Today's: Find The Truth 2012

2012 : Emergency or Emerge-&-See?

2012 : Shift Happens...

The world is abuzz with talk of the year 2012; however, not everyone is looking forward to that year with the same outlook or expectations. For some, 2012 hints ominously at disastrous 'end times', a period in which the world will be thrown into utter chaos, with violent upheavals of both natural and man-made origin, possibly leading to the extinction of life as we know it. More optimistic people anticipate a moment of awakening, marked by a global transformation of consciousness, and perhaps even 'the return of the Christ consciousness', and so they are looking forward to 2012 as a time of joy and celebration. Carol-ann Jamison looks at this fast-approaching date and explores further.

(Article Courtesy of Odyssey Magazine : 2009)

Official2012Countdown.com

Cultures from all around the world for many thousands of years have pointed to this current era we live in as a time of unprecedented change for the Earth and all of humanity. Both the Judeo-Christian and Islamic end time scenarios, which are based upon Western fundamentalist interpretations of Abrahamic thought, foresee a time of literal cleansing. In these traditions, the Earth will suffer through the coming of the Four Horsemen bearing 'gifts' of war, famine, plague and death – with the ultimate judgment day not too far behind.

For Christians, who refer to the Book of Revelation from the Bible and awaiting rapture, or Shiites counting the days until the 12th Imam appears, almost everything that is happening in our world today is pointing to the imminent end times. Judging by the sheer number of predicted end dates that have come and gone without the trumpets blowing and angels rushing in, the people leaning towards apocalyptic scenarios seem to be impatient to see our world 'redeemed' through catastrophe. So far, they have been wrong – and they could be in for yet another anticlimactic 'doomsday' when the world as we know it is supposedly set to end, but doesn't. However things are a little different with 2012 than with any other apocalypse prediction we have seen previously. For one thing, the year 2012 being marked as some sort of major turning-point in human history is a global phenomenon, rather than a cultural one. But before we get there and see what various cultures and traditions have to say about these times, let's take a quick look at previously predicted 'end times' which just turned out to be yet another day under the sun.

END TIMES:

To mention a few examples: Christians in Europe attacked pagan territories in the north to prepare for the end of the world at the turn of the first millennium; the Shakers believed the world would end in 1792; there was the 'Great Disappointment' among followers of the Baptist preacher William Miller when Jesus did not return to upstate New York on October 22, 1844. The Jehovah's Witnesses have been especially prodigious with prophetic end times, with dates in 1914, 1915, 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, 1975 and 1994 all at one time having been offered by them for the end of the world.

Because of their nature, offering a certain and redemptive 'way out' of the world and its problems, virtually any religious movement with an end-time prophecy is likely to attract some followers, no matter how maniacal or fringy the underlying philosophy or theology may be. For those who want to go online and get the latest tally of 'bad/good news', there is a nuclear Doomsday Clock and the Rapture Index. If you remember living through Y2K – that was another millenarian moment, except that it had more to do with computer code than some universal final moment.

Mention the word apocalypse and most people think of end times of Biblical proportions and of doomsday scenarios that are the current favoured subject of some 2012 prophecy interpreters. However, the word apocalypse finds its roots in the Greek work 'apokalypsis' which is a verb meaning 'to lift the veil' or to reveal something. Though some people may see this as a cataclysmic change of the material realm, others perceive the apocalypse simply to mean a metaphysical change or a paradigm shift of consciousness – meaning, in their terms, that the year 2012 is the end of a cycle/age, not the end of the human race. This wider meaning is supported by other cultural traditions which also see 2012, or thereabouts, as the end of some specific great cycle or era, and the beginning of a new one.

Among the best examples of this is the Hindu notion of yugas or ages that mark a cyclical pattern of both external and internal creation and destruction. This ongoing cycle, or kalpa, also has an end date when, according to Hindu belief, the final avatar (saviour-like being) will incarnate as Kali (Hindu god of creation and destruction) and bring about the destruction of all wicked people. Many see this current time, termed the Kali Yuga in the Hindu system, as the end of an era of the time of man and the coming 'yuga' as a golden age of many 'Enlightened Ones'.

This leads us to other prophecies and hypotheses, including Terence McKenna's numerological novelty theory, suggesting a point of singularity in which humankind will go through a great shift in consciousness, and Daniel Pinchbeck's book, '2012 : The Year of the Mayan Prophecy', which discusses theories of a possible global awakening to a psychic connection by the year 2012.

