02-11-2009, 01:08 AM
Quote:Yes, that's approximately the level we're working on here. Also see: your daily horroscope.
And your understanding is based on what? The quick-and-dirty wikipedia clearly contradicts this concept. Everything I've ever read in the scholarly literature on the topic emphasizes that the Mayans have a cyclical interpretation of events, which would mean the "end" of the calendar would be nonsensical.
-Jester
Quote:A cyclical interpretation is also noted in Maya creation accounts, in which the present world and the humans in it were preceded by other worlds (one to five others, depending on the tradition) which were fashioned in various forms by the gods, but subsequently destroyed.
The "cyclical interpretation" you refer to does indeed have both a begining and an end (multiple beginings and ends actually), each begining and end marking the coming of a new "age" (or world).
December 21st, 2012 is the "end" of this "age" (and perhaps the begining of another).
"It requires an unusual mind to undertake the analysis of the obvious."
--Alfred North Whitehead
--Alfred North Whitehead