New year, new decade...the end of the world?!?

An epic conversation took place at our New Year's Eve get-together at our apartment last week--the end of the world. Seriously, give everyone a glass of Champagne and we all turn philosophical. It wasn't the matter of the end of the world that rattled my interest but rather the many interesting points of view that came out that night.

I'm used to having these kinds of conversations with my friends and used to all of us usually sharing similar points of views. This group of friends with whom this conversation happened were all new-ish. Not only new, but friends that I've come to know through Heshino and thus a whole new set of awesome personalities and characters--and new points of view.

Anyway, the infamous topic of the end of the world came up. Specifically that the end of the world will be on December 21, 2012 because the Mayan calendar ends on that date. Then, appended to the Mayan calendar rational, is the notion that natural disasters have been on the incline in recent history and Nostradamus and the Bible possibly mention something or other about it. It was neat because just about everyone had something to say about this; even those that are normally quiet in conversations. It was nice to hear differing opinions. Each opinion and justification explained well for sure. I thought it was most interesting though that a culture other than our Western culture knew or even cared about this 12/21/2012 prediction. This prediction has been overtaken by the fundamentalist Christians (Kirk Cameron, the Van Impes, Mel Gibson, etc).

Firstly, I hope that December 2012 is in fact the end of the world. I wish that only because I want to be proven wrong AND having the end of the world sounds kind of cool....something new and fun to do.

Secondly, it's just as likely to happen as it would on any given day. As for the Mayan calendar, it's a different calendar (specifically a system of calendars) than say the calendar on our computers. It is similar to the paper desktop calendar that you might have on your office desk (you know, the little paper calendar with an inspirational saying on each day that you got for Christmas). It's similar to the paper calendar because that, too, ends. It is only good for a year. The makers of that calendar knew that they could not make a calendar that would go on for infinity because there's just not enough paper. The calendar on your computer, however, does have the capability to go through infinity because it can calculate future dates ad nauseam. The ancient Mayans--though highly intelligent and advanced--did not have a processor that could do that, thus their calendar needs to have an end date. The Winter Solstice... a perfect time to end. And yes, there were Mayans that were anticipating the end of the world in 2012; but there were also Mayans (amongst many other groups) that were predicting ends of the world before that and after that...to this day.

As you can see, I don't think it will be the end of the world. To clarify that even more, I also don't think that it will NOT be the end of the world... in other words, it will be a day like other days around that day: similar chance of existence or annihilation. The chances of existence being much, much higher because if you look at history, we're more likely to exist :-)

This doesn't work for me, too, because I think the idea of the apocalypse is selfish. The apocalypse suggests the end of our existence but in reality, this existence wasn't created for you or for me (for humanity) it was created just because and we're probably just dust in the chaos. Sorry, I know how dumbed down and cold that sounds, but I am quite comfortable with that idea of being; it doesn't hinder me in any way.

Finally, when the celebrity followers like Jack Van Impe and Mel Gibson talk about how all of these natural disasters and humanitarian disasters are the signs of this coming doom, I don't think they are seeing the whole picture. As is the case with anything, documentation and the tools to measure and document can paint the more accurate picture. It is only in recent human history that reliable, more accountable documentation has been present. The instances of certain diseases have become prevalent only because they are now easily detected and easily documented. The same thing with our weather. Strong hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes have been around since our dynamic earth solidified. War. Always. If there was youtube, facebook, digital photography, cell phone cameras, etc. a billion years ago, we would see similar catastrophes. The fact that we can travel easily helps too...especially with wars. Now we can battle anywhere on the planet whereas even 500 years ago, it took so much man power and time to battle anywhere outside of your region.

In a couple of years, we'll see what happens. 'Til then, what will be, will be. But that shouldn't stop anyone from living by their own guidances.

In addition to the end of the world topic, the fun topic of what happens after one dies came up. I love this topic! I love hearing everyone's ideas.

When I'm dead, I want to be dead; gone. I'm not interested in an after-life, future lives, future existences or anything of that nature. I like the idea of this life...of being. I just want to become part of the basic elements on earth and then as time and matter decays, part of the universe. In other words, I want to be burned and then have part of my ashes spread in a few locations around the world and then the final part used in a prank of sorts (not sure what that prank would be yet).

The romantic side of me definitely dreams of a more beautiful death where the sub-existent part of me (the soul?) does magical things beyond the grave. For instance, I've always fantasized that when I part from the living, there would be absolute black with absolute silence with absolute lack of every sense until momentarily I am conscious (in a dead sort of way) and finding myself quietly drifting out in space, moving past distant solar systems, then galaxies, then universes (there's got to be more than just "our" universe afterall) and so on. I'd be able to see everything finally and feel the warmth of each passing star and the cold of the empty space. I'd hope that there would also be a planet made of cheese, bread and cake so I could reside there for an infinite amount of time.

My second romantic fantasy about death is becoming a ghost. Seriously, being a ghost is the best job that I could possibly have. I love pranking people and this would be the best way. I would love nothing more than to unscrew the salt shaker tops on every salt shaker that I see...from beyond the grave. Write profanity on people's walls. Turn people's televisions off. Make fart noises to embarrass people in meetings. And finally, I would make my dead body jump up at my funeral and start dancing until most everyone ran away screaming, but leaving my family and friends that knew me well behind to have one more dance.

Since this is my first official post in forever, I thought I should post "Prelude" from Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana" because this should be a prelude to hopefully more posts. AND it's a damn beautiful piece of music!

{cheers}