Beyond modern theories, one may go back in time to discover that most of the oldest creation stories and mythologies from around the world tell of a cosmic cycle punctuated by a big ending of one era and a new beginning of peace, harmony and enlightenment. In every one, the time in which these two eras merge – that is, right now – is marked by enormous upheaval.

The indigenous people – those who live in respectful relationship with Mother Earth, understanding our inherent 'sacred nature' and connectedness to the harmony and greater movements of the universe – share wisdom that goes across cultures and which is deemed by some to be far truer and more precious than anything modern science or religion could ever teach. This is because these people carry within them teachings and human experience which are vastly older than our Western technologically-based society's memories, and which include previous end-time era changes.

The wisdom of these indigenous cultures tell us it is time to listen. We are in the time of what some Amerindian people call the birthing of 'the rainbow generation', the 5th world of peace, described as a time of paradox of great purification and great possibility. The Hopi's call this the time before the great change Koyanasquatsi, meaning life out of balance. The Incas call this the Pachacutti, when the world will be turned upside down. Whatever the name they give it, many Native Americans see 2012 as the dawning of the new era. It is considered by anthropological experts that it is no co-incidence that December 2012 also marks the end of a long cycle in the Mayan Calendar.

So it seems that the ancient 'wise ones' foretold of this change, and the signs that precede it. Some observers believe they left us a simple road map to follow and that doing so reduces the chaos of the process. Following them, it is thought, we can understand what is happening around us and use this knowledge to make the transition easier on ourselves. Let's take a look in a little more detail at what these various traditions have to say about the difficult days that herald the 'end of an epoch'.

THE HOPI:

According to Frank Waters' 'Book of the Hopi', the Native American Hopi people say that we are in the fourth of seven eras – the Fourth World – and that we are approaching the transition to the Fifth World. The First World ended by fire; the Second ended when the Earth 'teetered off balance', causing floods and an ice age; and the Third ended in a flood (at a time co-inciding roughly with that of the Mesopotamian, Judeo-Christian and other inundation mythologies). There will be, say the Hopi, a 'Great Purification' just before the start of the Fifth World as our Fourth World comes to its end.

Hopi Elders have passed these warnings and prophecies from generation to generation through oral traditions and reference to ancient rock pictographs and tablets. Their ancient prophecy states, 'When the Blue Star Kachina (Sirius) makes its appearance in the heavens, the Fifth World will emerge. This will be the Day of Purification. It will come when the Saquasohuh (Blue Star) Kachina dances in the plaza and removes his mask.'

For them, this will be the alarm clock that tells humanity of the new day and new way of life, that a new world is coming and this is the point where the changes will begin in earnest.

As one Hopi elder has said: 'Those who return to the ways given to us in the original teachings, and live a natural way of life will not be touched by the coming of the Purifier. They will survive and build the new world. Only in the ancient teachings will the ability to understand the messages be found.' For them, this is only a doom and gloom story if we choose to experience it as such, since everything in Hopi philosophy is based on choice.

Others pointing to this period of changing times, like the Dogon of West Africa, say that the 'original visitors' will return in a spaceship that has the form of a blue star. The Cherokee's ancient calendar ends in 2012, just like the Mayan. In Egypt, the stone calendar of the Great Pyramid also indicates that the present time cycle ends in 2012, according to some interpretations of its time scales. The Incas refer to this time as the 'Age of Meeting Ourselves Again', while the Maoris say that the veils will dissolve and there will be a merging of the physical and spiritual worlds.

Moses Shongo, the last of the traditional Seneca medicine men, died in 1925 and prepared his granddaughter, Twylah Nitsch, to carry on his teachings. These teachings included a prophecy that there would be, 'a 25-year period of purification lasting until the year 2012 or so, during which the Earth will purge itself'. Another Native American, a Pueblo Indian from Northern New Mexico, called Speaking Wind, has recently confirmed that the Fifth World will start in December 2012. However, Willaru Huayta, a Peruvian spiritual messenger from the Quechua nation, says that in 2013, a 'huge magnetic asteroid' will pass close to Earth, and only those who have conquered their egos will survive. This more catastrophic version is echoed by local Zulu shaman, Vusamazulu Credo Mutwa, who says that in the year of the red bull (2012), a 'star with a very long tail' called Mu-sho-sho-no-no will return. The last time it came, it brought a deluge and turned the World upside-down, so that 'the Sun rose in the south and set in the north', he adds.

