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April 20, 2006
2012 : The Return of Quetzalcoatl
The new masterwork by Daniel Pinchbeck, coming to a bookstore near you May 4, 2006.
This literary and metaphysical epic unifies the cosmological phenomena of our time - from crop circles to quantum mechanics to the worldwide resurgence of shamanism - in support of the Mayan prophecy that the year 2012 portends an unprecedented global shift.
Cross Umberto Eco, Aldous Huxley, and Carlos Castaneda and you get the voice of Daniel Pinchbeck. And yet nothing quite prepares you for the lucidity, rationality, and informed audacity of this seeker, skeptic, and cartographer of hidden realms.
In tracing the meaning of the end of the Mayan Calendar in 2012, and the imminent transition from one world to another prophesied by the Hopi Indians of Arizona, Pinchbeck synthesizes indigenous cosmology, alien abductions, shamanic revivalism, crop circles, psychedelic visions, the current ecological crisis and the Judeo-Christian Apocalypse into a new vision for our time. The result is an unprecedented and riveting inquiry into where humanity is immediately headed - and its strange and startling congruence with the ideas of the mysterious civilization of the Classical Maya.
Throughout the 1990s, Pinchbeck had been a member of New York's literary select. He wrote for publications like ArtForum, Esquire, and The New York Times Magazine. Critics acclaimed his first book, Breaking Open the Head, as the most significant contribution to psychedelic literature since the work of Terence McKenna.
But the unexpected occurred: Pinchbeck found himself increasingly pulled into the shamanic and metaphysical realms he was reporting on as a journalist. As his mind opened to new and sometimes threatening experiences, disparate threads and synchronicities made new sense: Humanity, every sign suggested, faces an imminent decision between greater self-potential and environmental ruin. The Mayan "birth date" of 2012 could herald the close of one way of existence and the beginning of another, symbolized by the prophesied return of the Mesoamerican deity Quetzalcoatl, the mysterious "Plumed Serpent" of ancient myth. In just the nick of time, the skeptical modern mind can reclaim the suppressed psychic, intuitive, and mystical dimensions of being, and institute a new planetary culture. But it is only - and by no means assuredly - possible if we confront the environmental catastrophe staring us in the face.
Something is in the air: many, if not most, of us feel that real change - for good or ill - is afoot. Pinchbeck's journey - a metaphysical opus that takes the reader from the endangered rain forests of the Amazon, to the stone megaliths of the English plains, to the Burning Man festival in the Black Rock desert of Nevada - tells the tale of a single man in whose trials we ultimately recognize our own secret thoughts and unease over modern life. And a redemptive vision of where we are heading.
From the Back Cover
"Daniel Pinchbeck's 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl is a dazzling kaleidoscopic journey through the quixotic hinterlands of consciousness, crop circles, and ancient prophecy, as well as an intriguing and deeply personal odyssey of transformation. 2012 presents a compelling and complex teleological argument, weaving together the twilit realms of the human imagination and the harsh realities of accelerated global catastrophe. Its conclusions are surprisingly robust, original, and thankfully optimistic."
- Sting
"A daring and intriguing, sometimes deeply disturbing, very well researched and extremely readable book that puts an entirely new slant on 2012. From quantum physics to aliens, from crop circles to reincarnation, from shamanic hallucinogens to Rudolf Steiner, from the Amazon jungle to Stonehenge, from fragments of jaundiced autobiography to the ending of worlds, Pinchbeck takes us on a mind-bending, paradigm-rattling ride."
- Graham Hancock
"Few things are more difficult to convey in writing than the epiphanic drug experience or the mystical vision, and it is to Pinchbeck's credit as a writer that he is able to articulate these visions so clearly and memorably."
_ Geoff Dyer, Los Angeles Times
"Pinchbeck's reporting is fascinating and entertaining." - Brian Doherty, Washington Post Book World (front page)
"The author is not some hippy-dippy hedonist staggering down the road of excess but rather a skeptical philosopher of consciousness seeking the enlightened path." - Troy Patterson, Entertainment Weekly
Posted by Upwinger at April 20, 2006 06:04 PMI love Pinchbeck. Mostly because after reading it, you really want to go out and experience it. As opposed, to, say, Huxley. After Doors of Perception, mescaline was still neither here nor there. After Breaking Open the Head, I would definitely want to try iboga, and go to Burning Man, and so on.
Posted by: Helius Croesus at April 20, 2006 11:14 PMInteresting word. Quetzalcoatlus is the name of a type of pterosaur.
Posted by: Helen at April 21, 2006 09:39 AMPrecisely, Helen: The pterosaur fossil was *named AFTER* the mythic Quetzalcoatl.
Pinchbeck's stuff is, of course, very cool. Can hardly wait to get it...
Despite what more mainstream skeptics say, a techno-economic convergence to a Singularity--or at least, as I've remarked before here, a preliminary, Proto-Singularity--could very well occur by 2012. Great strides are now being made almost (quite literally, mind you!) *DAILY* in robotics, AGI, and nanotech. Will the first (albeit probably diamondoid-only) crude assembler emerge by or before 2012? Will robots replace/displace much of the labor-force by 2012? Will Eli Yudkowsky and/or Ben Goertzel (Novamente Project) achieve a "seed" (trans)human-friendly AGI by 2012? Any or all of these may be in the offing within 5-10 years. Optimistic in the timeframe projections? Perhaps a bit, but one MUST understand & bear in mind that things are not only super-exponentially accelerating, but are concurrently **synergetically CONVERGING**--and what everything is converging *toward* is a techno-socio-economic TRANSFORMATION, the likes of which the Terran ecosystem has never experienced before...
Stay tuned...
