2012: The End?
Over the last few days I’ve been reading the new book from Marie D. Jones: 2013: The End of Days or a New Beginning?
And having now completed it, I can tell you that her book is an excellent study of the many and varied controversies concerning the end of the Mayan calendar on December 21, 2012.
Is the world going to come to a fiery conclusion on that potentially fateful - and fatal - day? Or will we see a positive transformation that ushers in a whole new Golden Age-type era for Humankind? Or will we see absolutely nothing out of the ordinary happen at all?
These - and many others - are the questions that Marie’s book skilfully asks and answers.
So where to begin?
Well, at the beginning, of course!
After a thoughtful and insightful foreword from best-selling author Whitley Strieber (who has written at length himself on the issues of future disasters and cataclysmic events), we are treated to an excellent lesson in history from Marie, who reveals the notable story of the Mayan culture, how the Mayan calendar came into being, and what it was that led to the situation that we now find ourselves in: namely, wondering what the hell might happen in only four-and-a-half-years from now!
And that, of course, is the crux of the book.
Marie leaves no stone unturned as she addresses the issue of what our world, and our civilization, might be like after 2012 rolls over into 2013.
Are we going to see death and destruction on a scale that echoes the Old Testament? Will we experience monstrous earthquakes, floods and environmental disasters that overwhelm us into destruction? Is it possible that there could be some form of religious rapture looming ominously on the horizon, and one that comes to its climax in December 2012?
In asking these questions, Marie also gives us much-welcome data on such characters as Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce, Helena Petrovna Blavatsky, and Zecharia Sitchin, and she demonstrates that it’s not impossible that the latter days of 2012 and the years that follow could prove to be very bad indeed - if, of course, the whole “End of Days” ideas and beliefs have some merit to them.
But, don’t go slashing your wrists just yet!
Marie’s book is not one of doom and gloom, and neither is her approach to the subject matter: she stresses in the book that as far as the Mayans are concerned, “Yes, they say, the world will end. But only the world as we know it. The Mayans believed in spiritual transformation and the acceleration of conscious evolution.”
In other words, what we perceive to be doomsday might be the equivalent of the caterpillar turning into the butterfly - a positive end, and a fantastic new beginning. Again, Marie details for us the beliefs of the Mayans in this particular area (as well as the similar beliefs of different cultures), life-cycles, world-cycles, and the issue of the so-called “Thirteen Heavens” that are all integral parts of the story.
Marie also discusses a very important matter in the chapter of her book titled Who’s Behind the Curtain? Namely: “How much of what happens to us is predestined, as fate, and how much of it is free will or choice?”
For me, this is a very important question, as I feel that very often when it comes to predictions, and those who subscribe to them, there is often a sense of “Why do anything? It’s going to happen anyway.”
In this same chapter, and on this same aspect of the large 2012/2013 controversy, Marie also delves into the fears that surfaced around the whole Y2K saga, and has much to say that is good food for thought.
And then we get to the real Armageddon issues: if everything goes bad, how is it going to end for us? As far as the planet itself is concerned, might it be due to climate change, pollution, super-storms? How about atmospheric calamities? Or Godzilla-sized volcanoes and earthquakes? The list is both alarming and overflowing.
But what about the Earth’s worst infestation, that one thing which has wreaked more havoc and careless death and destruction than just about anything else? What am I talking about? Us, of course! That insanely reckless, Damian-like child known as the Human Race!
Marie’s thoughts on this matter make it abundantly clear that we have a potential to do far more damage than Mother Nature: population explosions, increased poverty, the possibility of water (our most valuable commodity) becoming a scarce luxury for future inhabitants of our planet, the very weird and highly ominous die-offs of bees all across the world recently (a tiny creature that is actually an integral part of our society), and energy sources running out might all be factors that hasten along the end.
And, of course, there’s the disease angle: viruses, SARS, Bird-Flu, West Nile Virus. Could these, and other emerging health-hazards, lead to our downfall as a species? Possibly.
Marie also looks at such intriguing areas as (a) the potential shifting of power on the world-stage from West to East; (b) the rise of the European Union; (c) China’s expanding role in a future world; (d) the current and future state of the Middle East; (d) future-trends in terrorism, and a great deal more.
Health is an important factor in Marie’s research too: might advances in technology and medicine allow us to dramatically extend our life-spans? Will we see a merging of man, machine and computers that transforms us for the better?
