Wednesday 6 April 2011

The Mayan Long Count and 2012

There seems to be a lot of angst in the world concerning the 'ominous' Mayan date of 21st December 2012.

As previously stated here the world will definitely NOT end in December 2012, or anytime in the near future.

The date 21st December 2012 simply marks the end of one period, or baktun.

The Mayan Long Count began with the Creation (according to Mayan legend) on 11th August 3114 BC and it will NOT end in 2012 for the simple reason that the Mayan Long Count finishes on 13th October 4772 when the numbers reach 1.0.0.0.0.0

The last 5 'end of the world' dates, or baktun dates like 12th December 2012, are as follows:

5 September 41
9th December 435
13th March 830
15th June 1224
18th September 1618

Did anything remotely resembling the end of the world happen on any of these dates?

I doubt it.

The 12th December 2012 is merely the next date in a sequence.

Please remember these few facts as the 2012 hype becomes more and more unreal and you will remain untroubled.


14 comments:

  1. Logically yes...we don't have much of fear mongering over the Mayan calender, but late 1990 we were told Biblically world was to end in 2000...then extended it by five years --

    I tend to think other way -- if i were to die tomorrow why should i worry about 2012 at all...or another way, if all would end in one go, why worry at all?...Thoughts of the "The End" worries when some go leaving others stranded with life - is it not that way?

    wishes,
    devika

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  2. Hello Devika,
    The way I look at it is that the universe is 17 billion years old dream and after all this long time I am still in it and so always will be. My mother, 92, always says she has no fear as she is actually looking forward to what she calls her next great adventure!

    As to creation dates, a brief glance just at some of the main judeo-christian religions throws up dozens of dates ranging from 6984BC to 3751BC, so it's clear that in that field nobody knows what he is talking about.

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  3. Yes, despite the Dhashaavathara belief and that the present Age of Kali is the last, the Indian philosophies work in tandem with what you and your mother --

    "One who knows that this body is like froth, and has learnt that it is as unsubstantial as a mirage, will break the flower-pointed arrow of Mâra (Illusion), and never see the king of death" --The Dhammapada

    but people attach so much importance to body and the skin deep beauty -- i've often been left to doubt if they understand anything about soul and at all,

    the worry i was talking about was, though i've been through many "deaths" myself -- i go numb as a human when i hear news of death; a death happens in me -- then i think a physical presence does make a difference,

    well, perhaps Gwilym, there no much point talking when things are beyond our control -- no? :)

    wishes,
    devika

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  4. **Dasavatharam -- The ten reincarnations of the Hindu Lord of Preservation, Vishnu -- The Fish, the Tortoise, The Boar, The Nara Simha....Rama , Krishna...The Kalki, being last of the Kali Yug,

    you might know it,

    wishes,
    devika

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  5. Devika, I don't know the Dasavatharam but I will have a look at it, perhaps tomorrow; I confess that I get most of my theology from one sentence by Wm Shakespeare:
    "We are such stuff as dreams are made on."
    This seems so right to me. And you must think, that he knew nothing of quantum physics and space-time and the way the human senses really work, (I explained with poems about colours if you remember)! But I think he had an instinctive grasp of the nature of existence.

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  6. Okay, but yes...i too was just that a bundle of unsure dreams and then reading and trying to understand thoughts and beliefs was an instinct too...i don't much understand about quantum physics or space science except the basics, though people expect an engineer to be more interested there than the world of metaphysical thoughts and poetry :)

    yes, it is finally what stuff we are made of :)

    there has been a famous Indian commercial movie called Dasavatharam...so Internet sites could be misleading -- this site gives a broad general introduction...Then ofcourse you might have other reference books and encyclopedia,

    http://www.a1tamilnadu.com/Ten-Avataras-Dasavatharam-And-Their-Purpose-/334/

    wishes,
    devika

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  7. i meant to say Quantum physics and 'space-time'...though space science also applies in context :)

    wishes,
    devika

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  8. I share your scepticism wholeheartedly. Like all the nonsense about the milennium, however you spell it. That, as I remember, was years out on account of calendar changes and other various anomalies.

    Word verification: Sodup.

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  9. Thanks for this untroubling news.

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  10. Devika, I had a look at that introductory link, and I was intrigued by the mention of deluge(s) and the things lost in it/them and the oceans being like churned milk - yes, these periodic events take place every now and then and they are terrible for those involved - and there is even a theory that the earth is expanding and that's what causes some of these things - but then there are theories for everything :) - we live it seems by theory!

    Dominic, Tess - thanks and rest easy! Sodup, eh?

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  11. Okay Gwilym :)...Mythologies can be interesting just for the sake of it...or things like that might have occured all through the history of time, evolution-

    wishes,
    devika

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  12. Hello Devika,
    Floods are a popular ingredient of myth and legend. And the stories are often true. The famous biblical parting of the Red Sea and the subsequent giant wave for instance must have been a tsunami rolling in from the Indian Ocean.

    I was reading about a line of ancient stones situated along the coast of Japan on which it is written: do not build your houses beyond this stone.

    The villagers who obeyed the stones were safe. Those who ignored them and built below the line of stones were drowned in the tsunami. But in this latest tsunami the sea came even beyond the ancient stones in some places, so it would now be intelligent to put some new stones in some new places.

    The designers of Fukushima and other atom plants should have heeded the warnings in the stones.

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  13. Yes Gwilym, ancient wisdom -- who needs or who heeds?

    if one sits and think -- the human history is a list of "should haves" -

    putting stones -- do we expect any future generation to even look into that?

    the old, like the villagers, can read signs from nature, if not from stones laid by men before, and often predict -- the young talk of disaster management after human and other loss -- that's how it is the world over --

    and possibly we have no effective solution in the face of any natural disaster of such magnitudes --

    wishes,
    devika

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  14. I mean at the goverment level -- young and old are the same - "Disaster Preparedness" is a nice, appealing term that they use to cover up,

    But Japan seemingly has in a large way benefitted from that preparedness one must say, compared with 2004 tsunami in the Indian ocean --

    in a way, perhaps that's all we can do about it-- our life or the world doesn't stop with any tsunami fear -

    the earth isn't settled seems a reality -- y'day's quake again in North-east Japan; earlier in the week, we had a quake in North India...no casualities, and perhaps smaller quakes are usual when the climate changes,

    wishes,
    devika

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