The Source of Poetic Consciousness

Flor Y Cantu

While the philosophy of our ancient indigenous ancestors of the Southwestern region of the United States is not exactly a worldview that one can discover by going to their nearest bookstore, there are a considerable number of secondary sources one can turn to in scholarly text. Unfortunately, these texts provide no real insights regarding their most essential ontological beliefs. In my own approach to understanding indigenous philosophy, I make no effort to interpret scholarly evidence that exists for our subjective interpretations. Instead, I have chosen to examine primary and secondary sources regarding the linguistic and literary expressions of the descendants of the Aztec and Mayan civilizations. Stated differently, I believe that we can learn of some very significant indigenous beliefs based on the way the descendants of our ancient civilizations see and behave in the world. In describing the Latino American mode of expression, Enrique Pupo-Walker states:

What is interesting about Pupo-Walker's view of Latino American expression is that, in being iconoclastic, it questions the very value structure of many American countries. I say this because Latino American countries have, for the most part, been unsuccessful in their efforts to assimilate into their borrowed Western European socio-political structures. Pupo-walker goes on to describe contemporary Latino American literature as expressing such originality that it is not likely to be offered in other parts of the Occident. What I propose is a comparative ideological consideration of Latino American literature and

indigenous beliefs, within the context of the aforementioned claim. That is, in what sense can we say that the Latino American mode of expression is unique with respect to the rest of the Occident, and how might this affect our understanding of Latino America's mode of expression in relation to indigenous beliefs?

Let us begin by considering the linguistic turn which Pupo-Walker mentions, as it is expressed by Carlos Fuentes in his text, La Nueva Novela Hispanoamericana. Fuentes agrees with Octavio Paz that "poems and myths coincide in transmuting time into a special temporal category, a past always future which is always disposed to being present, to presenting itself". In comparing such a view of Latino American literary expression with the rest of the Occident, Fuentes seems to agree with Pupo-Walker regarding its uniqueness. He states:

Fuentes seems to believe that the predominant inability of the Occident to recuperate the mythological in their use of language, and even to deny it, has been the ruin of Occidental cultures in general. That is, without this ability to recuperate the past which is always future and always disposed to being present, to presenting itself, human structures will always necessarily lead to a state of anomie. If Pupo-Walker claims that the Latino American approach to language is not likely to be offered in other parts of the Occident and Fuentes, after characterizing the Latino American approach to language as capable of recuperating the mythological, concludes that the predominant inability of the Occident to do likewise has led to its current state of cultural anomie, what, then, is the basis for such a unique ability on the part of Latino Americans? As Francisco H. Vasquez has shown us in his article, "Aztec Epistemology", there is historical precedence for such an approach to language in Aztec (indigenous) culture:

What Vasquez refers to as metaphysically oriented knowledge is the Aztec cosmology and spiritual beliefs, whereas the ideal of true knowledge was believed to be based on observation. Aztec epistemology, then, can be expressed in Western terms as a form of dualism. Thus, it was after a comparison between observation (facts) and ideology (beliefs) that the Aztec came to express ideology in terms of poetry (flower and song is a metaphor for poetry). In this view, observation takes on a functional role while ideology is believed to be essential for understanding the human condition and finding the way to truth. Given the fundamental role of language in the resolution of epistemological issues, then, we see that Aztec beliefs coincide with the description of Latino American literary expression as it is understood by Fuentes and Paz et al.; that is, in approaching language poetically.

Although it is not exactly clear what, or how, indigenous ideological influences have served to shape the consciousness of Latino Americans, similarities, such as the turn to poetry as an approach to language, can easily be detected. The coincidence between the Aztec and the Latino American approach to language does not, by itself, explain the unique character of Latino America in relation to the rest of the Occident. It would be helpful if we could attempt to bridge the gap between indigenous and modern Latino American beliefs and consciousness. To this end, then, let us consider an article written by Picón-Salas, entitled "El Legado Indio". In this article, Picón Salas offers us an examination of our indigenous legacy which has led him to contend that the approach to language taken by the indigenous (Hopi, Aztec, Maya, and Inca et al.) is both symbolic and poetic. Further, he believes that this also represents the structure of indigenous

consciousness:

In describing indigenous consciousness, it is interesting that Picón-Salas would choose to establish a contrast between them and the logic, realism and anthropocentrism of Occidental ideology. Picón-Salas' view seems at least to ignore the Aztec sense of dualism for the sake of emphasizing the realm of consciousness (the ideological) at the expense of the scientific (observational). The more accurate distinction at least between the Aztec and modern Latino American ideology, and the rest of the Occident, does not consist in a rejection of such notions as logic or realism. As we have already seen, the Aztecs would not have been able to develop their poetic philosophy without such epistemological sophistication. Rather; it consists in the subordination of such concepts as functional notions, as opposed to the essential nature of the poetic, in their search for truth and the understanding of the human condition.

