Systems Thinking: Ancient Maya's Evolution of ... - Turistica

Systems Thinking:
Ancient Maya’s Evolution of Consciousness and
Contemporary Systems Thinking
Tadeja Jere- Lazanski
University of Primorska
Faculty of Tourism Studies
Portorose, Slovenia
E-mail: tadeja.lazanski@turistica.si
Liège, CASYS’09

Mayan calendars were timing the development and evolution of
consciousness (individual, societal, universal) The nine-story Mayan
pyramids are thus telling us that consciousness is created in a
hierarchical way and that each Underworld stands on the foundation
of another. (Carl Johan Calleman )

Outline
• Overview of the Systems and Systems Thinking Through Time
• Gap in History of Systems Thinking
• Consciousness
• Coba Stone - a Structure of Mayan Calendar – the Mayan System of
Evolution of Consciousness
• Pyramid - The Model – Cycles of Creation
• Pyramid – The Model the Evolutionary System-Conscious Evolution
of Each Cycle
• Principles of Systems Thinking in Mayan and Contemporary Times
• Conclusions

Overview of Systems and Systems Thinking
Through Time
• Phoenician cuneiform
• Egyptian pyramids
• I Ching
• Pre-Socrates philosophy
and in Heraclites
• Mayan society
• ?
• ?
• ?
• 19th century: Spencer,
Pareto, Durkheim
• 20th century: Bateson,
Mead, Bertalanffy, Wiener,
Picture source: www.ancientx.com

Gap in History of Systems Thinking
Analysis has been the dominant mode of thought
in the Western world for 400 years. (Ackoff)
• Q: How come that synthesis and systems thinking were not the mode
in Western world between 17th – 20th Century ????

Consciousness is the evolutionary system
• What we pay attention to we become conscious of.
• Consciousness is the awareness of being aware. (Lungold, 2004)
• Mayan Calendar is about evolution of consciousness. (Calleman, 2004)
Source: http://wakingdownintegral.com/?p=10

Coba Stone - a Structure of Mayan Calendar – the
Mayan System of Evolution of Consciousness
Coba, Mexico: The Mayan Calendar Stone lying
under cover next to second ball court, just past
Casa de Pinturas (ww.mayannmajix.com )
Picture source: Calleman, Solving the Greatest Mystery of our
Time: The Mayan Calendar , 2001, Garev Publishing

The Pyramid of Cycles of Creation
28 th Oct 2011
16.4 billion years ago
1 st
day
820 million years ago
1 st
night
41 million years ago
2 nd
day
2 million years ago
2 nd
night
102,000 years ago
3 rd
day
3115 BC
- Familial
- Mammalian
3 rd
night
1755 AD
- Tribal
4 th
day
5 th Jan 1999
- National
- Cultural
- Ends with the beginning of Cellular
4 th
night
10 th Feb 2011
- Planetary
5 th
day
Picture source : www.mayannmajix.com
- Galactic
5 th
night
- Universal
6 th
day
6 th
night
20
days
360
days
20
yrs
400
yrs
8000
yrs
160
k/yrs
3.2
m/yrs
63
m/yrs
1.26
b/yrs
7 th
day

The evolution of consciousness
• There are 9 cycles to the evolution of consciousness.
• Each cycle has 13 Aspects of Creation: 7 days and 6 nights.
Therefore each cycle goes through all 13 Aspects of Creation and
each cycle accelerated through each aspect.
• Each cycle length is 1/20 of the previous cycle total length.
• The days represent certain period of the calendar and the realisation
of understanding.
• The nights represent certain period of the calendar and the
application of understanding.

The evolution of consciousness
• 1 st cycle 16.4 b.y.a. (13 hablatuns) – creation of the universe. The cycle
ends with cellular life.
• 2 nd cycle 820 m.y.a. (13 alautuns) – start of the multi-cellular life.The
cycle ends with fully developed mammal species (first live births).
• 3 rd cycle 41 m.y.a. (13 kinchiltuns) – start of the family consciousness.
The cycle ends with fully developed family unit in species (first upright
apes).
• 4 th cycle 2 m.y.a. (13 kalabtuns) – start of tribe consciousness. The
cycle ends with fully developed tribal sets in mammal species (first
homo sapiens).
• 5 th cycle 102,000 y.a. (13 piktuns) – start of cultures consciousness.
The cycle ends with fully developed and distinct identities between
large conglomerated tribal groups (and agriculture established).

The evolution of consciousness
• 6 th cycle 3115 BC (13 baktuns) – start of the first nation state
consciousness (Egypt )The cycle ends in whole world divided
into separate nation states.
• 7 th cycle 1755 AD (13 katuns) – start of a planetary
consciousness. Start of the industrial revolution The cycle ends
in the global government and international agreements
superseding national status. The 1 st true global communication
method is fully implemented in the World Wide Web (the
Internet!)
• 8 th cycle 5 th Jan 1999 (13 tuns) – start of the galaxy awareness
(and yet to end) and we are really discovering what is ‘out there’
in the galaxy.
• 9 th cycle 10 th Feb 2011 (13 uinals (=1 tzolkin)) – start of the
universal consciousness and will end with our knowledge we are
one with the universe.

