FLOWERS AND SONGS THE ONLY TRUE ON EARTH
who surely knows the Giver of Life…
There I hear his word, his very own,
the cascabel bird answers the Giver of Life,
It goes singing, offering flowers, offering flowers.
Its words fall like rain
of emerald and quetzal feathers.
Perhaps this is how one can please the Giver of Life?
Is this the only thing that is true on earth? In the last line, the meaning of the entire poem is indicated: “Is this the only thing that is true on Earth?” A careful reading of the preceding lines will clearly show what is meant by “the only thing that is true on Earth” (azo tle nelli in tlaltícpac) and what might “satisfy the Giver of Life”: songs and flowers. At first glance, this may seem strange. However, an analysis of the Nahuatl idiom or idiomatic expression “flowers and songs” could clarify the true meaning of the text. Dr. Garibay, in his book Key to Nahuatl, studied some of the main stylistic features of the Nahuatl language, particularly focusing on what he called the language’s “difrasizmo”: “It refers to a process through which an idea is expressed using two words that complement each other in meaning, either because they are synonyms or because they are placed next to each other… Among the difrasizmos mentioned by Dr. Garibay is this one: in xóchitl in cuícatl, which literally means: flower and song, as if they were A metaphor for poetry. If we connect this with the given text, we must conclude that according to the Tlamatinis, “the only thing that can be true on earth” is poetry, or rather, “flower and song.” True poetry implies a unique way of understanding that is the result of authentic internal experience or, if you prefer, intuition. Poetry thus becomes a means that, covertly on the wings of symbols and metaphors, allows a person to speak about what they have discovered in a mysterious and unexpected way. The poet suffers because they feel they will never be able to say what they want, but despite this, their words can achieve a level of authentic revelation. The following Nahuatl poem, in which the essence of poetry is expressed by talking about flowers and songs, illustrates this beautifully:My heart longs for flowers,I suffer with songs,and I create them only on earth,I, Cuacuauhtzin:desiring flowers that will lastin my hands…!Where to pick these beautiful flowers,these beautiful songs?Never here. Spring doesn’t create: I Cuacuauhtzin, I just suffer. Will our friends even be happy, will they enjoy anything? And where do I pick beautiful flowers, beautiful songs? That’s how poetry is, as a form of metaphysical expression that uses metaphors, an attempt to overcome impermanence, a dream on tlaltícpacu (on earth). Tlamatinijis do not believe that the rational path can tell what is in the other world, “that which is above us”. However, they argue that through metaphors, through poetry – a flower and a song – one can reach the truth.
NAHUATLESE THOUGHT ON HUMANS
Among the characteristics of the tlamatinijis was – as we saw in Chapter I – to “become a mirror before people in order to make them reasonable and diligent”, to “make others wise, lead them to adopt a new face and help them develop it”, as well as “humanize their desires”, which meant that they encountered countless difficulties in carrying out these educational duties. And not only because of the circumstances imposed on them by place and time, but also because of the mysteries The nature of human beings, whose inclinations and reactions are always unpredictable, was such that it required teaching humans to “assume a face”, suggesting that mortals living on Earth were some kind of “faceless” beings, flawed and almost anonymous. On the other hand, the wise ones knew that in their efforts to acquire a “face”, humans were thrown into the uncertain reality of tlaltícpac. Because “by giving their heart to everything and walking aimlessly (ahuicpa), they lose it”, since it is impossible on Earth to search for something truly valuable. Therefore, the new problem was to find meaning in human actions: “Is it even possible to search for something on Earth?” And if it is difficult here on Earth, it is even harder to express the truth about the relationship between humans and the “other world” above us. Thus, faced with the uncertain reality of faceless human beings, full of unfulfilled desires and without a clear purpose on tlaltícpac on the one hand, and with the enigma of the other world on the other hand, The wise men of Mictlan grasped the depth of the human problem. Eventually, the question of universal truth emerged – when exactly, and by which wise man it was first posed, remains unknown. At that moment, Nahua thought, through self-reflection, entered the realm we would now call philosophical anthropology and began developing a series of doctrines that form its response to the grand question of human truthfulness… For the wise men, the face was a manifestation of the self that was acquired and developed through education. As further evidence of this, we can mention that a charlatan or sophist was referred to as the one who “makes others lose their face” (te-ix-poloa), as well as the one who “leads them astray” (te-ix-cuepani). Therefore, it can be concluded that here, the face signifies what characterizes the most intimate nature of each individual’s unique self. Another text clarifies the meaning of the word yóllotl: heart, which similarly to the This is part of the phrase we are studying: “If you give your heart to everything, you lead it nowhere: you destroy your heart. Can you find anything on earth?” Giving your heart to everything” means