The Mayan calendar is actually a prophetic calendar from which we can understand not only our past, but also, in general terms, where we are going in the future. True, many people with an interest in esotericism, New Age, or spirituality have been sensing the existence of a cosmic plan for a long time. But what is revolutionary and entirely new at the present time is that the Mayan calendar provides an exact time scale for the unfolding of this plan. This has now been proved from the known facts of modern science and historical research rather than abstract esoteric schemes or speculations. As was once the case among the ancient Mayan priesthood, science and spirituality are now beginning to merge in a way that can be verified by anyone with access to a standard modern encyclopedia. The solution to decoding the Mayan calendar thus means one of the greatest changes in human thinking ever to have taken place. The very fact that it provides a time plan for the unfolding of events in human history, as well as cosmic history generally, means that indeed there is a Cosmic Intelligence, what we generally refer to as God, behind the evolution of life in all of its aspects. To many, it may first sound strange that a calendar would be giving us all this new knowledge. This is partly because the calendar generally in use throughout the world today, the so-called Gregorian calendar of Christian origin, does not seem to tell us anything substantial about the world. Consequently, most people have taken it more or less for granted that any other calendar, including the Mayan, would not be any different in this regard. Yet we know that to the ancient Maya, calendars were the most sacred of books, and that in fact all four Mayan codices (books) remaining from ancient times are calendars. It immediately becomes apparent that the Mayan calendar meant something entirely different to them than the Gregorian calendar does to us. The crucial difference between the two calendars is that the Mayan was a prophetic calendar that was not based on astronomy. This is the key difference to grasp in order to understand the meaning of the Mayan calendar and why it has such revolutionary consequences. If consciousness is primary to matter and material manifestations are mere expressions of Spirit, as many now believe, then we must realize that a prophetic calendar that describes the evolution of consciousness cannot be based on the physical movements of material bodies. Most calendars, except for the Mayan, are indeed based on astronomical, that is to say physical, phenomena such as the movements of the earth, the moon, or the planets. The Gregorian calendar is based on the earth’s rotation around the sun, the Muslim is a moon calendar, and the Jewish is based on a combination of both movements. If we are looking for a calendar that is truly prophetic, it cannot be based on the movements of material bodies. Astonishingly, the Mayan calendar describes cosmic evolution from its very beginning, from the so-called Big Bang, which according to modern physicists took place about 15 billion years ago. In other words, it has as its beginning events that precede the existence of galaxies, stars, and the very solar system, which is estimated to be only about five billion years old. The belief that the Mayan calendar would be based on movements within our own local solar system, in my opinion, represents a very limited view that also robs us of understanding its true prophetic nature. Some very positive aspects of this prophetic nature of the Mayan calendar are discussed in my recently released book Solving the Greatest Mystery of Our Time: The Mayan Calendar. The first is that, indeed, God does exist. As the divine plan described by the Mayan calendar is beginning to be understood, it becomes clear from the very facts of history and science that there is a loving Intelligence behind the evolution of all things and that we are participants in a cosmic plan with a direction and a purpose. While many people have a belief in God based on inner feelings or abstract speculations, the new knowing puts God in an entirely new perspective. This new knowing may be of great value in moments of doubts as to the meaning of life. The second thing I would like to highlight is the fact that the individual human life may be understood as truly meaningful only in the context of a meaningful larger cosmic plan. The proof, based on the Mayan calendar, of the existence of a larger cosmic plan means that we all have roles to play if we choose to align our individual purpose with the movement of light and the purpose of this divine plan. To intellectually know the nature of the cosmic plan and so be able to assimilate it on deeper levels of our being is then invaluable for our own path and spiritual development. Here, the Mayan calendar may serve as the very best guidance in the time period of intense quickening ahead. The third thing about the Mayan calendar that in my opinion holds great value is its importance for our intellects. While the emphasis in the New Age movement for a long time has been on feeling rather than intellect, it may serve us to know that the ancient Maya were very rigorous both factually and mathematically, and developed their prophecies based on an advanced intellectual understanding of the world. It is from a similar approach that all of the various fragmented branches of modern science are now being unified in light of the new understanding of the Mayan calendar. To many, this will give the sheer joy of understanding. Through the study of the Mayan calendar, a new reunification of feeling and intellect is taking place, although now at a higher level, where the previous fragmentation has been transcended. The Mayan calendar is an intellectual tool that represents a major contribution of Native America to the modern worldview. Finally, and possibly most importantly, the new understanding provided by the Mayan calendar is likely to contribute to the unity of all humankind and to the transcendence of conflicts between different religions, nations, genders, or races, which we have inherited from lower frames of consciousness generating limiting thoughts. As the nature of the cosmic plan is scientifically proved, we are coming to realize that we are all one, not as a good idea, not as an idealistic thought, but as the very reality we are living. It is only that humanity has been blinded to this truth by a frame of consciousness that we are now beginning to transcend. The Mayan calendar means much more than anybody would have believed. Carl Johan Calleman is an accomplished biomedical scientist with a Ph.D. from the University of Stockholm. A senior researcher at the University of Washington in Seattle for nine years, he has lectured worldwide and served as an expert on cancer for the World Health Organization. To learn more about Carl, his work, and his book, visit <http://www.ioon.net/mayaonics/main.htm>. |
For the past two decades, and especially since the Harmonic Convergence in 1987, interest in the Mayan calendar has steadily been on the rise. While pioneers such as Frank Waters and Jose Argüelles pointed to possible ways of grasping the nature of this calendar, a systematic comprehensible way of understanding it has, until now, been missing. Thus, while many have a vague sense that the Mayan calendar is very important or that "there is something to it," an awareness that we are dealing with something really tangible and truly important has yet to surface. Previously, the explanations provided by those studying the Mayan calendar have varied between supposed astronomical alignments and esoteric schemes, and it is only now that it is becoming apparent that the Mayan calendar actually reads like a global history book.