Astrology and Prophecy: Preacher Says World to End–Astrologer Disagrees

Apparently this astrologer has failed to schedule in an important event in my daytimer. According to minister Harold Camping judgement day is arriving this coming Saturday. Here is the pitch:

On Judgment Day, May 21st, 2011, this 5-month period of horrible torment will begin for all the inhabitants of the earth. It will be on May 21st that God will raise up all the dead that have ever died from their graves. Earthquakes will ravage the whole world as the earth will no longer conceal its dead (Isaiah 26:21). People who died as saved individuals will experience the resurrection of their bodies and immediately leave this world to forever be with the Lord. Those who died unsaved will be raised up as well, but only to have their lifeless bodies scattered about the face of all the earth. Death will be everywhere.

October 21 is touted as the end of the actual world.

Wow. That’s enough to take the taste out of your morning mojito.

But human beings have been predicting the end of the world since well . . . the beginning of time, at least from a human perspective.

“The Earth is degenerating today. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer obey their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is approaching” Assyrian tablet, circa 2,800 BCE

It was Zoroaster who founded the religion we know as Zoroastrianism originating sometime before the 6th century BCE that is credited for the End of the World Prophecies that have crept into Christian, Muslim and Judaism though the ancient Hindu and Buddhist texts have their own version of upcoming events.

According to Zoroastrian scripture, the end of the world will come about when a comet, called Gochihr, strikes the earth. Its “fire and halo” will melt all metals and minerals and will burn up the world in a general conflagration. The resulting boiling flood of metal will flow over the earth like a river. The righteous, as well as the wicked souls (released from hell) will pass through it. The wicked will be purified of their sins, but the pious will feel like they’re passing through warm milk. The most detailed description of this is found in the 30th chapter of the Bundahishn.

However, Zoroaster anticipated the end of the world to happen around 1000 to 1200 BCE, which clearly has not happened.

Since that time mankind has amassed an impressive list of the world’s expiration date, and some more modern ones here, some of them sadly from astrologers.

Considering mankind’s collective failure to predict the end of the world I’m willing to bet my next paycheck that the world will not end on October 21, 2010 and May 21st will pass by will the only the usual strum and drang of human living.

So why then are some humans so obsessed with the end of the world?

Howard Bloom speculates that this need is an ancient drive in the more primitive part of our brain that helps to forge alliances (group identity) that promotes activity that clears territory of competitors for resources.

“. . . the end is coming and that only the believers will be saved. Only those who’ve embraced the right god or the right philosophy will survive. Only they will know the truth behind the new world order. And they will do more than remain alive, they will come out on top. They will flourish and thrive.”

Since we are biological creatures, it makes some sort of sense that biology could be at the basis of this “End Times” mess. Our survival instinct that is inherent in Homo sapiens manifests in a twisted combination of cooperative competition. But remember also at the top of the food chain are leaders that exploits our fears and heads us into these deadly directions.

Since we are talking about death, destruction and transformation ultimately we are talking about a Pluto process. That certain leaders are willing to exploit fear talks about a Saturn process. If we take a look at Saturday, May 21, 2011 we see Pluto at the apex of a T-Square, challenging Saturn, and also Uranus which represents sudden and unusual events. But as an aspect configuration it is not especially ominous. We’ve seen over the past few years the Saturn/Uranus opposition, the movement of Pluto in Capricorn and the Cardinal Grand Cross. The best we’ve seen is the meltdown of the world wide financial system and a nuclear reactor meltdown in Japan. Serious, but hardly world ending.

The basic message of Pluto is transformation and ultimately evolution. Perhaps what we should look at is the old hardwiring of our human brains that promotes cooperative competition as a survival strategy and strip that down just to cooperation. Transform our view of the world and our neighbors as brothers and sisters instead of competitors for resources. Examine our leaders and choose the ones that promote peace, harmony, cooperation as survival strategies instead of warmongering. When we hear and “End Times” prophesy translate that from “fear message” of which we should be wary and transform it to a hope message frees humans from fear.

So Reverend Camping I’m not penciling in your End of the World into my Daytimer, but I will say a prayer that humans learn to lift themselves from their biology and learn to live cooperatively with all the people of the world.

Photo courtesy of Creative Commons license as published on Flickr