Brilliant article, deep thoughts on philosophy and culture. Catnip for the mind. I loved it. Thank you.

Did you know that when the Spanish arrived in Tenochtitlan they were asked to explain who they were and what they were about. Their priest wanted to evangelize/convert people and the Aztecs wanted to know what he had to say before allowing that.

So, they summoned their priest/philosophers and had a debate. The debate itself was not recorded, just the fact that it happened. The relevance to your article is; the Spanish were astonished that the format of the debate was poetry.

That’s how issues of religion and philosophy were debated and discussed in the capital of the Aztecs and in Mesoamerica at that time.

The Spanish found this maddening and apparently they lost the argument. They were denied permission for missionaries to travel and preach in the Empire.

In the end it didn't matter. The diseases of the Europeans killed about 90% of the Native population within 50 years. Over 100 million probably died and the "regrowth" of their fields, towns, and cities caused planetary CO2 levels to drop so fast there was a global "cold snap".

15K of alternative thought and cultural development snuffed out in a twinkling. The loss of their stories was one of the great tragedies of humanity.