In the last couple of years the conspiracy theorists convinced quite a few people that centuries ago the Mayan calendar predicted the world is ending tomorrow – just when we are starting to gain a bunch of momentum with our business. So, this may be the last blog entry I write.
Of course, an Art History professor at the University of Texas at Austin – a renowned expert on Maya culture and winner of the UNESCO medal for lifetime contributions on Maya archeological sites – thinks there is a different explanation: providing comfort during a time of crisis.
“The hieroglyphs emphasized seventh century history and politics,” said David Stuart in an article on the school’s website. The world’s leading epigrapher of Maya script recently deciphered 56 glyphs in the Guatemalan jungle and discovered 200 years of history. “The monument commemorated a royal visit… by the most powerful Maya ruler… a few months after his defeat by a longstanding rival in 695 AD.”
Instead of predicting the world’s demise, Stuart believes the calendar alluded to a larger cycle of time that “happens to end in 2012.” When troubled, the ancient Maya “used their calendar to promote continuity and stability.” The importance of December 21, 2012, is to introduce a new cycle of hope. It’s “the end of 13 bak’tuns” and “the point was to associate the diving king’s time on the throne to time on a cosmic scale.”
Rest easy tonight. You’re likely going to wake up tomorrow just in time to do all that last-minute Christmas shopping. After all, as Stuart notes, “There are many more bak’tuns to come.”
