our own history— indisputably is to know the ancient philosophy, to understand the human development process of seven thousand five hundred years in the Anahuac. Understand how our culture has "concealed” itself to self-protect and survive destruction for five centuries.

"Is it true, life happens with roots on earth?
Not forever on Earth
just a little bit here.
Even if its gold it breaks,
even quetzal feathers
tear apart.
Not forever on Earth,
only a little here".
(Ms. Mexican folk songs.)

Philosophical Levels

It is also important to visualize that the maximum philosophical development of ancient Mexico occurred during the Classical period (200 BCE to 850 CE). This implies that the Anahuac inhabitants had gone through almost seven centuries of decline at the time of the European invasion. So the Toltec philosophy is largely unknown. What little is known today is what remained in the culture and education during the postclassical period.

It is what survived the Aztec after their ideological, philosophical and religious reform, ordered by Tlacaelel, and ultimately was what the tlamatinimes saved from the relentless Spanish destruction. The incursion in the recovery of the ancient Mexico philosophy, is the pursuit of values and principles that are present and fractionated in almost all aspects of their way of understanding life and the world, it is an inescapable task to recognize our own face. For this we need to stop seeing ourselves through the "eyes of the colonizer" and seek to recover the Tezcatlipoca "smoking mirror", to recognize our own face and our true heart.

One of the colonization pillars is, accepting without question that by decree, "all ancient is primitive". The western view of humanity evolution is linear. In that vision, they place themselves ahead and all ancient is primitive without any questioning. Humans have been "progressing" from less to more, and the first world countries, led “the evolution and progress of mankind". However, this is very questionable and there are several modern scientific knowledges, which the west has recently "found" "in past civilizations". The eternal return.

We seriously believe, without entering into fantastic speculation, that the knowledge of the old grandparents had on the perception of: energy of the universe as a system of energy fields, of the human being as an energy preceptor and generator, as well as the phenomena arising from its vibration, are almost completely unknown to "official science" of the western culture. Hence, it is so difficult for archaeologists to explain the "western logical" use of the so-called "archeological sites", of the classical period, and by their arrogance and colonizing ignorance have tried to turn them into "cities, palaces, fortresses and ceremonial centers". Very little is known of the classical period and the minimum data obtained, is "interpreted" by foreign archaeologists and their Mexican assistants, into the western "evolution" conception. They try to "force fit" a totally different civilization, which they have not understood at all in these 500 years, and they stubbornly continue comparing it according to the development processes of the European culture. In other words, material evolution (stone, bronze, iron, steel), the weapon technological development and the complexity degree of markets, trade relations and production.

But the philosophical thought of the Anahuac old grandparents, although different, is similar in its essence to those of India and China. The similarities that we observe today in peoples according to traditions, temperaments, festivals, uses, customs, food, clothing, constructions, confirm that the root of their philosophical conception of the world and life, has many similarities and in some cases, strikingly alike.

As in all ancient philosophical thought there were three knowledge levels. The purest and more sophisticated, used by men and women of knowledge, in what we know today as archaeological sites and which must have been research and study centers, where the levels of the "philosophy of knowledge" must have reached its maximum splendor, which up to today we still don't know. The Toltecs philosophical concept had to do, as previously noted, with the energy "perception" levels.

The second level, which is represented in the wonderful material creations, from the pyramids to the codices. Where in an artistic fashion the philosophical thought is always present. As an example, we can mention the "quincunxe" or the "Quetzalcoatl cross".

All the architectural layout, especially of the Classical period, are composed of a series of courtyards surrounded by four rooms on four sides, are always strictly oriented to the cardinal points, they hold proportional measures to celestial mechanics and all have a fifth point or unifying center in the center of the plazas with a small construction as pyramid base, Stele or sculpted monolith.

The dialectical concepts of the two snake profiles that form a human face, symbolically, humanize matter (snake). Or the two Quetzal faces displayed in profile, producing a third face of human aspect. The quetzal symbolizes the sky or the spirit, and this symbol speaks of the need to "humanize the spiritual part" of the world and of life. The repeating image composed of a feline (jaguar, puma, ocelot), a reptile (Snake rattlesnake), and a bird (Eagle, Quetzal, Owl), forming a humanized face. The frets, colors and designs that are present, in codices, steles, monoliths, pottery, paintings, wood and metal. A universe of forms and designs that imply a philosophical language and of which little is known and has barely been decoded, but it is there, waiting for the revealing moment in which the children of the children have the capacity to understand or decode the message.

The third level of philosophical knowledge is explicit in religions. In the myths, rites, and the parables, always underlays a double humanizing and philosophical background. The ancient mankind religions, contained at its center, a clear philosophical structure, which allowed common human beings, resolving the ontological problem of being, without entering philosophical complexities that required a much higher knowledge, specialization and abstraction level. Philosophy just as religion allows human beings, at different levels, meeting the challenge of transcendental existence.

To penetrate the Anahuac philosophical world one must consider the following: that the Toltec masters, the creators of "the black and red ink", literally disappeared in the collapse of the late Classical period. That destroying stone by stone their majestic knowledge centers they concealed their knowledge. That the Mexicas or Aztecs, barely a hundred years before the arrival of the European invaders ordered the destruction of all the ancient codices preserved from the classical era, which registered the Toltec history and wisdom as well as the Toltecáyotl, and created their own story, where the Aztecs became the central figure, even though it was known that they had arrived in the Valley of Mexico in the 12th century, with a little culture, as they were nomad hunter-gathers. Finally, we must consider the philosophical-religious reforms made by Tlacaelel, the Cihuacoátl with the most time in office of the Aztecs, Tlacaelel. These reforms fully contradicted the spiritual norms that remained from the Quetzalcoatl teachings and imposed upon the oppressed peoples the materialistic, warrior mystic ideology of their tribal God named Huitzilopochtli.^[3]

"When we die.
In truth we do not die,
Because we live, we resuscitate,
We live on, we wake up,
This makes us happy".
(Ms. Mexican folk song)

Flower & Song.

The Anahuac philosophy, understood as a group of ideas that give meaning to life. It can be found in two forms, in an implicit manner and in an explicit form. The first is found in the concept of "Flower and song", understood as wisdom and beauty.

"It is not true that we live,
it is not true that we endure
on Earth.
I have to leave the beautiful flowers,
I have to go in search of the mysterious site!
But for a short time,
Let’s make ours the beautiful chants."
(Ms. Mexican folk song)

Indeed, the beauty of men inner and outer world was based in equilibrium. The search for personal, social, nature and universe balance. It was the greatest aspiration and challenge of the ancient grandparents in life. What is beautiful to the spirit is beautiful to the world, and what is beautiful in the world, is beautiful to the spirit. The beauty metaphor was consecrated to the flowers. Ancient Mexicans worshiped the flowers as a symbol of the philosophical beauty they wished to reach.

"Therefore, in all the orders of Nahuatl culture, art is always present: we now understand that beauty being the divine; and this in turn true, and genuinely rooted, all Nahuatl philosophical thought revolved around an aesthetic conception of the universe and life. To know the truth was for the tlamatinime to express with flowers and songs the hidden sense of things, just as their own godlike heart allowed them to perceive. The Culture and philosophy metaphors, did not hope to completely unveil the mystery, but made men feel that perhaps beauty is the only real thing." (Miguel Leon Portilla. 1956).

In fact, songs and flowers were the wisdom symbol and the beauty that the old grandparents aspired on their philosophical thought. We must remember that the Supreme divinity did not have a name and that it was called by various poetic metaphors. Similarly, when entering the philosophical abstract thinking world, the metaphorical figures shall saturate reflection spaces of the mysteries of life. The flowers and songs had a relevant place in the Anahuac philosophy.

"Who am I?
I live flying, singer of flowers,
I compose songs,
Butterflies of songs:
sprout from my soul
savor my heart!"
(Ms. Mexican folk song)

Upon reading —fragmented translations— the manuscripts of the Mexican songs, there can be no doubt that the old grandparents structured part of their philosophy (what is currently known) through poetic metaphors. The ontological problem of Being is present in each of the poems.

“Flowers sprout, they are fresh, they grow,
open its corolla.
From their inside come out song flowers:
You, oh poet, spill them on others."
(Ms. Mexican folk song)

It is the conscious human being, before the universal existence dilemmas, of dying and transcending. The singer claims all the time the uncertain anguish of life reason and the transcendental existence as of his death. Poetically philosophies about this life validity and wonders if in the place of the emaciated, lies the truth of life.

