Saturday, July 25, 2009
Some New Age pundits argue that the Maya did not necessarily believe the world would end violently on 2012? Do they have a point?
The Mayan religion does not support that belief. The previous four “Sun Ages” did not go gentle according to their prophetic books, the Popul Vuh and the Chilam Balam. Contrary to today’s New Age Transformationalists, none of the previous ages ended in a spiritual renaissance. There is no reason to assume the Long Count Calendar #5 and the fifth age, which it encompasses, will be the exception and will not remain true to form and will not end catastrophically. The last day of Calendar #5 ends on 11:11 Universal Time at 12/21/2012, and the Maya have no additional days to follow it. The famous pre-Aztec Sun Stone depicts all the ages, and its last Sun Age is the fifth nor did the Maya have a sixth Long Count Calendar. The New Age Transformationalists notwithstanding, the Maya of old did not view that date as the dawn of a new age
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I agree that the Mayas did not see the end of an age as a gentle transformation into a new age. Like most ancient peoples, they knew better than we do what a fragile and dangerous world we live in, a world in which there is no promise there will be a tomorrow. Today we are sheltered by this reality by modern technology that protects us against the ravages of nature. Nor did their worlds appear to end after a steep period of decline of civilization. The most puzzling thing about the Maya, a fact that separates them from civilizations around the world, is that we can track the decline and fall of all the great civilizations, but the Maya just seemed to vanish in terms of organization, high civilization, from a viewpoint of world history, a vanishing literall overnight.
ReplyDeleteI have read that the Maya were the great astronomers of the ancient world. Back there, the sky wasn't just something overhead but a road map for traveling and a guide for planting. If they didn't understand how the sky worked to change the seasons, they would not plant at the right time. So when you talk about transitions, I guess I would look to the sky for the next one.
ReplyDeleteI don't think the world is coming to an end. Even if things periodically go bad and once in a while nature wipes out most of the planet, somehow things just keep coming back. And if you look back, things have gotten better in terms of science, medicine, health. So even if we have a bad ending, I think history tells us that there will be a new beginning.
ReplyDeleteHey -- it has to end in a Big Bang. That's the way it all started, that's the way the world has ended in the past and that's the way this one will end.
ReplyDeleteMan hasn't been around long enough. When we talk about human history, how many years do we use? 50,ooo? Or just modern history, say 5,000 years. But look at the life cycles of reptiles, dinosaurs even the early bactweria lasted hundreds of thousands, if not millions of years.
ReplyDeleteI think we still have some time.
James O. Born
I consider myself an optimist. The Mayan calendar has caused so much fear and doubt among its believers as to be mind boggling. Same with End Time texts from other religions. What if we never found the calendar? We certainly wouldn't be shackled to its prophecies of doom. I, for one, am tired of all the negative connotations and literal translations pointing to an apocalypse. Sure, change is coming, it always does. But I see more of a desire in these translations to embrace fear than fact.
ReplyDeleteTrue, if we didn't find the Maya calendar, it wouldn't raise fear, but it also raises issue of how to avoid disaster. To grossly misquote Shakespeare, I think he said something like you have to seek out danger or it will catch you unaware.
ReplyDeletewell the one thing your not saying is that the mayan believed in cycles that repeat,every thing is on a cycle so when you reach the end it just starts over not ends.they believed that there were many cycles that made one great cycle the long count and when you reached that day then that cycle was over and the next one begain,this next cycle is know as the age of enlightenment. just thought you might want to know that seeing as your telling all these people that once we reach the end of the long count then thats its it folks its the end of the world. i believe from doing my own research that once the next cycle begins "the age of enlightenment " that yes the end is near but not on that day, i think on that day one of two things are going to happen the anti-chist is going to be born or will take power so there after. then the end will be near
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