the same as “searching for something”. The meaning is that the word “heart” (yóllotl) – derived from the word ollin: movement – symbolizes the dynamic aspect, the “searcher” for one’s “self”, or for oneself. It is a vital vision that, through the face, points to the inner physiognomy of a person, and in the beating of the heart, symbolically finds the source of one’s will and dynamism. As a result, the Nahua idea of a person, instead of being narrow and closed, leaves an open path for education to shape a person’s face and humanize their desires. This idea has gone so far that the word for educator in the Nahuatl language is te-ix-tlamachtiani, which means “the one who teaches human faces”: the one who makes other people wise, makes them take on his likeness, makes them develop it… He places a mirror before them, makes them reasonable and diligent, makes them… When their faces appear on them… Thanks to him, people humanize their desires and receive strict training… In that sense, teaching their students to “take on a face” and “humanize their desires” seemed to be the goal that teachers in calmécac schools strived for. Because only by forming the authentic face and heart of every person could one escape the dream on earth (tlaltícpac) and discover their own truth. Only in this way can one ultimately reach “what is true on earth”, solve the mystery of life and suffering on tlaltícpac through flowers and songs… it can be argued, supported by documents, that Nahue, in his effort to “give shape to foreign faces” and “humanize their desires” – like other great classical cultures – spontaneously and directly reached the theory of what modern Western thought calls the “educational, ethical, legal, social, etc. system”. THE GOAL OF EDUCATION AMONG THE NAHUAS There are many firsthand sources that tell us about Tlacahuapahualiztli or “the art of upbringing and education”. In the pre-Hispanic Nahuatl world, there was a great interest among the leaders in including every individual in the life of the community, where they would forever have their own special role. This is confirmed by the words of Father José de Acosta, as transmitted by Clavijero in his History: “Nothing has amazed me more, says Father Acosta, and is more worthy of praise and remembrance than the care and order that the Mexicans invested in the education of their children. In fact, it will be difficult to find a people who, in the time of their paganism, put more effort into education as an important contribution to the state.” Here we find the same metaphor applied to the tlamatinime: the father also “puts the children before a large mirror” so that they can learn to know themselves and become masters of themselves.
There are two fundamental principles that guide Nahuatl education, starting from the home: one is self-control through a series of renunciations that the child must become accustomed to, and the other is self-knowledge. themselves and what they needed to become, ingrained based on repeated advice from their parents. According to the Mendoza Codex, young Nahue were enrolled at the age of fifteen either in telpochcalli (house of youth) or in calmécac, a higher-level school where the sons of nobles and future priests were educated. However, as recorded by Soustelle: “This document (the Mendoza Codex) is inconsistent with more reliable texts. It seems that education exclusively within the family ceased much earlier. Some parents would send their children to calmécac from the moment they could walk, and in any case, children were enrolled in school between the ages of six and nine.” But the most important thing is that all children and young Nahue, without exception, attended one of these schools. And, as Soustelle accurately notes: “It is admirable that at that time and on this continent, a native American people had compulsory education for all, and there was not a single Mexican child in the 16th century, regardless of their social background, who would be deprived of education.”
On the Existence of Philosophical Knowledge among the Nahua
Philosophers are those who feel the need to explain the origin of things or formally question the meaning and value of life, or, going further, carefully explore the truth of life, existence after death, or the very possibility of knowing that other world – beyond the purely physical – where myths and beliefs have placed their answers. To care about and investigate these matters is philosophy in the narrower sense.
Nezahualcóyotl
What we assert is that they contain authentic problems which Nahua thinking discovered before the Conquest. Therefore, we will first present what could be described as a series of questions regarding the value of what exists, in relation to human efforts to find satisfaction in things that are part of their daily life.
There are lands:
What does your mind strive for?
Where is your heart?
If you give your heart to everything,
you lead it nowhere: you destroy your heart.
Can you find anything on earth?
Can we know about what transcends us, about the other world?
CAN WE KNOW ABOUT WHAT TRANSCENDS US, ABOUT THE OTHER WORLD?
Various Nahua texts, using poetic form, express the first difficulties and questions that the tlamatinime, rational to themselves, posed. Aware that they are trying to reach knowledge of “what transcends us, of the other world,” they, as a person who only glimpses can, comparing their, what we would call today, metaphysical knowledge with the ideal of true knowledge, came to question one of the deepest doubts that can plague thinkers of all time:
Are we even speaking something true here…?