On the other hand, what about all the gigantic, diabetic, fat people lumbering around from one fast-food place to the next in their motorized carts? Will we see a population doomed by the fact that whole swathes of it can’t eat food in sensible portions anymore?
Here in Dallas, Texas I see such gargantuan behemoths all the time - and I see their children, too: 10-year-old kids huffing and puffing because they can’t walk half a mile. Why? Because all they do is eat, drink gallons of soda, watch TV, eat, drink gallons of soda, watch TV, etc. And then what? That’s right: along comes diabetes, heart-disease, daily insulin injections, and early deaths.
It would be ironic (and, in my slightly warped view, darkly humorous, too) if the age of the burger ushered in the age of the end. But again, maybe there is hope: the book shows that those aforementioned advances in technology and medicine might bring us back from the brink of extinction via the french-fry and the quadruple-cheese fatty-burger. And here we get into some fascinating areas, including matters related to artificial intelligence, robot technology, and artificial life.
And there’s another area that offers some hope: namely, the idea that we, collectively as a species, do something to save us and save our world.
This is the crux of Marie’s cleverly-titled chapter: Shift Shapers. After reading this chapter, you will realize that there are things that can be done, and that may very well help us. But, as you’ll also see, it requires not just physical change: it also requires a radical change in mindset, in the way we think, and with respect to how we view our world - not as something that is our property to arrogantly exploit and plunder. But as something to care for, to nurture, to protect - because if we don’t we may not have any sort of future.
As the book draws to a close, you are treated to a series of papers, essays and commentaries from various authors and writers giving their views, opinions and thoughts on what might happen on - and after - December 21, 2012. And those same views, opinions and thoughts are as varied and as intriguing as you might expect.
And there you have it: an in-depth, expertly written study of a subject matter that is quite literally just around the corner. In a few short years, we will know what 2013 has to offer, and if radical change is going to occur a few days before the end of 2012.
Maybe it will be good, maybe it will be bad. Maybe, nothing will happen, aside from the fact that perhaps all of the talk of death and disaster - as the date gets ever closer - will galvanize us to try and prevent the human and planetary disasters that could indeed overwhelm us. Or maybe it’s already too late and the countdown to the end has already begun.
Written, refreshingly, by someone with no personal axe to grind - or personal theory to push in our faces - Marie’s book lays out for us all the data, the theories, the possible futures that await us, and much more.
2013 is an essential read, and one that is at various times uplifting, disturbing, highly thought-provoking, but never without importance or relevance to anyone and everyone alive today.
Check out Marie’s website for further details: http://mariedjones.com/
PS: I timer-posted this particular post 24-hours ago, as I’m now away from home for the July 4th holiday weekend. I’ll be back online on Monday.
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Jul 04 2008 
July 4th, 2008 at 10:36 am
History repeats itself. Back in 1974, John Gribbin and Stephen Plagemann wrote a book, THE JUPITER EFFECT, predicting something significant would happen in 1982 when a major planetary alignment would take place. There was quite a bit of doom and gloom as usual, but as always, nothing ever happened. The reason is because nothing about the Jupiter effect was based on educated guessing followed up by objective observation or reproducible experimentation. It was psuedoscientific, New Age nonsense. What was important about this book was that it was a best seller and it made the authors famous — and isn’t this all that counts in the end?
Someday I would like to see someone write a book and tell everyone to stop being stupid and put on their thinking caps for once, and learn to discriminate between reality and nonsense. If a galactic alignment/Mayan end of calendar event could do anything to our consciousness or our physical world, we would know about it by now. During the last 500,000 years of Homo Sapiens Sapiens existence, they have been through about (200,000 / 5,125 =) 39 galactic alignments and nothing ever happened during any of those other 39 alignments, so what is so different about this one? We are currently within (4 / 5,125 =) 0.000008% of the galactic alignment, yet nothing out-of-the-ordinary is happening. When will the galactic alignment start to have any effect or is this supposed to be some kind of super duper ultra mega laser beam effect and only during that one day during that split second when the Earth passes through the galactic plane, all of civilization will dramatically change in an instant? And we know this because we have seen this all happen before, right? Wrong!
