Once Upon a Time in Mexico Valley, 1325
A prophetic a.k.a. spiritual utopia…
A small tale about a civilization perhaps far from utopian anno 2019 but as utopian as it could be back then, back there. Cause not always did the start of an envisioned perfect place start with thorough planning and a blueprint at hand. In some cases a ‘prophecy’ and ‘belief’ was just enough to start off with and build a civilization as perfect as it can be.
Few people probably ever had a closer look at the coat of arms in the middle of the Mexican flag let alone wandered what the image stood for? It’s not just an innocent illustation, in contrast, the icon depicts the prophecy and vision of the Mexica people – one of the Azteca groups at the time, Azteca meaning “people from Aztlan”. The myth goes as follows: Once upon a time in the Mexico Valley, the nomadic tribe of the Mexica people wandered around while suddenly a miracle happened, a prophecy manifested itself. On a small island in Texcoco lake they beheld an eagle with a snake in its beak perched atop of a cactus – hence, as illustrated in the coat of arms. According to the prophecy this vision denoted the place where they were destined to settle down.
And just like that, not demotivated by the fact that the swampy land was far from practical to build, the Mexica people started the settlement of Tenochtitlan in 1325. Inventively they built floating gardens and pathways from and to the island and the mainland. Long story short, eventually all water deteriorated and the swampy Island soon turned into the largest and most powerful Aztec city in Mesoamerica. Of course it is highly arguable whether life in Tenochtitlan was harmonious and idyllic but what we do know is that compared to the peer-tribes at the time it was a superior and thriving civilization built literally from scratch.
Two hundred years later the thriving times of the city, then under the command of Moctezuma II, soon ended when the Spaniards arrived. More details about the Spanish colonization in another story, for now I guess you already guessed what happened? The Aztec culture was replaced with Christianity and despite all the hostilities and tragic (for the indigenous people), Mexico City (formerly known as Tenochtitlan) still is among the largest cities in the world – whether it can claim to be an utopia is up for debate.
The story of the prophecy of the Mexica people might or might not be true, the point is that a strong and perhaps blind belief in a vision can lead to great things. As amusingly described in Yuval Harari’s “Homo Sapiens” the vision or in his words “imaginary order” enabled rulers to increase the span of control in societies and step up ambitions to rule even larger cities. Logically the imaginary order gave people meaning, direction and guidance which in return could motivate and organize entire civilizations to transcend and progress. It led among others to the largest metropolis [from ancient Greek “metro” = “mother” and “polis” = city) like Jericho, Constantinople, Babylon, Beijing, Athens, Rome, Baghdad, Jeruzalem, Mecca and Damascus, which acted as homeland and central territory to their dynasty, caliphate or empire. Among those empires the largest were the Mongolian, Qing, Ottoman, Mesopotamian, Arkaddian and Roman which gained power through the imaginary orders by the time which were mostly religious. Later empires such as the Portugues, British and Spanish were driven by trade, money and greed, the new fuels to build imaginary orders on.
It are those visions which enabled people to do things which upon today are considered wondrous or even beyond human capabilities such as the China’s Great Wall, Egypt’s Pyramids, Peru’s Machu Pichu, Chile’s Easter Island Statues and Irish’s Stone Hedges. Some of these wonders were driven by divine visions but unfortunately most were driven by greed, power and domination at the expense of horrible human sacrifices. Our history tells more stories of inhumanities and bad tempered leaders with selfish visions, making their utopias someone else’s dystopia. As a matter of fact, it makes you wonder if we actually belief in an utopia for all and are not stuck in a Myopia for Dystopia?