And lastly, Hopi Elders have noticed the striking similarities between their sacred symbols and the Crop Circle glyphs appearing in the fields in England - indicating to them, the 'Signs' heralding our entrance into the Fifth World.

2012 GOES MAINSTREAM:

The year 2012 first entered mainstream public consciousness over two decades ago with the Harmonic Convergence organised by José Argüelles. Argüelles is also one of the originators of the Earth Day concept and is recognised as the 'father of the Whole Earth Festival', now in its 33rd year at Davis, California.

Holding a PhD in art history and aesthetics from the University of Chicago, Argüelles' career as an educator has included professorships at Princeton University, University of California Davis, the Evergreen State College, Olympia Washington, the Naropa Institute, San Francisco State University, the University of Colorado and the Union Graduate School. He is considered by his academic peers as a world expert in his field.

It is his pioneering research of the Mayan calendar system that has absorbed his energies most passionately. Ever since he had a visionary experience at the age of 14 atop the Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan, Mexico in 1953, he has pursued a lifelong investigation of the mathematics and prophecies associated with the Mayan calendar.

An artist, as well as an author, his numerous books include the international best seller 'The Mayan Factor' which is based on his 33 years of research and study, 'Earth Ascending', 'Surfers of the Zuvuya', 'The Arcturus Probe' and the most recent book, 'Time and the Technosphere: The Law of Time in Human Affairs'. Prior to all these books, he wrote 'The Transformative Vision', whose historical scheme was based on the prophecy of the 'Thirteen Heavens and Nine Hells' which ended with the Harmonic Convergence in 1987. This information was passed onto him in 1970 by Tony Shearer who had also written a book called Lord of the Dawn: Quetzalcoatl and the Tree of Life. Both these men shared a passion for this era of time.

WHAT IS THE HARMONIC CONVERGENCE?

Argüelles promoted the Harmonic Convergence as an earth-changing event requiring 144000 participants – the number echoed Mayan mathematics and the Book of Revelation – to free the planet from the dissonant influence of Western science and synchronise with the 'wave harmonic of history' set to culminate in 2012.

This world-wide event took place on August 16 and August 17, 1987, and was centred on a number of 'sacred' places throughout the world, from Stonehenge in the UK, Sedona in Arizona, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco to Dunn Meadow in Bloomington in Indiana, to mention but a few where thousands of people from all walks of life gathered together to usher in a new era. Events began on August 15, culminating with the convergence itself on the 16th of August. Participants engaged in collective prayer, song, meditation, dance, and rituals.

The Harmonic Convergence was a global awakening to love and unity through divine transformation and divine channelling of sacred information. According to Argüelles' interpretation of Maya cosmology, the selected date marked the end of 22 cycles of 52 years each, or 1144 years in all. The 22 cycles were divided into 13 'heaven' cycles, which began in 843CE and ended in 1519, when the nine 'hell' cycles began, ending 468 years later in 1987.

This event came at the end of these 'hell' cycles and the beginning, in Argüelles' understanding of the Mayan system, of a 'new age' of universal peace. The idea of a 'new age' is in no small measure a result of Argüelles' work and writings. Adherents believed that signs indicated a 'major energy shift' was about to occur, a turning point in Earth's collective 'karma and dharma' (fate), and that this energy was powerful enough to change the global perspective of man from one of conflict to one of co-operation.

According to Argüelles and others, the Harmonic Convergence also began the final 26-year countdown to the end of the Mayan Long Count in 2012, which would be the 'end of known history' and the beginning of a new 5125-year cycle. All the evils of the modern world – war, materialism, violence, injustice, governmental abuse of power, etc – would end, they said, with the birth of the 6th Sun and the 5th Earth on December 21, 2012.

WHO ARE THE MAYA?

The Olmecs, the first known and named major civilisation inhabiting Mesoamerica, are said by mainstream archaeologists to have arrived there between 1800BCE and 1500BCE. Several Maya scholars now agree that the calendars used by the Maya were developed by the Olmecs in a town called Izapa, which became populated between 1500BCE and 800BCE, and which the Maya inhabited from about 250BCE. The Maya reached remarkable intellectual and artistic heights during the classic period of their great civilisation. They built huge temples and pyramid complexes, inscribed stone monuments, made major advances in mathematics and astronomy, and developed complex hieroglyphic scripts. But their great civilisation underwent a mysterious collapse that would leave their mighty temples and pyramids abandoned. There are many theories for this abandonment, which is a topic for discussion in a future post.

