The third approximation of this same divinity representation is found in a pair of religious figures, opposite and complementing. For our ancestors, all that existed in the world was formed by two types of energy. One was luminous and the other one was the spiritual. Luminous energy, is the essence of the ?material" world, because matter in its most intimate nature is made of energy. In our days it is easier to understand this advanced understanding of the world, because we know that the smallest "matter" part is composed of atoms and these in turn by small energy loads, so what we call "matter", is not more than energy condensed to varying degrees.
"Tlaloc's face, then is serpentine; but not only that: it is also human. Because the image of Tlaloc represents a face formed by the meeting of two snakes joining their snouts together, face that, usually sits on the body of a man or woman, seen in whole or in part." (Ruben Bonifaz Nuño. 1996)
The ancient grandparents symbolically represented this energy with water, given that by water influence the material world reproduces. A desert can become a garden by water intervention. Water is only ?a symbol? to represent the wonderful momentum of LIFE in a broader sense, always associated with fertility. The symbol is confirmed by the presence of water as life announcement. This religious symbol was called Tlaloc by the Nahua, Chac by the Mayas, the Zapotec called it Cosijo and Tajín by the Totonac. The concept is the manifestation of creative forces on a couple of opposing and complementing energies that make the world. It is a single religious?philosophical structure used by all cultures of the same civilization. This is how the Tlaloc symbol, not only presents energy with which the world around us is made out of, but also, permanently reminds us that man's duty is to "humanize" the material world he lives in.
The second energy that constituted the world was the spiritual energy, generated by all living entities, from an ant to a whale, but that in humans is generated with greater intensity through the Being consciousness. For the old grandparents, the difference with other live beings becomes a responsibility and not superiority. The human being through its potential of spiritual energy generator is committed with the creative force to maintain universal order and assist the various representations of the supreme divinity to humanize the world. Sustain, preserve, and humanize the world was the divine mission of the ancient Mexicans in life universal cosmic order.
"Creation is not an instantaneous act, but a never-ending process. Men have to comply without interruption, taking upon him the duty of moving towards perfection, what was initially created.
This explains, within the basic cultural unity, the dynamic manifestations variety. This explains, for example, the urbanization differences between La Venta, Palenque, Monte Alban and Tenochtitlan. A single concept guides them: the human obligation to ally with the gods to create, maintain and perfect what exists." (Ruben Bonifaz Nuño. 1995)
The second representation, opposite and complementing to the first, is found in the so-called "wind god". Understanding in this symbolism that, life gets its "essence" when receives the "divine breath that gives the consciousness of being". Indeed, the old grandparents claimed that the life phenomenon reached its most sublime perfection when the immeasurable ?Spirit? force blew inside of the light energy. "The wind God" was called Ehécatl-Quetzalcoatl by the Nahuas. Also, metaphorically called him "the roads sweeper" that announces life. It is the wind that announces rain arrival, and therefore life flourishment. The divine breath that encouraged spiritual consciousness was associated with Quetzalcoatl.
"They spoke of a national hero, civilizer and teacher, which at the same time was identified with the supreme deity and the world creator."
"Leon Portilla considers that more important than Quetzalcoatl existence as a man ?whose life, mainly in the Mayan world, constitutes a complex whose clarification has quite a few problems? is that he has been regarded as central spiritual personage in Mexico before the conquest, to the extent that the philosophical thought, attributed to him, dominates an entire cultural stage." (Alfredo López Austin. 1989)
These symbolic representations of philosophical realities highly complex and profound were shared by all cultures in time and space. From the preclassical to the postclassical periods, from north to south and from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. Its iconography maintained common features and characters and basically their names varied according to the language, but meant the same. For example: Quetzalcoatl in Nahuatl and Kukulcán in Maya mean in both cases "Bird?Serpent" or precious snake, as Nuhu Coo Tnumiii in Mixtec language or Belaguetza in Zapotec and Q'uq'umatz for the Maya K'iche'. Various forms of expressing the same religious philosophical matrix, which speaks of a conducting thread from the Olmecs in the preclassical, to the Toltec in classical period and to the Mexicas or Aztec (and others) in the postclassical period. A single philosophical-cultural matrix, a varied iconography but maintaining and sharing universal aesthetic values between them, and finally, a single religion with many expression variations in time and space.
