One of the main reasons a lot of people think that December 21, 2012 is the last day on earth is a results of the Mayan predictions with their long count calendar. Of course what a lot of people think the long count calendar says is not really accurate. A lot of people think the Mayan actually predicted that the world will end on the last date of their calendar. This is not really true. The Mayan’s did not predict anything, the calendar just ends. There is no December 22, 2012 on the Mayan Calendar. For this reason many people think the Mayan’s did not expect the world to exist on the 22nd. That is not what they really believed.
The Mayan’s believed in seasons of the sun. There are actually songs and other folklore to support this. According to the Maya’s and their calendars, the earth goes through seasons or ages and each age has particular time frame in number of years the age lasts. The entire Mayan calendar system can be described like a clock with multiple hands and rings moving around the center. The lower units of time are towards the center of the calendar and as they move they move the out rings. There are many sites with exact descriptions of the different time counts of the Mayan calendars so we won’t go into a lot of detail here, but the long count deals with a unit of measure referred to as a Bak’Tun. The bak’tun is a series of years which total about 395 solar years. On December 21, 2012 we will simply enter a new Bac’tun according to their calendar or a new age.
Not only did the Maya’s believe in the ages, its also part of many cultures, including the ancient Egyptians, Hopi Indians, Chinese and others. According to most cultures the ages can be divided into four types of ages or seasons of the sun. These go from the Golden Age, to the Silver Age, to the Bronze Age to the iron Age. In many ways these ages can mirror the seasons we see on earth. Each age could represent the rising or fall of society based on increasing or decreasing sunlight. Exactly like the seasons of Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.
This can also be found in the Christian bible. Where it talks of the times in Ecclesiastes 3:
For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.
Since many ancient cultures based their entire lives on the movement of the sun, this makes perfect sense. As the sun rises the days get longer and crops grow and flourish. This gives life sustaining food for the people of the earth and there is really no reason to think this is any different.
We are simply about to moving into a new age. There is no doubt that many things will likely change as we move into this new age and really if you look around it needs to. If you look at the ages there can be no doubt that we are currently living in the Iron age. There are objects’ every where made of iron. From the millions of cars that pollute our earth to the military hardware that can kill us all. We are definitely living in the iron age, where more value is put on earthly possessions than anything else.
But that seems to be changing, many people like the occupy wall street individuals seem to be of a mind set that accumulating more and more may not be the best answer. The injustice and inequality that the pursuit of things has caused is one of the main reasons for strife in the world. This makes the world dark and not loving. Everyone seems to be out for themselves and most people seem to care nothing for their neighbors. People are being evicted from their homes, they are losing everything. Perhaps this is a bad thing, but perhaps it will wake people up the fact that we should start to move towards a Golden age where we love one another and we share our limited resources so that everyone can contribute the most possible to society. Perhaps this is the age were we get back to living in unison with the earth and nature. It may take some sort of world calamity and many people may have to die before we can get there, but hopefully we will start to change as a people. The Mayan’s gave us a map with their writings and calendar we just have to follow their code.
There is a bible verse that has always spoken to me.
The thing that has been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun..
This is just a new beginning, not an end.