2012 and the Mayan Calendar; Is Doomsday Upon Us?

Between the hysterics of doomsday announcements, movies and predictions of natural disasters on an unprecedented scale, it can be easy to get caught up in the 2012 nonsense. The fact is the confluence of the year 2012 and the Mayan calendar don’t indicate anything significant, as any Mayan will be happy to tell you.

What’s the Big Deal?

During the year 2012 the Long Cycle calendar of the Maya empire hits a reset. This concept is based upon fairly accurate astronomical readings: a field the Maya studied intensely. In truth something is going to occur during 2012; due to precession, a result of the solar system’s movement through the universe, and the wobble of the earth’s axis, different constellations rise during the spring equinox. 2012 marks the end of the "age of Pisces" and the beginning of the "age of Aquarius", cosmically speaking.




Questionable "Proof"



One of the arguments that has been put forward to substantiate the doomsday prophesies is the fallacy that the Maya never charted any anticipated events after 2012, the 13th B’ak’tun. In truth, there are several such events marked in Mayan calendars, some extend as far as AD 4772. Other measurements extend as far as 41 octillion years in both the past and future, disputing the concept that any Maya believe that the end of the world, as we know it, is due any time soon.




Doomsday Predictions - Not So Reliable




Doomsday predictions seem to be an integral part of the human psyche. There have been literally thousands of guesses at when the event would occur. Earlier examples include those who predicted the world would end in the year AD 1000 when Jesus was supposed to return; later suggestions cropped up in 1806, 1843 and 1982. Nostradamus anticipated 1999 as the big year and many people predicted Doomsday’s arrival in the year 2000; thus far, we are still around.

Considering the reliability of such predictions thus far, the anticipated events of 2012 are no more likely to be accurate.