It’s eighty-six weeks and counting down until the end of the world. Will you be prepared? Do you need to be? It seems that as the year 2012 draws nearer, the hype about “the end of the world” is everywhere. Some shrug off the forecast as silly and insignificant, while others feel nearly hysterical as they await impending doom. But where does the prophecy stem from, and is there any validity to it?

As I delved into researching the 2012 phenomenon, I found quite an array of possible explanations. One common hypothesis lies in the ancient Mayan Long Count calendar. December 21, 2012 will mark the end of a 5, 125 year cycle, equivalent to 13 b'ak'tuns in the Long Count calendar. It is indicated in many ancient Mayan inscriptions that there will be a “shift to a higher order” at the closing of the thirteenth b'ak'tun. However, today very few Mayans use the Long Count calendar, and it is estimated that it hasn’t been widely used for 500 years. Another popular belief lies in the predictions of Nostradamus, a prophet and seer from the 1500s. He predicted that natural disaster, war, and famine would plague the world, and many Nostradamus experts have tied these predictions to 2012.

As for what will actually occur in 2012, ideas range from natural disasters destroying the physical world as we know it, to a complete shift in humanity’s consciousness. Predicted natural disasters include erupting super-volcanoes, a switch in Earth’s magnetic poles, and the bombardment of meteors. Others believe that the “Great Shift” is upon us. People may feel that they are questioning their lives and reasons for being here and that time is speeding up. This is considered part of the process of shifting to a higher consciousness in preparation for 2012.

So, should we be preparing for 2012? Personally, I won’t be doing anything out of the ordinary as 2012 approaches. Nothing about the future is certain, and I don’t want to spend my life worrying about what might happen.