The ruins in Central America that we see today are but a fraction of what the Mayans created and it is believed the jungles of that region still hold many of their secrets intact. One of the most impressive ruins is Tikal, in the Guatemalan rain forest, which thrived as an urban centre at the height of Mayan civilisation. It is a sprawling former metropolis of pyramids, palaces, residences, ball-courts and scores of engraved monumental stones, or stelae, decorated with intricate, otherworldly images and hieroglyphs.

A common misconception is that all the 'Maya disappeared' when their cities emptied. However there are six million Maya currently living all over the states of Central America and, even more importantly, there are many today who are still following the same day count calendar as their distant ancestors.

That is not to say all of them do, because the Spanish conquered that part of the world in the early 16th century and many of the traditions, art and writings were burned and destroyed by Catholic priests. Much knowledge was lost. Maya priests were forced into hiding, often deep in the jungle. They could only practice their culture in the most remote areas of Central America. Those who were caught were murdered. This practice continued up to the late 1980s. The Maya knew this was going to happen – it was written in their prophecy over 2000 years earlier. It is interesting to note that the Maya fought long and hard against the Spanish and later the Mexicans to keep their customs, calendars and traditions alive almost up to current day and now their knowledge is the central theme in the global 2012 debate.

THE MAYAN CALENDARS:

The Maya understood around 17 different calendars based on the various rhythms of the Cosmos. Some of these calendars look back as far as 10 million years and are so difficult that you need the combined efforts of an astronomer, astrologer, geologist, and a mathematician just to work out the calculations. They also made tables predicting eclipses and the orbit of the planet Venus and other heavenly bodies.

The Mayan calendars are designed around many cycles and that is why there are so many of them; between them they account for the many overlapping subtle energies that are meant, in the Mayan understanding, to keep things in a state of dynamically changing balance. But taking the Mayan calendars literally, one-by-one, is as dangerous as self-serving fundamentalists taking selective teachings from their scripture literally. One must be able to understand all the cycles and their overlapping implications, and piece them together as you would a puzzle, to interpret the whole message. Both the geometry and hidden intent are sacred and important to interpreting and predicting the events of the past, present and future.

Briefly, the calendars that are most important to 'ordinary' people are the Haab, the Tun and the Tzolkin. The Tzolkin is the most important of all, and the one with the most influence.

The Haab is based in the cycles of earth. It has 360 + 5 days, totalling 365 days. It uses 18 months with 20 days in each month. There is a 19th month called a Uayeb and uses the 5 extra days, and to the Maya this month of five days was considered to be a dangerous time. Each month has its own name/glyph and each day uses a sacred sun-glyph.

The Tun is the moon calendar. It uses 28-day cycles that mirror the feminine moon cycle. This cycle of the moon is broken down into four smaller cycles, of seven days each. These smaller cycles are the four phases of moon cycle.

The Tzolkin is the sacred calendar of the Maya and is based on the cycles of the Pleiadies. The cycle of the Pleiadies uses 26000 years, but is reflected in the calendar by encompassing a 260-day system based around the period of human gestation, according to the still-surviving descendents of the Maya who live in the highlands of Guatemala. It uses the sacred numbers 13 and 20. The 13 represents the primary numbers and 20 represents the sun-glyphs used in this particular calendar. It was and still is used to determine character traits and time harmonics.

The Tzolkin calendar was meshed with the 365-day Haab calendar. It took 52 years for the Tzolkin and Haab calendars to move through a complete combined cycle and was called a calendar round.

The Maya measured long time periods by means of a 'Long Count', in which one 360-day year (a tun) consists of eighteen 20-day months (uinals). Twenty of these tuns add up to a katun and 20 katuns make a baktun. Still using their sacred numbers 13 and 20, 13 baktuns add up to 1872000 days (5200 tuns, or about 5125 years).

