Wordldview of the Mayan, Aztec and Inca civilizations

No one doubts today that humans crossed on foot the now submerged strait connecting Siberia and the present-day Alaska. For geneticists, this took place 20,000 years ago, and for archaeologists, this occurred 16,000 years ago. Proof of this is the fact that the indigenous peoples of the American continent belong to the Mongolian ethnic group, that is, they have Asian features.

The human being was still in the Upper Paleolithic period 16000 years ago, that is, in the Stone Age, or more precisely in the Mesolithic or Neolithic period, and has yet to discover metals. Upon arriving to new places, there were always some humans who settled there and others who continued their journey, in search of better living conditions. So gradually they moved southward because ice prevailed in the north.

The Asians who settled in the northern part of the American continent never created a civilization; they always lived in prehistory and have never known a culture, because life was a struggle for survival. They hunted, fished, struggled to stay warm and little else, they could not cultivate the land, especially not cereals.

As we said in another text, where there was no cereal, there was no civilization, because it is cereals that provide surpluses that can be easily stored for a long time, leading human beings to emancipate themselves from nature. Without agriculture there is no culture, and the king of crops is the cereal, because it is the most complete of all foods, gives more lasting energy, and can be stored from one year to the next.

The only ancient civilizations that emerged on the American continent are those in Central America, where the mild climate, similar to that of the Fertile Crescent, allowed for the practice of agriculture, especially corn, which is the basis of the Mayan, Aztec and Inca civilizations that were born there.

Civilizations Before the Mayans
 If we consider that history begins with the appearance of writing, the Mayan civilization is the first in the American continent. However, if we consider other elements beyond writing that denote culture, such as agricultural development, the construction of stone monuments, then we have to ask ourselves whether it is appropriate to place writing as the divider between Prehistory and History.  

The Caral Civilization
Also known as Caral-Supe or Norte Chico, it is considered to be the oldest civilization in the Americas. It flourished between the years 3000 – 2500 B.C. in the north-central region of the coast of Peru. It dates from the pre-ceramic Neolithic period.

The total absence of pottery and the presence of large structures, such as temples and pyramids, first denotes that it was a very religious society with a high degree of technology and social organization to solve the problems of construction and the high costs of materials and energy. This is what we can deduce, since they did not develop any writing, so we are not even told why they built such complex monuments.

The Olmec Civilization
The Olmec civilization flourished on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico between 1200-400 B.C. It built the first stone pyramids on the North American continent, as well as the famous "baby-faced" heads monuments. The Olmecs were ruled by kings, built huge pyramids, domesticated beans, and developed the oldest writing in the Americas. The Olmec people also domesticated the cocoa tree and gave chocolate to the world.

Archaeologists and linguists have recently deciphered the ancient writing of the Olmecs which they have designated as Epi-Olmec. This writing is closely related to the ancient Mayan writing that was also recently deciphered that may well have originated from the hieroglyphics of the Olmecs. Here is a short text in this language:

Once upon a time there was a warrior named Lord of the Harvest Mountain. He lived in a hot and humid land by the bend of a river that flowed into another river which flowed into the sea. He fought many battles and endured many blood rituals, because this warrior was the ruler of the people by the bend of the river.

MAYAN CIVILIZATION (2500 B.C. – 1500 A.D.)
The main centers where this civilization flourished are Guatemala, southern Mexico with some traces in El Salvador, Belize, and Honduras.

Religion
Everything that exists, whether stone, vegetable, animal, or human, has a common origin, which is spiritual, transcendent or essential (Uk'u'x). This invisible common origin is our true Forming Mother, pure Intelligence and Nature, and our true Creator Father, pure Consciousness and Will. That is why the Mayans say that "everything has a father and a mother”. In this lies the sacredness of the essence of the totality of things and creatures in the universe.

We observe still some remnants of animism, because for the Mayans everything has life: the valleys and the mountains, the lakes, and the seas, what is in the sky and what is on earth. Recognizing the sacredness of life in us makes the sacredness in others simple and vivid. With this common origin and in this life that completes us, this principle of the Mayan worldview is based on: everything is sacred, loq' in Mayan k'iche language has the meaning of "sacred", an expression that holds a close relationship with love, because the root of "loq'oq'ej" is literally to love.

