 BOOK
TALK
The Mayan Calendar
by Gayl Woityra
My
interest in the Mayan Calendar continues. Last
month we discussed Apocalypse 2012: A Scientific
Investigation into Civilization’s End by
Lawrence E. Joseph (Morgan Road Books, Doubleday
2007). That work presented speculations from
science about what 2012 might mean. Readers may
recall that the Mayan Calendar seems to propose
the end of their “time” as December 21, 2012.
Many people, including myself, would like to
know what that really means.
Even more than speculation on possible natural
calamities, various interpretations of the Mayan
Calendar propose, instead, that the Calendar
refers to an evolution of consciousness. That,
of course, sounds much more appealing to me than
catastrophes. Moreover, in March of this year, I
had the opportunity to tour three Mayan ruins:
Altun Ha in Belize, Quirigua in Guatemala and
Chacchoben in Costa Maya, Mexico. Walking
through huge plazas carved out of tropical
jungles and pondering the huge and magnificent
architectural achievements of the classic Mayan
period, as well as the intricately carved
depictions of kings and huge megalithic stones
covered with calendar and numerical symbols, I
could only feel respect and amazement for this
ancient culture.
The book we will discuss this month is one I
took with me on this trip. This book helped me
understand much of what I was seeing, from the
symbols on the stellae (standing stones), to the
number of levels in the temples and pyramids.
For the ancient Maya, numbers were especially
important. All of this is discussed in the book
for this month’s discussion: The Mayan Calendar
and the Transformation of Consciousness by Carl
Johan Calleman, PhD. (Bear & Company, 2004). I
love this book! My pages are heavily underlined
because the book is so filled with informative
data and charts that help explain the Mayan
systems.
No
question about it, the Mayan Calendar system is
complex and not easy to understand or explain.
We shall discuss the importance of certain
numbers, such as 9, 13 and 20. We’ll hear of the
13 “Heavens” and the 9 “Underworlds.” It will be
important to keep in mind that these terms
should not be interpreted as our culture would
define them. I’ll do my best to explain them in
simple terms.
First, the Mayans seem to have identified
periods of time on Earth in relation to the
development of consciousness. These time
segments make up the “Underworlds.” For me, this
suggests that for the Mayans, the Underworld is
this world here on Earth. The author’s names for
the sequential Underworlds may or may not
reflect Mayan terms, but they all make sense in
the context of the calendar. One also has to
comprehend that the length of actual time in
each Underworld segment is based on multiples of
the number 20. The first Underworld lasted 1.26
billion years; the fifth – 7,900 years; the
sixth – 394 years; the seventh (and current
cycle) – 19.7 years; the eighth – 360 days.
We’ll come back to this unusual point later.
Within each of these Underworld periods, the
Mayans divide the cycles into 13 “Heavens.”
Perhaps they designate the divisions as
“Heavens” because they believe each segment is
ruled by a god, each deity manifesting certain
characteristics and qualities. This is easier to
understand if one sees this as symbolic and not
literal, rather like the qualities represented
by the zodiac or planets in astrology. In any
case, the equally divided segments represent
different progressions of development and life
experiences. The Mayans divide the 13 Heavens
into 7 days and 6 nights. In general, “days” are
times of progress and light; “nights” are times
for consolidation and reflection. The author
emphasizes that one should not interpret these
as “good” or “evil.”
I’m sure just from these introductory comments
that readers can see that the Mayan calendar is
far more complex and reflective of spiritual
insights than most of us could imagine. What
Carl J. Calleman, the author of this book,
achieves is to explain the Mayan Calendar in
terms we can understand. His many charts are
absolutely critical to that understanding. Even
more important, he builds a case of analogies so
that readers can see the patterns of human
experiences and evolution that are reflected in
this calendar. Truly, some of the insights we
may draw from this work are amazing.
The author, for example, introduces his work
with an astounding claim. He says, “As we apply
the Mayan chronology to human history, a
significant wave pattern becomes visible.” (This
refers to the repetitive 13 day-night Heavens
that make up the 9 Underworlds. But it also made
me wonder about the relationship of this concept
to quantum physics and the wave-particle
theory.) Calleman shows these patterns both with
charts and discussions of various areas of human
history, including the emergence of religions,
the development of communications and the ups
and downs of the world economy. A major point
for Calleman is that “these examples clearly
demonstrate that we are living in a conscious
universe whose built-in intelligence follows an
exact schedule according to which humans are
meant to evolve.” This statement astounds
because it unequivocally claims that we live in
a planned and purposeful universe and the Mayan
Calendar proves this fact!
The second astounding point relates to the
shortening segments of the Nine Underworlds.
Calleman notes, “We have now reached the
semi-final Underworld which means that the
destiny of humanity needs to be fulfilled in
less than ten years.” Quite honestly, I wonder
how that can be accomplished.
What can we learn from this book? Clearly, as
noted, we learn about the Mayan number system
and complex calendar. We learn about patterns
and parallels throughout human history. And the
author will use those patterns toward the end of
the work to predict possibilities in our
immediate future. But first we gain appreciation
for the Mayans themselves. When Spanish
conquistador Hernan Cortes landed in Mexico in
1519, the “total population of Mesoamerica was
an estimated 25 million people; a century later
it had fallen to about 1 million... (a decline)
primarily caused by diseases carried by the
invaders.” The Spanish also destroyed “all the
Mayan books they could find.” The only surviving
Mayan books are calendars. “The Mayans were the
first people on earth to make use of the number
0 and were clearly the most advanced astronomers
and mathematicians of their day.”