"Is it true that life is on Earth?
Not forever on earth: just a little bit here.
Even if it’s jade it breaks,
Even if it’s gold it breaks,
Even if quetzal feathers they tear apart,
not forever here on earth ".
(Ms. Mexican folk song)

Ancient Mexicans from archaic times, perhaps when they invented agriculture, the milpa and corn. They began creating the entire complex and deep system of thought. These were four and a half thousand years, since the invention of agriculture until the emergence of the Olmec culture between Veracruz, Tabasco and Oaxaca. Enough time to create and filter the basis of their philosophical thought.

The explicit Anahuac philosophy, at the time is hidden. Just as the philosophies of the "mother civilizations" that with the exception of India, in order to survive they had to stay in absolute and strict secrecy. But in addition, in the mythical Anahuac it ensures "the Quetzalcoatl return" and his wisdom. We must also remember that when Tlacaelel ordered the destruction of ancient codices, he ordered "the most important" to be kept in secret places, which is why it was not lost. So the Anahuac "explicit" philosophical thought is waiting for its moment to spread.

The Origin.

The ancient grandparents; must be remembered, in spite of the many different cultures in time and space, had the same philosophical—cultural matrix. So in the light of the “recovered” history up to today, we can say that each of the studied cultures have a part of the general knowledge. In some cases they coincide, in others there are variants, but all share the same root. For example, in the legend of the Suns, there are variations as to the order of the Suns, the food stock produced and the transformation suffered by human beings. But in general, we understand that all the stories have a common origin and meaning. The myth of the origin and the creation of the world^[4] are common in all cultures of the world. Each culture has its own concept of earth creation and of human beings, which is indisputably a philosophical approach. If we use the Popol Vuh,^[5] we shall find a revealing creation conception:

"At the beginning, everything was on hold, calm and silent." Everything was motionless because the entire length of the sky was empty. There were no people, animals, birds, fish, crabs, rocks, canyons or mountains; only the sky was there, with nothing. Earth did not yet exist and there was nothing that could make noise. Everything was silent and only the sea was there. Quiet in the dark. Only the Creators and Shapers, Tepew and Q´uk´umatz, were on the water, surrounded by light and covered with green and blue feathers. They were wise and great thinkers, because they were the helpers of the Sky Heart, which is the name of God. They then decided to create the trees and the vines. By the will of Sky Heart, also called Juraqan, they created the plants of the darkness and gave life to human beings. (Victor Montejo. 1999) ^[6]

But there is another Maya variant of creation in the Chilam Balaam^[7] of Chumayel. Surely, if we could gather the creation myths of all the cultures of the ancient Mexico, we would find in their diversity a philosophical matrix, which speaks of a shared origin.

"Dominus vobisculum all said when there where there was neither heaven nor land.

From the abyss earth was born, when there was no heaven or earth. He who is divine and powerful, carved the large Grace Stone, there where before was no sky.

And there seven sacred stones were born, seven warriors suspended in the spirit of the wind, seven chosen flames.

And they moved. And seven were also their graces, and seven their saints.

And it happened that countless graces were born from a grace stone. And it was the immensity of the nights, there where formerly was no God, because it had not received their God, which only by itself was within the grace, in darkness, there where was no heaven or earth." (Chilam Balam of Chumayel)

The ontological questions: where we came from, how the world was created, and how human beings were created, is answered in the fragments that have been able to survive the collapse of the Classical period to the decline of the Postclassical period, to the Mexica transgressions, the mistakes and ignorance of European writings of 16th century, to the malice of 20th century American researchers, to what has been found thus far, and to the "official history". These fragments are parts of a valuable jigsaw puzzle, where the total image represents the essence of our civilization, that is its philosophy.

The suns legend.

The Nahuatl legend of the five Suns is important for symbolically understanding the human evolution. With all the variations that exist it relates that at the beginning of time, when there was nothing and it was then that the Lord of the divine duality, Ometecutli, created Tonacatcihuatl, the Lady of “Our Flesh” and Tonacatecutli the Lord of “Our Flesh” so that they populated Earth. They reproduced and had four children: Red Tezcatlipoca, Black Tezcatlipoca, White Tezcatlipoca and Blue Tezcatlipoca. Then the Tezcatlipoca’s thought that they should create a great work, so they would be worshiped as gods. Tezcatlipoca Blue made a great bonfire, and the brothers’ gathered around and created human beings. Thus man was born and was called Huehuecoyotl and they created his wife. They ordered them to have children and they created the animals, mountains, seas, lakes and left as their mission to worship the four gods. However, the work was not perfect because Tlatipac^[8] was in darkness, because there was no sun.

It was then, that Tezcatlipoca White—Quetzalcoatl converted the fire into a weak Sun, this annoyed black Tezcatlipoca whom in anger turned it into a powerful Sun, destroying life and withering plants. The giants who inhabited the world at the time called Tzoculiceque fed on pine nuts. It was Tezcatlipoca White—Quetzalcoatl who toppled with a walking cane blow the harsh sun and Black Tezcatlipoca fell into the bottom of a lake and emerged transformed into a huge jaguar; followed by many Jaguars and ate the Giants. This was the Sun of Earth or Tlaltipactonantiuh.

The following Sun was created because Quetzalcoatl became the Sun, but was a less intense sun, causing agriculture to flourish and human beings were able to feed from a wild fruit called acotzintli. But one day black Tezcatlipoca, converted in a jaguar, climbed up to the heavens and with a blow made his brother Tezcatlipoca White—Quetzalcoatl collapse, which provoked a gale that tore the hills, destroying everything. Due to the wind force human had to walk hunched, they turned into monkeys. The Sun was called Sun of wind or Ehécatl—Tonantiuh.

The third Sun was created when Tlaloc takes the place of Quetzalcoatl and becomes Sun. Tlatipac again is populated and humans now feed on water corn. At the time human beings began to corrupt with immoral practices and to disregard their obligations with the gods. The land became a wilderness, so Quetzalcoatl orders Xiuhtecuhtli, Lord of the fire, to destroy humanity. It started to rain fire from heaven and human beings turned into birds. The Sun was called Xiuhtonatiuh.

The following Sun was created on the orders of Tezcatlipoca Blue—Huitzilopochtli (for the Aztecs), who ordered Chalchuiuhcueye, the Lady of emeralds skirt to become Sun. The food of humans was Nahui—xochitl. But in the cosmic struggle of opposites, Tezcatlipoca forces Chalchuiuhcueye to destroy humanity, so it starts to rain on a permanent basis until human beings are converted into fish and the heavens lost balance and fell on the Earth. This Sun was called Atonatiuh.

Then, the gods were shamed by their mistakes again met at Teotihuacan to rectify, and decided to create four men, called: Atemoc, Itzcóatl, Itzamaliza and Tenoch. The four emerged from the four cardinal points as leafy trees. They raised the 13 heavens and reconstructed the 9 Mictlán^[9] levels. The gods ordered Tezcatlipoca White—Quetzalcoatl to Mictlán and plead of Mictlantecuhtli, the Lord of death, to return the human beings bones that had died in the previous Sun. The Lord of death, put some tests that Quetzalcoatl was able to overcome with the help of insects and its Xólotl nagual to rescue the "divine relics", to which he gave life by bleeding his member over the bones. Food was scarce for human beings of the new Sun. So the gods decided that Tezcatlipoca White—Quetzalcoatl, now converted into an ant, found the Food Mount called in Nahuatl Tonacaltepetl and he should bring back corn and seeds, as the new human food.

The gods once again met at Teotihuacan and decided to create the Fifth Sol, as Tlatipac was in darkness. They agreed that one of them would become Sun, for which they made a large bonfire and chose Tecucciztecatl and Nanahuatzin, for them to fast for 13 days and purify their body and spirit. While the first refused sacrifice and offered jewels and precious stones, the second delivered himself with devotion to sacrifice and achieve purification.

