Dec. 7, 2009 (Huffington Post) -- The movie 2012 has generated a tsunami of controversy over an ancient Mayan prophecy. We can thank Hollywood for stirring up our interest. Perhaps we needed a film loaded with global destruction and special effects to awaken our collective consciousness to this time of transformation. However, the theater version misses the true meaning of the message those great mathematicians and visionaries intended us to hear all those many centuries ago.
As I head off this week into the Mayalands of Central America, co-leading (with Llyn Roberts) a couple dozen people on an expedition that will delve deep into the significance of this ancient legend, I am struck by the signs that we are indeed poised to experience events foretold by the Mayan prophecy. But do not expect them to resemble the mayhem displayed in the movie.
Although there are many different interpretations of this prophecy, the one most widely accepted by the Maya teachers I know is taken from the Popul Vuh, the Mayan creation myth. Far from predicting a Hollywood-style doomsday, it holds out the possibility of positive transformation. In its simplest form, the people overthrow an egotistical regime characterized by exploitation and deception and replace it with an enlightened and compassionate one. In the process, the people have to surrender their own egos and endure material and environmental hardships.
December 21, 2012 was identified by the Mayans as the time when this transformation will become most obvious. It was an auspicious date for them because their astrologers predicted that at that moment the sun would move into alignment with the center of the Milky Way. Modern scientists, not the Mayans, offer theories that are the basis for the film's thesis that the earth's climate and magnetic poles may be changing.
READ MORE: Huffington Post
