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2012. . .

justaguy333justaguy333
edited March 2010 in Buddhism Basics
what is all this hype about 2012?

does anyone really buy into the theory that this will be a major change?

i've heard that were all supposed to go to hell/heaven/higher consciousness/etc. i mean i know theres been the y2k scare and all but i dont think as many people took that as seriously as some seem to take this date.
what makes this one any different? and am I a fool for not automatically discrediting this theory?

Comments

  • RayfieldNeelRayfieldNeel
    edited March 2010
    There are probably multiple 2012 doomsday theories going around, but the most popular one is the idea that Dec. 21st, 2012 will mark the end of the Mayan Long Count Calendar. Details here. New agers and doomsday folks interpret that event in various ways.

    Y2K, at least in the circles that I hang out in, was about the tech issue with the 2-digit date. It's now hip to pretend like that was a complete non-issue, but I personally know people that worked endless hours to adjust millions of lines of code in industry to make sure the switchover went okay...so the truth is that it's hard to know if something bad would have happened, failing that.

    I'm not really the superstitious type, so I'm not "getting ready" for 2012 or anything. Something "bad" could happen tomorrow..next week..next year..whatever. I'll accept and deal with that as it comes. :)
  • CittaCitta Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Oh purleeeeease. :cool:
  • DazzleDazzle
    edited March 2010
    justaguy333 wrote: »
    what is all this hype about 2012?

    does anyone really buy into the theory that this will be a major change?


    My answer to the first question... Just more hype !

    To sum up the second question in one word..... No ! :)






    .
  • FoibleFullFoibleFull Canada Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Oh yes, 2012 ... not the first "end of the world" or "way of how we know things" date. And not the last. As an oldster, I've watched these come and go.

    And I've watched how the people who like to talk about the latest "doomsday date" become animated and excited when they discuss it. What I find most interesting is this: Why are they excited about the possibility of cataclysmic change (which would presage suffering for so many), but not excited about everyday life? Is their life that boring or distasteful?
  • jovialpranksterjovialprankster
    edited March 2010
    I'm hoping it will be the Rapture, then millions of Christians will be miraculously transported to the heavens and we'll have a bit more space & the stuff that they leave behind. I could do with a new car.....:D
  • LesCLesC Bermuda Veteran
    edited March 2010
    RayfieldNeel wrote: »
    I'm not really the superstitious type, so I'm not "getting ready" for 2012 or anything. Something "bad" could happen tomorrow..next week..next year..whatever. I'll accept and deal with that as it comes. :)

    We do not know where death awaits us: so let us wait for it everywhere.

    Les :om:
  • RenGalskapRenGalskap Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Does anyone remember the big fuss about the year 1000 and how it was supposed to be the end of the world and the second coming? What? No one remembers? Jeeze, you people are older than me! Your memories are failing!
  • kicktotheheadkicktothehead
    edited March 2010
    The part that I laugh about is the "end of the world"....sure...we may all die...or get wiped out....but will the WORLD end??

    No...never...this planet has been through so many cataclysmic changes over millions of years...its still kicking....and always will.....
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited March 2010
    No, it won't.
    All compounded phenomena are impermanent.
    The world is geologically cracking up as we speak.
    But the only thing that matters is being prepared for when the world will end - for you.
    Could be 2012.
    Could be this evening.
    How prepared or ready, are you for either?
  • questionfulquestionful
    edited March 2010
    the large hedron collider is scheduled to collide some particles in 2012 that might create a black hole.

    Terrence mcKenna, before hearing of the mayan calendar, created a computer program that predicted some sort of time-related culmination event in 2012.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faBd_0eyMFw
  • RayfieldNeelRayfieldNeel
    edited March 2010
    After reading federica's post, I suddenly didn't want to be at work anymore. :o

    I found this to be entertaining: http://www.pixlmonster.com/goatsy/2012/
  • allanstevnsallanstevns
    edited March 2010
    federica wrote: »
    No, it won't.
    All compounded phenomena are impermanent.
    The world is geologically cracking up as we speak.
    But the only thing that matters is being prepared for when the world will end - for you.
    Could be 2012.
    Could be this evening.
    How prepared or ready, are you for either?

    Just my thought - The world may or may not end 2012. It might end within the next 10 minutes. We dont know - all we have is the here and now.
  • RenGalskapRenGalskap Veteran
    edited March 2010
    allanstevns wrote: »
    The world may or may not end 2012. It might end within the next 10 minutes.
    It can't! I haven't had my chocolate yet! It has to wait until bedtime!
  • allanstevnsallanstevns
    edited March 2010
    RenGalskap wrote: »
    It can't! I haven't had my chocolate yet! It has to wait until bedtime!

    Your chocolate might also "end" within the next 10 min LOL
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited March 2010
    federica wrote: »
    The world is geologically cracking up as we speak.
    It isnt cracking up any more or less than it ever has. Plate movement is normal, what changed is that we now occupy every unstable square foot on the planet.
  • PietroPumokinPietroPumokin
    edited March 2010
    i think by 2012 the world will definitely undergo some major changes, i mean we live in a very volatile age, you know for instance buddhism is taking a firm root in the west and i think that has many good repercussions! buddhism is very appealing! and the revolutions that technology provide.... we live in very crazy days.
  • RayfieldNeelRayfieldNeel
    edited March 2010
    Pietro Pumokin wrote: »
    i think by 2012 the world will definitely undergo some major changes, i mean we live in a very volatile age, you know for instance buddhism is taking a firm root in the west and i think that has many good repercussions! buddhism is very appealing! and the revolutions that technology provide.... we live in very crazy days.

    I was a kid in the 1970's..we all thought that for sure we'd all be in flying cars by 2000...:p

    All that's happened, tech-wise, is that the pace of life has increased to a point to where it's difficult to stop and smell the roses. I don't see this slowing down in the next 2 years.

    Is there evidence that Buddhism is really taking root? Westerners have been traveling to Asia and bringing the teachings over for decades, but we were still in the 1 or 2% range in the last survey I saw. I'm not trying to debate it, merely curious if you had seen some information about it that was interesting. :)
  • MountainsMountains Veteran
    edited March 2010
    I wonder if the people of Haiti or Chile are worried about 21 December 2012 at this point? I kinda doubt it. I know I'm not. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow. In point of fact, I very nearly had a head-on collision on my way to work this very morning with someone stopped heading the wrong way on my side of the road around a blind curve. The closest I've come to such a thing in a very, very long time. I could be dead right now. 2012? Not so worried.

    Mtns
  • PietroPumokinPietroPumokin
    edited March 2010
    RayfieldNeel wrote: »
    I was a kid in the 1970's..we all thought that for sure we'd all be in flying cars by 2000...:p

    All that's happened, tech-wise, is that the pace of life has increased to a point to where it's difficult to stop and smell the roses. I don't see this slowing down in the next 2 years.

    Is there evidence that Buddhism is really taking root? Westerners have been traveling to Asia and bringing the teachings over for decades, but we were still in the 1 or 2% range in the last survey I saw. I'm not trying to debate it, merely curious if you had seen some information about it that was interesting. :)
    no, i was pretty much just saying this based on my own reasoning. i haven't read much history on american buddhism and buddhism in the west in general but i know that in the past fifty years it is much more prevalent than it has ever been. for example jack kerouac's book the dharma bums introduced buddhism to american audiences in 1957, i have no idea how big of an impact it had but i wouldn't doubt it piqued a fair amount of interest. i can't see buddhism turning back empty handed in the west, i mean it is as i said a fairly appealing movement, and it has done fairly well already. MEDITATION, as well as yoga, is definitely becoming more familiar and being practiced by westerners. and so i would say it is taking root, for example you can find non-asian buddhist teachers anywhere. it only takes certain things to greatly increase the acceleration of a movement. but like i said i'm just talking from my own reasoning. i don't know what will be happening in 2012, but i think there will be some interesting events that unfold over the next few years either way, bad and good. certainly no doomsday! well, maybe not for everybody.... but yeah, haiti just had a doomsday.
  • RayfieldNeelRayfieldNeel
    edited March 2010
    In my area of the country, there's a Protestant church on every corner..but you have to dig for a while to figure out where the Buddhists are. My family attends a church around the corner; it was opened in 2006 and now has an active membership of over 2000. The sangha to which I belong was started in 1995, and has an active membership of perhaps 50. Maybe the Buddhist Renaissance hasn't reached us yet. :p

    Joking aside, I do want my children to live in a peaceful and happy society...but people have to choose their own path, and it may be quite a while before our sex-charged, materialistic, confrontation-loving people can figure out that those things do not bring lasting happiness. They may figure out that they need spirituality, but they may want something more familiar, like Christianity. None of my friends want to mess around with learning about Pali or the Nikayas. :rolleyes:

    But let us not completely disagree...there are positive signs. The internet has opened up so many new avenues, and many Buddhists, well, the Western ones that I've met, seem to be tech-oriented, or at least comfortable with Web 2.0 and social networking. (I have a Facebook account; a friend of mine from high school recently became a fan of a Tibetan Rinpoche...it was a guy that I would never have associated with Buddhism, quite surprised me..)

    Also, many Americans seem to hold the Dalai Lama in high regard, and Thich Nhat Hanh/Jack Kornfield/Brad Warner types are coming closer to being household names every day. So even if not everyone chooses Buddhism (even HHDL says that it's not for everyone), at least they are (perhaps) interested in paths that lead to happiness and peace. And that's a good thing. :)
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited March 2010
    Richard Herman wrote: »
    It isnt cracking up any more or less than it ever has. Plate movement is normal, what changed is that we now occupy every unstable square foot on the planet.
    I wasn't trying to imply that it was necessarily imminently terminal...I just meant it's cracking up as we speak....
    In fact, apparently, it has been noted that in all the recent geological disasters we have witnessed in the past twenty years or so, the earth's axis has been altered and we have actually 'lost "time" in the length of days....
    So truly, every compounded phenomenon never ever stays the same.....

    (I'm feeling a bit off-colour myself, at the mo'.....:D)
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited March 2010
    In 2012 the cartoon segment of the world will begin. Everything is going to look like cartoons :) And we are going to be able to see bubbles above everybodies head showing what they are thinking!
  • RichardHRichardH Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Jeffrey wrote: »
    In 2012 the cartoon segment of the world will begin. Everything is going to look like cartoons :) And we are going to be able to see bubbles above everybodies head showing what they are thinking!

    Does this mean my head and hands will become enlarged out of disproportion for my body? .....and I'll lose a finger? :eek:
  • federicafederica Seeker of the clear blue sky... Its better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to speak out and remove all doubt Moderator
    edited March 2010
    But I don' wanna be banana-yellow and say "D'oh!" all the time......

    D'oh!!
  • PietroPumokinPietroPumokin
    edited March 2010
    RayfieldNeel wrote: »
    In my area of the country, there's a Protestant church on every corner..but you have to dig for a while to figure out where the Buddhists are. My family attends a church around the corner; it was opened in 2006 and now has an active membership of over 2000. The sangha to which I belong was started in 1995, and has an active membership of perhaps 50. Maybe the Buddhist Renaissance hasn't reached us yet. :p

    Joking aside, I do want my children to live in a peaceful and happy society...but people have to choose their own path, and it may be quite a while before our sex-charged, materialistic, confrontation-loving people can figure out that those things do not bring lasting happiness. They may figure out that they need spirituality, but they may want something more familiar, like Christianity. None of my friends want to mess around with learning about Pali or the Nikayas. :rolleyes:

    But let us not completely disagree...there are positive signs. The internet has opened up so many new avenues, and many Buddhists, well, the Western ones that I've met, seem to be tech-oriented, or at least comfortable with Web 2.0 and social networking. (I have a Facebook account; a friend of mine from high school recently became a fan of a Tibetan Rinpoche...it was a guy that I would never have associated with Buddhism, quite surprised me..)

    Also, many Americans seem to hold the Dalai Lama in high regard, and Thich Nhat Hanh/Jack Kornfield/Brad Warner types are coming closer to being household names every day. So even if not everyone chooses Buddhism (even HHDL says that it's not for everyone), at least they are (perhaps) interested in paths that lead to happiness and peace. And that's a good thing. :)
    indeed, ray
    for me, it doesn't matter if buddhism stays at 1% of the population or goes to 29%, what really matters is that people enthusiastically pick up (buddhists included) what buddhism espouses, and it becomes evident in day to day life, in as many places as possible. i don't think this is that impossible or unlikely to happen. i think many of the more conservative christians also need to screw their heads back on and let go of prejudiced and close-minded beliefs that are thoroughly unchristian. i would in fact encourage christians to be more christian and not advocate any buddhism at all, except for that which should be common to both the two religions, love and compassion and understanding and contemplation. contemplation which is not foreign to christianity at all but essential! the majority of christians know nothing of meister eckhart the german mystic who in many ways was very similiar to buddhists and who was a great christian thinker. as far as i am concerned, buddhism is christianity and christianity is buddhism, insofar as the buddha and christ were very similiar teachers.
    like you said the internet has opened up some good opportunities. it shows how much more interconnected we all are than we ever have been before. it brings interbeing to a palatable level. i seriously think our culture, every culture in fact probably, has and is still undergoing some radical changes that will bring some latent revolutionary potential to fruition and alter the way humans exist. hopefully, in a good way! but i don't see how love can be defeated, but then again i usually only try to look on the optimistic side of things. yet i don't think that that's that inappropriate a thing to do. whatever happens, we'll see.

    -and for any person honestly interested in their religion, they should know that meditation is practically the only way of truly knowing god and being with him, whether god comes to stand for Brahma, yehweh, emptiness or the Tao, or even sex and drugs, and i think people will come to know this and sincerely practice it in the future.
  • JeffreyJeffrey Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Does this mean my head and hands will become enlarged out of disproportion for my body? .....and I'll lose a finger?

    Look at the positives. The gas shortage will come down because we will be putting holes in our cars and powering them with our running legs. :p
  • RayfieldNeelRayfieldNeel
    edited March 2010
    Pietro Pumokin wrote: »
    i think many of the more conservative christians also need to screw their heads back on and let go of prejudiced and close-minded beliefs that are thoroughly unchristian.

    With respect, I've met some pretty close-minded liberals in my travels.
    But your point is well-taken, and I agree. :)
  • David_2009David_2009
    edited March 2010
    I think many people are obsessed with 2012 'cause there's something about an Apocalypse that captures many peoples imagination (it's one of the reasons why Apocalyptic themes show up in movies, TV shows, fantasy books, etc). Maybe it gives peoples lives more meaning, if they believe the world is ending soon or that they can somehow "stop it".

    Personally, I kind of like learning about the different Apocalyptic beliefs, but, I'm not sure if I'd buy any of them.
  • CittaCitta Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Its interesting to put predictions of apocalypse into your search engine.
    If you do you will see that they have occurred at regular intervals for millenia.
    The whole Mayan Calender thing is so obviously BS that I am amazed that it still attracts discussion.
    But I guess it provides a means for displacement of anxiety.
    At least no one has mentioned Indigo Children....;)
  • DeshyDeshy Veteran
    edited March 2010
    Well from what I have read so far on this it is not a dooms day in the sense that the entire world will be destroyed. It is believed that a major natural disaster will happen. It's not the end of the world but probably a major disaster. How can we say such a disaster cannot happen even tomorrow? :)
  • PalzangPalzang Veteran
    edited March 2010
    It never ceases to amaze me how people can make so much out of absolutely nothing. The Mayans were great calendar makers, a testament to their great prowess as astronomers. However, their view of time was cyclical, not longitudinal like ours. Their lives were based on the cycles of the year, so some of their calendars were agricultural to let farmers know when to plant and when to harvest. Others were religious. The so-called long calendar was like the master calendar all the others were based on, and it too is cyclical. Reaching the end of a particular cycle was a cause for great celebration by the Maya, not fears of impending disaster. So in reality 21 Dec 2012 is the first day of the 14th cycle since the date the Mayans believed everything to have been created, Aug 11, 3114 b.c.e., according to our calendar. In other words, no big deal. Just another excuse to rip a lot of people off by instilling fear in them.

    Palzang
  • questionfulquestionful
    edited March 2010
    Forget the mayan calendar, it's all about Terrence McKenna's "Timewave Zero" Theory!!!!~!!!!

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghTNTuDW-3k
    it's an 8 part series (80 minutes), it makes more and more sense towards the end
  • justaguy333justaguy333
    edited March 2010
    thank you all for the wonderful responses, i look forward to sharing more. . .
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