On 21 December, 2012 the world is going to end. Or not. A somewhat large chunk of the online community worldwide has latched on to the ‘end of the world’ based on the Mayan calendar stopping on this date.
If the Mayans, sez them people, could extrapolate their calendar out to CE 2012 three thousand years ago, they must have known something. And that something is the end of the world, of that they are adamant.
Who are the Mayans? More importantly, why should any one place any importance on their calendar collated circa 3000 BC?
The Mayans are an ancient race in South America noted for their pyramids and ancient city ruins. Some say they may be the remnants of an even older race, the Olmecs, who may, or may not, have been the architects of several cities with pyramids in South America. The ruins of these cities offers glimpses of high technology and science that existed in a time before present memory – whether during the Olmecs or the Mayan dynasties is still in questions.
What do the people think will happen on, around, or after 21 December?
1. The planet will slip its skin. This includes pole shift (or reversal) ; rise of new continents/islands; submerging of existing landmass - either all or some. Could lead to gigantic tsunamis or super volcanoes happening all over the planet.
2. Cosmic collision – while NASA has ruled out any heavenly body heading towards Earth, it has not stopped some of coming up with bizarre theories. These include Planet X or Niburu offloading its inhabitants or offloading all of itself on Earth. Or the earth veering from its designated path around the Sun, leading to great climate calamities – a new mini ice age, or a barren, hot planet.
3. Cosmic bombardment – the Earth will lose its magnetic shield. This could happen if the planet’s rotation either speeds up or slows down (or the planet stops rotating altogether), cutting into its ability to generate the magnetic shield that keeps at bay the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays. Some people are actually looking forward to getting this huge dose of radiation so that mankind can ‘evolve’ on to its next stage.
4. Natural disasters galore. In a bid to correct the imbalances imposed by the human population, the Earth will seek out to balance itself and in doing so, will ‘adjust’ its climate accordingly.
On the more thoughtful side, there are people who think some great cosmic change will befall earthlings – a greater understand of their situation and their purpose in the cosmic web of life. Too many doubt that will happen as we no longer believe in the spirit, and thus, logically, this would be impossible.
If we are inclined to believe the Mayan calendar stating 21 December 2012 as the time of end of the world, let’s just keep one thing in mind: the Mayan civilisation ended hundreds of years ago and they had little or no inkling of their demise. If they had, they would have stated it somewhere in stone. They put everything else of importance in stone – which is how we know of their calendar.
So, why are we pinning our understanding on a calendar made by people long dead, who may be just a surviving off shoot of a still more ancient civilisation, and who were left scattered into primitive tribes after the collapse of their civilisation (aided by invaders)? One thought is that history repeats itself and repeated history, though boring, is a teaching device for the intelligent. And we must learn this history to find out what happened to these people so we can be prepared for whatever killed their civilisation.
What caused the end of this extraordinary civilisation – mentioned even in the epics of ancient India? Uloopi of the Arjuna saga was of the serpent nation, similar to the feathered serpent legend of the Mayans and Toltecs. In most cases, the South American nations were at loggerheads with ancient Indian civilisation and sometimes went all out to destroy each other.
Most believe climate change was one cause of their demise. Just as the great Saraswati civilisation on the Indian peninsula disappeared almost into nothing after the course of the river was diverted/disappeared, so something calamitous happened with the South American civilisation. Planetry upheavals left seaside cities 3000 metres up in the mountain, sunk some of them without a trace, and left others without resources to sustain itself. It was the end of that civilisation as they knew it.
The geology of the Earth is full of evidence of great terrestrial upheavals since from before the time of the dinosaurs. The Earth remakes itself as and when it feels the need. And its inhabitants are either wiped out, or learn to adapt, or go on to flourish in the new climate. Scientists say one such great upheaval is long-overdue.
As to their calendar, could it just be that the astrologers who were compiling that calendar one day decided they had bean-counted enough into the future and left the rest to be completed by someone else? And then disaster struck and no-one could or wanted to carry on – they would just be trying to survive. Let’s not put so much importance to the Mayan calendar and the sudden end of days it seemingly states. Rather, seek to find out what the history of that civilisation has to teach us. And start taking climate change seriously.
Meanwhile, Christmas is around the corner and probably no-one cares about the end of the world – not with so much happening. People have been saying “The end is nigh” since the beginning of the Christian era. The Book of Revelations has been quoted, misquoted and quoted again, and the second coming has been happening for 2000 years. And we have been going from strength to strength in our ‘achievement’ as the crowing glory of life on Earth. We are good.
What is there to worry about? So, Merry Christmas - if we do reach that date.
