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I think we can learn much more thinking and discussing about "the end of our world" than the end of the world". It's even the title of a nice book about enlightenment.

Actually, maybe even the Apocalypse of St John was a mystical text in disguise, discussing allegorically about the personal process of enlightenment instead of some prophesized worldwide event.

It's even one of the very valid ways of interpreting that book called idealism.

And even if 99, 99% people are only familiar with one of these interpretations (the futurist view, hugely popular among evangelist movements and in the whole US) there are actually at least 4 main ones!

The following approaches arose from the study of Christianity’s most central eschatological document, the Book of Revelation, but the principles embodied in them can be applied to all prophecy in the Bible. They are by no means mutually exclusive and are often combined to form a more complete and coherent interpretation of prophetic passages. Most interpretations fit into one, or a combination of, these approaches.

Preterism

Preterism (from the Latin praeteritus, meaning "gone by") is an approach which sees prophecy as chiefly being fulfilled in the past, especially (in the case of the Book of Revelation) during the first century. Prophecies in general, therefore, have already been fulfilled. Revelation, for example, may be seen as referring to the major players and events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem in the year 70 AD, or the struggle of Christianity to survive the persecutions of the Roman Empire, as many other interpretations are considered. There are two major views within preterism, Partial preterism and Full preterism.

Historicism

Historicism says that Biblical prophecies provide us with a broad view of history, as well as an explanation of the religious significance of historical events. Historicists attempt to identify prophetic passages with major events in history.

Futurism

In Futurism, parallels may be drawn with historical events, but most eschatological prophecies are chiefly referring to events which have not been fulfilled, but will take place at the end of the age and the end of the world. Most prophecies will be fulfilled during a global time of chaos known as the Great Tribulation and afterwards.

Idealism

In Idealism, also known as "spiritual" or "symbolic", the events described in prophecy are neither past, present, nor future, but are representative of larger ideals and principles. Eschatological

Prophecy deals with the ongoing struggle between the forces of light and darkness, and the ultimate triumph of good over evil. Its message is purely a spiritual one, an allegory of the spiritual path, which is equally relevant in all ages and for all people.

 I personally like the idealist view, simply because I'm a pantheist and I believe that enlightenment as well as apocalypse are continuously happening at all levels of consciousness because of the fractal and interconnected nature of the universe, and thus it's useless to try to pinpoint such things to particular date and scope. We all live our own personal Apocalypses all the time. Does that means the world is ending each time?

Why these 3 others are views less popular then? Probably because they are less exciting.

I noticed most doom believers are actually bored and more interested by sci-fi book than spiritual ones; or they are people with anxiety issues.

All these apocalyptic prophecies generated a good laugh when I shared them with a friend who's also a monk. He could not understand what the 2012 craze was all about, and had more fun when I told him about the American doctrine of Rapture.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_eschatology#Approaches_to_prophetic_interpretation