2012: Apocalypse Now?

Armageddon. Rapture. Judgment Day. Apocalypse.

Six times in the past year our world was slated for Doomsday destruction in various forms, but most of us weren’t disappointed to find the world still turning as each of those dates came and went. Even Harold Camping – the most active of the modern “Armageddonites”– decided to give up with his predictions after being constantly proven wrong. It’s pretty easy to laugh at all of these claims once the dates have passed, but there’s no getting around that “what if” voice inside all of us when these predictions hit the airwaves. And all of these past end-of-days predictions pale in comparison to the claims being made about 2012.

If you haven’t heard to claims about 2012 yet just wait. With only two weeks to go until we ring in the New Year it’s going to be hard to avoid getting wrapped up in these predictions, especially as places like the History Channel kick off their “Armageddon Week” programming which begins on Wednesday. So does this mean that our days are really numbered this time? Well, I wouldn’t quite start the countdown to obliteration just yet, but since these predictions are sure to be making the rounds there are a few things to be aware of.

The most popular of the 2012 predictions link back to the Mayan Calendar, which Armageddonites say comes to an end on December 21, 2012, marking the end of the world (again). Well, that’s true… kinda. The Mayan calendar does in fact come to an end on that date, but much like our modern calendar, the end doesn’t quite mean the end of days. Their calendar runs on a cycle which lasts approximately 5,125 years, and when one full cycle ends the next one begins, although Mayan legend does state that the time between the cycles will be a time of major changes – destructive changes – to our planet. And we now know that 5,125 years ago there were big changes happening on our planet like an ice age, floods, a possible pole shift, and other events. 

When it comes to the Mayan predictions however, there’s a big piece of the puzzle missing… actually, many pieces missing. When the Spanish conquistadors invaded the land of the Mayans they destroyed nearly all of the writings and culture of the Mayans, and among those were the records of exactly what the whole 2012 cycle-change actually meant. What archeologists have to go on today is hardly the tip of the iceberg when it comes to understanding the meanings of carvings, and even the calendar itself, so we are left trying to decipher an ancient language based on what amounts to the knowledge of a few single letters and meanings. Not the best thing to figure out end-time prophecy when 2012 is already here. Time, in this case, it literally running out.

Another problem with the December 21, 2012, date is that it’s nearly impossible to set a single date of destruction based on ancient legend. Why? Well, the simple answer is that the way we tell time and date today is far different than they did back then. So when we say it’s December 21 by our calendars, it’s really saying it’s plus or minus a few years – perhaps even a few decades – by the ancient calendars. With that in mind, the window of destruction for 2012 predictions has been estimated for anywhere between 2000 and 2020. A bit of a large gap to work with. And even what is known about the Mayan legend suggests that the end of the cycle isn’t going to be just one single hour, on one single day, but is going to be a change that takes place over time.

One would think that with the hype and connection with ancient Mayans that there would be a long history involving predictions of destruction for 2012, but when digging deeper a strange thing comes to light: most of the Doomsday 2012 predictions seem to have their origins in the 1960s. That’s right… this ancient end of the world prediction dates waaaay back to 1966 when an anthropologist and Mayan researcher by the name of Michael Coe published a book on Mayan culture, history, and legend. Even then, Armageddonites didn’t really take hold of the date until the early 1980s when an emergence of 2012 countdown books, articles, conferences, and claims began to really take hold.

Now, wait just one minute here, before you take all of this to mean that there’s absolutely nothing to the 2012 predictions and you take a deep sigh of relief, there are a few ominous things to consider. The 2012 date does actually have some correlation to a few events that are considered to be rare, remarkable, and a little bit mysterious. 2012 will be a year of a phenomenon called the “galactic alignment,” in which our sun will be aligned with the center of the visible Milky Way galaxy. An astronomical arrangement like this would have meant big things to the Mayans, since they based everything they did on astronomical details. Our sun is also statistically becoming more active with powerful solar storms that threaten us than it has been before. The worldwide economic outlook seems kinda bleak. And there are major environmental changes underway right now, not to mention that we’re about a million years overdue for a massive worldwide catastrophe to hit our planet. Many are skeptical that the Mayans had any way of knowing that these things were actually coming, let alone working the date exactly into their calendar, and yet the coincidence is pretty hard to ignore.

Finally, when it comes to 2012, it may surprise you to learn that it’s not just the Mayans who saw this year as significant. While the Mayans seem to get all the attention, other cultures including the Incas, Hindus, Tibetans, Native American tribes, Celtics, ancient Hebrews, and several others around the world have pegged 2012 in their prophecy too. One thing almost all of these cultures share is the idea of cycles of the world, and that 2012 will be the end of one cycle and the start of a new. All these traditions also speak of great change occurring during these times – change which could be considered destructive and even on the scale of Doomsday prophecy today. But if 2012 has got you on edge, and you’re not quite sure what to think, there’s one thing to keep in mind. None of these traditions or predictions says it will be the end of the world. All these claims go far into the future, so be prepared to hang around a little while longer.

Don't know much about 2012? Join us at the SGRA Research Center, 284 Racebrook Road, Orange, this Wednesday (December 21!!!) as we discuss the 2012 fact and fiction during our weekly Coffee Talk discussion. It begins at 7:00pm and is open to anyone interested in the subject. With only 365 days left to prepare, there's a lot you should know.