Teotl

The Nahuatl word Teotl, is the central idea in the Nahuatl religion, so from the century XVI the first interpretations arose from Spanish chroniclers such as Francisco Javier Clavijero, Alfredo Chavero, Francisco del Paso y Troncoso, Manuel Orozco y Berra, Diego Durán, Remí Siméon and Bernardino de Sahagún, who translated the meaning of the Nahuatl word “téotl” into the Spanish language through the theological concept of “God”, counting its synonyms “deity”, “divinity”, according to the great Nahuatl dictionary by the National Autonomous University of Mexico, with the support of INAH. Téotl implies the essential ideas of becoming, movement and change.

The term Teotl has also been translated as "God our Lord" in Classical Nahuatl.

Conception of Teotl

Many of the characteristics of Teotl were expressed in 16th century Aztec folk religion and mythology. By itself, or as Ometéotl,^{[citation needed]} in one of its manifestations, Teotl was considered the God supreme, with hegemony over thirteen superior deities and some two hundred inferior ones.

Téotl was also considered an eternal and invisible being, Creator and sustainer of the world. He was nicknamed Tloque-Nahuaque (Creator of all things) and also Ipalneomani (being for whom one lives). He was not represented in any image.

Miguel León-Portilla and Alfonso Caso argue that the less educated classes tended to adhere to the polytheistic aspects of the vision, while the priests and the tlamatinime ('knowers of things', or sages) embraced its monistic aspect.

According to Francisco Javier Clavijero, ancient Mexicans, especially in Anahuac, used the word as a synonym for God or Divinity (as in Greek Theos is used), referring to a "Supreme, absolute and independent being, invisible in whose epithets he was called Ipatnemoani (which means "he who lives by himself"), and Itoquenahuaque (meaning "he who has everything in himself").

Universe and polarity

In other interpretations, the universe was identified with Téotl, and was therefore stripped of any lasting order or structure.^{[citation needed]} Dualism manifests itself in the form of the constant opposition of opposite polarities and at the same time mutually interdependent and complementary. These polarities include being and non-being, order and disorder, light and dark, life and death, harmony and chaos, male and female, active and passive. Life and death are two sides of the same reality. The potters of Tlatilco, for example, artistically represented this duality by presenting a double face, one alive, the other in the shape of a skull. The philosophy of the Nahuas never conceived of death as something inherently bad, nor did it try to conquer it. Davies (1990) and Ortiz de Montellano (1990) note the parallel with Taoism and its notion of yin and yang. Both philosophies point out that it is wrong to view polarities as mutually exclusive and logically contradictory, and to cultivate one polarity at the expense of the other.

The incessant passing of the cosmos is defined and constituted by the permanent oscillation between polarities. The result of this dialectical oscillation is a general and unstable equilibrium. Like the Tao, Téotl is not only force or energy but also rhythm and balance, the what and how of the universe.

The process of creation, maintenance and transformation of the cosmos is seen in Nahuatl metaphysics as an essentially artistic process. All creation is nothing more than the disguise or mask of Téotl, his nahual. The term nahual comes from nahualli, a shaman with the ability to change shape. Téotl possesses the magical power to hide from humans. In a strict sense, Teotl did not create the cosmos; it consists of Téotl and all its content is simply part of Téotl. The cosmos and all that it houses are nothing more than mere magical and momentary manifestations of Téotl: a great mask that at the same time covers and reveals the mystery (that is, the epistemologically transcendent and ultimately unknowable) of the force. sacred and vital energy.

Téotl's mask

Téotl artistically disguises himself (nahualli) in many ways to hide from human view. First of all, the disguise consists of the material appearance of existence, that is, the appearance of static entities such as humans, trees, insects. But this appearance is illusory, because reality is dynamic and made up of processes instead of entities. Secondly, the disguise consists of the apparent multiplicity of what exists, that is, the existence of different and independent entities such as humans, trees, singular insects. This is also illusion, because there is only one thing: Téotl. The seeming entities are not only interrelated, but also one with each other, because they are receptacles or "vessels" of the sacred (ixiptla); ultimately they are one with Téotl. Finally, Téotl's disguise consists of the apparent distinction, independence, mutual exclusion and irreconcilable opposition between the pairs life/death, masculine/feminine, light/darkness, etc. Which is also illusion and deceit, because each and every one of them are manifestations of Téotl. When humans look at the world, they see Téotl as human, tree, day, death, etc., that is, Téotl behind a mask, but not Téotl himself. Understanding it allows humans to penetrate the mask and in doing so, apprehend the sacred and unique presence of Téotl himself.

Consequently, Nahua metaphysics does not conceive that the cosmos has always existed or has been created once and for all, but instead situates humanity in a fragile universe subject to a cyclical state of ebb and flow, very similar to to the Hindu conception of time, with the succession of days and nights of Brahma. Each cycle ends with a global cataclysm. The history of the cosmos is seen as five successive eras, or "suns." Each sun represents the temporary domain of a different polar aspect of Téotl. The present era, the Age of the Fifth Sun, in which the Nahuas believed they were living, is the last and final one. Like its predecessors, this one is also destined to be destroyed by a catastrophe, with which humanity would vanish forever, the Sun would die and chaos would reign.

Thus, given the symbolic nature of the created cosmos, it is common to characterize earthly existence as images and symbols painted on the sacred cloth of Téotl. Aquiautzin describes the Earth as "the house of paintings". His contemporary Xayacamach He writes: "Your home is here, in the midst of the paintings."

"I buy the secret, I hide it: O my lords! So we are, we are mortals, men pass and pass, we must all leave, we will all have to die on earth. Like a painting, we'll be erased. Like a flower, we'll dry here on earth. Like the feathered garments of the precious bird, that precious bird of agile neck, we will come to an end... Think of this, O lords, eagles and ocelots, that though ye be of jade, though ye be of gold, ye also shall go there, unto the place of them without flesh. We have to disappear, none can remain."

Poetic visions. Nezahualcóyotl.

"With flowers you paint, O giver of life! With songs You give color, with songs you give life on the earth. Then thou shalt destroy eagles and tigers: we live only here in Thy painting, upon the earth. With black ink you will slash everything that was friendship, brotherhood, nobility. You slander those who will live on earth. We only live in Your book of paintings, here on earth."

Nezahualcóyotl.

"The giver of life deceives! Only dreams follow, you, our friends! The more they truly believe our hearts, the more they will truly be deceived."

Nezahualcóyotl.

Concept of the illusory

The illusory of earthly existence, however, is conceived in epistemological rather than ontological terms. Illusion is not an ontological category as in Plato, who in The Republic uses the idea of illusion to characterize a lower degree of reality and to deny that earthly existence is completely real. Instead, the illusion composes an epistemological category, used to declare that the natural human condition is not to understand Téotl. Humans mistakenly interpret the multiple dual polarities as self-sufficient, contradictory, and distinguishable dualities, such that they see only Téotl's mask or disguise.

Therefore, when earthly existence is characterized as illusory or dreamlike, it is not because earthly existence suffers from an inferior ontological status, but because it provides the opportunity for human error.