I find it amazing that someone like Calleman is considered "a Mayan scholar", when, clearly the guy has come out of left field with ideas that are not at all supported by the over 100 years of actual scholarship in the area of Maya studies. It proves that if you continue to repeat stuff, eventually people will come to believe they are true. Repetition does NOT make something true friends.
Generally, people don't bother to find out the truth for themselves. They rely on others partly due to time and energy constraints. Things are just too complex and there is only so much time in a day. The problem with this, is that unless they do some research themselves, they will not be able to determine the credibility of so-called experts. They will continue to pass on erroneous information.
The fact that Calleman has been able to impose his ideas on the general public continues to turn my stomach. So many have taken his fantasy for the truth. His material is not based on anything real in Mayan culture past or present.
According to Calleman, the end of the calender will occur this month. BS!!!!
Who is this guy?
Recently I read yet another 2012 book. 2012 and the End of the World: The Western Roots of the Maya Apocalypse, by Matthew Restall and Amara Solari. Both academics, they show how the apocalyptic views of the first Catholic missionaries who went to Mexico during the Conquest period influenced the Maya and thus showed up in documents written during that period. The so-called predictions in the Chilam Balam which reflect the Book of Revelations are there because the scribes who wrote them had already taken on beliefs from the Judeo-Christian Bible. The book is short and easy to read. I recommend it.
Showing posts with label Carl Johan Calleman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Carl Johan Calleman. Show all posts
Monday, October 10, 2011
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Seven Macaw Alive and Well...JMJ - One Hunapu?
I finished reading John Major Jenkins' most recent book: The 2012 Story: The Myths, Fallacies, and Truth Behind the Most Intriguing Date in History a couple of weeks ago. Whew! long title.
I have been considering what I could/would say about it, dealing with weather, promoting my upcoming class, etc. I guess it's time to get down to my thoughts on the book.
Jenkins does a review of the many ideas that are out there and I would say, is as objective as one could be considering how outrageous some of them are. It is useful to have his take on what's going on in relation to "2012", since he is one of the ones who originally brought it to the attention of the world.
While I could not put the book down...partly due to Jenkins' writing style and interesting way of expressing himself, I do have to say I was hoping for more new, original material. Having read all the books that are out right now myself, I did not need a review of them...but some people might. I did appreciate knowing his perspective, and, I must say, it resembles my own.
One thing is evident, Jenkins' ideas are not getting the serious consideration they deserve. He reports on an academically sponsored 2012 conference that took place last February, 2009 at Tulane University in New Orleans, where I myself worked on a doctorate in Mayan Studies in the early '80s. Many experts were on the program. But, since he is not part of the "club," Jenkins was not invited to speak.
This is one reason why I decided to leave academe. Unless you have been given the keys to the exclusive club, you are nobody. And yet, looking at the history of all disciplines it was so-called outsiders who had the most significant insights. Being basically a rebel, whistle-blower and wild woman, I figured they would probably never let me in their club and truth be told, after awhile, I didn't want to be in it anyway.
Indeed, in many cases, the outsiders were the ones who started the field in the first place. The ones who could not find answers to their burning questions in the extant realms of knowledge...the innovators, the prophets and the inspired...are the ones who move us along all through the history of civilization. Of course, they are invisible to the establishment...they challenge its very existence!
Jenkins provides a recording of part of the conference that you can listen to on his website.
The address by Anthony Aveni was particularly disturbing to me. The more he talked, the more he resembled 7 Macaw, the more he sounded like a 'poor loser'. I can hear him asking himself..."Why didn't I see that? Why didn't I think of that?" At the same time, he was ridiculing JMJ by putting his ideas in the same bin as those of Calleman or Clow.
While what Calleman and Clow have to say may have some validity....(not to me, but maybe others) but they are of a totally different ilk. Their ideas are the result of channelling, dreams, inspiration. Their work has nothing at all to do with what Mayan people alive or dead, ever thought - they made it up.
Jenkins' work, on the other hand, is based on scholarly research, observation on the ground, and communication with the other credible researchers. He has actually studied the material made available by archaeologists, anthropologists, linguists and has traveled widely. He was able to look at it all from a fresh, unbiased perspective. He had no committee to please, his tenure was not threatened. The only thing he 'failed to do,' was pay the university to sit at the feet of professors and play their game long enough to get the 'proper' credentials from them. He did not get the degrees. By the way, for what it's worth, I envision him getting an honorary PhD. from some accredited university in the near future, because he had done what no academic has done... provide an entirely plausible and well researched theory for the creation date of the Mayan calendar.
