Abstract
In the world of today, many European young people, starving for a "spiritual" or "authentic" life, seek somewhat pagan or exotic religious inspirations. The Maya indigenous wisdom has become a favourite source of such spirituality, particularly around 2012, when elevated by New Age-oriented individuals and movements.
But what does "Maya spirituality" mean for the new generations of the Maya themselves? Which are the religious motives that represent their contemporary lived cosmology? In this paper, I would like to present three of them: the animation, regeneration, and uncertainty of the world. Illustrating the ways of how the Maya envisage the "living" mountains, the "world" trees, and the "ends" of the world, I want to demonstrate Maya cosmology as based on their everyday experience with nature and landscape, and their participation in the course of the world.
Drawing on the phenomenological and existential anthropology, I argue that Maya thought and practice can be viewed as a response to the lifeworld they inhabit.