Why do people need to believe that the world is ending in 2012?

I've been reading about it for months and I have yet to come across a satisfying answer to this question, "Why do people need to believe that the world is coming to an end (in 2012)?" What unfulfilled need is being satisfied by investing so much time and energy in the end of the world? It's clear to me that people argue about this subject quite passionately. Not only that, but each time a date is set for the end of the world, and it passes without incident, a new date (further into the future; far enough to build suspense but not too far that it dampens a sense of urgency and impending doom) is simply set and the countdown starts all over again.

Why are so many people investing so much time and energy into this? People don't engage in behaviors that aren't rewarding so what's the psychological payoff in convincing oneself (and others) that the world is about to end? Is it just meant to interrupt our monotonous, day-to-day existence or is there something more?

Let me know what you think is behind all of this!

Well, I surely hope the world doesn't end in 2012.

=\

Yeah....

I honestly do not know, it is a good question. The only thing i can come up with is that in past times, most people held a religious belief, and in most religions there is a end of days prophecy of some kind. Now today a lot of people have no religious beliefs or a belief in something that has no doctrine, yet years of breeding to accept the apocolypse is still there, it remains so people need to believe in something that will humble them.
I could be wrong but i wonder how many religious people do believe in 2012?, i would think not many or if they do they probably have larger faith based questions. Personally i have seen off Y2K, the GLF and the 05 planetry allignment plus many more, i expect much of the same.

The Mayan elders when queried about it always laugh. When will people get it through their heads that "the end of the world" isn't the end of the planet, just the end of the world as we know it, and that paradigm or worldview IS definitely passing away or slotted for extinction.
Something IS coming forth which is both very old and very new, of this there can be no doubt. People are beginning to wake up and "get it".

So many misconceptions. But yeah, surely the end of the world as we know it is coming to pass. I would call it the Newtonian Materialist Monist Isolate Consciousness world, and it cann't end soon enough as far as I'm concerned.

But if you wake up some day and find that everyone seems to be in on a type of cosmic joke you just don't get - then you can very afraid at that point. The door will only be open for a time.. and it's opening now.

It's interesting that you say that because many of the 2012-related threads I've read here on ATS mention ideas raised by controversial outliers like Zacharias Sitchin. They seem to borrow ideas from common religious texts but some practitioners of those faiths claim that people like Sitchin have twisted religious doctrine so grotesquely that it hardly resembles the original message.

Since I am not religious, I am not familiar with the most commonly accepted versions of stories from religious texts. Still, 2012 apocalypse sites are alive with quotations cherry-picked for their relevance to the point of view being presented. Perhaps my not being religious is what makes this so confusing for me. I just don't see what anyone could possibly gain from believing that the world is going to end. About the closest I can come to understanding something like that is imagining what it would be like to be told that I have a terminal illness and x number of days/weeks/months to live.

Do people who want to believe that the world is ending get something out of being forced to face their own mortality? Is this really just a chance to think about how one has lived the life they were given and tie up any loose ends in the event of an untimely demise? If so, then why choose an end-of-the-world scenario over impending disaster/accident/terminal illness? What would you get out of having the rest of the world go through this crisis with you?

[edit on 8-4-2009 by X-tal_Phusion]

reply to post by X-tal_Phusion

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" Why do people need to believe that the world is ending in 2012?"

Armed with the scientific certainty that the world will one day end , all that is left for us to do is speculate on the how why and when.

The phenomena in general* is like a mass wrestling with our inevitable demise as a species.

As that idiom goes " Misery loves company ".
" We`re all going to die "

...... yes , but hopefully not all at once

The End-Time dates with keep coming as long as there are humans to ponder them.

That's it right there! You've effectively crystallized the notion I was trying to get at. The sense of urgency coupled with some abstract jargon. Why do you believe that the world as you know it is coming to an end and what are you getting out of sharing your beliefs with others? I see the world as being in a constant state of flux; continuous change. Your version sounds more punctuated-- sudden; as if, one moment things are one way, and then the next it's something completely different. What prompted you to adopt this mindset?

I think it's just a need to believe in something (like religion). It can't be proved until it happens, but it's comforting to hope.

For some it strokes their ego that they may know something in advance but are never prepared..

Others are prepared, and preach from the rooftops for others to listen. Although they may feel a little foolish when nothing happens (Y2K) at least they had the foresight to believe and prepare.

Some just like to tell you "YOU'RE GOING TO DIE" and like the thrill of impending doom and catastrophe.

Whatever happens (If anything) it should be a good show either way....

AGAIN, most of the people who have done any research on this subject do not, I repeat DO NOT think the world is going to end, only that the world as we KNOW IT is going to end, and it is in the dying stage even now and anyone with any degree of spiritual awareness knows it intuitively.

I'm not worried about 2012 though I have heard some very compelling things from astrologers about it with some very rare planetary alignments etc. I'm not necessarily a believer in astrology but have followed it enough to know that astrologically speaking it will be a huge year but nothing to really be afraid of.

Do you think there is a psychological pay-off associated with being among the chosen few to escape an apocalypse? Could this be justification for creating an outlet to combat the anxiety of daily existence or is it about trying to improve oneself to the point that one is spared from a fate shared by the majority? There is something to the phrase, "Misery loves company" but that assumes the existence of shared misery which, in this case has yet to be defined. Is it the end of the world, an existential crisis or something else entirely?

reply to post by X-tal_Phusion

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I find the prophetic aspect of end-times beliefs , hints at an unseen force .. .. the very act of "premonition"as both mysterious and charged with awe , for the believer .

