A writer recently wrote to the editor and asked the question if the world will end in 2012. The question seemed almost rhetorical because the writer presented a totally negative side of his argument with nothing on the other side to balance it off. He stops at the quoting of the scriptures. This argument requires much more than this. Even though I am in agreement with the scriptures, that no man can know of the date and time of the end, I will attempt to present a balanced argument.
Many have failed in their predictions because they attempted to name a date and time, as on a cosmic scale such a task is infinitesimal and almost incalculable, because of the relativity of time. So it does not help to substantiate his argument by quoting all the failures of the past where knowledge was not very advanced.
Did the writer stop to think that the end referred to in December 21, 2012, was not meant to be taken literally? That it really meant the end of a 26,000-year cosmic cycle called the precession of the equinoxes?
Most of the ancient cultures who were advanced in astronomy such as the Maya, Hopi and Anasazi of North America, Egyptians, Indians, Chinese, Dogon of Africa and others, all came to the same conclusion. They calculated that on this date, a cycle would have been completed and created structures to inform us of this, namely pyramids.
Nostradamus also discovered that the end of this cycle would bring our sun and planetary system into the dark rift in the centre of our galaxy called the milky way. This phenomenon is called the galactic alignment. No one knows what will happen when this occurs, because we have no records going back to that time.
There is an intellectual twist in treating with this subject of the galactic alignment in that it probably does not refer to a sudden physical cataclysmic event, but a change and elevation in the human mind and spirit. This change is probably being brought about by our responses to changing conditions here on earth in the environment, weather, food availability and economics, etc.
This is the recent thinking of the sages that meditate upon this issue. The changes may be in our attitude towards each other as enlightened human beings, that barriers of race, creed and cultures and political borders would be a thing of the past.
My argument actually consists of two parts really, the first is based on our accumulated scientific knowledge whereby a series of logical events can be predicted but not assured due to the outcome of cause and effect. The other half of my argument is purely speculative, because at the end of the last cycle the world did not end, but there may have been major upheavals that put us on the road to where we are presently, no one really knows.
Because of the proximity of our sun and planetary system to the centre of our galaxy, many changes are already upon us. Added to that the sun is at the peak of its own 12-year cycle. To name some of the changes:
The melting of the polar ice caps is causing changes in world weather by changing the temperature and salinity of the ocean currents which determine weather. This is called the thermohaline effect, more severe storms such as Sandy, hotter sun due to the weakening of ozone protection and the magnetosphere.
As I said before, all these changes provide mankind with a challenge to rise to the occasion and thereby become a more enlightened being. The question of whether the world will end in 2012 is really to stimulate the intellect, to make us more aware of how delicate our existence is in our universe and better prepare us for the future.
Joel Quintal,
Union Hall