[Aztlan] 12/21/12: The end of the world as we know it?

[Mario Cabrejos]

12/21/12: The end of the world as we know it?
Pauline.O'Connor at latimes.com
February 28, 2008
http://theguide.latimes.com/general/latcl-12-12-12-the-end-of-the-world-as-article

Four years, nine months and three weeks may be about all the time we have
left on Earth. Why? Dec. 21, 2012, marks the end of a 5,000-year cycle by
the Maya Long Count calendar. To some, this spells doomsday (disaster
scenarios include earthquakes, volcanic eruptions caused by solar storms,
cracks forming in the earth's magnetic field and mass extinction brought on
by nuclear winter). To others, it carries the promise of a new beginning.
And to still others, 2012 provides explanations for unsettling developments
(e.g., the disappearance of bees) that seem beyond our control.

While all this has largely been a hot topic within alternative cultures,
the 2012 phenomenon is slowly trickling into the mainstream. At least four
new books on 2012 have appeared in bookstores in the wake of the 2006
success of Daniel Pinchbeck's "2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl." This
month, Sony won a bidding war for disaster-movie king Roland "Godzilla"
Emmerich's apocalyptic script "2012." And this Saturday, 2012-ers will
converge on Hollywood for a day-long conference devoted to the subject.

"There's a real hunger for this kind of knowledge," says 2012 Conference
producer Christian John Meoli. Meoli takes a more optimistic view of the
date, referring to it as "the Shift" (the conference's slogan: "Shift
Happens"). "It's easy to manipulate people with fear," he says. "I wanted
to stay away from the gloom and doom."

Among those appearing at the conference will be "Return of Quetzalcoatl"
author and psychonaut Pinchbeck, who describes 2012 as "a window of
opportunity to change civilization."

Says Pinchbeck: "At the moment, global civilization is unsustainable. . . .
According to many scientists, 25% of our species will be extinct within 30
years. We need to re-center our world view away from materialism. My hope
is that by 2012, there's a fundamental redirection of focus, and we start
projecting the universal dream."

Other futurists scheduled to appear at the 2012 Conference include Alberto
Villoldo, a Cuban American medical anthropologist and psychologist who has
studied and practiced shamanism for more than two decades, John Major
Jenkins, author of "Maya Cosmogenesis 2012," and filmmaker Sharron Rose,
whose documentary "Timewave 2013" will kick off the conference.

"I'm also flying in a shaman from Peru -- you should see his rider!" Meoli
laughs. "Do you have any idea where I can get some yuk-yuk?"

Meoli plans to produce a total of 12 conferences in various cities around
the globe.

"The grand hurrah will be on Dec. 21, 2012, at the Mayan pyramids," he
says. "This is just the beginning."