Introduction
Is the world going to end on 2012. There are a rising number of experts who believe that if the world does not actually end in 2012, some kind of cataclysmic event will definitely take place which end the world as we know it. So what is the basis of this doomsday prophecy? Apparently, the highly sophisticated Mayan calendar comes to end on December 21, 2012. This ending of the calendar is construed by many to signify the end of the world.
Main body
The Mayan civilization was extremely advanced in mathematics, engineering and astronomy. They were also very particular about their dates and had several calendars to mark their dates. These calendars were highly accurate, perhaps even more accurate than the Gregorian calendar which we use today. One of these calendars, known as the “long count calendar” had a complex system to mark each day and this calendar records dates for 5126 years starting with 3114 BC. However, on 21 December 2012, this calendar comes to an abrupt end. The Mayans do not give any reason for this abrupt ending living the field wide open for scientists and pseudo-scientists to interpret it in whatever way they please. And the doomsday theory advocates have interpreted it to mean the end of the world.
However, this is one prophecy which seems to be backed by scientific evidence. According to John Major Jenkins, the Mayan calendar was very precise and it predicted a very special happening in the universe on 21 December 2012. Our galaxy revolves around the center of the Milky Way and once every 25800 year, the Earth comes into direct alignment with the sun and the galactic center. On 21 December 2012, such an alignment will take place. No one knows what this unique event will cause but according to a documentary aired on the History Channel in August 2006, it will have dire consequences. According to this documentary, the geophysicists predict that this unique alignment will result in a “pole shift”. What this means is that entire mantel of the Earth will shift in a matter of days, perhaps even hours, so that the poles would shift to somewhere near the equator. It is not hard to imagine the consequence of such an event with the polar ice melting and many of the low lying areas getting completely submerged.
This event, however, seems to be so unlikely that most people do not really believe in this doomsday theory. Instead, researchers like Jenkins believe that the on or around this day their will be some great cataclysmic event but nothing as drastic as the pole shift or the end of the world. Jenkins also does not believe that December 21, 2012 marks the end of time. Instead, in his opinion, time is cyclic and the date only marks the end of one cycle and beginning of another.
Another person who predicts this doomsday is Jose Arguelles, who arguably came up with this 2012 date. However, most critics feel that there are a lot of loopholes in his arguments and dismiss him as just another doomsday advocate.
Reference
Jenkins, J.M. “2012: The Doomsday Prophecy”. History Channel. 2006. Web.