New Matrixism Following the 'Path of the One' to enlightenment

 Spottyshan mentioned issues surrounding the year 2012 in response to one of my recent postings.  I admitted I wasn't very familiar with the theories involved with it.  So I figured I would do a little research and see what the big deal is.  Wikipedia has a good article that discusses the various issues and theories.  What I plan to do with this post is to give a synopsis of some of those theories and see if there is any meaning to the date December 21, 2012 or if it's a bunch of useless speculation.

Mayan Long Calendar:  One of the biggest ideas surrounding the 2012 information is the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, also referred to as the Mayan Long Calendar.  This is not what most people think of by "Mayan calendar," which is the circular (thus repeatable) stone tablet calendar.  This is a linear calendar that has a defined beginning and end.  Historians have been able to convert from this calendar to our common day Gregorian calendar.  From this, they have determined that the 'Long Calendar' ends on our December 21, 2012.  Okay, so what does this mean?

This is where there is lots of discussion, research and speculation.  Generally there are two or three camps.  There is the group of people who say that reaching the end of the long calendar is thought to be a time of celebration by the Mayans.  In this case, the end of the calendar has no meaning other than reaching the end of an era.  Then there is the group who believe that reaching the end of the long calendar is reaching the end of time of sorts; the result is armageddon.  Now lets take a brief look at some of the specific theories.

Galactic Alignment: John Major Jenkins points to the relationship between the Mayan calendars and astronomy; they were able to accurately predict when various solstices would occur over the course of the future.  Jenkins claims that the end of the Long Calendar is when the Sun and the Earth both lie on the galactic equator, thus coming into alignment.  (Though there is debate on whether we can define a galactic equator and/or know if both the Sun and the Earth were on it at the same time.)  Jenkins goes on to say that ancient Mayan shamans used psychedelics predicted that this time would be time of "profound spiritual transition for mankind."

Doomsday and Armageddon: There are a number of theories proposed that 2012 will end with a cataclysmic event.  One theory is a massive solar flare triggering the reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles; the exact results are unknown but it could open the Earth up to increased cosmic radiation greatly inhibiting life on Earth.  Another theory is that the Earth will collide with some object in space, often thought to be an unknown planet; astronomers deny this possibility claiming that we would know if there is an object would potentially collide with our planet (though what we would do about it is an entirely different issue).  

That's a brief look at some of the topics involving 2012.  Anyone have any other good stories or theories about it?