What is interesting about Picón-Salas' observations of indigenous consciousness is his acknowledgment of its poetic and symbolic nature. He emphasizes this point by reference to the use of disguised words. What is being alluded to here is the fact that the indigenous approach to language is a non-representational mode and lacks any necessary correspondence with external reality. The very same point can be made of modern Latino American literary expression, as well as poetics in

general.

Now that we have considered Picón-Salas' description of the nature of indigenous culture and consciousness, we should seek to determine the extent to which it has influenced Latino American consciousness. I turn now to a text written by Braulio Muñoz entitled, "Sons of the Wind: The Search for Identity in Spanish American Indian Literature". Muñoz is interested in showing us that indigenous beliefs have indeed influenced Latino American consciousness and that our acceptance of our new found ability to express this socially and intellectually latent (latent, here, refers to the expression of indigenous ideology by the colonizers rather than to a psychological state) characteristic of Latino American consciousness may well lead to our salvation from the alienation of contemporary Occidental ideology. To explain the evolution between indigenous and contemporary Latino American consciousness, Muñoz states:

The old woman, who is herself a mestiza, explains the creation of legends in such a way that she denies the anthropocentrism of Occidental ideology. That is, in her view of life, the individual is ontologically subservient to the spiritual which is rejuvenated through the blood. In the anthropocentrism of the Occident the spiritual is subservient to the individual; the individuals' spirit is uniquely theirs. It also follows from her view of life that the temporal realm is a past which is always future and always disposed to being present. In the Occidental view, an individual's lifetime is uniquely their own and is created and extinguished with the birth and death of the individual. Another point worth mentioning about this quote is the analogy which can be drawn "between the poetic triggering of the transmutation of time and the drunkenness with which the young man's memory is triggered".

We see, then, that the evolution and fusion of indigenous and Spanish cultures as expressed by mestizo consciousness, may change into a heterogeneous mode of linguistic expression, yet the underlying poetic structure of indigenous consciousness remains the same since Latino America can also be said to exhibit Occidental beliefs, even if, as I have already stated, they may be understood more limitedly as functions. How does Munoz characterize the relation between indigenous and Occidental conceptions of human existence? Quite simply, now that contemporary Latino Americans have regained a voice with which to express their latent indigenous beliefs, Munoz sees the potential salvation of Latino America from the alienation of Occidental beliefs, in the indigenous worldview. He explains:

Muñoz approaches an understanding of the mestizos' sociocultural reality by conceptually placing indigenous and Spanish beliefs in direct ideological opposition. Thus, those elements of the mestizos' world which directly reflect Occidental ideology, with whatever degree of success they may have been transplanted in Latino America, are understood as a result of Spanish influences.

Further, such influences are characterized as oppressive, dehumanizing, capitalistic, rationalistic, alienating and impersonal. Alternatively, indigenous influences are characterized as moralistic, spiritualistic, magicomythical and messianic. Muñoz also seems to believe that the mestizos' world will ultimately come to reflect more than a mere synthesis of these opposing ideological views. Instead, it will come to reflect the resolution of a spiritualistic struggle for dominance. Additionally, these ideological influences are still engaged in their struggle and their battle ground is the contemporary consciousness of the mestizo. It is in this context that Muñoz feels indigenous beliefs may still save the mestizo from alienation in the modern world. To support such an optimistic prognostication, Muñoz contends that the magicomythical worldview of the indigenous is a bulwark against total dehumanization which cannot be corrupted by Occidental beliefs.

The final outcome of the mestizos' ideological struggles seems to rest on the destiny of the Indio or, rather, on whether or not the indigenous peoples and beliefs of Latino America will be successfully assimilated. Of course, the process of assimilation has already been underway since the enslavement of the first indigenous Indio. It seems as though Muñoz collapses the distinction between Indio and Indio ideology into the notion of "element" That is, Muñoz believes that if the indigenous element is not assimilated into the mestizo's culture, the mestizo will eventually lose all traces of his indigenous cultural roots and take his place within Occidental sensibilities. If the indigenous element is assimilated, their magicomythical influence will eventually save the mestizo from the ills of Occidental ideology.

It would be helpful to consider what Muñoz thinks of the mestizos' ideological struggle to this point in their evolution. It was not until after independence from Spanish rule that the indigenous were transformed from their conceptual status as "other" to the status of "our other". Prior to independence, of course, the Spanish colonizer saw himself as an extension of Spain and the Indian as "other". After independence, political hierarchies were still controlled by people of Spanish blood but their focus was changed from being an extension of Spain to assuming the control of their newly won independence and land. In this context, the mestizo presence was already being felt within Latino American social structures and the pure-blooded indigenous were conceptually transformed into "our other" and seen as a factor which must be included in the schemes for national development.