GOD

• Cabahuil is the Creator (other names are Itzamná, Hunab Ku, Hunrakán in various Mayan languages.
• The monotheistic conception is based on the idea of plurality within unity.
• God is omnipotent and the dark forces are only an instrument of His purpose.

SON/DAUGHTER OF GOD

• The birth of the twins Hunahpú (male) and Ixbalamqué (female) took place at dawn in the winter solstice.
• Hunahpú became human, died at the hands of evil demons, and resuscitated in a defeat of evil for the preparation of the world so humans could be created.
• Hunahpú ascended to Heaven.
• The ascension symbolizes the conversion of the dead person into a Divine Spirit that rises to Heaven. He performs the role of Savior, defending humanity against the forces of evil which He annihilates with his magical rays.
• The commandments imparted with divine authority by the Son of God resolve all spiritual problems, fix the duties of the people in general, assure HUMAN RIGHTS as well as institutional stability, and elevate work to the category of a religious obligation.

COMMANDMENTS

Do not lie.

Do not get intoxicated in excess.

Do not be proud.

Do not be arrogant.

Do not have a faithless heart.

Do not be cruel.

Do not be envious.

Do not be indolent.

Be exemplary in self-control.

Do not ask more than three times.

Respect the elderly.

Do not reveal secrets.

Do not kill without a righteous reason.

Do not sacrifice human beings.

RELIGION

Man is eternally in debt to God.

The finality of religious morality is the development of an ethically and esthetically-prepared human being.

The principle of FREE WILL (choice) means that man must ever contribute with his actions and constantly exert himself in order to merit the help of Providence against those forces that oppose him. Cultures use this view of good and bad to rate themselves against others, the reason why an ethnic group believes itself superior to the others, regarding itself as chosen by Divinity because they believe themselves composed of “true” men in contrast with the others who are barbaric.

RITES

Observe the rite of confession.

Make pleas to God with fervor and only after confession.

Man must invoke God, pay homage, feed Him, and abide by the rules of religious ethics.

Use Copal incense to fumigate and overcome evil spirits.

Obsidian symbolized Hunaphú during his stay in Xibalbá (the underworld), and serves as an amulet against conjugations.

A plaque of obsidian, placed in a cup full of water beside the door, reduces the most powerful sorcery to nothing.

Burn Copal incense in front of the corn plants in memory of Hunahpú and Ixbalamqué.

EVIL

The existence of evil potencies explains the eternal antagonism of the messianic forces without detracting from the concept of Divine omnipotence.

Every evil has its limits. God allows it for the purpose of testing His creatures. When the test has been judged sufficient, He says “so far and no further.”

Evil endures for as long as God wishes.

Evil has been overcome but not reduced to impotence.

MANKIND

The ultimate goal for mankind AS A WHOLE is to achieve a high degree of ethical perfection by acknowledging its debt to God. Only then will humankind be able to survive because thanks to the inner communion between Divinity and humankind, that harmony which guarantees the stability of the world will have been established in a manner to impede its destruction by cataclysms such as took place in other epochs.

The ideal of human and social perfection, whether of a culture or of a single man, can be gained only through sacrifices and life-experience.

The soul is immortal, the supreme consolidation of humankind.

The human being cannot raise him/herself up to the perfected state except when the whole community shall also have attained divine perfection.

RULERS

Social and religious rank must be conferred by hereditary right.

Within the order of elders, the hereditary right is not by itself sufficient for the exercise of the post. Besides his birth within the order, the candidate must win the post through personal merit and exemplary conduct.

FAMILY

The grandfather is the father of the whole family.

There is equality of brothers with their first cousins.

Order of march: the children walk ahead of their parents.

Experience is passed on to the offspring through the law of heredity.

MAN/WOMAN

Women: don’t bear children without acknowledging the father.

Men: labor to maintain the family.

Sewing the fields is incumbent upon the man only, because the introduction of the sowing stick into the earth and placement of the seed in the hole it makes symbolizes the role he plays in the sexual act.

Since man learned how to work and to take the social role intended for him, conjugal harmony is absolute because the husband and wife are blended in an indivisible whole. This affirms the principle of duality within unity.

Every creative act must take place during the night so as to concluded by dawn.

JUSTICE

Practice “an eye for an eye”.

Ethics alone leads to a PLANE of salvation that exalts the human being.

WORK

Practice division of labor.

Any reward must first be merited.

WEALTH

The land belongs to those who cultivate it. Any alteration or modification in territorial status must be reflected in that type of inheritance.

Private property must be respected.

The preservation of a stable social order is based upon an equality of rights and obligations. This reaffirms the existence of democracy without the existence of rich or poor.

The type of society goes hand in hand with the customs for the handing on of possessions.

Change must take place imperceptibly, modifying without destroying the structure of the communal clan.

Source: Esotericism of the Popol Vuh, Rapahel Girard

Note: these standards predate the Spanish conquest by thousands of years and are therefore totally unrelated to Old World religious and ethical standards.