Our world will continue through 2012!

i'm aware of the predictions and fears. i do however know that the world will continue through 2012 into subsequent years. And i feel that i know this for four reasons:

1. It just makes sense.

Most often the the most probable possibility happens. (Obvioulsy, right?) That the world would end soon AND the idea that it could be predicted by anyone both seem extremely improbable to me.

It is most likely that this year, that the Pope has told us to call "2012," will come and go just like all the others before it.

2. i bet the supposed prediction has been confused, misinterpreted and/or blown out of proportion.

This tends to happen with predictions of disaster.

Back in May, there were predictions that a terrible earthquake was going to strike Rome, Italy, where i live. Some people got really worried about it. i know some people that left town on the predicted date, i heard about offices and businesses that closed up for fear of the impending earthquake.

The prediction has supposedly been made by Raffaele Bendandi, an Italian scientist who lived at the turn of the 20th century. He predicted several other earthquakes and natural events that are believed to have happened as predicted.

Wikipedia photo of Raffaele Bendandi

Well, obviously there was no terrible earthquake in Rome at that time. But the learning point for me is that with a little bit of research i found out (before the date had passed) that he had not actually predicted one for that time and place! Who knows how the idea started getting kicked around by the news media, but people got all upset and worried and he hadn't even actually made any sort of prediction like that.

Now i know a lot of people have put a lot of time and energy into reading all about Mayan predictions. i doubt many of them are looking at primary sources of information, i doubt many of them read the Mayan language, and i know that none of them was present to know the culture or context in which any specific predictions might have been made.

And i really doubt that world ending catastrophy is even what was actually predicted.

3. Buddha said so.

 In the past two winters i have gone to McLeod Ganj, in Northern India, to tutor Tibetan refugees in English. We volunteers were given a discussion topic to prep our Tibetan students on, have them write down their answer and then present their answer to the group in English. One day the topic were about the doomsday predictions for 2012.

Me with my Tibetan students making their English presentations.

Now, the type of English speaker that ends up hanging out and volunteering their time in Northern India tends to be at least a bit New Agey, so many of us might have had concern or even fear. But every one of the Tibetans in the room said that they were sure the world would not be ending any time soon because, according them (all of them Buddhists), Buddha said the world would end when all the people were small. ....i don't actually know that that means, but i happen to be spending time in the United States right now, where it is painfull clear that all the people are NOT small.

i have found plenty of Buddha's other teachings to be wise and beneficial for me, so choose to trust this one too.

The entire class, at the Lha office, in McLeod Ganj, India..

4. i simply believe it.

i do believe we are living in a special time and that changes, that have already begun, will happen in the year we call 2012, but a global catastrophy is not one of them. This will be another one of many doomsday scenarios that blows over without anything terrible happening.

i believe that human beings are awakening to new powers within themselves, but also to our universal connectedness. This will have good outcomes and i think these will begin becoming more clear in this much anticipated year, 2012.

So relax, have fun, hacuna matata and spread the word:

2012 is going to be the best year yet, i'm sure of it!

Enjoy your New Year's Eve, your new year, and then 

enjoy all of your experiences next year and into 

2013 as well! :-)

Earthly love

Photo credits: 1, 2, 3 & 4 from the author, 5, 6