All calendars have a beginning date. It may be based on the founding dynasty of kings, a significant event, beginning of a new religion or philosophy, etc. Academics agree that there was no such event for the Mayan calendar (at least none have been discovered to date). So what was the motivating issue? To put it simply... Jenkins realized that the start date was dependent on the end date. That given the numerical system, the astronomical knowledge they had discovered, they worked backwards from an end date that would occur far into their own future.
I was struck by the genius of his discovery immediately when I first read it, for I like many others, had spent much energy trying to 'figure out' what the starting event was for the calendar.
There are those academics who do endorse Jenkins. They recognize that his research is sound and his conclusions are verifiable. They are secure beings who don't have to resort to jokes, scoffing and innuendo... like Aveni did in his presentation...in order to puff themselves up. They do not display the obvious jealousy, mean-spiritedness and down right childish behavior that Aveni does.
Rather than making Jenkins' ideas look ridiculous and unsound...Aveni succeeds in making Jenkins more credible for his professionalism.
Another new bit of info I got from the book was to learn about the inscription on Tortuguero Monument 6 which is the only one we know of at this point, that actually refers to the 2012 end date. Apparently, it is badly eroded in very important places... but nonetheless, many are at work to decipher it. Jenkins also has material on this on his website.
I highly recommend the book and due to the new material, must amend my upcoming course to include it. It is full of references, has an incredible bibliography and is well-written and interesting. (More than I can say for the academic reports he mentions as source materials.)
For those who are interested, I will be teaching my course:
Mayan Hieroglyphs, the Calendar and 2012 at two community colleges this Spring.
Starting March 13, 2010 at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, California. 6 Monday nights
Then at Santa Rosa Junior College in Santa Rosa, California, starting April 8, 2010 - 6 Thursday nights.
Still working on my CD version which I plan to market as a downloadable file and as a print on demand CD. Hope to have that out soon.
I have been considering what I could/would say about it, dealing with weather, promoting my upcoming class, etc. I guess it's time to get down to my thoughts on the book.
Jenkins does a review of the many ideas that are out there and I would say, is as objective as one could be considering how outrageous some of them are. It is useful to have his take on what's going on in relation to "2012", since he is one of the ones who originally brought it to the attention of the world.
While I could not put the book down...partly due to Jenkins' writing style and interesting way of expressing himself, I do have to say I was hoping for more new, original material. Having read all the books that are out right now myself, I did not need a review of them...but some people might. I did appreciate knowing his perspective, and, I must say, it resembles my own.
One thing is evident, Jenkins' ideas are not getting the serious consideration they deserve. He reports on an academically sponsored 2012 conference that took place last February, 2009 at Tulane University in New Orleans, where I myself worked on a doctorate in Mayan Studies in the early '80s. Many experts were on the program. But, since he is not part of the "club," Jenkins was not invited to speak.
This is one reason why I decided to leave academe. Unless you have been given the keys to the exclusive club, you are nobody. And yet, looking at the history of all disciplines it was so-called outsiders who had the most significant insights. Being basically a rebel, whistle-blower and wild woman, I figured they would probably never let me in their club and truth be told, after awhile, I didn't want to be in it anyway.
Indeed, in many cases, the outsiders were the ones who started the field in the first place. The ones who could not find answers to their burning questions in the extant realms of knowledge...the innovators, the prophets and the inspired...are the ones who move us along all through the history of civilization. Of course, they are invisible to the establishment...they challenge its very existence!
Jenkins provides a recording of part of the conference that you can listen to on his website.
The address by Anthony Aveni was particularly disturbing to me. The more he talked, the more he resembled 7 Macaw, the more he sounded like a 'poor loser'. I can hear him asking himself..."Why didn't I see that? Why didn't I think of that?" At the same time, he was ridiculing JMJ by putting his ideas in the same bin as those of Calleman or Clow.
While what Calleman and Clow have to say may have some validity....(not to me, but maybe others) but they are of a totally different ilk. Their ideas are the result of channelling, dreams, inspiration. Their work has nothing at all to do with what Mayan people alive or dead, ever thought - they made it up.
