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07 August 'Round and Round We Go?Throughout history, mankind has wondered and speculated about what comes next. With recent events in the Middle East and elsewhere around the world, I've heard and read many theories about the "End of Days"... not to mention, what I've learned from my own parochial school background (thanks Mom).
Anyway, it's all just food for thought. So, I figured I'd give y'all something else to chew on while you're at it...
The Gregorian Calendar that most of the 'civilized' world adheres to is based on a linear concept of time. For many, it's the only known measure of days to come and marker of past events, but it is not the only measure.
In what is presently the jungles of Central America, there once lived a thriving culture that ruled the land - the Maya. They built complex cities with hundreds of thousands of inhabitants, developed thier own style of heiroglyphic writing, possessed understanding of algebraic equations, and charted the movements of the heavens with great accuracy. From this last accomplishment, the Maya elite composed several cyclical calendars, based on the concept that time and history (like the turning heavens) repeats itself.
The first calendar, called Tzol'kin, was used for religious and ceremonial purposes, and was composed of 260 days.
The second calendar, called Haab, was used primarily for agriculture, and was composed of 18 months of 20 days each... and a 5 day 'month' at the end of the cycle called Wayeb or "the nameless days", during which, evil spirits were said to roam the Earth... kind of like a 5-day Halloween, if you will. All told, 365 days.
To synchronize the Tzol'kin and the Haab, the Maya came up with a 52-Haab cycle that brought both calendars together in perfect unison.
Aside from these, there was also a 1,872,000-day cycle known as the Long Count Calendar or 'Great Cycle', which started at 0.0.0.0.0, or according to the accepted correlations of the Gregorian and Mayan Calendars, somewhere between August 11th and 13th, 3114 BC.
The Mayan Bible, or Popol Vuh, claims that mankind exists (according to the Long Count Calendar) in a 4th 'world', or cycle, that post-dates 3 of the god's previously failed attempts... a 'world' which they believed would end in catastrophe somewhere between December 21st (Winter Solstice) and the 23rd day of the same month, 2012 AD, or by Mayan numbers, 13.0.0.0.0.
For whatever it's worth, the Maya did not believe the terminal date of this 'Great Cycle' would bring about the destruction of the Earth, only a great catastrophe.
According to legend, the destruction of Earth comes at the end of the 5th 'world'.
I'm not saying it's right or wrong, but it is enough to make you wonder...
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