And, btw, for all those interested in Rev. Tom's Project(s), they're still in the preliminary stage(s). Rev. Tom is working on some stuff. Rev. Tom and/or Paul will be announcing relevant stuff as it comes about. In all likelihood I'll be involved in/with one or more aspects of it (them) as well (uh-oh, head for the hills! [WINK]...), so "stay tuned" for more on specifically this, as well...
We live in VERY INTERESTING times...
Have a good weekend, kids [loving WINK...]...
P.S. Also check-out what I and other guys such as Richard Leis, "Cryoguy", "Joe" and others have to say on John Bruce's (rather conservative, almost bigotted--but God-love-him) blog at http://mthollywood.blogspot.com/ I recommend this ONLY so that one can see what the more mainstream (or is that mud-puddle...?) 4th-circuit, "upstanding", "straight-laced" types have to say...(One has to keep tabs on the herd, you know, lest one be gored or trampled...) And don't neglect Michael Anissimov's wonderful blog, http://www.acceleratingfuture.com/michael/blog/ (which is where I got turned-on to John Bruce's blogsite in the first place...!)
Live long & prosper, folks...
Posted by: MCP2012 at April 21, 2006 01:20 PMIf "Breaking Open the Head" was any indicator, then "2012" will be more informative then a text book and just as interesting as any literary giant's best books past, present, or future. I cannot wait to get this book in my hands, and soak it up.
Fats
Posted by: Matt Price at April 22, 2006 03:25 PMMichael's probably right...however, Michael...are you saying that Eli's not going to accomplished the creation of friendly seed AGI by 2012?! I thought the current goal for SingInst is 2010 +/- 2 yrs...[wink]
Posted by: MCP2012 at April 22, 2006 06:40 PMWhat happened to the Mike Anissimov post that I just commented-on?! Michael said: "Nothing is going to happen in 2012."
Posted by: MCP2012 at April 22, 2006 06:44 PMHere's a thought:
http://img77.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mayancalender2012thesecretreve.gif
An equally valid opinion on the whole Mayan Calender/2012 thing :D :D
---
And once again, real email: cofoegbu@y a h o o.com
Posted by: Chinedum Ofoegbu (also razorsmile) at April 22, 2006 08:38 PMHahahahaha .... very funny ;)
Posted by: Upwinger at April 23, 2006 06:07 AMIts like waiting for the year 2000 and the new millenium all over again.
This was a pretty interesting read though. http://www.crawford2000.co.uk/maya.htm
Posted by: eventhorizen at April 23, 2006 09:54 AMCensorship? That's lame. Surely we can subject ourselves to a differing opinion. In fact I agree with Michael on this, much as I'd like to not heh.
Posted by: Brian at April 23, 2006 12:18 PMWas this really censored by someone? If so that person should at least offer an explanation of why they did it. Hard to believe that anyone would do that, given the wide range of opinion that's been expressed lately.
I am also one of those who believes that 2012 will come and go and the rent will still be due. But I do admit we're in the middle of an unprecedented revolution in human society.
Posted by: dlight at April 23, 2006 10:47 PMIt was a de-spamming accident. Im rather embarassed. Forgive me.
Posted by: Upwinger at April 24, 2006 05:43 AMUniverse might live by a different calendar than (any)humans? Perhaps the Mayas thought they wouldn't need calendar that goes past 2012? (take a look around, see any mayas?)
Posted by: Entity at April 26, 2006 02:27 AMUh, ever heard of Chiapas? Or maybe the Zapatistas?
Posted by: lvx23 at April 28, 2006 03:29 PMi have read pinchbeck BOTH, and loved it,
even wrote a review here:
http://www.gamatron.net/pinchbeck.htm
on the other hand i have absolutely no desires whatsoever to look at his new work. looks like yet another one of those neatly commercialized packaged bunch of new age data, giving explanantions about everything and nothing.
come on, g handcock wrote for the back cover.
might as well read more of Charles Fort or other such kooks.
its great for main stream though, and i am sure it will sell just fine:)
Posted by: manue at April 29, 2006 05:03 AMApparently the Mayan numerical system runs out of 'units' in 2012. I may be wrong in my interpretion, but its a bit like saying why is there no number after 9, just a return to 1 and a decimal place further along.
Base 9 has for a long time been the standard amongst most of the world, but variations and wildly differing numerical systems have been in existance since as long as the ability to count. Perhaps the Mayans were immensly advanced in their astrology, but had a flawed by todays standards numerical system.
After all its not that long in human history since the 'invention' or implimentation of the number/concept zero into European arithmatic, numeracy and mathematics, a bit of conceptual knowledge from China I think, though Im not sure.
So from what I am aware of, through some online reading, and by no means am I any kind of student of the Maya, the Mayan calender resets in 2012, because in Mayan time they run out of conceptual further numbers. They would have to invent say the '10' because they are at 9, but they didnt. I think. Thats not to deny the actual importance of said date, or the accuracy and complexity and stunning level of their astrological awareness and time keeping. As mentioned before there is a galactic realignment of several differing levels it would seem, so like full moons no one can rule out anything, only wait and see.
That their calender should reach its conceptual end at the same time as this great realignment is trully testament to their beleifs, intelligence, awareness of the immensity around and within them, and culture as a whole. Trully remarkeable and inspiring, even if perhaps not as radical and life changing as some might hope/claim, though I guess that depends on just how well realised this awsome feat and monument becomes across humanity at large. These people had their eyes open and it goes without saying that in some respects we are vastly inferior to them as a whole.
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Actually, on 22 December 2012 to be exact.. sometime around teatime.
Floods, volcanic eruptions and other catastrophic events will occur. The Earth may even spin off its axis and plunge into the burning depths of the Sun with horrible consequences.
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