Everything is like a dream, we only wake up from the dream,
we only speak here on earth…
And among the poems that, as Garibay notices, can justifiably be attributed to the famous king Nezahualcoyotl, there are also several in which… It is evident that contemplating the transience of everything that exists on earth was the starting point and main theme of the recent studies of the Tezcocoan king. Here we will present two of Nezahualcóyotl’s philosophical poems:
Do we truly live on earth?
Not forever on earth: only briefly here.
Even if it is jade, it will shatter.
Even if it is gold, it will break.
Even if it is the quetzal’s feathers, they will tear.
Not forever on earth, only briefly are we here.
When such a deep conviction was reached by Nezahualcóyotl and other tlamatinis, that in this life, here on earth, nothing is permanent, perhaps even true in the Nahuatl sense of the word, “nel-li” (connected to “nel-huá-yotl”: root, foundation, base), the need to find genuine meaning in human action and thought became even more important. If human life exists only in the transience of tlaltícpac, how then can anything true be said about what is beyond every human experience: about the Giver of Life? …
Captivating With this problem in mind, they embarked on a search for a new form of knowledge that could lead a person to understand the unchanging principle, grounded within themselves, on which all knowledge should be based.
“HUBS AND SONGS – THE ONLY TRUE THING ON THIS EARTH”
Their theory of metaphysical understanding – rightfully deserving to be called so according to Western philosophical concepts – found its appropriate expression in many of their songs.
Especially in one of them, a masterly pronounced Nahuatl response to these problems can be found. It is a poem that is said to have been recited in the house of Tecayehuatzin, the lord of Huexotzinco, on the occasion of a gathering of sages and poets:
Thus speaks Ayocuan Cuetzpaltzin,
who undoubtedly knows the Giver of Life…
I hear his word there, exactly his,
the cascabel bird answers the Giver of Life,
It goes singing, it brings flowers, it brings flowers.
Its words fall like rain
of emerald and quetzal feathers.
Perhaps it is so. Can it satisfy the Giver of Life? Is that the only thing that is true on Earth?
The meaning of the whole poem is indicated in the last line: “Is that the only thing that is true on Earth?” Careful reading of the lines that precede it will clearly show what is meant by “the only thing that is true on Earth” (azo tle nelli in tlaltícpac) and what might “satisfy the Giver of Life”: flowers and songs. At first glance, this may seem strange. However, analyzing the idiom or idiomatic set of Nahuatl language “flowers and songs” could clarify the true meaning of the text. Dr. Garibay, in his book “Key to Nahuatl”, studied some of the main stylistic features of the Nahuatl language, particularly focusing on the study of what he called the “diphrasis” of that language: “It is a procedure by which an idea is expressed using two words that complement each other in meaning, either because they are synonyms or because they are placed next to each other…
Among the diphrasises mentioned by Dr. Garibay… Here is another example: “in xóchitl in cuícatl,” which literally translates to “flower and song,” as a metaphor for poetry. If we connect this to the mentioned text, we must conclude that, according to the tlamatinija’s opinion, “the only thing that can be true on earth” is songs, or poetry: “flower and song.”
Because true poetry implies a unique way of understanding that is the result of authentic inner experience or, if you prefer, intuition. Poetry thus becomes a means that, hidden on the wings of symbols and metaphors, enables a person to speak about what they have discovered in a mysterious and sudden way. The poet suffers because they feel they will never be able to say what they want, but despite this, their words can reach the level of authentic revelation. The following Nahuatl poem beautifully illustrates the essence of poetry, speaking about flowers and songs:
My heart longs for flowers,
I suffer with songs
and create them only on earth,
I am Cuacuauhtzin. picking the flowers that will last
in my hands…!
Where to pick those beautiful flowers,
beautiful poems?
Spring never creates them here:
I, Cuacuauhtzin, only suffer.
Will our friends even be happy,
will they enjoy anything?
And where should I pick beautiful flowers,
beautiful poems?
That’s how poetry is, as a form of metaphysical expression that uses metaphors, an attempt to overcome transience, a dream on tlaltícpacu (on earth). Tlamatinis don’t believe that the rational path can tell what is in the other world, “what is above us”. However, they claim that through metaphors, through poetry – flower and song – one can reach the truth.