Jenkins' work, on the other hand, is based on scholarly research, observation on the ground, and communication with the other credible researchers. He has actually studied the material made available by archaeologists, anthropologists, linguists and has traveled widely. He was able to look at it all from a fresh, unbiased perspective. He had no committee to please, his tenure was not threatened. The only thing he 'failed to do,' was pay the university to sit at the feet of professors and play their game long enough to get the 'proper' credentials from them. He did not get the degrees. By the way, for what it's worth, I envision him getting an honorary PhD. from some accredited university in the near future, because he had done what no academic has done... provide an entirely plausible and well researched theory for the creation date of the Mayan calendar.
All calendars have a beginning date. It may be based on the founding dynasty of kings, a significant event, beginning of a new religion or philosophy, etc. Academics agree that there was no such event for the Mayan calendar (at least none have been discovered to date). So what was the motivating issue? To put it simply... Jenkins realized that the start date was dependent on the end date. That given the numerical system, the astronomical knowledge they had discovered, they worked backwards from an end date that would occur far into their own future.
I was struck by the genius of his discovery immediately when I first read it, for I like many others, had spent much energy trying to 'figure out' what the starting event was for the calendar.
There are those academics who do endorse Jenkins. They recognize that his research is sound and his conclusions are verifiable. They are secure beings who don't have to resort to jokes, scoffing and innuendo... like Aveni did in his presentation...in order to puff themselves up. They do not display the obvious jealousy, mean-spiritedness and down right childish behavior that Aveni does.
Rather than making Jenkins' ideas look ridiculous and unsound...Aveni succeeds in making Jenkins more credible for his professionalism.
Another new bit of info I got from the book was to learn about the inscription on Tortuguero Monument 6 which is the only one we know of at this point, that actually refers to the 2012 end date. Apparently, it is badly eroded in very important places... but nonetheless, many are at work to decipher it. Jenkins also has material on this on his website.
I highly recommend the book and due to the new material, must amend my upcoming course to include it. It is full of references, has an incredible bibliography and is well-written and interesting. (More than I can say for the academic reports he mentions as source materials.)
For those who are interested, I will be teaching my course:
Mayan Hieroglyphs, the Calendar and 2012 at two community colleges this Spring.
Starting March 13, 2010 at San Joaquin Delta College in Stockton, California. 6 Monday nights
Then at Santa Rosa Junior College in Santa Rosa, California, starting April 8, 2010 - 6 Thursday nights.
Still working on my CD version which I plan to market as a downloadable file and as a print on demand CD. Hope to have that out soon.
Monday, May 4, 2009
Down the Rabbit Hole
I have been watching the videos by Ian Xel Lungold on the Mayan Calendar. So far, I have seen 3 videos and they are very repetitious. I see no point in watching more than one. He is explaining and elaborating on the work of Calleman, which posits an end date of Oct. 28, 2011.
Supposedly, all the Mayan scholars for the past 75 years or so missed a text that relates to a correction in the calendar that was done during Pacal's reign, whereas a micro-biologist from Sweden figured it out. I find that hard to accept. Sorry. Apparently there is an on-going controversy about this. However, no one has ever given this date as the end date before or since.
Even though I read Calleman's book, I didn't understand what he was trying to say until I watch Lungold's videos. He does a good job of elucidating Calleman's theory. With the corrections that would need to be made, it would still correspond to a way of viewing the evolution of this planet. You can read some of this at Lungold's website. Lungold passed away in 2005 so he won't be there to see it.
Lungold adds a few of his own ideas, which I found the most thought-provoking and significant.
He admits he is self-educated and there is a certain down-to-earth quality of his presentation The video in Sedona is a bit pathetic. He seems to be talking outside or in a parking garage or something and the paper he is writing on keeps flying around. This does him a great disservice. He is sincere and yet the circumstances of this presentation are less than ideal and distracting.
That all being said, some of things he said have gotten me thinking. He said at the highest level, beings would regard each other with admiration. Without admiration, we would not want or do anything. We have to admire someone or something in order to want to emulate them or have something. I never thought of it that way.
Other points he made were that after the 5th night (of destruction) there was a huge change that catapulted creation to another level. Developments before the 5th night sort of caused the destruction in the first place, but that once there was this sort of purging, a higher level could be achieved. That made me think too.
One of the reasons we are having so many problems on the planet at this time is over-population. We got here because of the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution and all the advances of science. Our achievements may become our undoing.
There has been an incredible response to this latest threat of swine/bird flu. Schools close with only one child sick. Could the deaths of millions be required so that humanity as a whole can survive?
Lungold reads a letter from the Hopi which speaks about this time when a great river is flowing faster and faster and that we should not try to hang on to the bank, but go with the flow. It is worthwhile looking around to see who is floating along with you on this ride.