When one discovers the common origin of existence and life, the link between all things and beings becomes clear, which translates into the experience of "feeling the sacred" as pure love and devotion, respect and gratitude.

They were polytheistic, considering that the gods inhabited a place called Tamoanchan. The events of the natural world were governed by spiritual forces and the power of the ancestors. In addition, places in nature were thought to be sacred sites. Caves, for example, were seen as doorways to the supernatural world and were places where a series of rituals took place. The Mayans believed that the fate of mankind was ruled by the gods, so religion was present in all the cultural activities of the people.

Human sacrifices were important to keep the gods satisfied and thus ensure the functioning and harmony of the universe. The sacrificed were almost always prisoners of war, but there were also those who offered themselves voluntarily. The most common form of sacrificial ritual was decapitation and removal of the heart while it was still beating.

Society, Culture and Politics
The Maya had a hierarchical society, that is, divided into very well-defined social groups, each with distinct functions. The largest group in society was the peasants, those responsible for agriculture and the city’s supply. They grew corn, cereal considered sacred, cotton, cocoa, and agave. The mode of production was collective, the land was not private property, and theoretically, the state owned all the land. As we saw in other ancient societies.

The elite were responsible for the administration of the city-states and for religious functions. The ultimate authority and the top of the Maya social pyramid was the king of each city, called the ajaw. Here too, the authority and power were exercised in the name of a god.

The Mayans saw the world as functioning cyclically, that is, in cycles of phases that would repeat themselves indefinitely. Within this view, they had a dual calendar system in which one consisted of 365 days (called Haab) and the other of 260 days (called Tzolkin).

They developed their own writing system, almost indecipherable to this day, based on the representation of objects and ideas. It is known to have had a high degree of abstraction. They never developed an alphabet, and settled for pictorial representation of reality, as happened with the ancient hieroglyphics of Egypt and China.

Like the Sumerians, the Mayans never formed a proper empire; they were independent city-states, with a common culture, but the power was not centralized on one emperor, as was the case in Egypt and China. This made them easily conquered by the Aztecs from the north, who came to form an empire because they understood that the prevailing power should be centralized.

Decline of the Maya
When the Europeans arrived in Central America, they found the Mayan cities uninhabited in the middle of over-grown forests, proof that the Mayans had abandoned them some time ago. Some people think that it was wars between city-states that decimated the population, others that it was diseases, and still others an ecological disaster.

According to this last theory, what kept this culture and society going was the massive construction of temples and pyramids that required a lot of lime. When lime began to run out because there was no more firewood to turn limestone into lime, the hierarchy of Mayan society began to crumble, so the people abandoned urban life and in order to subsist, returned to their fields.

INCA CIVILIZATION (1200 A.D. – 1532 A.D.)
Most likely they were heirs to the Caral civilization, because they shared the same territory: Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, southern Colombia, all of Chile and Northern Argentina.

Political Organization
The highest authority was the king or Inca, considered the son of the Sun, who ruled by divine right. The highest positions in the administration of the Empire were occupied by the relatives of the Inca. They formed a nobility that took care of the complex organization of the state. A powerful army, led by generals from the royal family, was responsible for the expansion, conquest, and control of the conquered territories.

Under the rule of the nobility was the rest of the population – farmers and craftsmen. The peasants were organized into communities of related people called ayllus, headed by a curaca. The curaca distributed the work and produce, and responded to the authorities for his ayllu.

Each social group had its specific obligations. The hierarchies established the activities to be performed by each group, and even the clothing they could wear, as well as the produce they could consume. Some materials, such as gold, silver, and certain textiles, were reserved for the Inca and could only be used by him and some of his immediate family members. This reminds us of the Middle Ages in Europe.

The Inca economy was based on agricultural production. The land belonged to the state, which divided it up: one third of the production was dedicated for the Inca, another third for the priests, and the last third for the ayllus or communities.

The Incas formed a truly cohesive and centralized empire; they had a network of roads that allowed rapid communication between all regions. Messengers, called chasquis, carried communications between different points. These roads had posts, called tambos, where travelers could find room and board. This reminds us of the Satraps of the Persian Empire.

