Poll: 10% worldwide believe the Mayan prophecy predicts the end of the world on December 21, 2012

I had an experience while speaking in British Columbia in April, of a person who believes that the 2012 Mayan prophecy means that the end of the world will come on December 21, 2012. This person is one of the 10% worldwide, surveyed by Ipsos, who believe that the Mayan calender ends on December 21, 2012, which means that the world will end on December 21, 2012.

I referred to the Ipsos (Reuters News) poll yesterday on this blog. According to that poll:

“One in ten (10%) respondents in 21 countries agree ‘the Mayan calendar, which some say ‘ends’ in 2012, marks the end of the world’ – 2% strongly agree, 8% somewhat agree.”
One in Seven (14%) Global Citizens Believe End of the World is Coming in Their Lifetime, One in Ten Believe Mayan Prophecy is True (10%), Fear World Will End in 2012 (8%)

OK, so here’s my experience.

In British Columbia, we stayed at a hotel that serves a delightful complimentary breakfast that includes scrambled eggs, oatmeal porridge, and many bakery items. We also appreciate the helpful and friendly service in supplying this wonderful breakfast by the young woman who serves us.

Because of the fine selection on their “continental menu” and the wonderful service, we have stayed at this hotel many times. As a result, we have deepened our acquaintance with the young woman who serves us. Therefore, since I knew someone who had a condominium for sale in the area, I mentioned this to the young woman just in case she was looking or she knew someone who was looking for a condo to buy.

To my surprise, she replied that she couldn’t take on a huge commitment such as buying a home, because the world was going to end on Decmeber 21, 2012. I could have left the topic at that, but because we have come to know this woman over the years, I care for her and do not want her to live in fear. She also has two children and I don’t want young people to be frightened. This was no longer about the condo. It was now about her and her feelings of fear.

Therefore, I told her that I had travelled to Yucatan five times, that I had interviewed Mayan shamans and experts on the Maya, that I give presentations showing that the Mayan calendar does not end on December 21, 2012, and that, based on my research, the Mayan prophecy did not say that the world was going to end on December 21, 2012.

She let me say what I had to say, but I could see she still believed the world was going to end on December 21, 2012.

Poll: 14 % believe the world will end in their lifetime

According to a global research company Ipsos on behalf of Reuters News, 22% of the people in the United States agree with the statement that the world will end in their lifetime. Only 6% in France agree with the statement.

Furthermore, China is in the lead with 20% of their population agreeing with the statement that “the Mayan calendar, which some say ‘ends’ in 2012, marks the end of the world,” and Germany is tied with Indonesia at the bottom of the list with only 4% agreeing with the statement that the world will end in 2012, The United States at 12% and Canada at 9% are in the middle.

The poll also notes that fears over the end of the world due to the end of the Mayan calendar have led to heightened anxiety throughout the world.

These beliefs appear to translate into worry, as a similar proportion (8%) of global citizens agrees – 2% strongly, 6% somewhat – that they ‘have been experiencing anxiety or fear because the world is going to end in 2012.’ Most (92%) disagree with the statement (80% strongly, 12% somewhat). Those in Russia (14%) appear to have the highest level of anxiety, followed by Poland (13%), China (12%), Turkey (11%) and Japan (11%). Those in Great Britain (4%) are least likely to agree, followed by 5% in Germany, Australia and Canada.
One in Seven (14%) Global Citizens Believe End of the World is Coming in Their Lifetime

Events in the Toronto area a success!

I had a lovely time presenting speaking events in Toronto on Atlantis and 2012. I also spoke to groups in friends’ living rooms in St. Catharines and Meaford. As usual, I loved meeting so many wonderful, knowledgeable, kind, and interesting people!

Complimentary Thursday Evening Event in Toronto

If you are in Toronto, or traveling to Toronto for my events on Thursday and Saturday (May 31 and June 2), here is more information on the free event at Alternative Thinking.  

Topic: Do Mayan Shamans Believe the World Will End on December 21, 2012?

Location: Alternative Thinking Bookstore, 758 Bathurst St., just below Bloor.

Date: Thursday, May 31

Time: 7 to 9 p.m.

Cost: Zero (0) Nothing

Description: This program will address three main points:

1. What are Yucatecan Mayan Shamans saying?  includes research garnered through interviews with Daykeeper Hunbatz Men and a Mayan shaman performing a spring equinox ceremony at Chichen Itza

2. What are Guatemalan Mayan Shamans saying? results from an interview with Dr. Robert Sitler, author of  The Living Maya: Ancient Wisdom in the Era of 2012 and Director of Latin American Studies at Stetson University in DeLand, Florida, who has visited and studied the Maya for 30 years.

3. The original December 21, 2012 Maya Prophecy

If you are in the area and can make it, I look forward to seeing you there.

I will have books to sell there.

For further information, please click here.

Or copy and paste the following link in your browser:
http://marlaynalynnemarks.weebly.com/events.html

Carol Chapman speaks on Atlantis in Toronto

I’m going to be speaking in Toronto, Canada, next Saturday, June 2^nd, 2012. It will be an all-day event lasting from 10:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Following, please find an outline of the event:

Atlantis and Its Colonies in Egypt and Yucatan

Atlantis and Its Colonies in Egypt and Yucatan is a day-long event organized into four sessions. Throughout, I will be showing a Powerpoint Presentation that includes photographs of my research in Egypt and Yucatan.

