The Truth About the ANCIENT Mayans
What do you think of when someone talks about "ancient" civilizations? It
probably seems kind of mystical and sacred, or maybe the opposite, savage.
You get the sense of something lost in history, where we can never touch it or
understand it again. Ruins and broken pieces of the past.
So, when we think of the "ancient" Mayans, we might think that they were
uneducated savages, or that they were some kind of cheeseball mystics like
those "psychics" you see on tv who claim they have some power over you
where they alone can understand the secrets of the universe.
Before we even keep going, lets talk about this idea we already have.
Because if you don't consider ideas you already have, you could be coming
into it believing a lie right away. In other words, you have to recognize
Falsehood before you can recognize Truth.
Here, we are going to be talking about the Mayans before the Europeans
took over America, the people we think of as the ancient Mayans.
So what about our idea of ancient people as uneducated savages? Well, when we think of people as being "primitive" and
uneducated, we think of it as something that is below us. We think that our culture is intellectually and morally superior. This whole idea
started back in the days of European conquest. Because, if they had actually thought of the natives in America as being human beings
just like them, they wouldn't have had an excuse to enslave and kill them all. So they put out this idea of the natives being animalistic,
that they all acted like and were as stupid as animals. So, therefore it was okay to enslave them, just like it was ok to work livestock.
And killing an Indian, to them, was nothing worse than killing, say, a cow when you want a hamburger. Whatever, a cow dies, its only a
cow. So it was the same way with "savages": a savage dies, its just a savage. (And in today's society, this sort of thinking is called
"racism.")
So, if we have any ideas of Mayans as being primitive, this is quite possibly racism left over from European propaganda. However,
that doesn't neccessarily make it not true. Using the word "racism" about an idea usually immediately makes it taboo in our society. But
I am going to take a social risk now, and say I think that we might as well be honest about this, and say that sometimes these "racist"
ideas have basis in fact. So, although you should know that this view has roots in European tyranny, let's still consider if there was any
kind of factual basis to what they say.
One thing that makes the Mayans seem savage is that they made human sacrifices. I mean, no one who makes human sacrifices
can be very good people, right?
Probably not, but America does the same thing. America is sacrificing innocent young men in current times, to protects us from the
wrathful God of the deserts of the Middle East.
Thats not the same, you might be saying. Radical muslims exist. Mayan Gods don't.
But how are you so sure? What if they don't? What if we were lied to by our leader about September 11, and it wasn't Muslim terrorists
who caused it?
Whether this is true isn't the point in this case. The point is you can't really know. Not truly. But we are inclined to believe it, simply
because humans like to trust the people that are in charge of them. Nine times out of ten, it doesn't even occur to us that we should
question it, and when it does occur to us, the idea might seem ridiculous. So you cannot rightly blame a whole culture for believing their
sacrifices were neccessary any more than someone can blame you for believing that your sacrifices are also neccessary. Blame your
gods before you blame someone else's.
Not to say that any sacrifices (those of the Mayans or those of our own wars) are "right" per se; I don't think that human life carries a
moral price tag where you can determine when its necessary to take it. But I am just saying that if you accuse one society of being
completely worthless for some moral fault, you are accusing ALL societies of it, because humans won't change in the future, and they
haven't changed that much since the past. So considering them "savage" because of such things is irrevelant to our discussion.
Were the Mayans uneducated savages? We know now that the Mayans weren't really savage, at least, not in a way that we ourselves
aren't. But were they uneducated?
Not really. The Mayans were scientists, and they studied the stars and mathematics. This is what their calendar was based off of.
Their study of the stars, however, included astrology. This causes some people to discredit them. Because this is what astrology is:
"The study of the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies interpreted as having an influence on human affairs." Astrology
is considered very superstitious and not considered to have a basis in fact. In astrology it is assumed that the position of the planets
effect humans in a very direct way that there is no proof of.