Although they did not have alphabetic writing, they had several methods of recording and communicating visual information. Among them was the quipus, a series of strings of different colors with knots, which allowed them to keep accounts and memories of some narratives.

Religion
Like the Mayans, the Incas understood that the nature around them was sacred. They considered many elements of nature, people, objects, etc. to be sacred, which were called huaca. They respected the beliefs of the peoples they conquered, but imposed the worship of the Sun, their principal deity. They also worshipped the Pachamama (Mother Earth), Viracocha, the creator of the world, and Illapa, the god of the thunder and storm.

The Inca empire was conquered by the Spanish under Francisco Pizarro in 1532, when Emperor Atahualpa was taken prisoner. Although some pockets of resistance remained until 1572, they never posed a threat to the new colonial order.

AZTEC CIVILIZATION (1345 A.D. – 1521 A.D.)
A fierce, intelligent, and enterprising people from northern Mexico, where they were hunters and gatherers, emigrated south, settling around Lake Texcoco, where today’s Mexico City is located. They soon drained the lake and founded their first city, Tenochtitlán, establishing alliances with neighboring towns. Little by little, they took over everything and everyone around them, due to their proficiency in the arts of war.

Political Organization
Their form of government was monarchical and elective, that is, it was not hereditary: the emperor did not pass down the power to his son; his successor was elected through a Supreme Council, called Tlatocan, whose representatives belonged to the Aztec nobility, and it was generally a member of this council who ascended to the throne.

Once elected, the emperor (Tlatoani) was considered divine and therefore possessed unlimited powers over Aztec society. Under his command, there was an entire bureaucratic network, consisting of priests, tax collectors (tecutli), and trade inspectors.

The Aztecs formed a totalitarian empire that consisted of city-states with local rulers elected by the same high council responsible for electing the emperor. Their responsibility was to maintain control of these small cities to successfully ensure the absolute dominance of the empire.

Religion
"Love is paid with love" is said in Aztec as "blood is paid with blood". The Aztec gods required a lot of blood from animal and human sacrifices to be appeased. Blood was the primordial food of the gods who, if not fed regularly, would make life very difficult for the Aztecs.

Most of the gods that formed the Aztec pantheon were related to the solar cycle and, in turn, to all the agricultural activities that depended on it. Among the most important gods, we must first highlight Huitzilopochtli, the god of war, and Tlaloc, the goddess of rain. Countless of children were sacrificed to the latter every year on mountain tops. The more these children cried, the more rain would fall that year. Other gods were Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent, and Coatlicue, the mother goddess.

Culture, Customs, and Habits
Education was compulsory, Aztec children went to schools to study, and military education was part of the curriculum. The Aztec people were a warlike people, much like the Spartans of Greece: children were trained for war from an early age.

The Aztec society was patriarchal, and therefore, women stayed at home and took care of household matters, while men dedicated themselves to agricultural work, trade, social relations and war. The Aztecs were closely connected to the spiritual and religious world, so their customs included practices of many rituals and prayers.

Each house had a reserved place, considered a small sanctuary, where family members would recollect themselves in prayer. Among other practices of spiritual asceticism, the practice of fasting was very important in the life of the Aztecs. It was practiced by the vast majority of the population, including by the emperor himself.

Conquest of the Empire by Hernan Cortez
Montezuma was the eleventh and last emperor before the Spaniard Hernan Cortez arrived and conquered the Aztec Empire which was at its height. It did not happen overnight, because the Aztecs were feisty, well organized, and possessed, of course, numerical advantage. Then as it is today, the superiority of arms is more important than numerical superiority, and as the result, Cortez had a relatively easy victory.

This conquest happened despite the many advances of these Mayan, Inca, and Aztec societies, especially the Mayans who had a very advanced knowledge of astronomy, mathematics, and architecture, and who developed a writing that only began to be deciphered at the end of the 19th century.

The wealthy priests devised a vigesimal numbering system that employed zero, and their notions of astronomy enabled them to devise a 365-day calendar and observe the sky from stepped pyramids.

