"End of the world" scenarios are common to cultures around the globe. There are many commonalities found throughout the various groups of people on Earth. Sometimes that can include symbols that resemble each other, or in other cases, similar stories and beliefs. Quite often, it is the fundamental misunderstanding of Native American religions that shows its' ugly little head in our current American culture and manifests itself in society as an attempt to "bridge the gap" between how they view Native beliefs to be and the patterns that they see in the world. One example of such profound misrepresentation and misuse of "The Power" and Native Americans' cultural myths and stories appears in a special engagement called the Wisdom from the Origins Conference*.
*This article originally appeared in Volume 22.3 of the Skeptical Briefs 2012 Fall edition.