It is not easy to let go. Just this weekend all my plans for the next couple months got changed when I broke my ankle. I can't drive, nor walk without crutches for a month or more. I am in survival mode again. Just taking care of basic needs is challenging. I live alone and my house is less than comfortable on a good day. I will be missing many activities I had planned.
At the time I was attending a training in Plant Spirit Healing. Personally, I view my injury as entering the portal of the Underworld. "Just what I wanted". Right. Yes, oh yes, I want to evolve. I want to grow. I want to be ready for the Shift. But not like that. Ha! Ha! My injury is a sign that Spirit is taking me seriously and has accepted me into this apprenticeship. My shamanic dismemberment. Gee, I thought I already did that.
Supposedly, all the Mayan scholars for the past 75 years or so missed a text that relates to a correction in the calendar that was done during Pacal's reign, whereas a micro-biologist from Sweden figured it out. I find that hard to accept. Sorry. Apparently there is an on-going controversy about this. However, no one has ever given this date as the end date before or since.
Even though I read Calleman's book, I didn't understand what he was trying to say until I watch Lungold's videos. He does a good job of elucidating Calleman's theory. With the corrections that would need to be made, it would still correspond to a way of viewing the evolution of this planet. You can read some of this at Lungold's website. Lungold passed away in 2005 so he won't be there to see it.
Lungold adds a few of his own ideas, which I found the most thought-provoking and significant.
He admits he is self-educated and there is a certain down-to-earth quality of his presentation The video in Sedona is a bit pathetic. He seems to be talking outside or in a parking garage or something and the paper he is writing on keeps flying around. This does him a great disservice. He is sincere and yet the circumstances of this presentation are less than ideal and distracting.
That all being said, some of things he said have gotten me thinking. He said at the highest level, beings would regard each other with admiration. Without admiration, we would not want or do anything. We have to admire someone or something in order to want to emulate them or have something. I never thought of it that way.
Other points he made were that after the 5th night (of destruction) there was a huge change that catapulted creation to another level. Developments before the 5th night sort of caused the destruction in the first place, but that once there was this sort of purging, a higher level could be achieved. That made me think too.
One of the reasons we are having so many problems on the planet at this time is over-population. We got here because of the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution and all the advances of science. Our achievements may become our undoing.
There has been an incredible response to this latest threat of swine/bird flu. Schools close with only one child sick. Could the deaths of millions be required so that humanity as a whole can survive?
Lungold reads a letter from the Hopi which speaks about this time when a great river is flowing faster and faster and that we should not try to hang on to the bank, but go with the flow. It is worthwhile looking around to see who is floating along with you on this ride.
It is not easy to let go. Just this weekend all my plans for the next couple months got changed when I broke my ankle. I can't drive, nor walk without crutches for a month or more. I am in survival mode again. Just taking care of basic needs is challenging. I live alone and my house is less than comfortable on a good day. I will be missing many activities I had planned.
At the time I was attending a training in Plant Spirit Healing. Personally, I view my injury as entering the portal of the Underworld. "Just what I wanted". Right. Yes, oh yes, I want to evolve. I want to grow. I want to be ready for the Shift. But not like that. Ha! Ha! My injury is a sign that Spirit is taking me seriously and has accepted me into this apprenticeship. My shamanic dismemberment. Gee, I thought I already did that.
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Hand Clow and Calleman
Finally finished reading a book by Barbara Hand Clow, called: "The Mayan Code: Time Acceleration and Awakening the World Mind." Hard to get through. That should tell you something. Hard to understand her point. Seemed to be based on one of those arguments that goes something like this: "It's true because I say it's true." A tautology, I think they call it. She seems to think that just because you say something or worse yet, it gets published, it must be true.
As I prepare to teach my course on the Maya and 2012 this summer, I plan to read all the books I can on 2012, even those I think are fringe, because I want to familiarize myself with the "literature". Reading Hand Clow's book was drudgery because she just repeated herself again and again. And, since I have a grounding in academe, I expect someone to make an argument before coming to a conclusion.
Her main point seemed to be the 'truth' of the ideas presented by Carl Johan Calleman in "The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness." Just because someone has a Ph.D.in one topic, does not make him/her and expert in everything. I read that book very carefully and for the life of me, I don't understand how he arrives at his 'discovery.' It is one of those constructs for which there is no evidence in Maya belief systems past or present.
