Nostradamus 2012

[Twisterdog]

I remember hearing the imminent and dire prophecies of Nostradamus since I was in grade school ... and that was a long time ago.

IMO, the "prophecies" are so very vague that a great many things can be read into them. They can be interpretted to suit any doom and gloom philosophy one wants to see.

[DJFyrewolf36]

In my opinion, things happen when they want to and us mortals have no power to stop it. Worry only leads to stress...and stress related illnesses! I say sit back, have a beer and live life as you need to live it without worrying if the world will end. If it does, what can you do?

Tis far better to die on your feet than to live on your knees

[RICHARD]

Dang, NO Christmas shopping that year?

Color me tickled?

[JenBKR]

In my opinion, things happen when they want to and us mortals have no power to stop it. Worry only leads to stress...and stress related illnesses! I say sit back, have a beer and live life as you need to live it without worrying if the world will end. If it does, what can you do?

Agreed! I don't bother worrying about prophecies, I just live my life.

[pomtzu]

There's nothing I can do about it, so I'm not going to worry about it.

And as long as the topic is "the end of the world as we know it", you should all watch the movie "On the Beach". Very sobering - and all too possible! (or probable).

[momoffuzzyfaces]

I just think it's interesting how so many different people who lived hundreds of years apart hit the same date. And no, I doubt if they had heard of each other.... no tv or news papers then!

I do believe in the Bible prophecies though. They are coming true at a fast pace now, whether anyone choses to believe in them or not. They never give a date though. Don't want everyone jumping on my head about this; it's what I believe and no one can change my mind on this so don't try, ok?

You all are free to believe in what you want to but so am I!

[Medusa]

IMHO, prophecy and prediction are not synonymous. Prophets, if I recall correctly, warned people about their conduct during the present and the consequences of their actions. It wasn't so much future oriented as it was for the present, ie., the time in which they lived. A prediction, on the other hand, is future oriented and anyone can make predictions. Just listen to Sylvia Brown sometime. She makes predictions for the next hundred years or so, knowing that she won't be around when none (or only some) of it comes true. I think Nostradamus was prophesying for his time and not ours, although I can see some similarities but that probably can be said of any era.

[JenBKR]

I do believe in the Bible prophecies though. They are coming true at a fast pace now, whether anyone choses to believe in them or not. They never give a date though. Don't want everyone jumping on my head about this; it's what I believe and no one can change my mind on this so don't try, ok?

I do too! Not saying that I sit around worrying about it, it's all going to happen with or without my consent but I do believe that a lot of them are coming true.

IMHO, prophecy and prediction are not synonymous. Prophets, if I recall correctly, warned people about their conduct during the present and the consequences of their actions. It wasn't so much future oriented as it was for the present, ie., the time in which they lived. A prediction, on the other hand, is future oriented and anyone can make predictions. Just listen to Sylvia Brown sometime. She makes predictions for the next hundred years or so, knowing that she won't be around when none (or only some) of it comes true. I think Nostradamus was prophesying for his time and not ours, although I can see some similarities but that probably can be said of any era.

hmm, you make a good point...I can see the differences between the two. I like Sylvia Brown...not sure if I believe what she says, but she's interesting. Plus, I heard her say once that there are lots of books in heaven, and I want that to be true!

[smokey the elder]

I read On the Beach back in high school, over 30 years ago, along with Alas, Babylon. Both of these were post-nuclear war stories, but had completely different endings, as I recall. Humans have survived (as a species) any number of disasters; civilizations have risen and fallen throughout all of recorded history.

What I found interesting is the possible correlation of Dec. 21, 2012 with a Solar conjunction with the center of the Milky Way galaxy. Many of the cultures who had this type of prophecy were adept astronomers, measuring star motions with eye-popping precision. One way this may be read is the human fear of the unknown, "this has never happened before; must be bad". Eclipses, comets, meteor showers were often considered harbingers of disaster, and often appear to correlate. However, there's a rule (from logic?) correlation does not mean causation.

Even though I'm a skeptic, I find the idea of people (who live in linear time for the most part) which have the ability to "peek" very fascinating.

[RICHARD]

I read On the Beach back in high school, over 30 years ago, along with Alas, Babylon. Both of these were post-nuclear war stories, but had completely different endings, as I recall. Humans have survived (as a species) any number of disasters; civilizations have risen and fallen throughout all of recorded history.

Please stay out of my bookshelf?


Want to read a rocking good end of world tome?

Lucifer's Hammer.

Or a sci fi twist on same story?

Footfall.


Niven and Pournelle wrote both. I go back to each occasionally.

[Killearn Kitties]

IMO, the "prophecies" are so very vague that a great many things can be read into them. They can be interpretted to suit any doom and gloom philosophy one wants to see.

This is more or less my opinion of the Nostradamus prophecies too. They are so terribly vague that they can be made to fit many situations, and you would only know that they had come true in retrospect.

The world was supposed to end many times in the seventies and nineties according to the interpreters of Nostradamus, but so far so good!

[Marigold2]

Anyone can say there will be an earthquake on such and such a day and chances are somewhere on the globe there will be one. Same with a tornado, flood, mudslide, plane crash. These things happen every day. Thousands of people die each year in car accidents, boating accidents, motorcycle etc. Different groups have predicted the end of the world for thousands of years and yet here we still are AND what's more we have the same problems we had one thousand, two thousand or six thousand years ago. Money, in-laws, children, cancer, common cold, flu, jealousy, greed, hunger, hate, lust, wanting power or control over others. Not much has changed really except now we live in homes instead of caves, we still eat meat, worry about our kids, die to young, love, hate, cry, and laugh and pray. We still kill over land, over our respected God or Gods, cheat on our husbands and wives, beat our children. Mankind can fly to the moon but as for morals, kindness, common goodness,forgivness, love, helping others we are NO better then we were 50 or 100 years ago or even 400 years ago. Sad sad sad.

[RICHARD]

I have these predictions......

NostrilDoofus told me so.

The sun will rise in the east.
2009 will end at midnight on 12/31/2009, midnight.
A broken clock will be correct two times a day.
2 plus 2 equals 4
The Beatles will never record another album,-
Neither will Elvis.
Your nails will be longer in two weeks and O.J. will be in jail tomorrow.


Check them out.

[blue]

Prophets?

[smokey the elder]

My knock on prophecy is that it's basically useless. You always hear after the fact. We'll know in just under 4 years if this is a potentially "forewarned is forearmed" situation. There does seem to be a disproportionate amount of trouble, which, IMO, has one root cause: "too many people, not enough planet", as the late great Robert Heinlein wrote.