1 kin = 1 day

1 uinal = 20 kins = 20 days

1 tun = 18 uinals = 360 days

1 katun = 20 tuns = 7 200 days

1 baktun = 20 katuns = 144000 days

13 baktuns = 1 Great Cycle = 1872000 days

Archaeologists and many researchers claim that the Maya began counting time as of year 3114BCE (known as day 0.0.0.0.0. The start of this 13-baktun cycle on the 11th August 3114 BCE, and the end date of this cycle (known as 13.0.0.0.0) is on 21st December, 2012CE.

Argüelles was probably the first to point out (in his book 'The Mayan Factor') that since the Tzolkin is composed of 260 kin, or days, and the 13-baktun cycle is composed of 260 katuns, the 13-baktun cycle is thus a harmonic of the Tzolkin, being exactly 7200 times larger. This means that the 13 x 20 Tzolkin layout can be used to map history, as if it is measuring not individual gestation, but species gestation, and five of the 13-baktun cycles add to exactly 26000 tun; the 'grand year' or precession of the equinoxes, a yet higher harmonic of 260 (referring back to a 13 x 20 multiple).

PRECESSION OF THE EQUINOXES & GALACTIC ALIGNMENT:

Maya scholar John Major Jenkins is an independent researcher who has devoted himself to reconstructing ancient Mayan cosmology and philosophy. He has authored dozens of articles and many books including, 'Galactic Alignment : The Transformation of Consciousness', 'Maya Cosmogenesis 2012' and 'Tzolkin: Visionary Perspectives and Calendar Studies'. He has made a strong case that the Long Count calendar of the Maya was actually a device for tracking the cycle of precession of the equinoxes. This is the 26000 year cycle in which the Earth's axis, which is 23.5° off vertical, rotates in a circle, and is measured by the movement of constellations against the fixed positions of the rising equinox or solstice sun. In his book 'Maya Cosmogenesis 2012', he shows that the 13-baktun cycle is a 5th and final cycle in the 26000-year precession of the equinoxes, and on December 21st 2012, the solstice sun will align with the Dark Rift in the Milky Way, which the Maya called the Mount of the Crocodile, the 'crocodile tree' being the Milky Way itself.

So to summarise, in 2012 the plane of our solar system will line up exactly with the plane of our galaxy, the Milky Way. This cycle has taken 26000 years to complete – truly a cosmic event.

According to Jenkins, this galactic alignment stimulates consciousness evolution on this planet, whether or not beings alive during the alignment era are aware of it happening. However, it is likely that this is the first time that humans as a whole are consciously aware of it and could, in his view, therefore take the opportunity of a leap in individual and collective consciousness provided by this event.

The Mayans themselves have suggested that their 2012 end date is really nothing more than the finishing point of a particular age or 'underworld' – the one we are living in right now, the Galactic Underworld, and the entry point to the Universal Underworld of both conscious evolution and revolution, which is to follow. There is nothing in Mayan tradition, lore or belief that envisages a scenario in which we will all die and the planet will cease to exist. Rather, the idea is one of amazing and collective rebirth. A period of newfound cosmic awareness, an era in which humanity expands their collective conscious awareness. In fact, the Maya called the last day of the Great Cycle, Creation Day.

CALENDAR WARS:

It needs to be mentioned that calendar wars have existed since the dawn of ages, including in the time of the early Egyptians, and continues today between the Maya themselves, religious scholars and Western mathematicians and cosmologists. In Egyptian oral tradition, the sage-god Thoth was banished from Egypt because he was insistent on using a calendar aligned with the star system Sirius, while the other gods wanted to use calendars that aligned with their own respective star systems and power bases.

A calendar plays a significant role in the life of a society. Usually it tells people what events to commemorate and celebrate and what they are supposed to consider as being part of their tradition. So, today the Gregorian calendar implicitly places a great role on Jesus, while the Muslim calendar places its emphasis on Muhammad. Whichever calendar was established as the primary calendar during the various eras and cultures provided that particular god or institution with the ultimate power to control the masses.

Expanding on that, the Gregorian calendar, according to Carl Johan Calleman and many others, conveys a certain world-view based on the very way that it is structured. It conditions people to a view of creation that is not going anywhere and so has no higher purpose. In the same sense as this calendar is based on the mechanical year of the planet, and endless revolutions of Earth around the sun, life with this calendar comes to be perceived as an endless merry-go-round and people view their lives and purpose in a similar way. As a consequence, human beings would not have any responsibility to live according to some unfolding divine plan, of which the planet, its movements and the heavenly bodies were also crucial parts, and so eventually even the planet itself may be regarded just as dead matter to be exploited. Viewed from this perspective, a whole subconscious world-view is actually linked to the particular calendar we use and the effects of this are partly overt (such as through the celebration of Christian or national holidays) and partly insidious (such as in promoting a mechanical world-view where life has no higher purpose).