For the Mayans “life was seen as a cycle,” and
this is clearly reflected in those cycles
expressed as days and nights of the “Heavens”
(experiences influenced by heavenly forces or
energies) and lived out in the periods of time
designated as “Underworlds.” These Nine
Underworlds are depicted in the construction of
Mayan pyramids and temples, many of which are
built in nine levels, symbolic of the nine
levels of consciousness.
Since one really needs to read the book to
clearly comprehend these points, I’ll pause at
this time to note, for clarity’s sake, what
those nine levels of consciousness are. Since
the author usually shows these steps in
full-page charts, I’ll have to improvise with
the following list.
First Underworld – Cellular: 1.26
billion years; the evolution of cellular
consciousness (the evolution of the physical
universe).
Second Underworld – Mammalian:
63.1 million years; the evolution of mammalian
consciousness (development of plant and animal
kingdoms).
Third Underworld – Familial: 3.15
million years; the evolution of anthropoid
consciousness (organized in families).
Fourth Underworld – Tribal:
158,000 years; the evolution of hominoid
consciousness (organized in tribes).
Fifth Underworld – Regional: 7,900
years; the evolution of human consciousness
(spoken language, art, early religion –
organized in regional cultures).
Sixth Underworld – National: 394
years; the evolution of civilized consciousness
(written language, historical religions,
science, fine art – organized in nations).
Seventh Underworld – Planetary:
19.7 years; the evolution of global
consciousness (materialism, industrialism,
democracy, global communication – organized in
planets). This is our current placement.
Eighth Underworld – Galactic: 360
days; the evolution of galactic consciousness
(the transcending of the material life,
telepathy, genetic technology – organized in
galaxies).
Ninth Underworld – Universal; 20
days; limitlessness, timelessness. No organizing
boundaries.
The Nine Underworlds provide an amazing
perception and organization of time quite
different from our usual planetary time.
Calleman differentiates between the Mayan
“Spiritual Cosmic Time” and our “Physical Earth
Time.” He also makes an insightful parallel
comparison of the Nine Underworlds to the steps
of child and adult psychological and physical
development. What I began to see in this book,
however, was a real explanation for a “sense”
that many people have commented on in recent
years. So many of us have this indeterminate
“feeling” that time is speeding up, that life is
moving faster and faster. Clearly, the stresses
from our current fast-paced life contribute to
the ever mounting tension that so many of us
experience.
The amazing point here is that the Mayan
Calendar system clearly demonstrates that time,
indeed, is compressing more and more. Notice how
those Underworld segments have been getting
shorter and shorter in duration. And then
consider how the characteristics of the 13
“Heavens” (which we don’t have the space to list
or describe) need to be squeezed into shorter
and shorter time cycles within those segments.
This clearly demonstrates that life experiences
are coming at us faster and faster and in more
concentrated doses than ever before in the
history of humankind. Finally, we have an
explanation of how and why this is occurring and
why we feel it!
This point was one of the most important
insights I derived from this book. Nowhere have
I ever found such a clear and meaningful
explanation for the stressful,
multiple-distraction, fast-moving expansion in
today’s life on earth. And this is just one
insight available from Calleman’s book.
Calleman’s projections or predictions, about the
fairly immediate future, all based on the clear
patterns demonstrated in the earlier cycles,
give much food for thought as well. These
projections are thought-provoking indeed.
Carl J. Calleman lives in Sweden and holds a PhD
in physical biology. He served as an expert on
cancer for the World Health Organization. He
began his studies on the Mayan Calendar in 1979
and now focuses primarily on that research. He
expresses a belief that “Spirit is about to be
recognized as primary to matter and yet
inseparably connected with it. In the emerging
worldview the universe is seen as a web of
creative, interconnected energies of time and
space on different hierarchical levels.” He
doesn’t believe that the world is going to end
on the day the Mayan calendar “ends.” Rather,
our perception of time may change at that time.
Calleman says, “What is really changing at the
current time is our perception of reality.”
Calleman expects a balancing of the two
hemispheres of the human brain, those parts we
often refer to as the “right brain” and the
“left brain.” He devotes a number of pages to a
comparison of those two brain hemispheres to the
East/West dichotomy that has existed for many
centuries in our world. When these hemispheres
(both world and brain) balance, human experience
will change. He says time “will come to an end
since time is an experience that is
predominantly mediated by the left-brain
hemisphere... As balance between the two
hemispheres is created, instead of time we may
expect to experience pure being moment by
moment.” Meanwhile, he says, “The Mayan Calendar
remains our most important instrument for
studying the cosmic plan.”
The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of
Consciousness by Carl Johan Calleman is a unique
work, one that both informs and enlightens the
reader. It contains so much fascinating data and
so many thoughtful potentials, that I have only
touched on a very small part of its content.
This is a highly positive and encouraging book,
even when it warns us of cycles of troublesome
times. It shows life as purposeful, planned and
evolving. What more do we need than that? This
is a book I intend to read again.
For further information on the author, see:
www.calleman.com. |