When the gods ordered Tecucciztecatl to jump to the great fire, he found no courage and internal strength to do so. After several failed attempts, the gods ordered to Nanahuatzin that jump, which he did immediately. Shortly thereafter, Nanahuatzin raised and appeared as the Fifth Sun on the horizon, but right away, on the East appeared Tecucciztecatl also converted into Sun. The gods talked and concluded that there could not be two Suns, so they took a passing by rabbit and threw it on the face of Tecucciztecatl, to overshadow its light and it became the moon.

Despite all what had been done by the gods, the Sun had no movement. The gods talked again and concluded that all of them should be sacrificed, jumping into the fire, to give life and movement to the Fifth Sun. The only that did not want to jump was Xólotl, but was chased by Quetzalcoatl and even tried to evade his destiny by turning into corn, maguey and Axolotl. The sacrifice of gods resulted in the creation and the life of the Fifth Sun. The divinities had to be sacrificed so that humans could live. Hence the name given to the macehualli people or macehual, which means in Nahuatl "Deserving of the Gods sacrifice". Philosophically, this explains the deep sense of sacrifice that life had for anahuacas and in the contemporary Mexican life. The gods were sacrificed give life and human beings "fed" the gods through their "spiritual" sacrifice. This concept belonged to the Classical period, being that Tlacaelel, Aztec Cihuacoátl, changed spiritual sacrifice for material sacrifice, at the end of the Postclassical period. But this will be discussed later.

"Confirming the myths, these pictures highlight the essential role played by men in the maintenance of cosmic harmony only ensured by constant spiritual regeneration." (Laurette Séjourné. 1957)

It can be established, in the legend of the five Suns, how the ancient Mexican in a metaphorical way, talk about evolution and a series of processes in the search for better stages of human development. This non-linear evolution awareness, intervened by opposite and complementing forces of the universe and human beings, indicates a more scientific view than the origin myths of the Judeo-Christian culture. The philosophical aspects are present in the story and explain attitudes by Mexicans of yesterday and today, with regard to the divine and sacred, life and death.

"No other ancient culture came to formulate, as they (the Maya) such number of calendar modules and categories or so many mathematical relationships for framing, with tireless yearning for accuracy, the cyclic reality of time from the most varied points of view. In naming a few of their achievements in the field of astronomy, chronology and mathematics, our purpose has been to highlight the most known of their wisdom about measuring time." (Miguel Leon Portilla. 1968)

The time.

Another interesting aspect, to better understand the philosophical view that ancient Mexicans had on the world, is undoubtedly the conception of time and space. Indeed, time is a consequence of movement. In fact, we have given the category of "time" to the measurement of movement. But it is only an abstraction, as time does not exist, what exist is movement. Therefore, the motion of the Earth about its own axis, earth movement around the Sun and the movement of the Solar system around the Group of stars we call Pleiades^[10] and the Venus orbit around the Sun, the ancient grandparents deduced, from rigorous observation and accurate mathematical calculations, the perfect time measurement, as few peoples in the world did in ancient times.

"If modern astronomy tells us that the tropical year lasts 365.2422 days, it is astonishing to learn that the Mayan sages had achieved an approximation certainly extraordinary, by assigning a period of 365.2420 days." (Miguel Leon Portilla. 1968)

The time was cyclical and non-linear. The exact measure in which they divided the day and night periods were 22 units, while earth rotates on its axis. The Vigesimal^[11] conception makes the figures perfect. Where 5, 13, 18, 20, find amazing combinations. The weeks of 5 days, the 20 day months and the 18 months forming a year, plus the five "nemontemi" days and their "bundles" of 52 years. The calendars can be seen as a series of circles which perfectly fit about each other. That is, the lunar calendar or 260-day Tonalpohualli, it fits exactly within the solar calendar of 365 days and the solar calendar in turn, fits perfectly with the bundle of 52 years or Xiuhmolpilli and all three with the Venus calendar of 584 days. However, the Maya count takes our breath away, because they register dates, past and future, which we admire for its accuracy and size.

"But it was in the Maya obsession on the cycles where primarily lies the importance of Venus: 5 orbital cycle periods of this planet correspond almost exactly to 8 years of 365 days (5 X 584 days = 8 X 365 days = 2920 days). The connection with the "ritual year" of 260 days was given after a Huehuetiliztli period of 104 years corresponding to 65 Venus orbital cycles and 146 "ritual years". These numbers are rounded, since the Venus orbital cycle is actually of 583.92 days while the solar year lasts 365.24 days.

The Mayans made elaborated tables to correct the small discrepancies between the Venus orbital period, the year and other cycles.

Thus, when 301 cycles of 584 days have lapsed, the Mayans had subtracted a total 24 days (analogous to our custom of adding one day every four years) and with this correction they could predict the position of Venus with an error of just 2 hours in 481 years! The knowledge of this last correction by the Maya is without doubt one of the most outstanding discoveries of ancient astronomy." (Esperanza Carrasco Licea y Alberto Carramiñana Alonso)^[12]

While considering time as an abstraction resulting from measurement of movement and that it was circular and thus cyclic, the ancient grandparents could "avoid" the linear view of time and therefore could "scrutinize" the past and the future, something the Western civilization has never been able to do. However, there is a date found by archaeologists in linear time, going back beyond the year 1500 BCE, in which specialists assign the emergence of the Olmec culture. This date assignment paradoxically is Maya:

"A third type of time register was known as the long count. This time computation began in the formative period, somewhere in the Tehuantepec isthmus, and was perfected by the Maya during the classical era (300-900 CE). The long count registered the number of days from a mythological starting-point, an imaginary beginning of time that the Mayans placed in year 3114 BCE." (Enrique Florescano. 1987)

The time for ancient grandparents was something very different than time for Europeans. In the same way that it is today, for indigenous people and peasants, in relation to urban people. This philosophical perception of time makes us somehow different, as time grows and shortens, and even ceases to exist. The cyclic time, sacred, family, and social, for Mexicans has a philosophical, sacred and festive sense.

"The Mayan priests computed in their steles "Suns Veintenas" that went back hundreds of millions of years into the past and also provided future cycles. If the day is for them a solar presence, time is an endless succession of all cycles of the Sun". (Miguel Leon Portilla. 1968)

One of the main concerns and information source of the ancient grandparents was time. Few people in the world have recorded time as the ancient Mexican sages. There has been much speculation about the ability of ancient Anahuac sages, not only of measuring time with an extraordinary, but of the possibility that they could forecast the future. Indeed, some of the ancient prophecies known have rigorously occurred.

Space.

The philosophical perception of space is achieved by the ancient grandparents with an admirable accuracy. There were three spatial levels: earth or human (Tlatipac) everything on earth’s surface. The heavenly or divine entities (Ilhuícatl) from the clouds through infinity and the underworld or the place of the emaciated (Mictlán) which is all under earth.

The terrestrial space had an energy center which was "the navel of Earth". In the Nahuatl language, the prefix "co" is more than a geographical center, is a representation of the Energy Center. The central point beginning of the four directions of existence. Each point to the four cardinal points and sets its convergence point at the center of the world. Each will have its own color and it will be represented by a symbolical animal or object, in a totally philosophical reference. At the center resided the old God or fire God, called Huehueteotl-Xiuhtecuhtli and from where the four directions of the universe started, its color was green: to the east, place where the Sun rises, was identified by the red color and its glyph "Reed" governed by Xipe-Tópec; It was the male part of the universe. The West, white and with a "House" glyph, ruled by Quetzalcoatl; It was the female region known as Cihuatlampa. The north, colored black, whose glyph was the "knife of sacrifice", was governed by the black Tezcatlipoca; it was the region of cold and dead. The South, which was blue and the glyph "rabbit", ruled by Tezcatlipoca blue, place of sacrifice known as Huitztlampa; it was a region related to the humid. We must remember that the concept, "the red and black ink" symbolically meant wisdom. Similarly, the four Tezcatlipocas each had a color, which had a philosophical meaning. The cardinal points and the colors had a philosophical meaning for the ancient grandparents.

"Earth’s surface (Tlatipac) is a large disk located at the center of the universe that extends horizontally and vertically. Around earth is huge water (Teo-atl) spreading everywhere like a ring, makes the world, "the-forever-surrounded-by-water" (cen-a-náhuac). But, both land and its enormous water ring are not something amorphous and undifferentiated. Because the universe is divided into four major quadrants or directions, which open at the navel of Earth and extend up to where the waters around the world meet the sky and are named celestial water (Ilhuica-atl). The four directions of the world imply swarms of symbols." (Miguel Leon Portilla. 1956)

Another way to represent space, by the ancient grandparents was with a huge tree, which could be a Ceiba or an Ahuehuete and a cactus. The thirteen skies were represented by the leaves, the nine levels of the underworld by the root and the human level the earth's surface where the tree is.