In the book, ?Thought and religion in ancient Mexico", Laurette Séjourné makes un-colonial approximation of what must have been the essence of the Anahuac religion.
"It is this same itinerary what the soul follows: descends from its celestial abode, enters the darkness of matter to raise again, glorious, at the time of body dissolution. The Quetzalcoatl myth does not mean anything else. The absolute purity of the King refers to its planet state, when it is still nothing but light. Its sins and remorse correspond to this light incarnation phenomenon and to the painful but necessary human condition consciousness; his abandonment of worldly things and the fatal bonfire built with his own hands signal the precepts to follow so that existence is not lost: reaching eternal unity by the detachment and sacrifice of the transitional self"...
"That is to say, that creation is not considered possible other than by sacrifice: sacrifice of the dismembered Sun in humanity (evening star is a fragment of light tore before its decline). Men sacrifice to restore the original star unity..."
"The Sun is called the King of those that return: hardly a more rigorous test might be found, to the Nahuatl hypothesis of the belief in the celestial origin of the individual"
"As we have seen, the Quetzalcoatl message is in solving the human nature duality problem. With the parable of the Tollan King, sets forth detachment and renouncing principles by which man can rediscover its own unit"...
"Quetzalcoatl throws upon him a bridge so his "pages" or disciples can follow him. This action of creating a bridge tells us, once again, that his mission purpose is to establish communication between earth and heavens, uniting men with God.
Whether fulfilled during life or after death, these rites which reproduce the parable of man converted to a planet certainly constitute a test for stepping to higher spiritual levels which should gradually lead to join with the transcendent.
Actually, existence was conceived as a preparation for death, and this represented the true birth that was reached by freeing from the limited and mortal self."
"The blood that Quetzalcoatl sprayed on bones taken from death represents the divine fire that saves matter ?shall later see that blood and fire have the same symbolic meaning?, and it is clear that this myth talks about the birth of men to spirituality."
"This indicates that, far from constituting a useless element that does nothing more than bothering the spirit, matter is necessary because liberation is only achieved by the reciprocal action of one over the other.
It would seem that if matter is saved by the spirit, matter in turn needs spirituality to transform into something like a conscious energy, without which creation would cease to exist."
"This vital energy for the universe's functions can only come from men, because only he possesses a center capable of transforming the spirit that is destined to be lost in matter. Saving himself, men ?of which Quetzalcoatl is the archetype? then can save creation.
This is why he is the redeemer par excellence. As taught by the Tollan King parable, this salvation is not easily achieved. To reconcile spirit and matter of which he is formed, the individual must sustain throughout his life, a painful conscious struggle that turn him into a battlefield, in which the two mercilessly enemies face each other. The victory of one or the other will decide his life or his death: If matter wins, his spirit dies; if the opposite occur his body "flourishes" and a new light will strengthen the Sun."
"The Sun that gives life to the universe feeds from men sacrifice [spiritual A.N.], and can only survive by its inner strength."
?Thus, through a different path, we again find the hypothesis according to which, the Quetzalcoatl Era is the soul advent, the unifying center, essence of all religious thought." (Laurette Séjourné. 1957)
It is important to highlight, that the abstraction and depth degree of the religion achieved by the ancient grandparents, is very advanced even nowadays. What happens is that from 1521 all knowledge and value of the ancient civilization has been prejudiced and misinterpreted, especially in the religion and philosophy aspects, because of the "moral" bases that justified the invasion. Indeed, the Spanish Crown points out that invaded peoples were wild and primitive. The Church for its part authorizes the invasion as long as natives are "freed" from their demonic religion and saved their souls, taking them into the bosom of the Catholic Church.