December 21 is looming on the horizon, and History Channel seems to be running non-stop 2012 programs (few of which are really very accurate), and not a day goes by that we don’t receive at least 10 emails from people asking us if the end of the world is really coming. There’s a few important things to know about the entire 2012 mystery so that we can start getting the facts out there, and easing people’s minds a bit.
First off, the Mayans did not predict Doomsday and the end of all things on December 21, 2012. The hype surrounding that all relates to the idea that their calendar ends on that date, however most clams leave out the fact that the calendar is a cyclical (runs on a cycle) calendar. Meaning quite simply that the end of it is simply the beginning of a new cycle, not the end of everything entirely. Think of what we do each year on January 1st when we start our calendar over again – same idea, just a longer time frame! No where in the Mayan predictions was the idea of the end of the world suggested. It might also make you laugh to realize that no one knows for sure what the “end date” of the calendar actually is. Our concept of time is vastly different than it was for the Mayans, so our idea of the ending of the calendar could be off by as much as 100 years!
The Mayan / 2012 link is actually NEW, not old. That’s right! The earliest connection between the Mayans and the 2012 hype actually seems to have its origins in the 1960s when anthropologist Michael Coe published his book “The Maya.” So it’s all bunk, right? Um… not quite. You see December 21, 2012, does in fact coincide with a very rare astronomical event known as the conjunction of the sun with the center of the visible Milky Way galaxy, an alignment that would’ve been very important to the Mayans. But even this event would have been viewed by the Mayans as the beginning of a “new age,” the sun crossing from one side of the Sacred Tree to another, and not the end of all things. Ah, but wait…
There are some predictions that could be tagged as “Doomsday” claims, and that involves the fact that Mayans – and other cultures in fact – DID believe that the time around this great change would be filled with catastrophe and disasters. Other cultures such as the Hindus, Incas, Tibetans, ancient Hebrews, and others suggested that the world would be due for a massive transformation around now (though none use the specific date of December 21).
Now, to end (no pun intended) on a bit of a scientific note, there IS something to be said about the fact that things are changing, and scientifically we are seeing that more than ever before. Earth changes – increased natural disasters, changing weather patterns, unusual events worldwide – all of these things are in fact happening, and peaking around 2012. Even astronomical events involving the sun are said to be reaching an all-time high right around this time! Even scientist suggest that we are long overdue for a mass catastrophe here on our planet. From the dangers of a major earthquake, to an asteroid impact, we’ve been lucky so far, but how long will our luck last?
So there you have it, a brief overview of what’s really expected in 2012. So what do YOU believe is coming? Or not?
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