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wondering..
"If we can tell the future .... what else can we do ...dare - that we can prevail / persist !"







[edit on 8-4-2009 by UmbraSumus]

NOBODY that is sane needsto believe ANYTHING!!

in the end we only believe what we want to believe...

whats true doesnt make a difference

[edit on 8-4-2009 by mostlyspoons]

Maybe it is an act of a divine interaction, or evolved beings cluing us into changes that need to be made to fix or alter our existence. It has motivated me to search for such a solution. And I believe I have found it ;{>

I don't know the answer to your question.

I would have to first measure the set of people that professed to "need" to believe..........

I think most of us Just Want To Know, and don't much give a foecal coliform WHY it had to happen, we're more just curious HOW and WHEN.

That said, I'm still curious WHERE and WHY.

so do I believe? Sure, I'll take a stand. I'm starting to believe that some set of variables might come together to produce a severely cumulative effect. ....... but........ to pin it down to a specific year. Now, THAT'S the variable I have trouble with. By what vector could an ancient civilization KNOW that??

So, it makes me leery. So, I fall back upon what is warm and familiar: We stock 1.5 years worth of food...... more if we REALLY scrimped. We rotate it, and some of it is dried femto-crops of our own produce.

In the final analysis, it doesn't hurt a bit to simplify one's life. Think of it as an ...... adventure.

2012 will be the End of the Age of Pieces and the beginning of the Age of Aquarius. It will be the end of the world as we now know it and the beginning of a new world that we do not know.

I think that 2012 has received a lot more hype because of the state of the current economy. Things seem to building up towards 2012 and I think that a lot of people are tired of work seep work sleep and want something to change that.

Me personally, I'm hoping for the world to change dramatically. I think there are too many greedy people in the world and the progression of technology and knowledge has been slowed greatly because of the greed. There were quite a few technologies that were announced and then never heard of again. Might be something to chat about on a new topic sometime.

I think it's something else entirely. People LIKE the idea of disasters or calamitous events. It's a baffling phenomena I've been sort of keeping an eye on. It's just easier to track here on these boards.

I see it all the time. When there is a snowstorm coming, the weatherman cranks the report up. Then the people seem genuially dissapointed if it didn't turn out to be a horrible, wicked storm. Why? Because I'm guessing it's a form of excitement. Something people are involved in.

It's why I think, people are enthralled with the idea of 2012, NWO takeover, killer weather, and other disasters. And some openly ASK for these things.

Deeper down, I think it may have to do with the fact that we are a much 'safer' and tamer world then even 200 years ago. Our history is full of us 'trying to survive.' I'd think that would ingrain something in our minds, a desire that needs to be filled. While there are hotspots across the globe, for the most part, many socities are exceptionally 'safe' now.

I see people here who get all excited about the possibility of having to grow their own food because of a NWO takeover. If they were in the reality of it, I think they would do a 180. How often do you think starving children in Ethopia get all pumped about food shortages? Never I'd think.

It's a bizarre case of 'the grass is greener' effect, but in this case, with 'exciting' events that people are directly involved in, even if those events are disasterous.

Consider the wildfires in Australia. Why did people start MORE fires after the fact? Were they criminal by nature, trying to kill others? I think it's more likely they simply wanted to 'add' to the existing excitement and level of disaster. They wanted to make it even 'grander' if you would.

If you just look at the vast array of ways people are predicting 2012 to go badly, you'll see what I mean. People are so desperate for something huge and amazing, all sorts of predictions crop up, from asteroids, to planets, earthquakes, pole shifts, NWO takeovers, aliens waging war, you name it. Even electrical power failure worldwide, to a new ice age. Because people WANT something to happen that's more exciting than the humdrum 8-5 workday that has consumed their lives.

so we can party like it is 1999.

If it is your life coming to an end, gives you time to do the things you wanted to do and make amends with the things you haven't.

reply to post by X-tal_Phusion

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I think you've hit the nail on the head.

People who engage in extreme sports, for example, don't seem too interested in these ideas.

I think it's a way for people to remember that they are mortal, life can and does end. Thrill-seekers experience this thought process regularly, while others who live more mundane and routine lives don't, so they need to substitute it with thoughts about the end of everything.

I think it's a natural thing to think about ones death, and thrill-seekers do so more regularly than others. So those others substitute a risky action with the thoughts of apocalypse.

On a separate note, I actually do consider the Mayan knowledge to be one of the most advanced to have ever existed. But, I don't consider our abilities to translate such information to be entirely sound.
I also appreciate the evidence of a natural cycle where the Earth literally slips into another position every few thousand years. There is historical evidence that this is a routine occurrence.
I also appreciate the evidence that there is another planet somewhere out there. And it seems that this planets arrival is the catalyst for the shifting of the Earth.

After all, doesn't it seem reasonable that in this complex mess of a solar system there would be one aspect that threatens us as a planet? Doesn't every other planet show the signs of having been touched by chaos? What makes the Earth so special?

The evidence suggests that it is possible that a planet is approaching that will effect the Earth. It seems to coincide with the Mayan calendars' end, and the routine historical references of global catastrophe.

Believe it or not, there was actually a chance that as every computer on the planet switched from 2000 to 2001 there could have been major problems. It wasn't a fantasy or delusion, it was a genuine threat.
Many corporations and military establishments worked to rectify the problem. So the fact that nothing bad happened doesn't mean that nothing would have happened had they not worked on the problem.

Either way, I find it fascinating. I'm not frightened about it, the Human race has survived before in vast numbers when this happened. We will survive again if there is a planet approaching and it does effect our Earth.