Mayan Calendar

So I have already confessed that I am a fan of cable TV as opposed to network TV.  I typically find the shows to be more creative, engaging, and thought provoking.  Usually......This weekend, in what little down time I found, I discovered that with the impending end of the Mayan Calendar, comes oodles and oodles of doomsday prediction and theories.  So I decided to do a little digging, and here is a quick synopsis for you on many of the crazy theories floating around right now. Enjoy. Bear with me here boys and girls - it's a bit nutty :)


Roland Emmerich -  the director behind the disaster movies like "Independence Day", "The Day After Tomorrow",  and "2012"  delivered blockbuster portrayals of predictions around potential  major events that could change the world. "2012" specifically focused on the December 21st, 2012, disaster theory that a series of events so cataclysmic would occur that mankind would face extinction and only a few thousand elite class individuals would survive by boarding large vessels meant to sail the seas ala' Noah's ark old testament style. The movie actually bombed at the box office, as did so many of its end of the world predecessors, and presented such a far fetched scenario sequence, that it actually elicited laughter from some viewers, this one included.

So lets look a little more at reality....Evidence for the 2012 prediction is spotty at best, but it does center upon the end of the what is known as the long run of the Mayan Calendar. So here are a few of the likely and unlikely risks that may face the Earth on or around the winter solstice this year.

The ancient peoples of Mesoamerica were of a vast interconnected empire, symbiotic in nature, filled with rich art, education and destruction. The Maya were only one of these tribes. So ...other than archaeological intrigue why is this tribe so studied? Though their written language was based on pictographs, similar to those of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, the Mayan culture was not unlike almost every other native cultures and tribe of its time.

So what IS supposed to happen on this magical date of December 21, 2012? One theory suggests that a Magnetic Field shift will occur around this time, that the calendar was based on pole shifts, which have occurred repetitively throughout the Earths history. The Maya, understanding the time periods between these shifts created their Long count calendar around them and come up with the final date for the next pole shift. But how would they know what to look for to expect another shift? How much time was supposed to pass between these shifts and how did they know it? Was there a record passed down to them from long ago recounting a time when there was a prior pole shift so that mathematics could be used to predict the next one to come? Or did the ancients study climate change through tree rings?

Others suggest a much more mythical or religious approach. December 21, 2012 is also the Winter Solstice, and provides us with a view that will not be seen again in any of our lifetimes. The Sun will conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way in the ecliptic, giving us view of the Sacred Tree as called by the Maya, giving us view of the Tree of Life.

Both of these scenarios are quite possible, one scientific explanation, and one religious. What we still do not know, and probably will not know is what will happen after this end date until it actually occurs. A new dawn of enlightenment would be a step towards progression, in that mankind would become more aware of their surroundings and the impact that they have on the Earth as well as a higher intelligence and consciousness and a better mindset for helping their fellow man. Perhaps this is the end, when Mother Nature finally decides to shrug off the oppressiveness that has been created by the children and start anew.

More likely, we may just end up living through another doomsday prophecy, going to work or school as usual, looking back on the prophecies and laughing them off. Peter may have cried wolf too often for our cynical minds. Chicken Little's sky is probably not falling.

The National Geographic channel also addressed the Mayans belief that there are 13 cycles of creation and Kingdoms and that the end of the calendar is the point at which the final, 13th cycle of life will begin.  Its all so vague and can be interpreted so many different ways, it can make ones head spin. Crank it it up spin it around and spew pea soup. Truly.

The more you watch, the more you read, the more crazy it gets.

You have your standard Alien Invasion (newsflash people, if they are coming, they are already here, LOL); Nostradamus and his quatranes come into play at every predicted Armageddon; you have Scientology and other lunatics who put stock in the collision with Planet Nibiru/Planet X/Wormwood (really as if the millions of satellites in orbit wouldn't catch something the size of a planet hurtling our direction?); There are the doomsdayers who have been predicting environmental collapse for decades; Sunbursts and Solar Storms, meteors, the black hole, a super-bug, disease, famine, super-volcanos, the implosion of the earths core, and on...and on...and on.

Whatever the prediction, whatever the theory, you see where I am going with this? The likelihood remains stronger than all others that you will wake up on December 22, go to work or school and continue your life as always. Perhaps a little less naive and a bit more jaded to the next time Peter cries Wolf and Chicken Little announces the sky is falling. My plan for preparation includes living my life, paying my bills, going to work, as usual. I am planning for life as we know it to continue come December 22, 2012, and if I'm wrong, well it just won't matter much then, will it?