Doomsday-The end of the world!

Nowadays there are various speculations rife regarding the end of mankind.Throughout history we can find instances of the impending doomsday which naturally never came.However the difference this time around is that the end timers have come out with a date :21st december 2012.Now then what shall we make of it?Shall we do away with the idea and take it as a fantasy dreamed up by few to reap profit by appealing to the basest feeling of mankind-Fear ,or,shall we take it as a warning for the days to come and be prepared and take action in our own way-no matter how small-to make earth a better place.
First of all it would be prudent if one examines the details and reasons behind the sudden spurt in predictions regarding the end of the world.The reasons are as follows(of what i have been able to catch):-

* The mayan civilisation,which spawned in central America,and which was depicted recently in the movie Apocalypto(by Mel Gibson) were known to be very good time keepers.They devised calender which is so accurate that one can make predictions about the occuring solar and lunar eclipses which wouldn't deviate by a second.The problem is that their calender ends abruptly on 21.12.2012.It is said that some major event would occur on that day.
* I ching which originated in china and is known to be reasonably accurate in predictions also ends when the year comes to 2012.Don't know the details,but some graph is plotted according to the no. of possible outcomes.[6 lines are drawn based on the toss of 3 coins.a majority of tails gives an unbroken line,a majority of head gives broken line and the toss is repeated 6 times therby giving a pattern.]

Hopi indians,indegenous people of USA also feel that the end times are near.They have a no. of prophecies which were to come true beore the end-

1. coming of spinning wheels filled with voices:vans and cars.
2. land will be crossed by snakes of iron:railroad
3. land shall be crisscrossed by giant spider web:electric and telephone lines
4. you will hear of sea turning black and many living things dying because of that:oil spills
5. young people will wear hair long:the hippy movement of 80s
6. nothing should be brought back from moon:lunar rocks brought back by apollo 11

so they feel that the earth is nearing its end.

* Mother shipton who lived around 15th century also predicts the end.She describes the the modern technological achievements quite well but doesn't give out any date for the end.
* Edgar cayce who lived in the twentieth century predicted major events to start occuring around 2001.Thankfully we are past that time.
* The biggest credance to the above theories is given by the american churches,many of which feel that the end is coming soon and Lord Jesus will return soon to form his kingdom.Their belief in turn comes the book which was added to bible in later periods and is titled The Revealation.A very gloomy and disasterous picture is painted in it.Based on it authors Tim LE Haye and Jerry Jenkins have written a no. of books on it.The books are known as left behind series.The book is a bestseller in usa and has sold more than 67 million copies,give or take a few million.Atleast everyone knows the concept of Christ and antichrist and the number of the devil:666.
* Hindu mythology also paints a dire picture of the end times and accurately describes the present times and impending end.However it does not give a date to it.
* Islam religion also fortells the end times.
* A number of astrologers have started predicting the end.One of them fortold of a nuclear device exloding in USA.However he looks likes a fake and was arrested by FBI over some charge.I can't seem to remember his name.
* Most famous of them all -Nastredamus :also predicted the end in the year 2000.We are almost a decade past with nothing to show.
* Some scientists have predicted that the earth will undergo pole reversal around 2012 and as a result extreme weather events will occur.However i find such predictions childish as pole reversal has occured before also and no correlation exists between extreme weather events and pole reversal.
* Some scientists have said that the radiation from the sun is increasing and will be at a maximum in 2012,there by causing great imbalances in climate which would be a catastrophe for the earth.Again there is not much credance to the theory.
* Recently fearmongers have come up with the father of all theories: Climate Change.It is sought to explain all the ills of the present day world.Anything not working blame it on climate change.Scientists are yet to establish a complete corelation about the climate change.Though the united nations has given credance to the theory through the report of IPCC and by giving noble peace prize to IPCC and AL Gore.Still the theory is on a shaky ground.Climate has never been stagnant and has always been changing.Even the continents we live on have been moving.[the theory is known as plate tectonics and the volcanoes and earthquakes can be explained by the moving plate theory].
* Some have even said that a supervolcano exists in the yellowstone national park(USA)and is due to erupt.The above prediction is unscientific to say the least.

And so we see a number of predictions about the end.The list is by no way exhaustive but merely a short collection to remind the various predictions doing the round.

The man is the most intelligent creature currently living on earth.He is the epitome in the classical struggle for survival of species according to darwin.Man has come so far that a number of species are at his mercy for survival.Also man's footprint can be found out in almost every area in which he has been interested.No other species has as large a footprint as the man.Man since the begining has sought to do the impossible and to find answers to all the questions that he has been interested in.
God and religion were invented to give shape to the incomprehensible.Whatever he could not explain,could not think, was laid at the door of religion.
God maybe the greatest invention by mankind.But man was not content,he wanted something more.God himself was not interested in founding his kingdom,but man on his behalf took the mantle on himself and in the process faught bloodiest war on earth.Whereas religion taught tolerance,the man went furthur in his interpretation and thought that others should be tolerant of him while he founded an empire.Those who were victors thought that the mandate was given by God to rule over others.They conveniently forgot that "the meek shall inherit the earth".
So it seems that all the misdeeds of the past are finding utterances in the various predictions about the end of the world.The doomsday has always facinated man.Man is more inclined to violence than to peace.Even in present day world we want to watch movies that are violent,play violent games,no book is good unless it has some action or murder,etc...In short we strive for stimuli that goes towards the extreme.
In our gradual progress as we started coquering nature through the instrument of science,more and more power started coming in our hand.So by the twentieth century man was in a very good position scientifically.What did we do?Made the world a better place?no! Two of the bloodiest battles were faught in this era,So bloody that war term was married to world and out came world war.
So the start of 21st century was seen by many to be the golden age promised.The start though ominous( Y2K virus etc.),was thought to bring equality to one and all as globalisation spread its root to far regions.The millenium development plan of the UN and the vast advances in technology were thought to be the answers to all ills and sustainable development was thought to be within each countries grasp.But man's bloody history came once again in path.Ethnic cleansing in Africa,War in Afganistan,War in Iraq and various other squirmishes occuring all over the world just show that we are in no better position.Just one squirmishes too many and bang-we are in middle of world war 3.While the 20th century was bloodiest in the whole history;21st century may well be the end of history itself.

So in the end,the world may not end in 2012;but definately we are in the danger.The whole world is standing at the edge of precipice and the only way forward is to stop and take a step backward and to engage each and every member of the world community in dialogue; to grow more tolerant and to believe in what Indians have always believed,"vasudhaiv kutumbakam": THE WHOLE WORLD IS ONE FAMILY.