It's the end of the world as we know it (again)... and do you feel fine?
It's the end of the world as we know it (again)... and do you feel fine?
Monday, December 17, 2012
By DANA LARSEN / Pilot Editor
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Tick...tick...tick... If you are a believer in the dire translation of ancient Mayan timekeeping, you're down to your last days, with the world scheduled to come to a sudden screeching halt sometime Friday.
And worse, no Twinkies for the going away bash.
Peter Steinfeld, longtime philosophy and religion educator for Buena Vista University, isn't exactly quaking in his boots.
"Yeah, I'm ready for it," he laughs. "In fact, I think we should be partying hardy."
While he fully expects to wake up December 22 with the world still intact, Steinfeld is fascinated by people's response to end-of-the-world scares.
"There really is a very odd appeal about a sort of apocalyptic dreaming - this strange attraction for the ending of the world and wondering about what it would mean for human beings to no longer exist," Steinfeld says.
In fact, years ago, he was co-authoring academic papers on the subject, with titles such as "Longing for Apocalypse in a Desolate World."
"At that time it was the threat of nuclear holocaust, but whether it has been religious predictions, Nostradomous, Y2K, the Mayan calendar - there is always some amount of terror in the reaction, but also this very obvious appeal to the concept of it all ending. Americans in particular seem to love playing with this idea."
The professor theorizes people may be captivated by end-of-days predictions because it means relief from earthy worries and daily burdens.
Or that it appeals to their sense of justice - the end would finally destroy the evil people see in the world around them and perhaps reward the good simultaneously. Or - it represents simply a wiping of the slate clean, a neat ending to a complicated world.
"It is something that has come up routinely over history. There have always been predictions of an ending of time. In Biblical times it was known as parousia - another term for the second coming of Christ. They would set a date, and when it didn't come like people expected, they would just set another one."
Steinfeld has traveled in what was the Mayan world in Mexcio, and explored ancient ruins, and visited the Aztec territory in Peru. He found the culture "fascinating," but admits that as an untrained observer, "I didn't fully understand what I was seeing." The Mayan calendar is so complicated that he, like most people, couldn't begin to unlock it if they tried.
With the latest 'end of the world" falling during the Christmas season, Steinfeld is rather surprised it isn't getting even more attention.
"With people celebrating 12-12-12 as an auspicious occasion, it's rather ironic that the world is supposed to end 12 days later," he adds. "I thought people would be all over this.
"I'm not too worried about the world actually ending, but then again, if I'm wrong, nobody's going to be around to tell me about it," he says.
"To me, the very fascination people have with it is something worthy of consideration. When people seem so interested in an absolute end - it makes you want to sit down and think about what that says about the human condition."
One immigrant to Storm Lake from the Mexico City area said she is not so sure that the end of the Mayan calendar is a laughing matter.
"I don't really think it was intended to mean the world was going to stop on a particular day, but I also think ancient civilizations sometimes had wisdom that we do not understand even today. In the things they left behind, I think they may have been trying to tell us something, and we should be trying to learn from what they knew."
NASA was so confident that the apocalypse will not happen on December 21st that they accidentially released a video entitled "Why the World Didn't End Yesterday" - 10 days before it was supposed to debut on Dec. 22.
In the message, astronomical and planetary experts debunk notions that the sun will irradiate the atmosphere or that a rogue planet will smash into our Earth, regardless of interpretation of the ancient Mayan calendar
The space agency's video claims that all the apocalyptic theories are built on a massive misconception.
Dr. John Carlson, who is the Director of the Center for archeo-astronomy says the Mayan calender in fact does not end on December 21st 2012.
'There were no Mayan prophecies that foretold the end of the world,' said Dr. Carlson who has been studying the 2012 phenomenon for years. 'The concept of time used by Mayan's dwarfed those of modern astronomers. According to our sciene the Big Bang occurred 13.7 billion years ago but there are dates in Mayan ruins that stretch back a billion billion times farther than that."
To the Mayans, the 5,125-year cycle known as the Long Count would come to a close on December 21 2012. The system started counting on what we would know as August 11, 3114 BC. We are completing its 13th and last baktun - or 5,125-year cycle, next Friday. Carlson believes the complicated calendar was designed like a car odometer in reverse - to run down to zero and then simply start over.
There is no evidence of any destructive prophesies to match that point left behind by the Mayan culture.
Some suggest that a series of natural disasters - earthquakes, tsunami, wildfires, hurricanes - along with predictions for such things as global warming, economic collapse or pandemic illness, have creates a global climate of fear. That climate is a rich breeding ground for any prediction of impending destruction.
We asked Pilot-Tribune readers to weigh in on the doom predictions via our Facebook page. None were expecting the worst.
"It's just like the calendar in out phones - so the calendar ends, no big deal. The Mayans didn't have leap year, so 2012 has already passed in their calendar," says Matthew Foley.
"If the Mayans were so good at predicting the future, there would still be Mayans," adds Stacey Diischer.
"The Mayan calendar stopped where it did because they died out, it's as simple as that... someone just blew that topic up too much," says Meele De La Paz.
"If you believe in God, then you wouldn't believe in this nonsense," says Lacey Vazquez.
A number of our readers also reflected on what they would do if it really was their final day.
"Supposing it was right, I would just want to have a family night with those I care most about," says Calli Johannsen.
"Spending my last hours with the people I love," agreed Mikki Withers.
"Well, I know what i would do if my days were done but i can't put them on here because the Christian way is not the popular vote anymore," reflected Jeff Kies.
"If it was true, which it's not.. I'd be on the couch eating junk food, holding my baby," Keri Hamrick said.
"Would'nt need to do the laundry, dishes, floors, cook, pay bills, scoop the poop, get groceries, take out the trash or make the bed," adds Ruth Freese. "Sounds like heaven to me already."
Storm Lake Pilot Tribune: Community News: It's the end of the world as we know it (again)... and do you feel fine? (12/17/12)