Nowadays, we practice astronomy, "The branch of science that deals with celestial objects, space, and the physical universe as a
whole." This is completely involving the physical world. So unlike astrology, astronomy doesn't deal with if and how celestial objects
effect human events, emotions, and spiritual existence.
How legit can we be sure astrology, particularly Mayan astrology, is? We have no solid, undeniable evidence (besides faith)that we
even HAVE spirits, so how can we know if the Mayans knew what they were talking about or were just going on, well, random faith?
Astrology was astronomy when it was first born. Astronomy wouldn't exist without astrology, in the same way that chemistry wouldn't
exist without alchemy. Astrology was a science as well as a set of spiritual beliefs. So, until astronomy seperated from astrology in
recent years, astrology WAS astronomy. This means that the very basic, non-spiritually determined facts which were accepted in
astrology, were, for the most part, (although there were a few mistakes because of lack of technology) a lot of the provable facts which
we still accept today.
Still, there is a LOT of misinformation going around right now. When studied closely, its hard to separate the provable facts from the
unprovable. How can we tell what exactly are the physical facts, and what are the spiritual beliefs and the opinions?
The problem is, a lot of the times, when we are learning about something involving a religion we don't believe in or study, we can't
see the truths to it, or why they actually believe it. We only see the surface image of it. We hear the name of their god, we see the
symbols associated with it and we see the stories, which seem like unrealistic, dramatic fairy tales. From the outside, religions we
don't understand are just one epic, colorful acid trip, maybe pretty but obviously, too ridiculous to be real.
Later on, we will discuss what the possible physical situation of the solar system (which is what the 2012 prophecies are based off
of) actually involves. But having a clear idea of what is really fact and fiction will help us to consider these things without our cultural
views and personal beliefs getting in the way.
Because a lot of these things involved which you might think are spiritual and cannot be proven true, you would be wrong about. I'm
going to tell you the truth about astrology, and I am going to do what is often said to be impossible, and prove to you that sometimes the
spiritual is truth.
probably seems kind of mystical and sacred, or maybe the opposite, savage.
You get the sense of something lost in history, where we can never touch it or
understand it again. Ruins and broken pieces of the past.
So, when we think of the "ancient" Mayans, we might think that they were
uneducated savages, or that they were some kind of cheeseball mystics like
those "psychics" you see on tv who claim they have some power over you
where they alone can understand the secrets of the universe.
Before we even keep going, lets talk about this idea we already have.
Because if you don't consider ideas you already have, you could be coming
into it believing a lie right away. In other words, you have to recognize
Falsehood before you can recognize Truth.
Here, we are going to be talking about the Mayans before the Europeans
took over America, the people we think of as the ancient Mayans.
So what about our idea of ancient people as uneducated savages? Well, when we think of people as being "primitive" and
uneducated, we think of it as something that is below us. We think that our culture is intellectually and morally superior. This whole idea
started back in the days of European conquest. Because, if they had actually thought of the natives in America as being human beings
just like them, they wouldn't have had an excuse to enslave and kill them all. So they put out this idea of the natives being animalistic,
that they all acted like and were as stupid as animals. So, therefore it was okay to enslave them, just like it was ok to work livestock.
And killing an Indian, to them, was nothing worse than killing, say, a cow when you want a hamburger. Whatever, a cow dies, its only a
cow. So it was the same way with "savages": a savage dies, its just a savage. (And in today's society, this sort of thinking is called
"racism.")
So, if we have any ideas of Mayans as being primitive, this is quite possibly racism left over from European propaganda. However,
that doesn't neccessarily make it not true. Using the word "racism" about an idea usually immediately makes it taboo in our society. But
I am going to take a social risk now, and say I think that we might as well be honest about this, and say that sometimes these "racist"
ideas have basis in fact. So, although you should know that this view has roots in European tyranny, let's still consider if there was any
kind of factual basis to what they say.
One thing that makes the Mayans seem savage is that they made human sacrifices. I mean, no one who makes human sacrifices
can be very good people, right?
