As the year 2012 approaches, a movement predicting the end of the world — or at the very least, profound changes in life as it's known today — is gathering momentum. Based largely on interpretations of the Mayan calendar, this theory predicts a profound shift in reality occurring on December 21, 2012.
The Mayan Calendar
Those who are unfamiliar with the Mayan Calendar may think that its purpose is similar to the Gregorian Calendar, to mark the passage of days. In fact, the Mayan calendar is, according to Carl Johan Calleman, a researcher who has studied it for over 20 years, “a calendar of the Ages that describes how the progression of Heavens and Underworlds condition the human consciousness and thus the framework for our thinking and acting within a given Age.”
The Mayan Calendar is made up of interlocking segments of time, nested within one another in a fractal manner. Kin, Uinal, Tun, Katun, and Baktun are used in a similar manner to days, weeks, months, years, and centuries. A Kin equals one day, a Uinal 20 days, a Tun 360 days, a Katun 7,200 days or 19.7 years, and a Baktun 144,000 days or 394.3 years. The significance of December 21, 2012 is that it marks the end of the Mayan 13th Baktun.
Contrary to the somewhat hysterical claims of many followers and theorists, December 21, 2012 will not be “the end of the world.” The endlessness of time is an integral part of the meaning of the Mayan Calendar, and while this date may lead to significant shifts of many kinds, it will not signify “the end.”
The Invisible Landscape – The Ingress of Novelty
Terence and Dennis McKenna published The Invisible Landscape in 1975. Interestingly, they reach the same conclusions regarding a major shift in 2012 as are found in the Mayan Calendar, but arrive there along a very different path: an analysis of temporal and mathematical algorithms based on the I Ching.
The Invisible Landscape presents a fractal theory of time, the idea that time occurs along a certain pattern, and that this pattern is made up of series of smaller incarnations of the same pattern, and that each of these is made up of still smaller versions, ad infinitum. The conclusion of their study is that a huge number of these patterns, from miniscule to vast, will all be terminating at the same point: December 21, 2012.
The McKennas' theory is based on a concept they call “the ingress of novelty,” a term that indicates the level of change that is occurring at any given point in time. The Invisible Landscape explains how the increasing pace of historical change, including the advent of agriculture, the rise of cities, and the acceleration of culture driven by the industrial revolution, can be explained by the patterns found within these fractal cycles.
Doomsday Cults and the Rapture: The Cyclic Nature of Eschatology
Oversimplifications of 2012 theories as “the end of the world” are patterned on many previous panics and theories. From millennial frenzies to doomsday cults to Y2K, humanity seems to have a habit of engaging in cyclic predictions of the end of everything. Rogue asteroids, computer pandemics, and the Rapture are merely diverse expressions of the same psychological phenomenon: the need to find structure and limitation within the incomprehensible concept of eternity by imposing a beginning and an end upon it.
Nobody really knows what is going to happen on December 21, 2012. However, given the rapidly changing nature of the modern world, including the rise of population, increasing rates of consumption, and profound alterations of climate and weather, it doesn't seem impossible that a major shift will be occurring in the near future. Indeed, it seems unlikely that current trends could continue without a major shift of some kind. As of June 2010, the answer will be revealed in fewer than 1,000 days.
Sources:
- Mayacal: Where Science and Spirituality Meet.
- McKenna, Dennis and Terence. The Invisible Landscape: Mind, Hallucinogens, and the I Ching. New York: HarperCollins, 1993.
- Sacred Texts: Sacred Calendar Systems.
