Engaging Cognitively With the Illusion of the “End of the World”<\/i><\/p>\n
Introduction<\/b><\/p>\n
The apparent non-happening of the “End of the World” on 21 December 2012, supposedly according to Mayan prophecy, has been the subject of extensive commentary. One useful analysis of the misleading framing of the prophecy by the media is that of Michel Chossudovsky<\/a> (The Mayan 2012 Prophecy: Orwellian “End of the World” Doomsday is “Made in America”<\/i><\/a>, Global Research<\/i>, 19 December 2012). The prophecy itself has been placed in a useful context by Ed Vulliamy (Mayan ‘death and rebirth’ date marks the perfect time to tackle planet’s crisis<\/i><\/a>, The Observer<\/i>, 16 December 2012).<\/p>\n The “crisis of crises”, which implies catastrophic collapse, has been the focus of various commentaries — irrespective of any “End of the World”. A previous exercise endeavoured to address the cognitive implications for those striving to live creatively and consciously through the period (Beware of Legality, Accountability, Marketability, Security! Be where the Four Hoarsemen of the Apocalypse are not?<\/i><\/a> 2012).<\/p>\n The concern here is how the imaginative focus of an “End of the World”, notably as articulated through inferences regarding Mayan understanding, can be used to reconfigure — imaginatively — a post-Apolcalyptic global civilization, whatever that might be held to mean. Especially intriguing is what such imagining might imply for the individual and any understanding of globality — whether psychosocially or in engagement with the environment.<\/p>\n The approach in what follows is to point to various modes of configuration which may be fruitful in sustaining such imaginative exploration.<\/p>\n