Probably not, but America does the same thing. America is sacrificing innocent young men in current times, to protects us from the
wrathful God of the deserts of the Middle East.
Thats not the same, you might be saying. Radical muslims exist. Mayan Gods don't.
But how are you so sure? What if they don't? What if we were lied to by our leader about September 11, and it wasn't Muslim terrorists
who caused it?
Whether this is true isn't the point in this case. The point is you can't really know. Not truly. But we are inclined to believe it, simply
because humans like to trust the people that are in charge of them. Nine times out of ten, it doesn't even occur to us that we should
question it, and when it does occur to us, the idea might seem ridiculous. So you cannot rightly blame a whole culture for believing their
sacrifices were neccessary any more than someone can blame you for believing that your sacrifices are also neccessary. Blame your
gods before you blame someone else's.
Not to say that any sacrifices (those of the Mayans or those of our own wars) are "right" per se; I don't think that human life carries a
moral price tag where you can determine when its necessary to take it. But I am just saying that if you accuse one society of being
completely worthless for some moral fault, you are accusing ALL societies of it, because humans won't change in the future, and they
haven't changed that much since the past. So considering them "savage" because of such things is irrevelant to our discussion.
Were the Mayans uneducated savages? We know now that the Mayans weren't really savage, at least, not in a way that we ourselves
aren't. But were they uneducated?
Not really. The Mayans were scientists, and they studied the stars and mathematics. This is what their calendar was based off of.
Their study of the stars, however, included astrology. This causes some people to discredit them. Because this is what astrology is:
"The study of the movements and relative positions of celestial bodies interpreted as having an influence on human affairs." Astrology
is considered very superstitious and not considered to have a basis in fact. In astrology it is assumed that the position of the planets
effect humans in a very direct way that there is no proof of.
Nowadays, we practice astronomy, "The branch of science that deals with celestial objects, space, and the physical universe as a
whole." This is completely involving the physical world. So unlike astrology, astronomy doesn't deal with if and how celestial objects
effect human events, emotions, and spiritual existence.
How legit can we be sure astrology, particularly Mayan astrology, is? We have no solid, undeniable evidence (besides faith)that we
even HAVE spirits, so how can we know if the Mayans knew what they were talking about or were just going on, well, random faith?
Astrology was astronomy when it was first born. Astronomy wouldn't exist without astrology, in the same way that chemistry wouldn't
exist without alchemy. Astrology was a science as well as a set of spiritual beliefs. So, until astronomy seperated from astrology in
recent years, astrology WAS astronomy. This means that the very basic, non-spiritually determined facts which were accepted in
astrology, were, for the most part, (although there were a few mistakes because of lack of technology) a lot of the provable facts which
we still accept today.
Still, there is a LOT of misinformation going around right now. When studied closely, its hard to separate the provable facts from the
unprovable. How can we tell what exactly are the physical facts, and what are the spiritual beliefs and the opinions?
The problem is, a lot of the times, when we are learning about something involving a religion we don't believe in or study, we can't
see the truths to it, or why they actually believe it. We only see the surface image of it. We hear the name of their god, we see the
symbols associated with it and we see the stories, which seem like unrealistic, dramatic fairy tales. From the outside, religions we
don't understand are just one epic, colorful acid trip, maybe pretty but obviously, too ridiculous to be real.
Later on, we will discuss what the possible physical situation of the solar system (which is what the 2012 prophecies are based off
of) actually involves. But having a clear idea of what is really fact and fiction will help us to consider these things without our cultural
views and personal beliefs getting in the way.
Because a lot of these things involved which you might think are spiritual and cannot be proven true, you would be wrong about. I'm
going to tell you the truth about astrology, and I am going to do what is often said to be impossible, and prove to you that sometimes the
spiritual is truth.
Additional Information:
On the ancient Mayans:
http://www.oneworldjourneys.com/jaguar/history.html
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http://www.oneworldjourneys.com/jaguar/history.html
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