Carl Johhan Calleman sent this note out today on this (not sure why he feels the need to slam JMJ's work on galactic alignment but I'm guessing it's part of the ongoing feud).

"Dear Friends,

For a long time the professional scientific community has resisted the thought
that the different time periods of the Mayan calendar are driving cosmic and human evolution through their influence on consciousness. While of course a large number of professional Mayanists have worked with elucidating the structure of the calendar system of the ancient Maya there has always been a resistance to acknowledging that there would be a reality behind these energies. Hence, even though it may not have been said so directly these cosmic energies have often been regarded as some kind of superstitions.

A beginning of a shift in attitude now however seems to be on its way. At an international conference in Systems Theory at the University of Liege in Belgium Professor Tadeja Jere Lazanski won the award for best scientific paper in the CASYS'09 (Computing Anticipatory Systems) conference:
www.upr.si/fileadmin/us...per_Award.jpg
for "Systems Thinking: Ancient Maya's Evolution of Consciousness and Modern Systems Thinking."

www.upr.si/fileadmin/us...-Lazanski.pdf

The paper outlines the nine levels of evolution that are developed according to the Mayan calendar system and places them in the context of Systems Theory. In short Dr Jere Lazanski is driving the thesis that what the ancient Maya saw as a plan driven by divine energies is what now is generally referred to as the big picture.

This initial breakthrough into mainstream science of the true Mayan calendar system of Nine Underworlds and Thirteen Heavens is very significant and it opens for the first time a road to discussing not only the Mayan calendar, but also the many evolutionary progressions that it describes in certain scholarly settings.

It is also noteworthy that, in contrast, the urban legend of a "galactic alignment"
as the basis for the Mayan Long Count for good reasons has consistently been
rejected by professional scientists (see for instance Vincent Malmström,
The Astronomical Insignificance of Maya date 13.0.0.0,
www.dartmouth.edu/~izapa/M-32.pdf).

That the breakthrough into established science of the True Mayan calendar system first happened in Systems Theory is understandable. It is only from the perspective of the whole system that the Mayan calendar can be seen to make sense and any specialized science such as professional Mayanism, history, biology or physics would have to undergo so significant changes in its methodology and general approaches in order to recognize the validity of the Mayan calendar system that this would only happen against a much greater resistance.

I congratulate Professor Jere Lazanski for her contribution to science and feel this recognition indicates the beginning of an increased openness in the scientific community to the deeper meaning of the Mayan calendar.

Seattle, August 12, 2009 (13 Ix)
Carl Johan Calleman, Ph.D

www.calleman.com"

Here's the abstract on the paper...

Abstract
Systems thinking as a modern approach for problem solving was revived after WWII even
though it had been an ancient philosophy. We can track systems thinking back to antiquity.
Differentiated from Western rationalist traditions of philosophy, C. West Churchman often
identified with the I Ching as a systems approach sharing a frame of reference similar to pre-
Socratic philosophy and Heraclitus. In the paper we will compare the evolutionary system of
consciousness, which was presented in Tun calendar at Maya Indians and contemporary
systems theory and systems thinking, which is nothing else but highly evolved human
consciousness in society. The Mayan numerical system and long count units has been proven
as one of the most accurate systems for describing the present and future of the civilization in which we have all evolved. We will present Mayan nine-level pyramids system that
represents the evolutionary system – the consciousness, which nowadays shows the actual
level of human consciousness. Deriving from all described we will show the main systems
principles, discussed by contemporary systems authors and Mayan systems principles, which
differs only in one expression – they named a “big picture” as “the divine plan”. The final
results can be perfectly implied to the society we live in. Seeing the world from the big
picture point of view is reaching a level of awareness, where linear thinking is replaced by
system thinking. Maya explained that the civilization will achieve the system of conscious cocreation. We can claim that linear thinking guides us to a limited consciousness, whereas
systems thinking opens the possibilities of conscious co-creation for the benefits of
sustainable society and future of the planet.