and ritualized practices may have originated as a result of the impact on the minds of the peoples being subjected to both the violent forces of nature-jaguars, hurricanes, fiery rain (possibly volcanoes), floods, earthquakes and drought as well as the beauty and bounty of nature.One view of ritual sacrifice is that it is a way of binding tension and conflict within a community so that the anger within a community is displaced onto the sacrificial victims thereby stopping the community from tearing itself apart.Drought and other natural disasters could bring famine. The gods gave their blood to the world. In order to keep the world going and the spring rains falling man had to give blood back. From the point of view of modern psychology an understanding of how what we call trauma and post traumatic stress disorder leads to interesting speculations on some of the more horrific aspects of Mesoamerican ritual practices.There would have been significant morbidity among the early inhabitants of this region due to human helplessness in the face of the powerful and destructive forces of nature such as earthquakes, volcanoes, drought, floods, and hurricanes. Fearsome predators like the jaguar, puma, or poisonous snakes would also have taken a significant toll. These myths and religion seem to function as attempts to master and control this anxiety and yet, at the same time, are a reenactment and repetition of the trauma. Aztec/Christian parallels or inverse analogues The Aztecs carved the heart out of an alive human war captive, dedicated his heart's blood to the sun, and ate his body in order to honor their gods and to preserve the world; Christians beheld their man-god nailed alive to a cross, and ate and drank his body and blood in a symbolic ceremony in order to save themselves. At the temples of both religions one could encounter black clothed priests performing mysterious rites; the Aztecs pinned the skulls of their victims onto racks o...