2013: THE END OF DAYS OR A NEW BEGINNING is THE JUPITER EFFECT all over again, only this time it is about a galactic alignment instead of a planetary alignment. There is nothing new in Marie’s book that we haven’t all heard of before, over and over again in most cases, so it isn’t breaking any new ground. It is the same ol’ story probably with the same ol’ hope of getting rich off of yet another doom and gloom fairytale. The question is, why are so many people stupid enough to spend their money in order to help history repeat itself?
July 4th, 2008 at 11:45 am
“Someday I would like to see someone write a book and tell everyone to stop being stupid and put on their thinking caps for once, and learn to discriminate between reality and nonsense”
Ehem!
Due to the link I just gave this message will probably not be seen until Monday, but anyway Sage, you may be right about the fact that 2012 is now the favored number to use in a lot of books; and that it’s fairly certain nothing will happen on that exact date—eventhough I once read a science article on MSNBC that claimed an increase in Solar activity was expected by 2012,according to the solar cycles our astronomers deducted just this century— but anyways, all the dangers the author and Nick talk about are already happening (e.g. in some neighborhoods of Mexico city water is already a luxury), and we should open our eyes to them so we can do something about it.
The Mayan state-cities were abandoned because of social upheaval that were probably brought by similar climate problems as the ones we are witnessing today, so even if 2012 is all bovine manure, there’s a lesson to be learned from the mayas.
PS: With your clear aversion for the morbidly obsese, I wonder what were your reactions after viewing Pixar’s ‘Wall*E’, Nick old boy?
PPS: Happy 4th of July, gringos!!! :0)
July 4th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
The contrast between the book review and Sage’s counterpoint is very Ying-Yang-ish. Couldn’t have asked for a better read while sitting on the pot!
July 4th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
…you take your laptop to the throne awdsmirk? 8-(
July 4th, 2008 at 1:32 pm
Beyond the Fringe End of the World sketch:
http://www.epicure.demon.co.uk/endworld.html
Rise of the European Union? Given their plummeting birth rate, in a hundred years there might be enough Europeans left to operate the medieval theme parks for Europe’s new owners, the Chinese and Indians!
July 4th, 2008 at 7:10 pm
I read somewhere that the Mayan calender is scheduled to be reset or start over on December 21, 2012; in the same way that our calender “resets” itself every December 31st (and goes back to January 1st).
No links on hand, but its something along the lines of the Mayan “long-count” calender reaching 13.0.0.0.0 on Dec. 21, and then the next day going back to 0.0.0.0.1 (Dec. 22).
So it may very well be nothing more than that.
July 4th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
La Lune, it is a little more than the end of the Mayan calendar. There are two other significant things that happen on that date: the winter solstice and the alignment of the Sun with the center of the Milky Way galaxy on that date. That does sound significant except for one little thing — it is wrong! I think it was Terrence McKenna who first mislead the New Agers into believing that Dec 21st, 2012, which is the end of the cycle of Mayan 5,125 years (Baktun), was not only the winter solstice (as it has been for the last 200 years or so. The winter solstice used to occur on Dec 25th during the Festival of Saturnalia, which was later on swapped for the celebration of the birthday of Christ, or Christmas, by the Catholics) but it is also when the Sun would align with the galactic center. That myth has been propagated to the point that now the the vast majority of people believe it is true, but the truth is that the Sun already passed the galactic center way back in 1997-98! If the Mayan calendar relied on these two conjunctions as a marker for the end of their 5,125 year cycle, they missed the mark by 11 years! So much for the “accuracy” of the Mayan calendar. Of course there is no use telling believers this because they are going to believe whatever they want to believe, despite the evidence to the contrary. Incredibly, pointing out this truth will make them believe in their own version all the more, but no matter, the argument I gave earlier still works to demonstrate the silliness of the whole idea.
July 5th, 2008 at 12:52 am
Have you read Daniel Pinchbeck’s “2012″? I haven’t read it yet, but it’s essentially optimistic.
July 5th, 2008 at 6:51 am
I firmly believe that 21Dec2012 will pass without major incident just like Y2K did. If there’s a new era of enlightened thinking, let’s hope that it’s one that keeps the best of the past and create a new sense of responsibility towards humanity lifting itself out of its intellectual and spiritual infancy. My greatest hope is that we humans can finally start a real space exploration program. We have had the technological means to begin a serious manned exploration of our immediate solar system for over 30 years but have been shackled to low earth orbit when we could have put humans full time on both Mars and the Moon 15-20 years ago.