The thirteen skies.

The spatial universe of ancient grandparents is the huge philosophica—religious scenario in which 13 levels or heavens occupy the top of their world. The heavenly space for ancient Mexicans was totally identified. The first heaven or "lower sky" is what humans see, therein lies the Moon and the clouds, this sky is called Ilhuícatl Metztli. The second heaven was the place of the stars or Citlalco. The third heaven was the place of the Sun or Ilhuícatl Tonatiuh. The fourth heaven is where the planet Venus resides, known as Ilhuícatl huitzlan. The fifth heaven is where the comets or smoky stars, called Citlalin Popoca. The sixth and seventh heaven are places where only the colors black and blue can be seen, known as Yayauhco and Xocouhco. The eighth heaven is the place of storms. The following three heavens are reserved for the gods to live, and are named Teteocan. The following two heavens was Omeyocan, duality house, where Ometeótl resides.

The Underworld.

Underneath the human space or Tlatipac, is the underworld or Mictlán. Place where Mictlantecuhtli and Mictlantecihuatl rule, the Lord and Lady of death. Human beings that died and did not go to Tlatócan, because their death was not water related. Those that did not go to Chichihuacuahco, paradise reserved only for children. Those that did not go to Ilhuicatltonantiuh, the place reserved for the warriors and the warriors who died fighting their “Flower War”.^[13] People that died in a common manner and that their life had been inconsequential, they would have a painful journey to Mictlán, which lasted four years. The places that were visited while going to Mictlán were: earth, the passing water (Apanohuaya), the place where are located the hills (Tépetlmonamicita), the Obsidian Hill (Cehuecáyan), the place of Obsidian wind where flags fly, the place where people are “arrowed”, the place where hearts are eaten (Teocoyleualoyan), place of Obsidian of the dead, and finally Mictlán or place without a smoke hole. At the end of these four suffering years, people went before Mictlantecuhtli, who would tell them, —Your sorrow has ended, therefore go, to sleep your deadly sleep and they turned to nothing—, they disappeared.

In the philosophical Anahuac world, there were also intangible space intermingled with the mythical, religion, history and the cultural reality of the ancient grandparents. In their overall context we can appreciate the depth of the complex thought of our ancestors; their thought penetrated very high conception levels of the world and life. Among others we can mention: Ximoyan, the place of the emaciated. Topan in Mictlán, which surpasses us, the region of the dead. Tlallamanac, what supports the world. Tlamanitiliztli, what should remain. Tlaxicco, in the Earth navel. Tlaltipac, what is on Earth. Tomanchan, a mythical place, literally: the House from where we came down. Cem Anáhuac, the continent. Tlalocan, Tlaloc’s paradise. Aztlán, mythical place: literally, place of herons. Omeyocan, place of the divine duality. Chicomostoc, place of the seven caves. Tilan Tlalpan, perimeter of wisdom. Ayauhcalli, home of the fog. Centzon Huiznahua, the stars of the southern hemisphere, literally: 400 southerners. Cihuatlampa, wemen course. Ilhuicaatl, the ocean. Ilhuicatitlán, in the sky. Mictlampa, in the course of the region of death.

Death.

The philosophical perception of death and life is a very rich point, which provides plenty of light understand the ancient grandparents thought. The life and death was a complementing opposing pair. If there is no death, there can be no life and vice versa. To be aware of life requires knowledge of death. Few peoples such as the Egyptian and Mexican have been incorporated death as the most vivid part of their culture. The ancient grandparents had a day of death, the Lord and the Lady of death and the place of the dead.

"Your whole heart gets near
to Toltec art and creations: the Toltecáyotl.
I shall not live here forever neither
Who will become my owner?
Where will I have to leave to?
I am a singer:
There I will stand, there I will pick them up,
My flowers, my songs, I carry them
I place them before the face of the people".
(Ms. Mexican folk songs)

It is important to note that in general, for the Anahuac iconography, any skeleton representation philosophically means the spiritual or eternal life. Indeed, the skeleton represent the "imperishable" part of the human body. The skull is the last part to disintegrate and is taken as a symbol to refer to the eternal presence of the spirit. So ancient grandparents when they used a skull, they philosophically referred to the eternal spiritual life.

"When we die,
actually we do not die,
because we live, we resuscitate,
we continue living, we wake up.
This makes us happy"
(Ms. Mexican folk songs)

The ancient Mexicans life on earth was temporary. Eternal life was found after death. Whether in the Chichihuacuahco for children, place where infants that died at an early age went. A paradise with a huge tree that sprouted milk droplets from its branches. These children would wait there for the creation of the sixth Sun to be born again.

The Tlatócan was reserved for people who die from water-related causes. A concept very close to the Judeo-Christian idea of paradise.

The place for male and female warriors of the Flower War. The Ilhuicatonantiuh was the sky where the male warriors accompanied Sun on its daily path, from dawn through the Zenith, and female warriors from the zenith through sunset. A luminous place par excellence. And Mictlán, the place for people who died from common death. In the Mictlán they would suffer before reaching the Lord of death and disappear.

"Where to go that death does not exist?
This is why my heart cries.
Be strong: no one is going to live here!
Even princesses are taken to death:
So desolate is my heart.
Be strong: no one is going to live here!"
(Ms. Mexican folk songs)

All human beings when achieving a development stage, from the origin of times through the present day, face the mandatory question. Is there life after death? I live to die and be reborn to eternal life? What is the reason for life? Because there will be the reason of death.

Flower War.

The concept of the "Flower War" is very revealing of the Anahuac philosophical conception. First of all we must observe that war for ancient Mexicans, probably from the earliest societies which we today call Olmec, had a "symbolical-ritual" nature. As it has already been noted, there is no proportional comparison between mathematics, medicine and architecture, to name only three aspects of the culture, with the evolution and development of weapons. In fact, the weapons found in the iconography of the Preclassical period, are the same seen in the Postclassical period with the Aztecs. The question is obvious; why were there important advances in other areas and not in military technology, with the exception of the atlatl,^[14] which was invented to hunt flying birds by the Toltec. This demonstrates that the anahuacas were never a warrior civilization, as is claimed and tried to demonstrate by the invader-colonizers. When natives defended themselves it was called "hostility" and the Hispanic extermination was called "pacification" in the texts of the 16th century.

The "Flower War” warriors of Toltec lineage during the Classical period sought to fight their "florid battles" internally and their weapons were "flower and song", their victory, to flourish their heart to feed their loved ones. Even the Toltecáyotl transgressors, the Mexica warriors during the Postclassical period, in their "florid battles" did not intend to kill their opponents, but simply take them prisoner.

"It is then likely that the trophy sought by the "flower battle" warrior was none other than his own soul." (Laurette Séjourné. 1957)

The above is not cultural or technological "incapability or inferiority". On the contrary, reveals that the ancient grandparents did not focus their development on weapons and war. It always was more symbolic—religious, than an "industry" of expansion, exploitation and annihilation, as has been used by the western culture up to this day. The war, from the first Quetzalcoatl presence of in the Olmec sculptures, refers to the spiritual symbol of the internal war, which the Toltec called, during the classical period “Florid Battle” (Batalla Florida).

"We have already seen on several occasions that human existence should aim at the transcendence of the world forms that hide the ultimate reality. This reality lies at the heart, and it is necessary to force it to release it at all costs: here is the supreme goal of the "flower war". Reach, seize his heart then means penetrating spiritual life." (Laurette Séjourné. 1957)

Even though during the Mexica expansion period, war was used as it had never been seen in the Cem Anahuac, the Aztecs bellicosity, it was not intended "extermination war", as was applied by Europeans in their conquest of America. War during the late Postclassical period was a power exercise between lordships, eminently ritual and with a high religious sense.

