What's got you worried? Have a seat and tell me all about your fears. The stock market? Terrorism? Presidential elections? NBA lockout?
Stop worrying. Apparently, you won't be around much longer. The 2012 apocalypse is back on.
You see, there's this "brick" that was discovered at the Mayan ruins of Comalcalco in the Mexican state of Tabasco. (Yes, like the sauce.)
According to people who know such things, this brick has inscriptions that also indicate the world (or more precisely, an era of time) will end in 2012.
Now there are TWO tablets talking of "the end."
It all started with the famous inscription found in the ruins of Tortuguero. The translators said the Tortuguero tablet explicitly referred to the end of the 13th b'ahktun - or era - on December 21, 2012.
So we're doomed, right?
You wish.
Before launching into "end of the world party mode," consider this: The Mayan calendar has had many other "b'ahktuns" come and go and we (humans) are still here. Anthropologists say the Mayas believed time started and ended with regularity with nothing apocalyptic occurring at the end. In the west, some religious scholars refer to dispensations of time... but don't get all excited, keep reading.
Granted, the end of the 13th Mayan era also comes with some cryptic warnings such as "he will return." The "he" is apparently some vaguely defined Mayan deity that represents both war and creation.
Two jobs? Apparently times are tough even among the gods.
But I ask you, when was the last time the past, present or future activities of any Mayan deity was on your radar?
Let's go back to "the guys who know such things" one more time. Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History issued this statement about the Comalcalco brick: “Western messianic thought has twisted the cosmovision of ancient civilizations like the Maya.”
If my geek-speak translator is working properly, that means we're trying to impose what we were taught in Sunday School on what little Mayans were taught a very long time ago. Water and oil.
By the way, the institute plans to hold a meeting of Mayan experts next week to “dispel some of the doubts about the end of one era and the beginning of another in the Mayan Long Count calendar.”
Now we can all breathe easier.