July 5th, 2008 at 2:44 pm
Nick I was actually paging through this book today down at B & N (still no Alien Worlds and Stan’s book was gone). BTW I bought another copy of your Body Snatchers book today at my local pagan store…
Anyway here’s the deal: I’ve read Daniel Pinchbech’s 2012 book (which launched this latest new age craze — sorry but true). B & N features half a dozen new 2012 books! Also I’ve corresponded with Daniel quite a bit when he posted on his old website http://breakingopenthehead.com
The two books on the Mayans that I recommend are 1) Martin Pretchel’s “Secrets of the Talking Jaguar” and 2) Ptolemy Tompkin’s (son of New Age guru Peter Tompkin) — the title slips me, something about a tree under hell…
The point being that REAL Mayan culture (and I’ve been to the pyramids) is actually village shaman-based NOT pyramid-calendar ritual based. So in village shamanism the culture is much more like Taoism, where everything is gendered.
Now, as for the astronomical cycle, Sage raises an interesting point, but as usual, from WITHIN science, without taking into account the social and ecological consequences of science as a whole. That’s the MAIN difference between THIS galactic alignment and the previous ones — science is based on the SOLAR calendar, whereas the original Mayan culture was matrifocal shamanism (just like West Africa or Taoism, etc.).
So, take, John Gribbon, for example. I was reading another of his more recent science books — on the big bang. He was discussing the PROJECT POLTERGEIST — the search for neutrinos. I found that name fascinating. If you take a look at Peter Woit’s new book on how particle physics is a big scam — NOT EVEN WRONG is the title — he details how the model for neutrinos still is based on infinites which can not be renormalized.
Project Poltergeist — the beta decay of electrons through the nucleus does create alchemical transmutation. Nevertheless the scientific model for this relies on creating another particle which is hardly reliable as a product of nature. Science is a big scam and not just science - but ALL solar-based calendars.
So 2012? The fact is the Mayans were AFRAID of zero — because zero is the matrifocal principle of creation from formless awareness or pure consciousness. Kali is the same troubling concept (kala means time in the Vedic calendar and Kali is when time ends in destruction but then starts over as consciousness). If you’re a pyramid-priest ruling over a war-based dynasty then of course you will be obsessed with the idea of time ending or having some sort of linear, phallic trajectory.
All of these calendars rely on symmetric-based visually dominant perception which is just a byproduct of what Jacques Cauvin calls the “symbolic revolution” of circa 10,000 BCE. Matrifocal bushmen culture, in contrast, has been documented going back to 80,000 BCE. I just got the “Healing Dance of the Kalahari San” c.d. from the Smithsonian — amazing healing trance music of WOMEN singing.
Taoism and true matrifocal cultures are based on the concept of Number being ASYMMETRICAL or complementary. All of Western math relies on symmetric-based visually-dominant number (including the Mayan calendar). So the true meaning of 2012 is that 1 plus 1 does not equal 2. In other words 1:2, the harmonic octave, resonates, through natural overtones into 2:3 or yang — the perfect fifth harmonic, which in turn resonates into 3:4, the perfect fourth harmonic. That’s the Pythagorean Tetrad - the secret of Quezacoatal (sp?) — or whatever — Kundalini, etc. The Bushmen snake statue is from 80,000 BCE — the oldest snake worship on record.
In other words in the Mayan calendar and in Western math there’s a one-to-one correspondence of letter and number so that A x B = B x A. But I just showed you that in natural overtone harmonics 2:3 = 3:4 so that A x B does not equal B x A. That’s the secret of nonwestern shamanism, alchemy, etc. — and you won’t find it from the pyramid priests.
July 6th, 2008 at 10:53 am
“That’s the MAIN difference between THIS galactic alignment and the previous ones — science is based on the SOLAR calendar, whereas the original Mayan culture was matrifocal shamanism”
1) Science is not “based on the solar calendar”, that is nonsense based on a lack of knowledge of what science is or does. It is CIVILIZATION that is based on the solar calendar.
2) The Mayan calendar is off two days every 10,000. The most widely used calendar in use today, is the 1582 Gregorian calendar. It loses three days every 10,000 years. The Mayan calendar, which is not in use anywhere in the world today, loses two days every 10,000 years. How do we know this? Because the science of astronomy has told us this.
3) If the Mayan shamans could not get their calendar perfectly right, what is there about it that you would want to pretend it got any other thing perfectly right?
