February 7, 2011--On Top of Mount Bugarach
Last Friday I wrote about The Glenn Beck Prophases--how in his delusional view the world is moving rapidly toward the Final Days. His evidence--the reestablishment of the Caliphate, Islamic domination of much of the world, including most of Western Europe--that will result from the protests in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and elsewhere.
Today, I bring you news about some who, in the face of other Final Signs that they see, have already taken to the hills. Literally.
These folks in fact have a specific date for the end of everything--December 21, 2012. So well over a year in advance they have been filtering into a remote region of France, specifically to a mountain in the Pyrenees, Mount Bugarach, where they will await their fate.
It is a well-chosen sanctuary, the site of various medieval religious sects, most memorably the Cathars, who from the 11th to 13th centuries challanged Catholic Church orthodoxy by asserting that there was not one all-encompassing God, but rather two, both equal and comparable in status.
Cathars held that the physical world was evil and created by Rex Mundi, the "King of the World," who encompassed all that was physical, chaotic, and powerful; the second god, the one whom they worshipped, was entirely spiritual (as opposed to Jesus who was corporeal): a being or principle of pure spirit and completely unsullied by the taint of matter. He was the god of love, order, and peace.
According to the Cathars, the purpose of man's life on Earth was to transcend matter, perpetually renouncing anything connected with the principle of power and thereby attaining union with the principle of love.
Needless to say, this needed to be declared heretical by the Church and all Cathars, down to every last woman and child, had to be eliminated, which they literally were by the armiees of Pope Innocent III in 1209. At least 20,000 were tortured and slaughtered.
But those currently headed toward Cathar Country are more New Agers. They have little to say about theology or eschatology. Rather, they are guided by their version of the Mayan Calendar and what they say it means. In the meantime, while waiting for the End, many of them appear to be pursuing an exuberant free-love lifestyle. (See linked New York Times article.)
The Mayan Calendar they are following is the Long Count Calendar, which measures 394 year-long celestial cycles. According to Mayan belief, the Earth was created, using our calender, in 3114 BC and by late December 2012 the current cycle will end.
In recent years, as the conclusion of the latest Long Count cycle approaches, doomsday theorists have predicted the worst. The calendar we use, the Gregorian's date for this is denoted as 13.0.0.0.0 using the Long Count system of notation and to apocalyptic-minded folks this signals more than the end of a cycle (a K'atun) but rather the big End.
However, Mayan scholars and contemporary Mayan natives dismiss these theories, noting that end of the calendar will be regarded as a time of celebration, much like modern-day New Year festivities. There are also no Mayan inscriptions or writings that predict the end of the world when the current Great Cycle concludes, just that when it ends we will enter another one. The 14th since 3114 BC.
But those trekking to Mount Burgarach are taking no chances. Some, believing devoutly that on that date all will cease to exist, feel that there is something spiritually special about the Mount and that those gathered there on the fateful December 21st day will be spirited away by aliens who, at them moment, live under the mountain.
In the meantime, local burgers, who cast ironic eyes on those they call the "esoterics," some of whom are living in yurts, are seeing them as good for business. Real estate prices have been rising and the local inn, which is traditionally open only during the summer, is already accepting reservations for December 2012 all the way through January of 2013.
The owner archly reports that the post-December 21st guests are telling her they want to be around then to "see what happens."
Let's hope there won't be a lot of no-shows after the 21st.
Today, I bring you news about some who, in the face of other Final Signs that they see, have already taken to the hills. Literally.
These folks in fact have a specific date for the end of everything--December 21, 2012. So well over a year in advance they have been filtering into a remote region of France, specifically to a mountain in the Pyrenees, Mount Bugarach, where they will await their fate.
It is a well-chosen sanctuary, the site of various medieval religious sects, most memorably the Cathars, who from the 11th to 13th centuries challanged Catholic Church orthodoxy by asserting that there was not one all-encompassing God, but rather two, both equal and comparable in status.
Cathars held that the physical world was evil and created by Rex Mundi, the "King of the World," who encompassed all that was physical, chaotic, and powerful; the second god, the one whom they worshipped, was entirely spiritual (as opposed to Jesus who was corporeal): a being or principle of pure spirit and completely unsullied by the taint of matter. He was the god of love, order, and peace.
According to the Cathars, the purpose of man's life on Earth was to transcend matter, perpetually renouncing anything connected with the principle of power and thereby attaining union with the principle of love.
Needless to say, this needed to be declared heretical by the Church and all Cathars, down to every last woman and child, had to be eliminated, which they literally were by the armiees of Pope Innocent III in 1209. At least 20,000 were tortured and slaughtered.
But those currently headed toward Cathar Country are more New Agers. They have little to say about theology or eschatology. Rather, they are guided by their version of the Mayan Calendar and what they say it means. In the meantime, while waiting for the End, many of them appear to be pursuing an exuberant free-love lifestyle. (See linked New York Times article.)
The Mayan Calendar they are following is the Long Count Calendar, which measures 394 year-long celestial cycles. According to Mayan belief, the Earth was created, using our calender, in 3114 BC and by late December 2012 the current cycle will end.
In recent years, as the conclusion of the latest Long Count cycle approaches, doomsday theorists have predicted the worst. The calendar we use, the Gregorian's date for this is denoted as 13.0.0.0.0 using the Long Count system of notation and to apocalyptic-minded folks this signals more than the end of a cycle (a K'atun) but rather the big End.
However, Mayan scholars and contemporary Mayan natives dismiss these theories, noting that end of the calendar will be regarded as a time of celebration, much like modern-day New Year festivities. There are also no Mayan inscriptions or writings that predict the end of the world when the current Great Cycle concludes, just that when it ends we will enter another one. The 14th since 3114 BC.
But those trekking to Mount Burgarach are taking no chances. Some, believing devoutly that on that date all will cease to exist, feel that there is something spiritually special about the Mount and that those gathered there on the fateful December 21st day will be spirited away by aliens who, at them moment, live under the mountain.
In the meantime, local burgers, who cast ironic eyes on those they call the "esoterics," some of whom are living in yurts, are seeing them as good for business. Real estate prices have been rising and the local inn, which is traditionally open only during the summer, is already accepting reservations for December 2012 all the way through January of 2013.
The owner archly reports that the post-December 21st guests are telling her they want to be around then to "see what happens."
Let's hope there won't be a lot of no-shows after the 21st.
posted by Steven Zwerling at
4:52 AM
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