About Materialist and Spiritual Calendars
About Materialist and Spiritual Calendars
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| Not many people would believe that the calendar or the chronology they are using shape the way they look at the world. While we for instance take it for granted that a belief in God leads to a different world view than a lack of belief in God not many would think that their calendars condition and shape their views of the world in a similar way. But maybe our calendars shape our view of the world all the more so just because of the very fact we do not think that they matter. Since we are blind to their importance they may insidiously indoctrinate us to look at the world in a special way that we have no choice about especially if we are ignorant about the alternatives. Today the Gregorian calendar clearly dominates the world, and then, above all, the world of business since all economic agreements are timed according to this calendar. That a calendar with such a function is linked to the astronomical, i.e. physical and material, year is hardly an accident since a materialist philosophy and attitude towards life have generated both the economic transactions and the astronomical calendar. The Gregorian calendar is based on a fairly exact estimate, 365.2425 days, of the duration of the solar year. Thus it conditions human beings as exactly as possibly to follow the physical cycles and indoctrinates us to believe that the material reality is the primary. The Classical Mayan people on the other hand celebrated their birthdays every 360 days, or their tzolkin days every 260 days, and their chronology, the Long Count, was not based on the physical solar year, but on spiritual cycles with an entirely different meaning.
And even if the tzolkin count that was used in ancient Mesoamerica was unique in the world we do know that all of the ancient high cultures of the world used a holy 360-day "year" in parallel with the astronomic 365-day calendar that they used for agricultural purposes. To follow a 365-day calendar was obviously necessary for providing sustenance - but not sufficient for the prophecies, which required a 360-day period! Thus, in Sumeria a time period called a schar which lasted for 3600 days, i.e. 10 "years" of 360 days each was also used. The Egyptians followed a 360-day year to which was added 5 days "when the gods were born," something which clearly demonstrates that these peoples were aware of the religious character of the 360-day year in contrast to the astronomical year. It is believed that prior to the introduction of the Julian calendar around 40 BC ancient Rome would use a 360-day calendar and the same is true for the Nordic countries judging from ceremonial centres. From the Book of Revelation (12:6 and 12:14) we may gather from some detective work that the Jews at the time said book was written considered 360 days as a "time." Also in ancient China a religious 360-day year was followed that was divided into six periods of sixty days each, and in the ancient Hindu culture 360 days was considered as a "night of Brahman" again linking this time period to a divine process of Creation. Among the Maya such a period of 360 days was called a tun, and it was at the beginning of each new tun or katun (20 tuns) that the priests would gather to make prophecies for the coming "age." Hence the Mayan concept of "ages" was based on the tun. All of these ancient cultures, originating in such different parts of the world, were in possession of sufficiently advanced astronomical knowledge to have estimated the solar year to about 365 1/4 days. Yet, they choose to use a 360-day year in parallel with the astronomical year. Why? The fact that the Maya priests would gather every 360 days to make their prophecies hints at the answer. The evolution of the human consciousness and the divine plan for the evolution of this is based on the tun. If we think about it, it is not very surprising that the evolution of human consciousness does not follow the 365-day year: If matter - but not consciousness - is an illusion, why then would the evolution of consciousness depend on the cyclical movements of matter - such as for instance the revolution of the earth around the sun in 365 days. Since today people in general have ceased to follow the 360-day year and have accepted the dominance of the Gregorian calendar we have also become blind to the fact that there exists a divine plan and that this divine plan proceeds independently of anything physical or material. When we start to follow a calendar based on the Holy 360-day year we will once again open our eyes to the spiritual and divine reality. Conversely, the spiritual seekers are already beginning to realize the value of following a tun-based calendar as a guide to the divine pulses of light. Carl Johan Calleman
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