Calleman, author of 'The Mayan Code: Time Acceleration and Awakening the World Mind', 'The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness', and 'Solving the Greatest Mystery of Our Time: The Mayan Calendar', is a former cancer researcher from Sweden whose calculations have led him to a controversial end date of his own devising: October 28, 2011 – that's nearly 14 months sooner than most people think is the end of the Mayan calendar.

Calleman's view is that the Mayan Calendar provides an exact schedule for the 'Cosmic Plan' and the unfolding of all things that come into existence. He goes on to say that there is now ample empirical evidence for this, something that shines new light on the age-old questions of mankind. In his view, things do exist for a reason – and, for serious students, the Mayan calendar becomes a gateway to the worlds of consciousness which the majority of humanity has been blinded to through the use of false or delusory calendars.

Another excellent person for an in depth look into 2012 is Geoff Stray. His research into 2012 started about 25 years ago, and was first summarised in a now-rare booklet called 'Beyond 2012:A Convergence of Eschatological Information'. In September 2000 this was compiled on a website, '2012 Dire Gnosis', which was designed to gather more input from people all over the world. This has become the internet's leading database on 2012. In 2005, he published 'Beyond 2012, Catastrophe or Ecstasy: A Complete Guide to End-of-Time Predictions', bringing all the research together into what some are calling the '2012 encyclopedia'. For more information on Geoff Stray:

http://www.diagnosis2012.co.uk

IS TIME SPEEDING UP?

Time is actually speeding up (or collapsing), according to both conventional cosmologists, and to some unconventional thinkers on the subject. For thousands of years, as best we can tell, the Schumann Resonance or pulse (heartbeat) of Earth has been 7.83 cycles per second. The military have used this as a very reliable reference for various purposes. However, since 1980, this resonance has been slowly rising, and more rapidly so in recent years. It is now over 12 cycles per second. This means there is the equivalent of less than 16 hours per day instead of the old 24 hours. Another interpretation is that we, or rather 'consciousness' as we collectively represent that, has or have been down this same road seven times before over the last 14-billion or so years. According to some of the oldest calendar systems on the planet, like the Mayans, each of these 'cycles of Creation' runs 20 times faster than the last one. The same amount of 'Creation' is paced 20 times tighter. This is why time seems to be going so fast, even to people who are not even remotely 'sensitive' or 'spiritual'. It is not so much that 'time' is going faster – there are still only 24 hours in any one day-night period, each made up of the same number of seconds, minutes and hours as before – but, in terms of the inner timing of cycles, as understood by the Maya and others, it is 'Creation' itself that is accelerating.

Of all the theories, including those involving comets, rogue planets, asteroids, galactic core explosions, mega-sunspot cycles, obliquity harmonics and unusual conjunctions, that various researchers have put forward to explain 2012, there is one theory that is so well scientifically grounded that is almost universally considered valid, at least in terms of its data if not its hypothesis, by even the most conservatively-minded. Alexey Dmitriev, a Russian geologist, has analysed the increasing changes in Earth's weather and seismic phenomena, plus recent changes to the planet's geomagnetic field. He has also taken into account solar changes, and changes to the weather and magnetic fields of all the other planets in the solar system. A '10-fold increase to the layer of deflected interstellar plasma on the heliosphere boundary', he has found, indicates that the solar system is headed into an area of 'magnetised plasma', that Dmitriev says is causing these changes. So far, so good. When it comes to interpreting what this means, Dmitriev loses some of his fellow scientists. According to him, an increasing incidence of plasma balls in the atmosphere is a sign of the imminent 'transformation of Earth', involving an interaction with processes beyond the three-dimensional world. You may have already heard about this theory but phrased differently as in perhaps someone speaking or writing about the so-called 'photon-belt'. Some have proposed this as a stream of high-level energy emanating from the centre of our galaxy, much like a stream of X-rays or gamma rays might be shot out of a collapsing black hole, only the energy form is of a different kind, affecting both physical life and consciousness fields.