4) It does not matter WHO predicts the galactic alignment, what matters is the difference between the alignments will still be nil. Go read some history textbooks and see for yourself — the last 39 galactic alignments that have taken place in the last 200,000 years have had absolutely no effect on human consciousness or the environment, so again, why will this galactic alignment be any different?
July 7th, 2008 at 9:07 am
Drew, your post above is completely fitting for this blog since it’s run by Nick Redfern.
But taking a comment meant for “Nick” and pasting it over at Rigorous Intuition where, as far as I can tell, no one named “Nick” exists, just makes you look a tad bit loony.
I know I’m belaboring my point by coming here, but I’ve read enough of your RI comments addressed to non-existent RI-ers to wonder about your mental state.
Now that I know you’re just absolutely enthralled with everything that you type and you feel the need to share with others.
Which is fine. I’m just suggesting a little editing.
Your post at Rig Int would have looked much more reasonable if it wasn’t addressed to a “Nick” who wasn’t there.
Peace.
July 8th, 2008 at 1:13 pm
Kind of like the movie “In Bruges” which I just watched. You’re not sure if he dies at the end — and so it is in the Oz Effect: Are we conscious of that which we don’t remember? Being unconscious just means not being aware of consciousness, while the latter creates and enables the Oz Effect. The former is the tunnel or gate which is traversed — literally a black hole.
Consider the CERN experiments for mini-blackholes. As James Blodgett notes CERN admits there’s a .001 chance of the black holes expanding through a chain reaction which would then vaporize the planet. Blodgett notes that the physicists consider .001 chance to be nonexistant. Yet as a statistician Blodgett emphasizes that a .001 chance is what the space shuttle encounters with each voyage but a .001 chance would not be allowed for a commerical airplane, nevertheless physicists are allowing that risk level for the WHOLE PLANET. Blodgett has debated the CERN physicists and Blodgett contacted me after I posted a message online several years ago noting that astronomer Timothy Ferris had this to say on the CERN mini-blackholes: There’s a very slight chance the planet could be destroyed but it if happens no one will know it happened. The Oz Effect for the whole planet.
And so science operates as a huge unconscious repression of oppressive technology which the scientists then project back onto the planet as a whole. The Oz Effect is just one example of how a human experiencing occult high-tech would also become unaware of the black hole tunnel traversed into another dimension of spacetime. Usually the experience is then made conscious through hypnosis — just as Buddhist master Nan, Huai-chin details paradoxically there are “different levels of empty awareness.” And so science also justifies the possible vaporization of the planet as a necessary risk to eventually enable the whole universe to “evolve” through the advances in scientific technology. But as Sri Ramana Maharshi states about consciousness — nondual awareness: “There is no evolution.” That’s the difference between awareness as electromagnetic perception and consciousness as its own reality beyond spacetime.
July 9th, 2008 at 7:30 am
I was born on December 21st, so I have a special interest in this “End-of-days” scenario. I plan to have a big birthday celebration, I am creating special invites for the party-to-end-all-parties!
Personally I believe the Mayans were clearly advanced (Scientifically) well beyond what we perceive to be their technological capabilities… They unerringly predicted many planetary events with Swiss-style precision. I have no doubt “Something” is going to happen, what? I don’t know, but I will welcome the event with good food and drink.
NASA points to an extraordinarily potent Solar Maxim(um?) that will peak around 2012. Normally an event that goes unnoticed, cyclically, every 12 years or so… but due to an rare “Closeness” of our planet and the Sun, this one will be as NASA says, “A doozy”. This will disrupt many things with sensitive electronics, satellites cel phone communications, possibly other things to, but this in itself will hardly be an end-of-days harbinger.
Some of this is natural “Angst”, we can see our selves as a species reaching an apex, globally, ecologically, spiritually and technologically (Look up the technology singularity). It is natural, and probably sensible, to assume that we humans will eventually wipe ourselves out, through some self inflicted disaster, as has already been pointed out, from our inability to regulate our food consumption, to our rude disregard for our environment and precious resources, we don’t stand much of a chance in the long run.
I hope I’m wrong, but I see too much evidence every day to convince me that 80% of the human species is too stupid or arrogant to do anything but burn everything hard and fast until there is nothing left.
So on that note, on my birthday, December 21st 2012, I will be partying like it’s 1999!!
Peace