A Mayan great cycle culminates on December 21, 2012. There has been a lot of hype about this being the end of the world, which I do not believe. On this date that marks the end of one particular Mayan calendar, the Sun will also move into direct alignment with the equator of our Milky Way Galaxy, an alignment that occurs only once in every 26,000 years. To be more accurate, because the Sun’s disk as seen from Earth covers about a half a degree in width, the Sun’s disk at winter solstice makes this contact with the galactic center over a 36-year period from 1980 to 2016. Since the 1980s, the world has already gone through a deep transformation as the pace of life continues to speed up; the world population keeps on growing exponentially; and humanity has become increasingly connected through instantaneous worldwide communication, economic and social globalization, and ecological crisis. Perhaps 2012 is simply the peak of this massive wave of change, as many authors have speculated.

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