The end of the end-story

[drugo]

I just read a great article entitled 'And end history. And go to the stars: Terence Mckenna and 2012' by Wouter Hanegraaff, in the book: Cusack, C. (2009) 'Religion and retributive Logic'.

One of the central arguments is that Jose Arguelles (perhaps the leading foundational figure behind the 2012 prophecy movement) only published his ideas on the now famous Mayan Dec 21st 2012 date after meeting with Terence Mckenna in 1985 (p.309). And that although Mckenna announced that his timewave zero theory (which claims Dec 2012 as the end-of-time) was disproved (see below) it hasn't stopped numbers of people believing that the 2012 phenomenon is some sort of 'divine-more-than-human-prophesy' and not fabricated by sloppy mathematics and mushroom-channeling hybridising with Arguelles' highly critiqued thoughts on Mayan time systems.

The article demonstrates a sympathetic udnerstanding of T. and D. McKennas story and is highly worth reading for those interested in this sort of thing.

P.311

Watkins discussed his objections with McKenna in person, and finally appears to have convinced him:

"Both the final discussion he seemed to have fully grasped the nature of the problem, and admitted that the theory has 'no basis in rational thought'. He claimed (and this struck me as sincere) that the was only interested in truth, and that someone 'disproving' the theory was just as much of a relief to him as someone confirming its validity. He proposed that we collaboarate on a piece provisionally entitled 'Autopsy for a mathematical Hallucination' in which we would carefully take the theory apart and see what had gone wrong. He claimed that I was the first person to approach him with a serious mathematical critique of his ideas, partly explaining why such an unjustifiable theory had not only survised for so long, but also attracted so much interest and attention".

it is no small feat of heroism to accept proof that most of one's life's work has been based on a mistake. If history teachers us anything, however, the fact that the eschaton timewave theory was officially decleared dead by i ts invenntor will not mean that those who beleive in the 2012 prediction will now abandon their faith. On the contrtary, if the failure of McKenna's prophecy causes any cognitive dissonance at all, we may expect that this will merely add new creative fuel to the contemporary millenarian imagination.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XoXPZPnmBTU

Edited May 23, 2011 by entheophanic

[∂an]

yeah I heard a similar discussion on the history of the 2012 meme on the gnostic media podcast. I always took the 2012 and timewave phenomena with a grain of salt, as I always felt that they were created by the likes of mckenna to facilitate change in society at large, rather than be real prophecies of the future.

[∂an]

An interesting discussion on millenarianism at Reality Sandwich:

Beyond the End of the World: Navigating our Personal Apocalypse

Every night billions of people dream and every week many millions of people seek out conscious visions by taking drugs, meditating, praying, fasting or drumming. If more than a tiny minority of these people interpreted their visions in a literal manner and were bold and dogmatic enough to encourage others to follow them, millenarian groups would be springing up every minute of every day. Similarly, if everybody took their dreams and visions literally and acted on them, the world would become a huge open air asylum or battleground. Therefore, it is apparent that what defines a prophet is not their visions, which are easy to obtain, but their arrogant assumption that their visions are of unique significance and that they should be followed by others. This may reflect the intensity of certain individuals' visions but it may also be connected with the pushy character of those who claim to be prophets.

...

If we take apocalypse to mean uncovering or revealing, I would speculate that 2012 will be remembered as a significant date. Changes in the external world are happening faster and faster, information about local events can be shared with the world within moments and human beings are more aware of themselves and others than they have ever been. I can be sure that apocalypse will take place in 2012 and beyond as I am aware that it is happening already - and not merely in the imaginations of fanciful millenarianists. It is happening in the minds of people all around the world as they become more conscious of realities and able to share these internationally.

[The Dude]

I think the danger of exploring these fluid imaginary realms is that one looses grip of "reality", for if everything is so dynamic and the result of personal choices of perception then how can one tell which vision to believe as they had previously believed their limited scope of non mind-expanded awareness?

It is the world leaders with their charisma and conviction that we unconsciously believe, for they are convinced of something where our personal visions only seem to disorientate (in the context of the fixed ordered world our leaders show us). For this reason I think it is important that alternative "leaders" or "prophets" have the same conviction in their rhetoric as our psychopathic politicians and business leaders do, for it is the assuredness of their words that gives one permission to explore "crazy" territory themselves.

Of course if one only follows anothers' path they're not really exploring anything new, so the path must lead you to a clearing of "choose your own adventure" and it must provide you with the tools and knowledge needed to forge your own path.

Everything is make believe anyway, so the ultimate truth isn't as important as the illusory (deluded) realities we create -for we cannot experience anything else. May as well (make)believe in ones own reality tunnel, at least that way you can modify it when necessary instead of relying on your "leaders" to change it for you.