I came across this idea here which is referring to different (established) understandings of Aztec Metaphysics

The Nahuas characterize the ever-changing aspect of teotl in two seemingly deceptive ways that raise important issues pertaining to the possibility of knowing reality. One of these ways is through the creative, aesthetic concept of in xochitl in cuicatl or “flower and song.” The Nahuas thus conceive the generating and regenerating activity of teotl as an artistic creation. Accordingly, the world and entities within it are the artistic creation and recreation of teotl. Nezahualcoyotl expresses this view through the metaphor of a “book of paintings” that is the world in which we live (ibid.). Entities in the world, including human beings, are thus paintings in the book of teotl. The second seemingly deceptive way in which the Nahuas conceive the generating and regenerating aspect of teotl is through the concept of nahual, which is a shamanic form-changing transformation. Maffie explains that, “the word nahual derives from nahualli meaning both form-changing and the being into which a shaman transforms” (Maffie 2014, p. 39). Teotl thus transforms and re-transforms itself into different guises such as animals, human beings and other entities in the world. This seemingly deceptive artistic and shamanic conceptions of teotl raise questions regarding one’s epistemic access to reality. That is because teotl not only appears as illusory, as in the case of paintings, it also appears as disguising, as in the case of its shamanic transformations. In both cases, reality thus appears as other than itself—therefore the disguising characterization of teotl.

And to describe it as "life is just something the gods wrote ina book" was a reductive way to put it but here we are