NAHUATLE THOUGHT ON HUMANS
Among the characteristics of tlamatinis was – as we saw in Chapter I – that “they become a mirror in front of people to make them wise and diligent”, that “they make others wise, make them take on a new face and help them develop it”, as well as “humanize their desires”, which meant that they did so in carrying out their tasks. In those pedagogical duties, they often encountered numerous difficulties. And not only because of the circumstances imposed by the place and time, but also because of the mysterious nature of the human being, whose inclinations and reactions are always unpredictable. The fact that it was necessary to teach a person to “assume a face” already hinted that mortals who live on earth are a kind of “faceless” beings, flawed and, one would say, almost anonymous.
On the other hand, the wise ones knew that in their effort to acquire a “face” themselves, a person throws themselves into the uncertain reality of tlaltícpac. Because, “by giving their heart to every thing and wandering aimlessly (ahuicpa), they lose it”, since it is impossible to search for something truly valuable on earth. Therefore, the new problem was to find meaning in human action: “Is it even possible to search for something on earth?” And if this is difficult here on earth, it is even harder to articulate the truth about the relationship between humans and “what is above us”, with the other world.
Thus, when facing the uncertain reality, they had to rely on their inner strength and wisdom to navigate through the challenges and find their purpose in life. I thirst for human beings who are born without a face, full of unfulfilled desires and without a clear purpose on the Earth’s surface, on one hand, and on the other hand, with the enigma of the other world, the realm of Mictlan. The tlamatinis have understood the depth of the human problem. Thus, in the end – without knowing exactly when, or the name of the tlamatini who first posed it – the question of universal significance arose: “Are humans even truthful?” At that moment, Nahua thought, thanks to self-reflection, entered the realm which we would now call philosophical anthropology and began to develop a series of doctrines that make up its answer to the great question of the truthfulness of human beings..
Therefore, to the tlamatinis, the face is a manifestation of a “self” that is acquired and developed through education. As further evidence of this, we will mention that a trickster or sophist was described as someone who “makes others lose their face” (te-ix-poloa), as well as someone who “leads them astray” (te-ix-cuepani). Therefore, one can conclude that To decipher the face here means what characterizes the most intimate nature of the peculiar “self” of every human being.
Another text explains the meaning of the word yóllotl: heart, which is also part of the phrase we are studying:
If you give your heart to everything,
you lead it nowhere:
you destroy your heart.
Can you find anything on Earth?
“To give your heart to everything” means the same as “to go in search of something.” The meaning is that the word heart (yóllotl) – derived from the word ollin: movement – signifies the dynamic aspect, the “seeker” of one’s “self,” or of oneself.
It is a vital vision that, through the face, points to the inner physiognomy of a person, and in the beating of the heart symbolically finds the source of a person’s will and dynamism. As a result, the Nahuatl idea of a human being, instead of being narrow and closed, leaves an open path for education to shape a person’s face and humanize their desires. This idea has gone so far that for an educator in the Nahuatl language he says: the-ix-tlamachtiani, or “the-one-who-teaches-human-faces”:
The one who makes others wise faces,
makes them assume a likeness,
makes them develop it…
Sets up a mirror before them,
makes them rational and diligent,
makes the face appear on them…
Thanks to him, people humanize their desires
and receive strict training…
In this sense, teaching their students to “assume a likeness” and “humanize desires” seems to have been the goal pursued by teachers in calmécacim. Because only by forming an authentic face and heart of each person could one escape the dream on earth (tlaltícpac) and discover one’s own truthfulness. Only in this way can one ultimately reach “what is true on earth,” solve the mystery of life and suffering on tlaltícpac through the flower and song.
There are two fundamental principles that guide Nahua education from home: one is self-control through a series of denials that the child must get used to, and the other is knowing oneself and what one needs to become, instilled based on repeated parental advice.
According to the Mendoza Codex, young Nahue enrolled at the age of fifteen either in the telpochcalli (house of youth) or in the calmécac, a higher level school where the sons of nobles and future priests were educated. However, as Soustelle notes: “This document (the Mendoza Codex) contradicts more reliable texts. It seems that education exclusively in the family ended much earlier. Some parents would take their children to calmécac from the moment they started walking, and in any case, children were enrolled in school between the ages of six and nine.”
But the most important thing is that all children and young Nahue, without exception, attended one of these schools. And, as Dostojan notes, “the Soustelle notes: “It is admirable that at that time and on that continent, a native people in America had compulsory education for all, and there was not a single Mexican child in the 16th century, regardless of their social background, who was denied education.”…