Regardless of whether or not you follow this Russian investigator all the way to the conclusion that he reaches, one thing is clear, ancient or modern, mythical or scientific, each concept that deals with the issue of 2012 (or thereabouts, give or take a year) speaks to its own people in symbols they will understand, and all refer to this time of our history when humanity will be faced with making fateful choices which will determine our future. Either we will become a planet of co-operative nations or a self-destructing war zone of people competing for dwindling resources.

The Mayan Calendar, The Book of Revelations, and Hopi prophecies and many others like them, some referred to in this article, apparently all contain elements of universal truth, whether or not 2012 is an actual date or a symbol for some kind of threshold which man and womankind will one day soon reach. Maybe it is not for any individual or institution to decipher these communications, for to do so only introduces interpretative beliefs from the dominant paradigm. This causes everyone to be so caught up in the semantics that we miss the big picture. In other words, maybe we should look at the overall theme and leave all the minute details out.

Many events in this current decade have made people of our world all the more aware that something is terribly wrong on this planet and a time of choice and change is upon us. Not only is our environment in danger of collapsing in on itself (and us), but humanity is in danger of annihilating itself: humans killing all other humans and every other living thing with them. The planet hangs in great imbalance on every level and, by nature, will find a way to regain that balance. Things will have to change, whether we like it or not and whether we consciously and constructively co-operate with that change or not.

Even if we were to ignore completely the Mayan Long Count Calendar, and even if we did not ascribe credence to the religious traditions that predict total human annihilation at the hands of a final battle between good and evil, there is still ample evidence that the following years will be rife with chaos, disorder and destruction.

Surprisingly, the greatest challenges that face humanity and the earth in general all seem to be preventable. With that said, the biggest mystery is why we are not doing more to prevent them now, while we still can and when it truly counts. Global climate change is creating a need for new ways of co-existing with the earth. Already, water shortages are threatening to derail peace agreements and further escalate already tense relations between nations into outright war. Even the decreasing rates of food production, coupled with over-inflated prices and a global market that favours the rich, hint at another coming disaster: the spread of famine into regions never having experienced lack of food before.

HOW TO PREPARE?

So what can we do as individuals, communities, and nations? How does one prepare for 2012? If the world is going to end for good, then obviously no preparation is needed. However, if the Mayans, indigenous people and others were right, and the ending is really more of a beginning, can we indeed prepare at all?

The green movement, focusing on building sustainability now, is a great place to start. We should be doing anything possible to make the coming changes less disruptive and damaging, whether that means conserving, recycling or raising awareness of the carbon 'footprints' we each leave – and how we can lessen those footprints. Local communities are already springing up around the concept of contained, sustainable living, with residents pitching in by growing food, sharing water resources, bartering services and even watching out for each other's children to create a new sense of connectedness and unity. Should this effort spread, we may be able to greatly diminish the potential for death, disaster and disease that our overpopulated, stressed-out and soon-to-be-tapped out planet is quickly plummeting towards.

Maybe that is what this is really all about – a shift in consciousness, internal transformation that will extend into external change. Even with increasing numbers of super-storms and earthquakes, an asteroid or two coming too close for comfort, the highest sunspot cycle activity in years, global shifts in political and economic power, and a host of other earthbound changes, we may need to concentrate on the internal work to be done first. Spiritual transformation is on the lips of many awaiting 2012. Perhaps by altering our collective consciousness, we can change not only our own lives, but our destiny as a people. As far as the 2012 date is concerned, we should not wait until the December solstice of that year to take action. Clearly all of this does not centre on one date. The time to take action is now. Many of us are afraid of what is coming, but if the ancient wisdom and modern interpretations are right, we shouldn't be. Fear constricts and binds us to the old paradigm. What we need now is the courage to face and transmute the essential energy of that fear into right action. There is a great world waiting for us to birth into being, one of love and generosity and wisdom and compassion. Wouldn't it be great to wake up on the first morning of 2013 to a better world than we ever imagined? Let the Acceleration begin!

*Note: This is a huge subject and one that is difficult to cover in just one article. There are so many thoughts and controversy around 2012. That is why we asked the question 'What If'. This article mentions a few of the various predictions, philosophies, ideas and concepts around 2012 but many have been left out due to space constraints.

Source : Odyssey Magazine

http://www.odysseymagazine.co.za

*Further Reading: