Mexico’s National Institute of Anthropology and History is holding their round table effort to beat back 2012ologists with actual facts and research, which they had previously announced in their discussions of the not-new-news Comalcalco Brick. Now, in the news today, one of the members of the scholarly panel has had his comments reported — coincidentally, it is the same Mayan scholar, Sven Gronemeyer , whose drawing of the Tortuguero monument I used in my post a couple of days ago (and again on the right).
Here’s the article from Yahoo!News: “Expert: Mexico glyphs don’t predict apocalypse.”
Actually, all of this is old news. Tortuguero Monument 6 does not predict an apocalypse or “end of the world” in 2012. The Comalcalco Brick does not predict an apocalypse or “end of the world” in 2012. The Dresden Codex does not predict an apocalypse or “end of the world” in 2012. The Chilam Balam does not predict an apocalypse or “end of the world” in 2012. And the collection of Mayan scholars — whose lives are invested in studying this ancient culture — say with a remarkably singular voice: The Maya did not predict an apocalypse or “end of the world” in 2012.
It all really is a modern phenomenon that did not originate in the religion or beliefs of the Maya. (To which I should add: even if it did, so what? Read your Bible! 🙂 )
Here are some comments from the article (but do read the whole article if you’re interested — it’s brief):
At least that’s according to a German expert who says his decoding of a Mayan tablet with a reference to a 2012 date denotes a transition to a new era and not a possible end of the world as others have read it.
…”The date acquired a symbolic value because it is seen as a reflection of the day of creation,” Gronemeyer said. “It is the passage of a god and not necessarily a great leap for humanity.”
…Many experts doubt the second inscription [on the Comalcalco Brick] is a definite reference to the date cited as the possible end of the world, saying there is no future tense marking like there is in the Tortuguero tablet.
The institute has tried to dispel talk of a 2012 apocalypse, the subject of numerous postings and stories on the Internet. Its latest step was to arrange a special round table of Mayan experts this week at Palenque, which is where Gronemeyer made his comments.
As I’ve said before, I’ve never seen any credible evidence — any credible evidence, at all – that the Maya predicted some sort of world-ending apocalypse in 2012, not by flood, fire, famine, or even stale television programming. Now, I have seen people wrongly interpret Mayan writings and carvings based on Western religious ideas — ideas that would be foreign to Maya culture. And I’ve seen people try to tie together elements of Mayan culture which cannot be demonstrated in any credible way to work together and in a way that no Mayan scholar supports. And I have researched the origins of 2012ology and found it to be based on modern shamanism, astrology, worship of pagan cultures, and hallucinogenic drug use. But, no, I’ve seen no evidence that the Maya ever thought about 2012 in the manner that false prophets and New Age gurus of today think about it.
I’m certainly willing to be wrong about this — especially since even if the Maya did say anything like their modern misinterpreters say they did — it would merely lead to the follow-up question (come on, say it with me now): “So what?”
Don’t pay money and buy a New Age, drug-inspired 2012 book from your local Barnes & Noble (it only encourages them to put more on their shelves!) 🙂 Instead, get our free materials, including an absolutely free DVD! Just see the list of (FREE) resources at the end of this post here: “The Comalcalco Brick and the 2012 Non-pocalypse” Learn more than the truth about 2012 — check out what the future really has in store… Reality puts 2012 goofiness to shame.
Thoughts En Route 