"The Cholutecas, whom had never seen the Mexicas in the field (never faced them militarily), wanted to test their fortune and courage. They sent messengers to Cuauhquecholan and Atzitziuacan —which were the borders— to tell them to advise Moctecuhzoma, how they wanted to enjoy and rejoice with them in that field and rejoice the earth God and give content to the Lord of battles and the Sun; that they pleaded him to send his people, that they would be in the field waiting on the third day."... “But, feeling the damage (the Choluetcas), then sent a messenger to Moctecuhzoma, giving account of what that day they had done and of the large loss of people. And hoping for another day, to see if the Choluteca demanded more battle, or wanted to avenge his people, accompanied by the Mexicans to avenge their loss, the Cholutecas sent their messengers to the general of the Mexican army, saying that they had already enjoyed and rejoiced and after some time spent time with them; it was enough, that they should go with God." (Fray Diego Durán.)

The Aztecs made a holy war and fought, according to them, to keep alive the Fifth Sun whose existence was threatened, according to the religious and ideological reforms made by Tlacaelel and also, extended their domain and increased the number of tributary peoples. The warriors that died or were taken prisoner in these battles found the highest social aspiration in the sacrifices stone.

"That they should not be sad thereby, and that the death of their brother (Moctezuma) affected him, by losing such brave men, but that died in honor defending the homeland were tinted and glazed with the hue and enamel of their royal blood and value adorned with precious stones and the precise plumage of their greatness and valiant deeds, and that such was the fate that he and should hope for, because they did not died as women behind coal and stoves, but with a sword in their hand, dying with their blood and that of others the herbs of the field and the rays of the Sun in them, and of this he gloried and was very proud. And so later ordered to have the funerals of all the Lords that were killed in that battle..." (Fray Diego Durán.)

The Mexica wars were made to get prisoners and take them to Tenochtitlan and sacrifice them. The prisoners were treated with great respect, as they were, "Eagle food". It was considered a blunder if a warrior killed an adversary in the battlefield, because the objective was to take him captive. The prisoners of both sides were honored by their final destination.

Far from being a war of extermination and prey, such as that of the europeans, the florid wars of the Aztecs, although had suffered a grotesque change, because they changed the spiritual sacrifice for the material. The flower Battle ceased to be an internal struggle, to become a struggle for taking prisoners for the sacrificial stone; it maintained a sense of spiritual greatness, although altered.

Warriors going to florid wars carried on their shoulders the immense social and religious "keep alive the Fifth Sun" responsibility. There was no other activity in the Aztec culture with a higher honor, as it "served", not only to the people, but basically the universe.

"The cause that moved so many to war, although the main was their self-interest and gain honor and property; the second cause was not having their life in anything and the blessed that gained those that died in war and hence called it xochiyaoyotl war, that means "florid war", and therefore, they called the death of the dying in war xuchimiquiztli, that means "pink death, joyful and blessed death". (Fray Diego Durán.)

It was precisely the Toltec spiritual symbolism changes, that Tlacaelel implemented, what gave the Mexica a materialistic—mystic—warrior doctrine. The Toltec flower battle of inner and spiritual character was changed by a flower battle against neighbors and made with "relatively harmless" weapons. These postclassical period wars intensified in the last two hundred years before the arrival of the Spaniards, during the formation of the Triple Alliance and the consolidation of the Aztec Empire. These wars were usually rather symbolic and ritual; although the Aztecs came to exceptionally "punish" some people, commonly did not destroy cities and certainly did not annihilate the civilian population.

"The arrows, main attribute of the celestial Warrior, can obviously not symbolize anything other than interior lightning that reveal the existence of a divine condition"... Of the immersion in this higher consciousness which dissolves his, Quetzalcoatl comes out armed with the arrows that allow him to become Lord of the Dawn, "projecting the sun rays" that reveal to humans the salvation that everyone should seek." (Laurette Séjourné. 1957)

The Toltec flower battle implied the hardest fight that a human being can face. Men and women prepared for this "internal war" and as such, became "warriors". Discipline, frugality and the austerity that formed these warriors were very strict and rigorous. Weapons were "flower and song" and the battle field was their own heart. To defeat the inertia which destroys matter. The vices, laziness, personal ignorance. These warriors of the flower death were impeccable hunters of knowledge hunters and forgers of their spiritual temperance.

“Emeralds are: turquoises
your clay and feathers!
oh life giver!
Happiness and wealth of the Princes
Is the death at the edge of the Obsidian,
Death in war."
(Romances of the Lords of the New Spain.)

The Toltec developed a philosophical knowledge hermetic school, just as other ancient civilizations with autonomous origin. The concepts of: warrior, flower battle, flower and song, own face and the true heart. Speak to us as a whole of a philosophical vision of spiritual possibilities of human existence and the capacity to transcend the limited spaces of the material existence. The flower battle is one of the most vigorous philosophical conception expressions that the Toltecs have of the world and life.

Existential Responsibility

For the ancient grandparents, humans had two very important tasks in the world. To maintain the balance of the forces that sustains the universe and world humanization. These commitments were the highest responsibility of our civilization. There is no outwards path that has not been traveled inwards. Therefore, "balance" must be achieved first inside the individual and then in the surrounding environment focused on "the four directions". The ancient grandparents divided the human being and the universe in four parts through two imaginary axes, longitudinal and transverse, with the navel as center and the cross. These four parts or paths of human existence and universe interact as opposing and complementing pairs. Achieving a balance between the pair of complementing opposites means elevation. The loss of balance therefore means degradation.

"Harmony" was the fundamental achievement in the ancient grandparents’ philosophy. Harmony was achieved by means of "balance" and this in turn was built through the "measure". Harmony, balance and measure, were the highest achievement of the Anahuac civilization. In the interior plane of the human being, to forge an "own face and a true heart". In the exterior plain, to "humanize" the world.

The individual and social responsibility of existence was based on these values and principles. We can see in the cultures of ancient Mexico, how harmony is associated with beauty and it in turn to the divine and sacred. Balance is constantly and repetitively present from the concept of the "pair of complementing opposites", which when balanced are humanized. And the measure is associated to the concept of "mecatl" or mecate, "with which the world and things are measured". For this reason, Calmécac literally means "the House of the measure" and Olmec is "the measure of movement".

Somehow, these concepts are still present in the most intimate "being" of the culture that we call today "Mexican", especially in indigenous and rural communities, as is the most important legacy inherited from the ancient grandparents. The Quetzalcoatl Cross.

There is a symbol that is constant from the Olmecs to the Aztecs in the Anahuac iconography. A cross or X which is present in most of the so-called "works of art" of ancient Mexico. This cross is generally located in the forehead, chest or in the solar plexus, if it's a human figure. If it is a geometric design, generally will be found on the fundamental points. This cross is formed by two lines that divide space and the human body through two lines that intersect at the "earth’s navel" or the human navel.

"This cross, called of Quetzalcoatl, has the value of a focal point and, symbolizes the meeting of heaven and Earth. Under this aspect, the quincunxe is abundantly represented". (Laurette Séjourné. 1957)

The first imaginary line divided the human body into two halves. From the navel to the head was the sky representation, symbolized with a bird. Had two symbolic organs representing the elevation aspiration, embodying the highest spiritual aspiration: the brain and heart. The second part goes from the navel to the feet, representing the land and symbolized by a snake. It had two organs that embodied the energy that unites the human being with the earth and the material world: the kidneys and genitals.

So the human being is the philosophical bridge linking the two complementing opposites. As the ancient grandparents poetically said, "where earth and sky kissed". The bird was generally represented by a quetzal, an eagle or a macaw. The animal representing Earth was symbolized with a snake, which in Nahuatl is named Cóatl. So that "Quetzal-cóatl", represents a spiritual philosophical figure, present in our being, and which we can embody through the balance of our spiritual self with our material self. The human being is the contact point between the divine and the mundane, between matter and spirit, between heaven and earth.

But at the same time, the ancient grandparents divide human beings into two longitudinal halves, also from the navel. From where we have two parts or sides, the right side or “tonal” associated with the known world, the male part, the day, the Sun, the warm, and specifically rationality. The left side is called "nagual" and is associated to the unknown world, the female part, the night, the cold, the Moon and the intuitive part.