Just as there are 'weirdos' in our culture, there are often 'weirdos' in indigenous cultures. Why is it that we think that every Mayan knows the esoteric knowledge of his culture, when most Americans don't even know their 200 year history, let alone the philosophers of Greece? Many years ago while working on my B.A. in Anthropology I had to read a book called "Marginal Natives" for a class. A valuable book, it showed me how anthropologists are fooled and led astray when studying indigenous cultures - either intentionally or by choosing 'informants' who just want to work with the anthropologist, but who know nothing about their culture. In fact, one could make the argument, that only a marginal person would dare speak to an outsider in the first place. What do they stand to gain within their culture by talking about hidden knowledge? At best, they make a few dollars for their efforts, at worst, they are killed by their peers. It's not just anthropologists who are lied to, fooled, given the run-around. I have done my share of fieldwork with native people in California and Mexico. I have had people tell me one thing over coffee and then when the tape-recorder got turned on, tell me something completely different, denying having ever said anything else. I have also watched native people deliberately fool people for a laugh. Haven't you ever done something like that?
In any case, Calleman has developed an elaborate concept and Hand Clow has run with it. After reading both their books, I still don't get it. The only part that makes any sense to me is that time does seem to be accelerating. Everyone I know feels the same way. Of course, most of the people I know are over 50, so that might be why we feel this way.
One thing I found intriguing in Hand Clow's books was a concept of memory of catastrophe that exists within our psyches and has been handed down genetically from around 9,500 B.C. It causes us to be born with a certain amount of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), which affects our entire lives. Since we all have this memory, we are easily driven into fear about the 'end of the world', because way back in time, our ancestors experienced it due to floods, asteroids, or other catastrophic 'natural' events. Since we all have this memory deep within, it can easily get activated. Because many are billing '2012' as the 'end of the world', we are reacting in fear instead of seeing it as a beneficial time of transformation.
What do you think? End of the world or time of spiritual transformation?
As I prepare to teach my course on the Maya and 2012 this summer, I plan to read all the books I can on 2012, even those I think are fringe, because I want to familiarize myself with the "literature". Reading Hand Clow's book was drudgery because she just repeated herself again and again. And, since I have a grounding in academe, I expect someone to make an argument before coming to a conclusion.
Her main point seemed to be the 'truth' of the ideas presented by Carl Johan Calleman in "The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness." Just because someone has a Ph.D.in one topic, does not make him/her and expert in everything. I read that book very carefully and for the life of me, I don't understand how he arrives at his 'discovery.' It is one of those constructs for which there is no evidence in Maya belief systems past or present.
Just as there are 'weirdos' in our culture, there are often 'weirdos' in indigenous cultures. Why is it that we think that every Mayan knows the esoteric knowledge of his culture, when most Americans don't even know their 200 year history, let alone the philosophers of Greece? Many years ago while working on my B.A. in Anthropology I had to read a book called "Marginal Natives" for a class. A valuable book, it showed me how anthropologists are fooled and led astray when studying indigenous cultures - either intentionally or by choosing 'informants' who just want to work with the anthropologist, but who know nothing about their culture. In fact, one could make the argument, that only a marginal person would dare speak to an outsider in the first place. What do they stand to gain within their culture by talking about hidden knowledge? At best, they make a few dollars for their efforts, at worst, they are killed by their peers. It's not just anthropologists who are lied to, fooled, given the run-around. I have done my share of fieldwork with native people in California and Mexico. I have had people tell me one thing over coffee and then when the tape-recorder got turned on, tell me something completely different, denying having ever said anything else. I have also watched native people deliberately fool people for a laugh. Haven't you ever done something like that?
In any case, Calleman has developed an elaborate concept and Hand Clow has run with it. After reading both their books, I still don't get it. The only part that makes any sense to me is that time does seem to be accelerating. Everyone I know feels the same way. Of course, most of the people I know are over 50, so that might be why we feel this way.
One thing I found intriguing in Hand Clow's books was a concept of memory of catastrophe that exists within our psyches and has been handed down genetically from around 9,500 B.C. It causes us to be born with a certain amount of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), which affects our entire lives. Since we all have this memory, we are easily driven into fear about the 'end of the world', because way back in time, our ancestors experienced it due to floods, asteroids, or other catastrophic 'natural' events. Since we all have this memory deep within, it can easily get activated. Because many are billing '2012' as the 'end of the world', we are reacting in fear instead of seeing it as a beneficial time of transformation.
What do you think? End of the world or time of spiritual transformation?
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