Welcome to Gaia! ::

Well i found this interesting.If its not a topic for the guild im sorry you can lock it.


The ancient peoples of Mesoamerica were of a vast interconnected empire, filled with rich art, education and destruction. The Maya were one of these tribes. Other than archaeological intrigue why are these people so studied? Their written language was based on pictographs, much like the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Mayan culture was like most other native cultures.




The Maya had an understanding of mathematics and understood the value of zero long before its discovery in the Eastern parts of the world. Their understanding of numbers and astronomy gave us the Mayan calendars of the Long and Short Counts. So why does this calendar attract so much attention now? The Mayan calendar ends on the Gregorian calendar date of December 21, 2012, which most people believe is the total end of civilization, as we know it, while others believe it is simply a change of enlightenment in this current time. Many theories have sprung up about this end date, ranging from the laughable, to the religious, to the scientific.

There are actually three Mayan calendar systems, the 365-day Solar year, the 260-day Ritual year, and the 5,128 years of the World Time calendar. The Haab or Solar year was broken down into an 18 month plus five days cycle. 18 months of 20 days and the 5 soulless days which were thought to be of ill omen, kind of like 5 days of Friday the 13th. The Tzolkin (zol-KEEN) or Sacred Round was the 260-day ritual calendar was broken down by days, not months. This religious calendar was the basis on how the people, singly and collectively, went on with their day-to-day lives according to destiny.

August 11, 3.114 B.C. when the world began in, long count to Gregorian translation. This beginning date was reached by finding a point in future time (December 21 2012) and counting backwards, as theories go, which gives us a 5,126 year span, not including year zero. This is still one year off if year zero is included. The Mayan World calendar is a series of 5,128 years per span. What is the extra year? Were translations wrong somehow, it is quite possible.







So what is supposed to happen on this magical date of December 21, 2012?
One theory suggests that a Magnetic Field shift will occur around this time, that the calendar was based on pole shifts, which have occurred repetitively throughout the Earths history. The Maya, understanding the time periods between these shifts created their Long count calendar around them and come up with the final date for the next pole shift. But how would they know what to look for to expect another shift? How much time was supposed to pass between these shifts and how did they know it? Was there record passed down to them from long ago recounting a time when there was a prior pole shift so that mathematics could be used to predict the next one to come? Or did the ancients study a form of dendrochronology the study of climate changes by looking at tree rings.

Others suggest a much more mythical or religious approach. December 21, 2012 is also the Winter Solstice, and provides us with a view that will not be seen again in any of our lifetimes. The Sun will conjunct the intersection of the Milky Way in the ecliptic, giving us view of the Sacred Tree as called by the Maya, giving us view of the Tree of Life. Both of these scenarios are quite possible, one scientific explanation, and one religious. What we still do not know, and probably will not know is what will happen after this end date until it actually occurs. A new dawn of enlightenment would be a step towards progression, in that mankind would become more aware of their surroundings and the impact that they have on the Earth as well as a higher intelligence and consciousness and a better mindset for helping their fellow man. Perhaps this is the end, when Mother Nature finally decides to shrug off the oppressiveness that has been created by the children and start anew. We may just end up living through another doomsday prophecy, going to work or school as usual, looking back on the prophecies and laughing them off. Peter may have cried wolf too often for our cynical minds.


Discuss
When you think the world will end.
How Will the World End?
What do you thing about the Doomsday theory?

What I Think
I think the world will end very soon.Mankind has shown for centuries that they want nothing more than the destruction of the world.I think mankind will destroy itself.

What happens happens for a reason and can't happen any other way.

If the world is going to end then it's meant to be. And who's to say that the end of the world is a bad thing?

I'm actually just content with the "wait and see" approach. I think it will be interesting.

and How would you know if you were a creature

i think this topic would be more suited for a religious based topic/group. However I've heard a theory that the earth has a consious mind and that it is going to respond to the stimulus that humans created. The theory worked in global warming, heightened natural disasters and some such horrors.
Its an obscure theory and I saw on Sightings a while back and although its not my own opinion, there it is.... 3nodding

It wouldn't surprise me. 3nodding

This thread, for one is a repeat thread, but since its been a while since someone's talked about it (and the first post doesn't appear to be copy-pasted), I'll let it slide. Secondly, folks are getting a little off-topic.
I have not heard any credible theory about otherkin being in any way involved with 2012 (this is where the topic started to veer towards) and the only way I could actually stop rolling my eyes at the Otherkin theory would be if there was the credible possibility of 2012 having to do with a magical or other sort of seal that by its breaking would reveal the (to my eyes, impossible) nature of those who are convinced they belong to such a variant breed.
Also, the Earth has recovered from more disastrous events before post-simian man was conceived. Our existance here has been made possible from a rare event in world history that has stablized our planet's meteorological functions. Should it destablize in a great human-apocalyptic event... well... sucks for us? We should have been making ourselves prepared from the time we knew what an "ice age" was.
If monsters return from whatever abyssal crypts or from behind some semi-permeable spiritual curtain they've been taunting us through, then so be it. According to our legends, we figured out how to use faith, folklore, and the cleansing power of fire well enough when we were living in mud huts, imagine what magical wonders can be discovered through greekfire-- I mean Napalm.

You are creeping me out because that sounds eerily like how i feel daily. Could i possinly be one of these creaturss bound by the seal? Perhaps. I guess we will just have to see....

In any case...whatever happens...happens. And there's nothing we can do to change or stop it. So just continue living as you are and hope for the best.

Thats interesting, because I have never thought about it like that, but Ive never felt quite human. I dont know why, but I cant get to think of myself as human... When I refer to humankind, I always refer as "them" not "we", since I have memory...