1^st Morning Session: The Location of Atlantis. In this session, we will look at:

• The many places that are supposed to be Atlantis
• Edgar Cayce’s psychic readings on the location of Atlantis
• The world during Atlantean times according to Cayce

2^nd Morning Session: The Strange People of Atlantis. This session includes three main topics:

• Overview of the types of entities, since Atlanteans were not all human beings
• A timeline, showing the progression of the types of entities over time
• Images of the different kinds of Atlanteans painted on the pharaohs’ tombs

1^st Afternoon Session: The Atlantean Migration to Egypt and Yucatan. In this session, we will examine the following themes:

• Why the Atlanteans migrated
• The Atlantean modes of transporation
• Images of Atlantean transportation in Egypt (the pharaohs’ tombs) and Yucatan (carvings in Mayan ruins)

 2^nd Afternoon Session: The Search for Evidence of Atlantis includes three areas that Edgar Cayce’s psychic readings identified as locations where the Atlanteans left records of their civilization and information on their power source, the mighty crystal:

• The Bimini Islands off the East Coast of Florida
• Egypt, by the Great Sphinx
• Yucatan—controversy over two possible locations

 At the end of each session, there will be time for a question/answer period.

 For more information and to register for the event, please click here.

Hope to see you there!

Life after Life experience shows surgeon that everyone has a God-given purpose in life

I feel heartened by the story of Wyoming orthopedic surgeon Mary C. Neal, author of To Heaven and Back, who was without air for 14 minutes and almost drowned during a kayaking mishap and survived.

During the 14 minutes when she died, she had what is variously called a “Near Death Experience,” in which a person is clinically dead and is revived, or a “Life After Life” experience in which a person has a Near Death Experience and discovers there is life after death.

Neal says that after she “died” she was greated by a group of loving spiritual beings who led her to a glowing hall where she would have the opportunity to choose God or not.

During her experience, she felt sad, because she was told that she would have to go back to the living to fulfil her purpose in life.

I wonder if part of that purpose was to write her book to help people to face their own inevitable end.

In the following excerpt from an online The Economist “Good Report,” Neal discusses her revelation that God has a purpose for us all:

“Based on my experience, I know that God has a plan for me and for everyone,” she said. “Our job is to listen and try to hear what God is saying to us as he tells us what he needs us to do. The real challenge for us is to give up control and be obedient to what God is asking of us.”

Life After Life: This surgeon says she believes

Pythagoras and Plato both believed in reincarnation

I just learned that both Pythagoras and Plato, ancient Greek philosophers, believed in reincarnation.

Indeed, according to an excerpt from the What’s Life after Death website, Pythagoras could remember some of his past lives. Pythagoras, who lived from 575 B.C.E. to  495 B.C.E., is especially remembered for the Pythagorean Theorum which says that the square on the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares on the other sides for a triangle containing a right angle (90 degree angle).

 Among the ancient Greek philosophers, Socrates, Pythagoras and Plato are considered among those who made the subject of rebirth and life after death a steady part of their teachings. They even claim to have gone through a near death experience. In his last days, Socrates said, “I firmly believe that there is life after death” and that “Life emerges from death itself”. Pythagoras claimed with full confidence that he had memories of his previous birth and Plato described the topic of rebirths and previous births in a number of his works. Various religions, like Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism etc, despite being practiced by different people in different geographical areas accept the existence of life after death in one way or the other. Most of these religions and philosophers relate rebirth with the deeds of a person in his previous birth. A person doing good for others and attaining knowledge is considered to take birth as a better species and finally gets free from the cycle of life and death whereas a person who is involved in wrongdoings and sinful activities, the one who leads a selfish life getting immersed in physical desire and material things takes birth again and again in this mortal world.

A Mysterious Journey

Difficulties in life can be opportunities for growth

In a post on this blog dated May 8th, I talked about the difficult situations numerous of my friends were going through and wondered if: “their whole self, their spiritual self, has been trying to get them to enlarge their lives, pursue greater goals, and live healthier lifestyles, and after trying over and over again to get through to the person with gentle hints, longings, and desires to improve their lives, in the end, putting them in a difficult situation has motivated them … finally … to action.”

Interestingly, in an online Deseret News article about a Wyoming surgeon’s Near Death Experience, the surgeon says that her life has changed after being brought back to life. She now has a similar perspective and says that:

“Physical challenges can be opportunities for growth — I think that’s a valuable perspective to maintain. I wouldn’t have been able to do that before.”

Life after life? This Wyoming surgeon says she believes

Preparing for Toronto Event Saturday June 2nd

Today I’m excited and preparing for my day-long event in Toronto on Saturday, June 2nd. I’ll be speaking on: Atlantis and Its Colonies in Egypt and Yucatan.

Mayan ruin shows dates beyond December 21, 2012

While searching Mayan ruins in Guatemala, Archeologists have found mathematical calculations on the walls of a room showing dates into the future beyond the December 21, 2012 date. Therefore, the Mayan Long Count Calendar does not end on December 21, 2012.

Astronomical records were key to the Mayan calendar, which has received attention recently because of doomsday warnings that it predicts the end of the world this December. Experts say the calendar makes no such prediction. The new finding provides a bit of backup: the calculations include a time span longer than 6,000 years, meaning it could extend well beyond 2012.

Mayans never thought the world would end in 2012, new research shows

I feel happy to see this since it will add to the two Mayan Long Count Calendar dates I already know about that are beyond the December 21, 2012 date, which I will be presenting in Toronto on Thursday, May 31 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Alternative Thinking on 758 Bathurst St.