"The first large section of the human body is produced at the height of the navel... It is possible the existence of an ancient comparison between this two part division of the body and some mythical elements. Let us start from a triple correspondence between cosmology, political organization and body division. According to the myth, the original cosmic monster was segmented by the center of its body to this divide the sectors that constituted Earth and sky... The second section of the body is divided into right and left... It should not be surprising that in some cases the supernatural strength of human beings referred to by the gods was thought to be located on the left side of the body... This suggests that, just as the use of the right hand was associated to everyday activities, especially those requiring dexterity, the left was associated more closely to the world of the supernatural... Finally, it is necessary to mention that the focal point of the body, the region of the navel, is one of the most important in magical thinking, linked to the idea of the focal point of the surface of earth, the House of the God of fire, place by which the cosmic axis allowed communication with heaven and the underworld." (Alfredo López Austin. 1980)

The human being is then divided into four parts and represent the four cardinal points or directions of the existence. However, there is a fifth point, a fifth direction: the TOP and BOTTOM. What rises transcending the human plain if it is possible to balance in equilibrium the complementing pair of opposites. And what degrades and falls, if any of the four elements excessively weighs over the other.

The center law or Quincunxe. "The center law" of the ancient grandparents notes that the human being should try to balance the four directions of existence at its center, to achieve transcendence. The dilemma of being in the middle of two pairs of complementing opposites and the existential challenge of seeking balance to transcend.

In life, one cannot be totally spiritual, totally materialistic; totally rational, or totally intuitive. Each of these four complementing opposites must be in balance. If balance is achieved (which happens in the Center) the individual is able to ascend and evolve; but if balance is lost and one of the four opposite becomes heavier, human falls in the degraded depths of stupidity, as is dragged by the "inertia of matter" that leads to destruction or corruption. Losing the wonderful opportunity of transcending existence.

"The Nahuatl hieroglyphic most familiar is a figure that, under endless variants, is always formed by four points united a center, disposition called quincunxe. As demonstrated by Eduardo Seler, five is the number of the center and this in turn, constitutes the point of contact between heaven and earth. For greater accuracy, the quincunxe also designates the gemstone that symbolizes the heart, meeting place of the opposing principles. It is then, jointed by a sign all the characteristics of the Fifth Sun —heart of the Sky—, expressed in mythology... Everything is admirably structured.

Is it not, in fact, the Fifth Sun of the man—god whose heart became the planet Venus? and was it not precisely Quetzalcoatl who inaugurated the Center Era revealing the existence of a force capable of defeating inertia?

But there's more. The quincunxe also accompanies the God of fire —also God of the Center and therefore called "navel of the earth"—..., the Center Law abolished the opponents’ fragmentation. Based on the stars revolutions and arduous calculations these cycles go, starting from the simplest —death and nature resurrection—, to include immense units which are intended for the mystical search of moments of supreme liberation, hence the concordances between the individual soul and the cosmic soul, time and eternity, the limited and the infinite." (Laurette Séjourné. 1957)

"The Center Law", was reiteratively expressed by the ancient grandparents in everything that formed their material and iconographical world. They expressed it in architecture, since the pyramids and research facilities and study are a clear expression of this philosophy. Suffice to observe that most have a central courtyard and four rooms or four pyramids in each cardinal direction. The pyramids are generally four levels, four faces and on top a structure that unites them. Another very recurrent form is noted by a four petal flower a unifying center Macuilxochitl (five flower). Also through the Quetzalcoatl cross or simply by an X, a circle with two crossed lines, in their engravings, with five circles.

The "quincunxe" as called by Professor Séjourné is a fundamental motif in the architectonic and artistic designs that the ancient Grandparents built, painted, recorded and embroider in pyramids, codices, steles, textiles, frescoes. Should be sufficient to observe carefully and with respect the philosophical—spiritual message, in the material vestiges of this wonderful civilization. The fundamental aspiration of the ancient grandparents, as that of all the ancient great civilizations, is the EXISTENCE SPIRITUAL TRANSCENDENCE.

"The joining of opposites in the Nahuatl religion. The dynamics of jointed opposites is at the foundation of all creation, both spiritual and material.

If the body "sprouts and blooms" its soul, only if it is trespassed by sacrificial fire, earth produces fruits more than if penetrated by the solar heat transmitted by rain. That is, that the generating element is not simple heat or water, but a balanced combination of both." (Laurette Séjourné.)" (1957)

The ancient grandparents set out a path, through achieving equilibrium, similar to buddhism, christianism or islamism. But this path is different for us, in as long as "it is own—ours", which was born in our land, with our people and their experiences and knowledge. The philosophy engendered by the splendor of ancient Mexico remains alive, present, current and vibrant; and for now, we are an unconscious part of it. As the Greco-Roman of the western civilization in our days, that is separated by more than two thousand years and its essence is still alive in Europe. The problem is that due to the mental colonization, we cannot make it conscious.

This begs a question: why colonizing countries may have a direct connection with their philosophical past, such as europeans with Greco-Roman thought or Chinese and Japanese with Buddhist thought, and we Mexicans according to our colonizers, do not have any relationship with the philosophical thought developed for seven and a half thousand years.

The three circles of knowledge.

As it has been noted, knowledge in ancient Mexico was managed in three eccentric circles.^[15] The word, which was at the center of the first circle, was only known to a small group of people. Wisdom is passed down from lip to ear. Just as in Tibet or in Egypt, knowledge men and women resided in those ancient buildings which today are called archaeological sites. These were knowledge centers reserved only for elite of specialized people in the ancient hermetic knowledge. These teachers lived apart from the rest and were respected by commoners or macehuales who lived in the villages.^[16] Men and women of knowledge had developed a complex and abstract language of their wisdom, in which they transmitted and perpetuated their ancient knowledge through symbols and graphic representations, engraved in stone, wood, metals; painted codices, frescos and ceramics; embroidered on cloth with stones and feathers. This second circle of knowledge was conveyed through iconographic language, which contains the essence of the ancient philosophical thought of the grandparents and this knowledge is framed in the various materials worked the ancient grandparents. Knowledge that could only be accessed by the “initiated” and some of the most important leaders and priests of the classical period villages. It is required to decode it, in order to access. It is there, but it is not for everyone.

In the third knowledge circle basically was religion, moral and ethical standards of the Anahuac civilization. These philosophical principles that embodied the ancient grandparents’ religion, allowed commoners: peasants, housewives, artists, teachers, artisans, builders, bureaucrats, and so on; have the necessary bases to conduct a harmonious personal, family and society life. For this reason, during more than a thousand years, during the period known as the Classical or splendor, there was a bright and dazzling human development, being the pulsating center of this period Classical "the city" where men learned to be gods, Teotihuacan.

"On the other hand, if Teotihuacan had remained at least 800 years as a predominant city without any military power, this Pax Augusta would be a case so unique in history; it is hard to believe it actually happened."

In universal history, there are no records of any single empire that was formed, even indirectly without the use of weapons, and in fact, almost all cases are based mainly on their use, even when it is clear that above weapons was a directing ideology. There is also the possibility that expansion was based on a dominant or more prestigious religion than others, and therefore did not require to resort to force. Christianity and Buddhism, for example, have immensely expanded and weapons did not play an important role in their difussion.... But rather indicates that the root of all Mesoamerican religions was the same, and not that Teotihuacan placed their gods over the gods of other Nations." (Ignacio Bernal. 1965)

This Cultural development was the most important and the apex of an entire civilizing project in the Cem Anahuac. However, this development was not as that of the European peoples. Its principles and objectives were as different as today are of those social welfare and development principles of the native Tarahumara community of Chihuahua, compared to the inhabitants of the Polanco neighborhood in Mexico City. As an example will note that the ancient grandparents had invented the wheel and yet it was not used as the Europeans did; they also invented the átlatl, which multiplied the dart speed, much faster than an arrow thrown by and arch, yet they never developed this technology for military aspects. The dart thrower always remained as a hunting tool. It is assumed that during the Classical period there were no wars and during the Postclassical period, wars were more symbolic mystical and religious ceremonials, than extermination wars.^[17] Indeed, as the Aztecs degraded the Quetzalcoatl teachings, the spiritual struggle with one's self, the Toltec "flower war", was turned into a battle to take live defeated warriors and offer them in mortal sacrifice to Huitzilopochtli and thus keep alive the threatened Fifth Sol, in addition to imposing large tributes on defeated people.

The philosophy of the Anahuac civilization, the Toltecáyotl, is the most filtered work of their creations. The philosophical thought that not only explains the world and life; but also gives meaning to human life, allowing the transcendental existence in the spiritual plane.

