Happiness — Day 2
The following is from my daily newsletter, The Pocket Philosopher. Each week we explore a theme, looking at that theme through the lens of a different philosophy each day.
Thought
The earth is slippery, slick.
-Ancient Aztec Proverb
Application
The Aztec people were concise. They also expressed a deep understanding of reality, the way things are, and the way life should be. On its surface, the above quote doesn’t appear very helpful, but let’s do some quick dissecting to uncover it’s value.
At the heart of Aztec philosophy was the notion that life is impermanent. In fact, the Aztec people did not have a present tense-rather they used verbs. This to say, reality was “realitying,” it was in constant flux, always moving and ever changing.
This is important because it paints the backdrop from which Aztec philosophy is done-from a place of impermanence and constant change.
The good life and happiness for the Aztec people then was found in sources of rootedness. These roots would not keep you from moving, but would keep you tethered to reality as it moved, so you did not fall behind.
The way to root yourself was in balance between one’s “face” and one’s “heart.” This was a way of representing the balance between one’s seat of desires and emotions, and one’s seat of judgement.
Equally important was rooting oneself in their social fabric. This to say, performing one’s role-as father, mother, priest, guard etc-rounded out the meaning of one’s life.
What we glean from the Aztec people is that a happy life is not one of pleasure, but one of purpose. We discover this purpose not in seeking meaning itself, but in seeking sources of rootedness in the ever changing structure of nature and society.
Backstory
Unfortunately, deep understanding of Aztec philosophy is made difficult by the conquest of the Spanish in the 1500s. Volumes of Aztec (and other Indigenous American civilizations) knowledge and culture was viciously destroyed.
What we do have to study, however, is a society rooted deeply in both terrestrial and and astronomical knowledge. To say the Aztecs were advanced would have been an understatement.
Sadly, modern folks in western cultures simply tend to associate the Aztec people with their bloodletting ceremonies and miss the wealth of knowledge, philosophy, and art they left behind.
At the root of their worldview is impermanence as mentioned above, which comes from a close awareness of nature. They observed the ever-cyclic reality of a constantly changing nature-from the forest to the river-and naturally fit themselves into that narrative (instead of super-imposing themselves onto the existing flow of things).
Their philosophy then was all about how one should stay rooted in this constant flow so that they did not slip off the earth and perish (i.e. make a fatal mistake). There is evidence that they regularly practiced a type of yoga, were largely vegetarian, and had ritualistic bath and healing ceremonies. This to say, they were most likely a very healthy people.
In living cyclically with nature (instead of against it) and rooted in the earth and within each other, the Aztec good life appears to be a good life indeed.
At its core, the Aztecs show us that stability and rootedness can lead to happiness. Ultimately, happiness is not about constant iterations of pleasure, but consistent meaning found in health, rituals, nature, and most important the social fabric of their culture.
Compare this to the epidemic of chronic loneliness, isolation, and depression of modern life, and one can easily denote the value of Aztec philosophy. It’s the simultaneous acceptance of change, and finding meaning and rootedness in that change that makes one anti-fragile in the face of life’s challenges.
I hope this simple reflection on a very complex philosophy was helpful, and brings meaning to your day!
Until tomorrow,
-TPP
P.S. A special thanks to Sebastian Purcell for his work on Ancient LatinAmerican Philosophy which greatly supported and inspired this post!
Originally published at https://pocketphilosopher.substack.com.