2 nd Cycle (Mammalian)
1 st Cycle (Cellular)
Conscious Evolution of Each Cycle
4 th Cycle (Tribal)
3 rd Cycle (Familial)
6 th Cycle (National)
5 th Cycle (Cultural)
8 th Cycle (Galactic)
7 th Cycle (Planetary)
9 th Cycle (Universal)
Conscious
Co-creation
Ethics
Power
Law & Punishment
Reasoning
Similarity/Difference
Stimulus/Individual Response
Stimulus/Response
Action/Reaction
Source: Calleman, C.J. (2004). The Mayan Calendar and the Transformation of Consciousness: Bear &
Co. Rochester Picture source and followied descriptions: www.mayanmajix.com

The First, the Second and the Third Cycle
• 1 st cycle (16.4 b.y.a.) –cellular consciousness.
• Action/Reaction – heat/cold, day/night, through a ball and it
bounces, equal and opposite reaction.
• 2 nd cycle (820 m.y.a.) –mammalian consciousness.
• Stimulus/Response – scare fish and they turn as a shoal,
boxer strikes and opponent ducks, soccer player scores
goal and fans cheer,
• 3 rd cycle (41 m.y.a.) –family consciousness.
• Stimulus/Individual Response – scare monkeys and they
run in different directions,

The Fourth and the Fifth cycle
• 4 th cycle (2 m.y.a.) –tribal consciousness.
• Similarity/Difference – mind takes over from the body, ability
to make decisions, seeing similarity and giving different
responses, 2 people see a patch of grass, 1 sees it as a
lawn the other as a pasture.
• 5 th cycle (102,000 y.a.) –cultural consciousness.
• Reasoning – started by the shamans of the tribal groups
when they (the shamans/the learned or wise men) came up
with the reasons as to why things are/were the way they
are. These shamans then since evolved into priests and
religions on the basis of cosmology, through the cultural
cycle and formed a single pantheon with the religion of
Egypt. This is where people develop their own styles for
survival according to their reasons for/of life.

The Sixth Cycle
• 6 th cycle (3115 BC) –national consciousness.
• Law & Punishment – concept of good and evil developed
(in Hebrew Bible with Adam of Eve they have the Law not to
eat the apple, and were duly punished for doing so). This is
the idea of retribution. Just in the last aspect (400 years of
the 7 th day) we have discovered the Laws of Nature and
Science (Laws of Thermodynamics, etc)

The Seventh cycle – Answering the Gap
7 th cycle (1755 AD) –planetary consciousness.
Power - People become above the rule of societal law, machines are
developed to do the work of men (industrial revolution) Some people
have lots of power, knowledge is power, language is power, the
internet has brought power, we have horseless carriages with engines
that have the power of many horses. (As a note there is no good or
bad power as consciousness has no good or evil, it is the individual
viewpoint of the application of power that makes the use of power
good or evil. To the universal consciousness everything is just an
experience – there is no good or bad experience)
A: The evolution of human consciousness did not allow the
systems thinking to appear as common thinking before the time.

The Eighth Cycle (5 th Jan 1999) –galactic
consciousness
Ethics
Spontaneous solutions through the application of law
and power to the benefit to all and everyone. Abuses of power
are getting exposed. The general public are
realising they are the ones with the true power and can do
more than the leaders. Ethics are a refined consciousness.

The Ninth Cycle (10 th Feb 2011) –universal
consciousness
Conscious Co-creation
Only a few people experience conscious co-creation.
CONSCIOUSNESS>THOUGHT>LIGHT>MANIFEST (order of
priority)

Principles of Systems Thinking: Mayan and Modern
Systems Thinking
MAYAN SYSTEMS THINKING
PRINCIPLES
The “Divine plan”
MODERN SYSTEMS THINKING
PRINCIPLES
The “Big picture”
Long term, short term perspectives
Long term, short term perspectives
Measurable and no measurable data
Measurable and no measurable data
Dynamic, complex and interdependent
Dynamic, Complex and interdependent
We are part of a system
We are part of a system

Mayan Divine Plan and Systems Big Picture
Time
Time
Place
Place
Picture source:www.mayannmajix.com
Personal Intent means knowing what (and where)
you are supposed to be doing with your life and how
you can develop your own consciousness.
Adapted from: www.mayannmajix.com
Consciousness is orientated by time, place, personal
intent for being there and the intuition of being tied
up in something much bigger than the self.

Conclusion
• Systems thinking was overlooked for Western culture’s analytical and
reductionistic worldview, which resulted in the last 400 years.
• Consciousness is an evolutionary system
• Mayan TUN Calendar is the System of Evolution of Consciousness
• Pyramids are the Models of Consciousness and the Cycles of
Creation
• Mayan Systems Principles and Modern Systems Thinking Principles
• The “Divine Plan” or the “Big Picture” (Holistic Approach)
• The Integration of All Systems

“What from my perspective seems most valuable with it is that it is
possible to say that there is scientific recognition for this theory about
the Mayan calendar, something that has hardly happened before.”
(Calleman, 2009)