All that can be seen and felt of the immeasurable ancient grandparents’ heritage finds its foundations and most solid structures, in the anahuaca philosophy. The tangible and intangible world of their creations. From the impressive constructions through the finest artistic creations. From their principles and individual values transmitted from generation to generation in family and schools, to the large community institutions such as the calpulli, the tequio, the “day of the dead” festivities or the Tonatzin festival, all were sustained on the basis of their philosophical thought.

Burnt Water.

This is another of the most interesting Anahuac philosophical metaphors. Its complex structure reveals a very deep and dialectical thinking. Once again facing the cosmic drama of opposite’s struggle; water and fire. As previously noted, water is the symbol of luminous energy. Everything that surrounds us is made of luminous energy, and water multiplies the action of light through photosynthesis, and the world around us. Thanks to water and light, the world reproduces and is full of life.

The fire is the divine representation of spiritual liberation from matter. With fire matter purifies and transcends. The same at the great Teotihuacan fire, where Gods threw themselves, so the Fifth Sun lived, as the bonfire in which Quetzalcoatl threw himself when he left the Anahuac. The fire serpent is the liberating symbol par excellence and fire is also the symbol of the spiritual sacrifice. This way —Burnt Water— philosophically represents spiritual life.

"This spiritual principle is so basic that the Tenochtitlan “Templo Mayor” was dedicated to it: the circumstance that the Rain God and the celestial fire have been placed side by side, on top of the pyramid, cannot be seriously interpreted otherwise. Knowing, in addition, that the temple was built on the location of the source of the blue and red water spring, thus makes it clear that the governing divinities symbolized the burnt water mythical formula.” (Laurette Séjourné. 1957)

The "burnt water" concept implies the struggle of opposites, fire and water, which transcends in a third party, other than the two that created it. Such that the balanced encounter of water and fire, produces steam, which rises and symbolically detaches from the material reality.

Burnt water symbolizes infighting of complementing opposites, like the florid battle. But in a more universal and cosmic way. Not so the flower battle, which is an intimate and personal action of each warrior, that has to do with their "micro universe", where matter inertia leads to the destruction or corruption of the human being, to the extent that he cannot overcome the elements which degrade or corrupt him.

The world and the universe are governed by spiritual universal laws. The dialectic fight of the complementing opposite pair is lived every day and second by second in the entire universe. Day and night, death and life, the cosmic cycle of Venus,^[18] the same universal drama. In this sense the universe and human beings are sharing the same existential challenge. For this reason the macehual (commoner) mission can be understood, they are the deserving ones of the Gods sacrifice, not only they have to contribute to support the Fifth Sun, but also to the Gods humanization. Burnt Water is fundamentally a philosophical symbol.

The Toltecáyotl.

The ancient Mexican called Toltecáyotl, to the series of Toltec wisdom and knowledge. The Toltecáyotl probably began with the domestication of plants, agriculture and the invention of the corn eight thousand years ago and has evolved and refined over the centuries. In spite of the fact that the conquistadors of yesterday and the colonizers of today, have tried to deny all capacity and intellectual value to the native peoples and to the children of the sons of the ancient grandparents, wisdom is still alive and has remained, ducking in popular culture during these five centuries. Much of this wisdom has remote origins, and even though we may not understand it, we live with and it is this subtle quality, that makes us different from other peoples and gives us the "touch" of being Mexican. It is what gives us a "Face and own heart".

"The highest of the people’s "institutions", their creations, that support the structure of a culture, all that and probably also other realities, were included in the meaning of Toltecáyotl". (Miguel Leon Portilla. 1980)

There is a very rich heritage of ancient wisdom in the native peoples and peasants of contemporary Mexico. In the oral culture of some peoples the historical memory remains of the so-called "White Brotherhood". Ancestral heritage of the Toltecs and the Toltecáyotl that did not disappear in the collapse of the late Classical period and that still Cortés registers in the “Cartas de Relacion”.^[19] In fact, Cortés relates that when the Spaniards came to the shores of Veracruz, Moctezuma sought advice from the wise men of the White Brotherhood living in the Cholula Calmécac, where the "píltin" children were educated, and the nobility which would govern the peoples of the Triple Alliance.

"Toltecáyotl, literally translated, means toltequity: essence and collection of all Toltec creations. But to better unravel the richness of its connotations, this term of abstract and collective sense is a word derived from toltéca-tl. Ancient Mexicans used it to indicate what they considered their heritage, inspiration seed and factor of further achievements. The Toltecáyotl, Quetzalcoatl legacy and the Toltec covers the black and red ink, -wisdom-, writing and calendar, book of paintings, knowledge of the paths that follow the stars, the arts, including music of flutes, kindness and righteousness in the treatment of human beings, the art of good eating, the ancient word, worship the gods, talk with them and with oneself... "." (Miguel Leon Portilla. 1980) We shall not deeply understand history and the Anahuac culture without knowing the philosophical foundation that structured this civilization over thousands of years and that in the last five centuries, only has been "concealed", but it still represents the true essence of our unconscious identity.

All the grandiose material and immaterial works of this civilization, that were transformed by the minds, souls and hands of our ancient grandparents, come from a very clear and defined line of thought from its origins. This "creative power" is what brought matter from its natural state and shaped it, colored it and gave it sentiment. These were the men and women who learned to “make clay lie", metals, textiles, wood, precious stones, plant fibers and a number of materials taken from nature and humanized by incorporating them, with a high aesthetic and mystical sense, to the millenary world of the Anahuac. It was these wise men and women that learned from nature, the skies and the spirit, to shape "own faces and real hearts" in their children and young people.

Across this vast and immeasurable artistic treasure that is alive in the so-called archaeological zones and saturates Mexican museums and the world, inevitably arises from a thought structure. It signifies that the highest creation of the Anahuac civilization is overall knowledge that explains the world, life and placed human existence with a high responsibility to contribute to generating forces for the world humanization world and its maintenance through harmony, equilibrium and measure. The Anahuac philosophy or Toltecáyotl is the language in which the spirit expresses itself; each of their wonderful creations represents words that hold an eternal dialogue between human beings and the immeasurable, the divine and sacred.

We cannot continue to condemn the Anahuac civilization to the same intellectual disdain, that is has been subjected by eurocentrism and colonization. The Toltecáyotl represents the most important and least known ancient Mexican heritage. It is from the Toltecáyotl, the most important Toltec creation, where we need to start to know and interpret the past and therefore understand our present. The intellectual and cultural decolonization is vital to be able to build a future, "ours own". The Toltecáyotl must be the line of thought that allows us to "recover ourselves". The challenge is to take the wisdom that exists within ourselves to the conscious everyday plane and with this knowledge build our present and design our future.

Five elements comprise the philosophical heritage of the ancient grandparents. Apparently they are hidden and camouflaged in the immense cultural syncretism of our days. They seem unrelated and trivial elements when independently considered, unless they are integrated as a whole. However, they are the "essence" that distinguishes our ancient people and the philosophical thought heritage in everyday life. The cultural elements, inherited from our ancient philosophy are: "the high spiritual and mystical vocation for life, family defense and its values, the immeasurable love for nature, the tireless constructor spirit and the permanent optimism for life".

Indeed, the most important and valuable heritage from the ancient grandparents is not material. It is not in the archaeological sites, museums or in precious metals. It is instead in the spiritual world and life perception. In the values, principles, feelings, attitudes, traditions, uses and customs, that have been changing and adjusting in these five colonization centuries, but that keep alive the essence of a civilization that is not dead. It is alive in the current day conglomerate of peoples and cultures of the Anahuac. Between the syncretism and appropriations, enriched not only from western culture, but also from Africa and Asia.

