A Few Thoughts About The Ancient Ones and Prophecies

About 1,400 years ago, long before Europeans explored North America, a group of people lived in the Four Corners region of the United States. Today they are called the Ancient Ones. Once referred to as the Anasazi, they are the Ancestral Pueblo people who designed and built spectacular cliff dwellings.

One summer season I was fortunate enough to be an interpretive guide and lead tourists around Mesa Verde National Park. The only National Park that was established due to the wealth of archeological sites. It now protects more than 4,000 known archeological sites, including 600 cliff dwellings of these imaginative people.

While many folks dismiss the lore and stories of these Native Americans, I was struck by the similarities of their beliefs and how they seem to parallel so many of today's cultures or religions.

One of the most revered places in the Ancient Ones' communities was the kiva. Kiva is Hopi word meaning "ceremonial room." They were important gathering places in the life of the Ancient Puebloans - comparable to the churches, synagogues, temples and mosques of today. It appears that every clan had its own kiva for use during ceremonies and other social events. Every kiva built contains a small hole. This is the Sipapu, a Hopi word for "place of emergence." According to the Hopi oral tradition, this hole represents the place where the good Ancenstral Puebloan people emerged from the previous world to the next one.

A cute piece of legend? Since I am a proponent of thinking and wondering, let's examine this with some thought. The Sipapu is essentially a symbol, much like the cross for Christians or the Star of David for Jews.

I can imagine some of the more evangelical believers teetering on the verge of shouting blasphemy. But, let's go a step farther.

According to the Ancient Puebloans we are currently in the third world. Yes, that means two other worlds have been destroyed and the Sipapu was the portal for these people to enter the next world.

The first world, this civilzation believes, was destroyed by water. Could this have been around the time of the Christian belief in the story of Noah and the flood? The second world was destroyed by fire, according to their convictions. How about the story of Passover? The Jewish belief an angel of death spared only those whose dwellings were marked allowing the good to survive. That destruction, according to legend, was by fire.

For those who cherish a religious belief, could the Ancient People have been smiled upon by a god some say can only be accessed through some ritual of prayer?

While all the predictions of this centuries old culture do not go beyond the year 2000, they do have a prophecy for the end of the third world. They believed the third world would be destroyed by "bad air." Although, no one knows when or even if that may happen, our civilization seems well on the way to fueling this end. Be it through climate change, greed and disregard for nature or perhaps, even a nuclear event.

I am not advocating the somewhat popular conversation of wht may or may not occur in the year 2012, as has become vogue in many circles. I am simply stating One Person's Views that might ... just might get you to think and wonder beyond your comfort zone.