Predictions of 2012: Transformative and Destructive Hypotheses

The 2012 phenomenon, initially promoted by José Argüelles and Terence McKenna, evolved from whispers about global consciousness into a mainstream cultural fixation on apocalypse, entwined with singularity concepts and Hollywood disaster films. Amid the spectacle, calls for using the date as an opportunity for spiritual and political transformation—seeing past capitalist ideologies and recognizing ongoing ecological disaster—were muted. The consciousness movement, a loose affiliation of thinkers in technologically advanced Western countries, latched onto 2012 to promote the idea that political and scientific solutions to existential crises require a prior mental and cultural paradigm shift. Daniel Pinchbeck concludes that literal-minded films like 2012 curtailed deeper thought by making the subject appear ridiculous, though the notion of divine intervention may open space to conceive of human intervention.

Study at a glance

Abstract

2012 mania started slowly, with whispers among adepts of José Argüelles. and Terence McKenna in the 80s and 90s of the significance of the date for global consciousness, ramping up to a more coordinated effort in the oughts primarily led by writers such as Daniel Pinchbeck. It slowly but surely became entwined with concepts of singularity, of exponential technological change, eventually giving way to big budget Hollywood inspired depictions of massive destruction and mass extinction. Amidst the noise about the end of life on earth were calls, insistent although eventually muted by the sound and the fury, for using the date as an opportunity for spiritual and political transformation, seeing past capitalist ideologies to underlying causes, and recognizing not an immediate and spectacular end but rather a more insidious threat to existence that continues to unfold in the form of ecological disaster. The so-called consciousness movement, a loose affiliation of thinkers primarily in technologically advanced western countries who insist that political and scientific solutions to various existential crises facing humanity must fail without a concurrent or ideally precedent mental and cultural paradigm shift, latched on to 2012 as an opportunity to share its views with a wider audience. Pinchbeck concludes that the ultimate effects of cultural products like the film 2012 that offer a literal minded cataclysmic interpretation of Mayan prophecy was to ‘curtail any deeper thought or discussion of the subject by making it appear ridiculous.’ Still, the widespread notion of a divine intervention that will sweep away the current order may open up a space to eventually conceive of a human intervention that might accomplish a lesser version of such a hoped for cataclysm.