You know, the first thing that popped into my head when I saw today’s date on my calendar was that maybe the Mayan’s got it wrong. You know, maybe whoever was creating that great count calendar had a case of dyslexia and wrote down 12/21/12 instead of 12/12/12. Hey, stranger things have happened! Translation errors happen all the time.
Note: Yes, for those who are sticklers for details, I know that the Mayans didn’t use our numbering system and that the date 12/21/12 is due to an interpretation of the Mayans numerical system. That doesn’t change the fact that the idea of the date for the end of the world being mistaken due to transcription errors isn’t (at least to me) amusing.
Actually, I don’t believe that the world is going to end on the 21st of December. Maybe it should end. Maybe humanity is sick and twisted enough that it would serve us right if reality came crashing down around our ears next Friday. Maybe we’ve done enough to rape and pillage this planet that it would be in Gaia’s best interest to shake herself free of us once and for all. With the atrocities we’ve committed over the millennia it wouldn’t be at all surprising.
No, next Friday will dawn as every other day, and when the sun sets we’ll still be here; some of us still in front of our computer screens. The only difference (or at least the only visible difference) will be that the Mayan Long Count Calendar will have reset itself. Again.
Yes, that’s right. Again.
You see, the Mayan Long Count Calendar has reset itself before. In fact it resets itself every 5,125.36 years. Each of these time periods is referred to as a “Great Cycle” but there is nothing that states that simply because we’re at the end of a Great Cycle that it is the end of the world as we know it. It is simply the end of the calendar – and the end of another age of mankind (much like our Gregorian calendar turning over from 1999 to 2000 and marking a new millennium).
Yes, there are other claims regarding December 21st 2012. There are claims that it marks a galactic alignment (it does – we align with the galactic center every December actually). There are claims that there will be some sort of cosmic blackout due to a planetary alignment; that there will be a crustal displacement/shift thanks to this alignment that will cause devastating earthquakes and tsunamis. There are claims that solar flares will fry the planet (or at least all of our technology) that we are about to be hit by a comet or meteor, or that we’re going to be visited by aliens from planet X (Nibiru).
Then of course there are those who say that December 21, 2012 isn’t about actually physical earth changes so much as it is about energetic shifts and spiritual alignments. There are those who claim that it will mark the beginning of the tribulation, of the antichrist’s reign on earth (the fact that a katun – part of the Mayan calendar – is marked by 144,000 days – a number seen in Revelation seems to feed this particular series of rumors).
Did I miss anything?
Perhaps it’s time to stop worrying about what COULD happen and ask yourself this; why are you so anxious for the world to be ending?
Think about it. When someone tells you that the world could end by (insert a cause) and they have “proof” and a rational explanation, don’t you get just a little bit excited thinking that maybe, just maybe, they could be right? Doesn’t the idea of the mundane repetition of your daily existence being turned on its ear turn up your adrenaline a notch?
Of course it does. That is why anything from a localized emergency (work or school cancelled due to a devastating snowstorm or a tree falling on the power lines) to a regional disaster (hurricane Sandy) to a national or global catastrophe all send us spiraling into a frenzy of excitement. It gives us a chance to interrupt our regularly scheduled program.
So here’s an idea. Why not create a life for yourself that you wouldn’t WANT to end?
Yes, I know. You have to make a living. You have to pay your bills and provide for your families. But there is nothing that says that you have to do this by selling yourself short; by working at a job or living in such a way that the idea of society (or life for that matter) ending actually excites you.
Yes, there are ways to make a living that doesn’t entail working at a job you hate or living in a location that sucks your soul dry. It may not line up with the kind of job you are supposed to have, or with you living in the kind of location (or having the number of things) that society says you are supposed to. But if it is happiness that you are looking for; if peace and contentment are high on your list of needs, you can find a way.
Why not live the life you’ve always imagined; a life full of inspiration and love; a life full of joy and wonder and mystery? Why not live a life so packed with beauty and peace that you laugh at the idea of wanting it to end; that when someone asks you why you aren’t anxious for the world to end or for a messiah to come that you say thanks anyway, but you are focused on each day that you have been given. That you will take what the universe has to offer you as it is presented and not give a moment’s energy to worrying about what may or may not happen tomorrow.
For more information on the Mayan Long Count Calendar and how it works, please visit: http://people.howstuffworks.com/mayan-calendar.htm
For the official NASA response to 2012 ‘end of the world’ claims, please see: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/2012.html