1. Ontology, part of metaphysics which deals with the “being” in general and its transcendental properties: the ontology term arose at the beginning of the 17th century.
2. Who am I, where do I come from and where am I going to?
3. In Aztec mythology, Huitzilopochtli', also spelled ' (Classical Nahuatl: Huitzilopōchtli [hwitsiloˈpoːtʃtɬi] "Hummingbird on the Left", or "Left-Handed Hummingbird", huitzilin being Nahuatl for hummingbird), was a god of war, a sun god, and the patron of the city of Tenochtitlan. He was also the national god of the Mexicas of Tenochtitlan. He was a god of tremendous power who commanded terrible fear that had to be assuaged by human sacrifice. Today, he is not believed to be actively worshiped. Huitzilopochtli was a tribal god and a legendary wizard of the Aztecs. Originally he was of little importance to the Nahuas, but after the rise of the Aztecs, Tlacaelel reformed their religion and put Huitzilopochtli at the same level as Quetzalcoatl, Tlaloc, and Tezcatlipoca, making him a solar god. Through this, Huitzilopochtli replaced Nanahuatzin, the solar god from the Nahua legend.
4. Cosmogony, or cosmogeny, is any theory concerning the coming into existence or origin of the universe, or about how reality came to be. The word comes from the Greek κοσμογονία (or κοσμογενία), from κόσμος "cosmos, the world", and the root of γί(γ)νομαι / γέγονα "to be born, come about". In the specialized context of space science and astronomy, the term refers to theories of creation of (and study of) the Solar System. Attempts to create a naturalistic cosmogony are subject to two separate limitations. One is based in the philosophy of science and the epistemological constraints of science itself, especially with regards to whether scientific inquiry can ask questions of "why" the universe exists. Another more pragmatic problem is that there is no physical model that can explain the earliest moments of the universe's existence (Planck time) because of a lack of a testable theory of quantum gravity, although string theorists and researchers in loop quantum cosmology believe they have the formulas to describe it within their field equations.
5. Popol Vuh (Popol Wu'uj [poˈpol wuˈʔuχ] in modern K'iche') is a corpus of mytho-historical narratives of the Post Classic Quiché kingdom in Guatemala's western highlands. The title translates as "Book of the Community," "Book of Counsel," or more literally as "Book of the People." Popol Vuh's prominent features are its creation myth, its diluvian suggestion, its epic tales of the Hero Twins Hunahpú and Xbalanqué, and its genealogies. The myth begins with the exploits of anthropomorphic ancestors and concludes with a regal genealogy, perhaps as an assertion of divine right rule. As with other texts (e.g. the Chilam Balam), a great deal of Popol Vuh's significance lies in the scarcity of early accounts dealing with Mesoamerican mythologies. Popol Vuh's fortuitous survival is attributable to the 18th century Dominican friar Francisco Ximénez.
6. Victor Dionisio Montejo was born in Jacaltenango, Huehuetenango Guatemala, in 1951, he speaks the Maya Language (popb’ al ti). His life took a sharp turn in 1980 while a grammar school teacher. An army company came and confused them with a civil auto-defense group and fired upon them. He left and with difficulties completed college studies. Obtained scholarships and achieved masters from the Albany State University of New York and subsequently a doctor’s degree from Connecticut University. Has written several books.
7. The Books of Chilam Balam are handwritten, chiefly 18th-century Mayan miscellanies, named after the small Yucatec towns where they were originally kept, and preserving important traditional knowledge in which indigenous Mayan and early Spanish traditions have coalesced. Written in the Yucatec Maya language and using the Latin alphabet, the manuscripts are attributed to a legendary author called Chilam Balam, a chilam being a priest who gives prophecies and balam a common surname meaning 'jaguar'. Some of the texts actually contain prophecies about the coming of the Spaniards to Yucatan while mentioning a chilam Balam as their first author. Nine Books of Chilam Balam are known, most importantly those from Chumayel, Mani, and Tizimin, but many more have existed. Both language and content show that parts of the books date back to the time of the Spanish conquest of the Yucatec kingdoms (1527-1546). In some cases, where the language is particularly terse, the books appear to render hieroglyphic script, and thus to hark back to the pre-conquest period.
8. Earth’s surface
9. Mictlan was the underworld of Aztec mythology. Most people who died went to Mictlan, although other possibilities existed (Other Destinations). Mictlan was located far to the north, and consisted of nine distinct levels. The journey from the first level to the ninth was difficult and took four years, but the dead were aided by the psychopomp, Xolotl. The dead had to pass many challenges, such as crossing a mountain range where the mountains crashed into each other, a field with wind that blew flesh-scraping knives, and a river of blood with fearsome jaguars. Mictlan was ruled by a king, Mictlantecuhtli ("Lord of the Underworld") and his wife, Mictecacihuatl ("Lady of the Underworld"). Other deities in Mictlan included Cihuacoatl (who commanded Mictlan spirits called Cihuateteo), Acolmiztli, Chalmecacihuilt, Chalmecatl and Acolnahuacatl.
10. In astronomy, the Pleiades, or Seven Sisters (Messier object 45), is an open star cluster containing middle-aged hot B-type stars located in the constellation of Taurus. It is among the nearest star clusters to Earth and is the cluster most obvious to the naked eye in the night sky. Pleiades has several meanings in different cultures and traditions. The cluster is dominated by hot blue and extremely luminous stars that have formed within the last 100 million years. Dust that forms a faint reflection nebulosity around the brightest stars was thought at first to be left over from the formation of the cluster (hence the alternate name Maia Nebula after the star Maia), but is now known to be an unrelated dust cloud in the interstellar medium that the stars are currently passing through. Astronomers estimate that the cluster will survive for about another 250 million years, after which it will disperse due to gravitational interactions with its galactic neighborhood.
11. The vigesimal or base 20 numeral system is based on twenty (in the same way in which the ordinary decimal numeral system is based on ten).
12. Dr. Alberto Carramiñana Alonso is Astrophysics area coordinator at The National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics (in Spanish: Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica, INAOE) is a Mexican science research institute located in Tonantzintla, Puebla. Website http://www.inaoep.mx
13. A flower war or flowery war (Nahuatl: xōchiyāōyōtl) is the name given to the battles fought between the Aztec Triple Alliance and some of their enemies: most notably the city-states of Tlaxcala, Huexotzinco, Atlixco and Cholula. It is considered the ritual and symbolic fight to overcome the inertia of matter, i.e., the vices and human weaknesses, to transcend the material existence of life and penetrate to the unfathomable mysteries of the spirit.
14. The atlatl is an impulse weapon, widely used by the pre-Columbian aborigines, especially the Aztecs, Peru and Colombia. In Nahuatl was called átlatl, although Spanish is also known as dart thrower. It was a short, thin and narrow platform made of flexible and resilient wood held with holes for the index and middle fingers, the dart placed on top. It provided the dart a powerful impulse, which was capable of piercing thick skinned animals, and steel mesh protection, as experienced it the Spanish soldiers. Ancient American hunters used the atlatl to replace the use of the Javelin, as was more effective, and it accelerated the extinction of Cenozoic giant mammals. Much later was it replaced by bow and arrows that were more effective. However, several pre-Columbian cultures continued using the átlatl for war purposes because of its greater power than the arch. The oldest atlatl discovered is approximately 19,000 years old. Scientific studies estimate that it was used over 40,000 years ago. Mr Dave Ingvall, made an atlatl with carbon fiber and an aluminum dart, to achieve the world record for distance shooting with this weapon, in the American town of Aurora in Colorado in July 1995. The dart throw was 258 meters.
15. From the center outwards.
16. Generally the macehuales (commoners) did not have access to what we now call archaeological sites. These always represented sacred places. This millennial tradition of respect for the remains of these buildings remained alive until the first part of the 20th century. This explains why the fortune prospectors of the 19th century "discovered" the archaeological sites for the dominant culture, because the indigenous communities had always known of their existence and tried to keep them away from the colonizers and their permanent looting and destruction drive.
17. Weapons found by the Spanish in 1519 were more symbolic than offensive. It is interesting to note that the anahuacas reached very high levels of knowledge in mathematics, astronomy and engineering; and yet, in military technology remained with the same weapons of the beginning of civilization thousands of years ago.
18. During a season of the year Venus appears in the morning as the morning star, in another season appears as the evening star and during another time Venus does not appear in the sky.
19. The “Cartas de relación” written by Hernán Cortés, were directed to the Spanish Emperor Carlos V. In these letters, Cortés describes his journey to Mexico, his arrival in Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire, and some of the events that would result in the conquest of Mexico. Hernán Cortés was of noble lineage and studied for some time Latin, grammar, and law at the University of Salamanca, but without graduating, he gained the knowledge and skills necessary for a good writer, his letters have true literary and historical value, because descriptions made are firstly contained in the Chronicles of the conquest of the Aztec Empire.