The day of Judgement has passed. All that believed are either questioning why it didn’t happened or are accepting it and moving forward. Some will believe that it is a testament of their faith in a higher power while other will feel cheated by something that they pray for and want. For the unbelievers, the majority shrugged it off as a mad-mans crazed prediction that came to pass with no hint of calamity, just as he did years prior. Others made them think and brought them closer to thinking deeper then they have though in a long time. Others, brushed it off as nothing, and went along with life as yet another day on planet earth. And I bet there were others, those that may be hearing about the end of the world scenario for the first time, questioning the hype, the fears, the silliness as well as the seriousness of it all.
For me, I took it all in with a grain of salt, as well as a few other spices, and lived life as yet another day. I took it all in, reading internet stories, reading blogs, reading the posts from those that are serious to those that thought it was the stupidest thing in the world. Some posts and internet chatter was humorous and some where meaningful in their intent. I over heard others in conversation as well as partook in a few myself. In a few days and weeks, this will be another story lost in the annals of time. A few people will make money off ‘I Survived 5/21/11’ Shirts while others will look into what the next predicted doomsday event will occur. And then their will be those that will seek further answers onto why people believe the way they do and what makes people follow such people as well as why people believe certain things over others. For one, this event, or actually non-event will allow people to open their eyes and question the reality that they live in.
Some people will wonder about end time prophecies and look into others that have predicted days of destruction, from early Christians, faithful in their belief being denied their moment of being taken up to the house of God, to those that brought the end upon themselves and others through force, as in the Jamestown massacre. People will look into their religious scriptures and read what their religions talk about. Some will open the Bible and read chapters from Luke or Revelations where much is written about Armageddon, the Rapture as well as the Tribulation and the Second Coming of Christ.
Others will look into end time prophecies from other religions or other sources such as Nostradamus, the Mayans and others to get an idea and beliefs others have towards the end of the world. Those of the Muslim faith will seek further explanations of the Day of Judgement, also known as Qiyamah, and see the similarities as well as diffrences between their Christian brothers doomsday senarios, including a Great War (Al-Malhamah Al-Kubrah), the return of Prophet Isa (Jesus) and the emergance of savior Imam Mahdi. They will learn of the signs and events to occur just as one would study upon the book of Revelations in the Bible. The Judaic faith will have writings from the Talmud, the Zohar, and Tanach (Christian Old Testament) that speaks of Acharit Hayamim, or the End of Days.
In the Hindu scriptures there is the Kali Yuga, one of four stages, or ages, in a cycle the world goes through. The Kali Yuga is the last stage where humans degenerate spiritually. Some believe we are at the epoch of the end of this cycle and are moving to the new era, the Golden Age (Satya Yuga) of goodness and sublime deeds. The Buddhist don’t truly believe in an end time, yet, as in Hinduism, believe the cycle of creation and destruction are of human nature. The Three Ages of Buddhism will come to an end where, during the final stage, the ‘ten moral courses of conduct’ will be replaced with ‘the ten amoral concepts’ where violence, murder, poverty will end the worldly law of dharma. Then the return of Maitreya, World Teacher/Compassionate One, will then come. Also note, the Maitreya is believed by those of the Baha’i faith to usher in a new society of tolerance and love.
As with religions the spiritual traditions of native cultures also have their share of end time prophecies. With the advance of the white man onto North America, many of the Native Americans doomsday prophecies can be seen as having come true already. The Hopi prophecy represents the Great Spirit pointing to two horizontal lines, the top representing scientific and technological advancement, the bottom the path of spirituality. They also speak of four worlds, the first consumed in fire and destroyed, the second the poles shifted and earth was covered in ice, the third world was destroyed through cleansing by water (note their ‘Great Flood’ has similarities to the stories of Noah’s Ark, the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh and other stories around the world. The fourth world, which we are a part of would be purged by fire and end with the ‘great day of Purification.’
Not only did the Hopi, as well as the Navajo, Cherokee, and other tribes have end time prophecies but older Ancient Indian prophecies have been told, including those from the Aztec, Inca and the Mayan. Many people know of the 12/21/2012 prophecies but are unsure what to think. There is a planthora of information dealing with the Long Count Calender in aspects to the Gregorian calenders we go by now. Certain Mayan scholars disagree that the end of this time period in Mayan eyes didn’t relate to catastrophic changes like seen in the movie ‘2012’ but more of a celebration because it was the end of the ‘Great Cycle.’ People in various belief systems, from Mysticism, New Age movement, and others have giving rise to this date with other cosmic events ranging from Planet X (Nibiru) crossing paths with earth, the galactic alignment and the precession of the planets,
From what I have gathered and what I have seen these past few days I would have to agree that, one, more people will be awakened to seek out information and knowledge on these events. Most people, people that still are close minded and unaware of the realities in their lives, will stick with their ignorance and deny such events will ever occur in their life time. These are the ones that don’t realize their own mortality until something personal happens within their life (death of family member, near death experience, etc.)
Others will cling to their faith and their beliefs and know for fact that there is no exact date for when a cataclysmic even can and will occur. Others will delve into their traditions and their spiritual guidance and shed the fear of death and accept their mortality. There will be many a street preachers that will hold up signs stating “The End is Nigh!!!” trying to convert those into their way of thinking. There will be those that will find peace and comfort in knowing that what awaits then in the next life is better than this. There will be those that will live in fear of the unknown, for what goes bump in the night surely frightens many. There are many that will awaken and correct the uncorrected in their lives and change patterns to align to a better way of thinking and living. And others that will simply say, all this is bullshit!
alongyourpath : sphota-meraki 