Despite these advances, these three peoples had not yet reached the Iron Age, while the Spanish, in addition to iron weapons, had cannons, muskets and horses giving them a great advantage and speed. The conquest was sadly easy.

Colonization and Colonization
There is an inscription at the foot of a monument in the center of Mexico City that reads like this: In the conquest there were neither winners or losers, it was only the painful birth of the mestizo nation that is today Mexico. In fact, more than 80% of Mexico's population is mixed race, that is, the result of the union or interbreeding between Spaniards, Aztecs, Mayans, and other indigenous peoples.

The same did not happen in the colonization of North America, made also by people who were also Europeans, but of a different nature. Here there were few mestizos because the indigenous people were not only defeated but also decimated in a campaign of authentic ethnic cleansing that lasts to this day. The few that escaped live today paternalistically in reservations, where there is no shortage of drugs and alcohol to continue the annihilation this time a suicidal annihilation with the complicity of the government.

Conclusion: We learn two things from the vision of the world of the Mayan, Inca, and Aztec peoples: first, that all of nature is integrated, ordered, and interrelated; second, that all the elements that exist in nature, that is, everything in the universe is animate and has life; each is a complement and completes the others.

Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC

Worldview of the Yelow River

Also called the "River of Sorrow", the Yellow River (Huang He) is one of the most dangerous rivers in the world. Since memory, it has changed its course 26 times, produced more than 1,500 floods, and killed millions of people. It is called Yellow because its waters are always muddy; even today, when the Chinese people want to say never, they say, "When the waters of the Yellow River run crystal clear", something that will never happen.

The Yellow River rises in the Tibetan plateau and runs through northern China from west to east, flowing into the China Sea in the Pacific Ocean. The potential for destruction of this river is due to the unpredictability of its floods, unlike the Indus, Tigris, Euphrates, and Nile rivers whose floods were periodically expected and where the other civilizations we studied developed.

Despite the destruction it caused, this river basin was the cradle of the Chinese civilization, the fourth civilization after Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Indus Valley. From archeology, we know that Homo sapiens inhabited this area since 6000 B.C., in the Neolithic period, but only began to form a civilization after the creation of writing, as early as in the Bronze Age (1600 B.C.–1046 B.C.).

The first Chinese people settled on the fertile lands of the Yellow River, composed of a sediment brought and deposited by the waters over millennia from the highlands of central China and by the winds coming from the deserts to the west. On this irrigated land, the Chinese cultivated millet, and native vegetables and fruits, especially along the upper and middle reaches of the river.

In the lower section of the Yellow River, they grew rice. During the third millennium B.C., the surplus production favored the establishment of permanent villages, and by the middle of that millennium, there was almost a continuous succession of settlements and towns along the river, shaping the beginning of a civilization.

Genesis of Civilization
The classical theory is that the Chinese civilization of the Yellow River appeared as if by spontaneous generation once the ideal circumstances were created, in the same way that the Sumerian civilization of the Tigris and Euphrates, the Egyptian of the Nile and the Indian of the Indus Valley appeared.

Although this is a generally accepted perspective, Chinese as well as European and American archaeologists argue, no matter how up-to-date the studies done, that the Yellow River civilization was imported from both Mesopotamia and Egypt.

It was to be expected that China would defend itself ideologically by stating that this is not true, in the same way that certain archaeologists perhaps also ideologically counter with evidence that there were many influences from the Fertile Crescent. The best way to find out the truth would be to discover the true age of the Silk Road, the famous trade route that connected Europe with Asia.

Far from these controversies, with or without influences, the Yellow River civilization that gave rise to the Chinese culture grew in total or partial isolation from other civilizations, and the proof is not only in the type of writing, but also in other later discoveries that are authentically and genuinely Chinese.

Legend of the Creation of the World
Every culture has a creation myth to explain its origin. In China, it is the legend of Pan Gu that, among many others, tells the following story: in the beginning, the cosmos was a gas that solidified into a colossal rock. From this cosmic egg, a creature called Pan Gu was born, who lived 18,000 years, growing 3 meters a day, and who occupied his time chipping at the stone until it split into two parts: one became the heaven (yang) and the other became the earth (yin).

