December 21, 2012

There are a lot of things being said all over the Internet and on cable television about this approaching "doomsday" date. Some say it will be the end of the world. Some say the end of the world "as we know it". But whatever it is that is coming, it is something that we can neither avoid, nor preempt. All of the hoopla surrounding this upcoming event date centers around the Mayan long-count calendar completing a 13th b'ak'tun (or cycle of days). The last time that the long-count calendar completed this cycle, the third creation of the world ended and the fourth creation began. From Wikipedia:

"According to the Popol Vuh, a book compiling details of creation accounts known to the K'iche' Maya of the Colonial-era highlands, we are living in the fourth world. The Popol Vuh describes the first three creations that the gods failed in making and the creation of the successful fourth world where men were placed. In the Maya Long Count, the previous creation ended at the start of a 14th b'ak'tun.

The previous creation ended on a long count of 12.19.19.17.19. Another 12.19.19.17.19 will occur on December 20, 2012, followed by the start of the fourteenth b'ak'tun, 13.0.0.0.0, on December 21, 2012. There is only one reference to the current creation's 13th b'ak'tun in the fragmentary Mayan corpus: Tortuguero Monument 6, part of a ruler's inscription."

So what we have approaching here is the end of a Mayan cycle of days. Also of note, there is rumored to be a solar planetary alignment and total eclipse of the moon on that date. Will it herald the beginning of the Apocalypse, and the end of the world? Will it be the end of the world as we know it, and usher in a new era of human knowledge?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see...