Just as we are born, grow old, and die, myths have questioned how the world will end. During the 20th century, the Western world foresaw a bleak end to the world as expressed at the close of T. S. Eliot's 1925 poem "The Hollow Men."

     This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper. (Eliot 59)

The unleashing of nuclear energy, the potential for genetically engineered diseases, the spread of terrorism have not improved this picture for most people. Novels, movies, and television shows often portray the future as bleak and dark. People remember the 'good old days' and disparage the present. claiming the current generation has lost its way, has abandoned value. This sense of 'paradise lost' is common in myth.

Greek

The Greek poet Hesiod wrote of five successive ages of humanity, each falling short of the previous age. The Age of Gold was a paradisical world ruled by Cronus where people lived in harmony and peace, dying quietly in their sleep only after a long, blissful life (Harris and Platzner 115). This was followed by the Age of Silver, a time when people lived 100 year childhoods but despised the gods and were eventually destroyed by them. The Age of Bronze was marked by warfare and constant conflict. The Age of Heroes marked a time of slight improvement over the previous age. This age included the heroes of the Trojan War but is still an age full of conflict and constant war (Harris and Platzner 116). Finally, Hesiod described the Age of Iron, the present age, an age full of perversion and mischief and evil of every kind, where good is punished and evil flourishes. Eventually, Zeus will destroy this world as well (Harris and Platzner 117).

Judaeo-Christian

The Bible, also, has much to say about a coming apocalypse. Daniel describes a "great image" with head of gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and feet, a mixture of iron and clay, which is destroyed by a great stone. Daniel attributes the head of gold to Nebuchadnezzar's rule, and the rest of the statue to succeeding kingdoms, each less noble than the previous, until all are destroyed by the kingdom of God (KJV, Daniel 2.31-45). The book of Revelation also describes a great apocalypse of fire and torment, the battle of Armaggedon, where many are killed before a golden age under the rule of heaven is restored.

Norse

For the Norse, the world also ends in a great battle, Ragnarok, when the dead hero warriors of Valhalla rise to fight against Loki and his forces. Even many of the Gods are killed, including Odin, who is devoured by the great wolf Fenrir.

Hindu

For the Hindu, the world is in an unending cycle of death and rebirth, "from the ideal golden age to the dark age and back to the golden age" (Rosenberg 291) called the Maha Yuga. The first age in the Maha Yuga is the Krita Yuga, a world of paradise and moral virtue where every need is provided. Krishna rules as Brahma, and people follow dharma, right behavior. Meditation is the highest virtue. This ages lasts 1,728,000 years (Rosenberg 292).

Next comes the Treta Yuga, where Vishnu rules and knowledge is virtue. During this age, greed surfaces, and, in consequence, people must work hard to live, and the weak are victimized by the strong. The Treta Yuga lasts 1,296,000 years (Rosenberg 292).

The third age is the Dvapara Yuga, where disease, war, and suffering are common, and people use religion to try to achieve dharma. Sacrifice is the path to virture. Vishnu continues to rule, and the age lasts 864,000 years (Rosenberg 292-3).

The fourth age, the Kali Yuga, is dark, and virtue is scarce. People seek status through possessions rather than morality and live for pleasure, particularly sexual pleasure. The poor, on the other hand, though more virtuous, are constantly oppressed by their kings, and so escape to the wilderness. Life is short for all. Those in their twenties are considered old. Charity is the chief virtue of the age. The Kali Yuga lasts 432,000 years and is ruled by Shiva-Rudra, the destroyer of life (Rosenberg 293).

After 1000 Maha Yugas, Shiva destroys the world, first by fire, then by flood. But life is preserved in a golden egg, and the world will be reborn, only to repeat the cycle for eternity (Rosenberg 293-4).

The belief in a dark future and the hope for a new beginning seems to be a common human desire.