When Pan Gu completed his work and died, his head turned into mountains; his breath turned into wind and clouds; his voice, into thunder; his left eye, into the sun, and his right eye, into the moon. His muscles and veins became the matrix of the earth, and his flesh became the soil. His hair and beard became constellations, and his skin and body hair turned into plants and trees. His teeth and bones became metals, and his marrow became pearls and precious stones. His body formed the rain, and the lice on it were impregnated by the ether and became human beings (Wong and Wu, 1936).

The ancient Chinese people believed that everything in the world had two seemingly opposing forces that existed in relation to each other. They called these forces Yin and Yang. The quality of our lives and the overall well-being of our world depend on opposing tendencies being in balance with each other. We could draw a parallel between the Yin/Yang of Chinese civilization with the Freudian Eros/Thanatos Life and Death instincts, aggression, and affection.

The "masculine" forces were defined as Yang, symbolized by the sun, and the "feminine" forces were considered as Yin and symbolized by the moon. To keep the heaven running smoothly, the King in ancient China had the job of maintaining the balance between the sun and the moon; on his health also depended the health of the people.

Heaven and Earth are a reflection of each other
What happens on Earth happens in heaven and vice versa: this is the typical idea of the worldview of all ancient peoples, and also of Greco-Roman culture. The Chinese kings and their astronomers measured, tracked, and predicted the behavior of celestial bodies because they believed that what was happening in the heavens was intimately connected with what was happening on Earth.

Like all Yin-Yang opposites, Heaven (masculine) and Earth (feminine) reflected each other. If there was a disturbance in Heaven, the cause was probably on Earth. Similarly, if any of the heavenly bodies got displaced, the resulting imbalance of forces would cause problems on Earth.

Chinese thought and medicine
Chinese thought is based on the principle of knowing nature as a way to reach a state of harmony. The concept of harmony is inherent in several ancient cultures, and carries within it the idea of balance between the different aspects of the cosmos. Within this holistic view, man is seen as an integral and inseparable part of this whole and, moreover, as a microcosm that contains within himself processes similar to those that occur in nature.

Quoted in the Book of Changes, in approximately 700 B.C., the Yin-Yang theory is the basis of Chinese medicine. Qi energy is considered vital, the main energy that gives rise to heaven, earth, and Yin-Yang, that is, energy duality. Yin is the energy that is related to insufficiency while Yang relates to excesses.

It is believed that diseases are the result of the imbalance between Yin and Yang. Thus, those characterized as Yin are calm, weak, cold, damp, hypo-functioning, and chronic. Those with Yang characteristics, on the other hand, are agitated, strong, hot, dry, hyper-functioning, and acute. After determining whether the person is Yin or Yang, it is possible to choose the components that will work best in the therapy that will have as its main objective to adjust the circulation of Qi through the body.

Although opposites, Yin and Yang are interdependent, and cannot exist in isolation from each other, and are in a state of constant change, so that when one is consumed, the other increases. Consumption of Yin leads to a gain of Yang and consumption of Yang leads to a gain of Yin.

Yin and Yang can transform into each other. This transformation occurs when the appropriate conditions come together. For example, at the end of the day the night begins, and in the same way, one season follows another in the cycle of seasons. At the limit of the Yin phase of a cycle, the Yang phase begins.

At this point, it is clear how knowledge becomes a tool for prevention, and also how Chinese medicine is, above all, a preventive medicine by helping us to conform not only to our own rhythm, but also to the rhythm of our surroundings. The perception of the specific patterns of each situation makes it possible to identify both the origin and the likely development of a pathology.

Chinese Patriarchal Society
The male Yang principle was assigned qualities often interpreted as superior, while to the female Yin principle were attributed qualities considered as inferior. It is easy to see how this ancient Chinese worldview led to a patriarchal society, based on this ancient justification of women’s low status in society.

The preference for boys was reflected in the family, which was a revered institution in the ancient Chinese society. This preference in modern times of one-child policy has led to the massacre of billions of girls, to the point that today there is an unnaturally high ratio of men to women in China.

Family ties were sacred and hierarchical. In an agrarian society, it was the children’s work that would give parents security in old age. Since the family property passed to the eldest son, it was the boys who ensured family continuity over generations.

