According to scholars, the indigenous peoples of ancient Mesoamerica, specifically the Nahuas, developed a rich and complex philosophy comprising four interrelated and overlapping branches of knowledge: metaphysics, epistemology, theory of value, and aesthetics. At the core of their philosophy was teotl, which, rather than an immutable supernatural being like the Judaeo-Christian deity, was an ever-moving and ever-changing, self-producing sacred power that animated the universe and its contents. It was responsible for all things in nature— animals, rocks, rain, and so on—and permeated the details of everything. There was no distinction between teotl and the natural world; teotl was in every entity, and every entity was also teotl. Unlike Western philosophy, which fosters dichotomies such as the personal versus the impersonal, that of the Nahuas posited a sacred power that was united with everything; it was both intrinsic and transcendent.