The Fifth Sun-Earth Age is unique. What distinguishes it from the preceding four Ages is the fact that its Sun, 4 Olin Tonatiuh, is defined by olin motion-change. It is the wefting, olin motion-change of 4 Olin Tonatiuh that arranges the middle layers that constitute and further distinguish the Fifth Age from its four predecessors.
But how are we to understand the nature and organization of the first four Ages? If the cosmos is a grand nepantla-process in progress, then the first four Ages must also be nepantla-processes. But these four Sun-Earth Orderings lack an olin-wefting Sun, so in what sense may they be said to be nepantla-pro-cesses? Our sources provide few details concerning their makeup and working. The Legend of the Suns and Historia de los mexicanos por sus pinturas tell us the names and natures of their Suns, the nature of their inhabitants, how long they lasted, and how they were destroyed.87 We know Tezcatlipoca and Quetzalcoatl alternately created, dominated, and defined the first four Ages, and that they also alternately destroyed one another’s Ages. This succession of creations and destructions represents the back-and-forth, nepantla-defined struggle (agon) between the inamic forces of Quetzalcoatl~Tezcatlipoca. However, since each of the four Ages is dominated by one or the other inamic at the expense of its partner, it follows that none of the four is by itself nepantla-balanced. None of the first four is individually nepantla-woven. This is key. Instead, each constitutes a dialectical moment in the overall nepantla-balancing of all four. It is the entire series of four Ages that is nepantla-woven. Nepantla-balance is attained diachronically by the succession of the four Ages.
After these four creations and destructions, Quetzalcoatl and Tezcatlipoca cooperate with one another to create the Fifth Age. Only the Fifth Age individually attains and embodies the nepantla-middling and - unifying of agonistic Quetzalcoatl forces and Tezcatlipoca forces. The Fifth Age alone centers and unifies all four of Tonacatecuhtli~Tonacacihuatl’s four sons (Tlatlauhqui Tezcatlipoca, Yayauhqui Tezcatlipoca, Quetzalcoatl, and Omitecuhtli or Huitzilopochtli) and all four elemental forces (earth, wind, fire, water), directions, quadrants, colors, and so on.88
World History