Daughters, on the other hand, were regarded merely as extra mouths to feed that would end up in other families, usually at the cost of a precious dowry. Girls were treated as property, bought, and sold between families, or even brokered through matchmakers. If a wife could not produce a son, she was often replaced or demoted by her husband, who married other women until the family had an heir.

There is nothing new here, what we see in Chinese society we also see in every culture and civilization on the planet, where women are second-class citizens to be exploited and submitted and whose only function is reproductive and housekeeping.

Culture – Language – Religion
The family had a prominent place in ancient Chinese society. The father controlled the household and made the important decisions. Respect for the elders was highly valued, and children were expected to honor their parents. The Chinese also believed in the worship of their ancestors: keeping the spirit of these dead family members happy was crucial to obtaining good luck and avoiding disasters.

Religion was polytheistic. The priests here also assumed the role of intermediaries: they spoke to these gods through the use of oracle bones; they wrote questions to the gods on oracle bones that were then burned. The fire would cause cracks in the bones that were then interpreted by the priests as answers from the gods to their questions.

The writing used was like that of the Sumerians and Egyptians: the Chinese used pictograms, or simplified drawings of objects or concepts.

Chinese Dynasties
In all civilizations on this planet, power is always delegated either by the people to their leaders for a period of time until new elections or by God. Chinese civilization was no exception in this regard. What is particular about the Chinese civilization is that the dynasties were not eternal like the Davidic dynasty of Israel and so many others in Europe and the rest of the world.

Ancient China was ruled by a line of rulers from a single family that is called a dynasty. However, if the people and the gods were not satisfied with the ruling dynasty, it would pass to another noble family, thus creating a new dynasty.

This process is called the dynastic cycle, and this explained the rise, decline and replacement of many dynasties throughout the history of ancient China. If a king had done something wrong, he could lose his mandate from Heaven, which meant losing the right to rule. This is because the people believed that all dynasties were given the right to rule through the approval of the gods.

According to the traditional legend of the birth of Chinese civilization, a huge flood that lasted for months would have covered the Yellow River region. But a man named Yu, also known as Yu the Great, developed a drainage system that managed to restore riverbank areas. It was after this episode that Yu received a "divine call" to establish the Xia Dynasty.

Chronology of Chinese Dynasties
Xia Dynasty (2100 - 1600 B.C) – Shrouded in the legend described above, some think it did not exist.
Shang Dynasty (1600 - 1046 B.C.) – The earliest form of writing is thought to be from this generation.
Zhou Dynasty (1046 - 256 B.C.) – The longest of all Chinese dynasties; it is commonly known as the apex of ancient Chinese civilization; Confucian philosophy, for example, would have been developed during this period, influencing China to this day.
Qin Dynasty (221 - 207 B.C.) – The two “ex libris” of the  Chinese culture, the Great Wall and the recently discovered terracotta army, are from this period.
Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.) – The establishment of the Silk Road is thought to be from this time, but it is very likely that the origin of this route is prehistoric. That is, the path that Homo sapiens took from the Fertile Crescent to the confines of Asia and China. Taoism and the arrival of Buddhism in China would also be from this dynasty.
Period of the Six Dynasties (220 - 589 A.D.) – Expansion of Buddhism.
Sui Dynasty (581 - 618 A.D.) – Short-lived.
Tang Dynasty (618 - 906 A.D.) – Among the inventions that emerged during the Tang dynasty would be the world's first mechanical clock, the compass and book printing press.
Period of the Five Dynasties (907 - 960 A.D.) – Decline and political and social unrest.
Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 A.D.)  – New reunification of China.
Yuan Dynasty (1279 - 1368 A.D.) – Opening to the West; Marco Polo’s voyages are from this time. Invention of gunpowder and porcelain.
Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644 A.D.) – It was during this period that the imperial palace, the Forbidden City, was built in Beijing.
Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1912 A.D.) – With the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1912, the People's Republic of China was officially founded.

Conclusion – The mighty Yellow River, born from the highest mountain range on the planet, was the origin of a markedly different worldview from the West that influenced the life and way of thinking of the rest of North Asia, especially Korea and Japan.

Fr. Jorge Amaro, IMC