Rewatching LOST: HERE and NOW

These next two posts are dedicated to answering questions posted by groovy LOST fan, Diane. Diane wants to know what's up with the flash sideways world, Christian's chat with Jack and our losties' "leaving" in the church at "The End."

[Hey Diane! As usual, thank you so much for the excellent questions and the kind words!!]

Before we get started, make sure you check out my transcript and write up of this all important Jack/Christian convo HERE, and that you've read our most recent discussion about Daniel, Desmond and "The Constant": Rewatching LOST: Brain Trust.

Diane's Question 1:

We were told that either the church or the sideways world (it wasn't made clear) was a place they created so that they could find each other. Question- did they create this place BEFORE they came into the system (the Island)? I've always wondered just how they created it, if you take the story at face value, which I tend to do.

They couldn't have created it during the time frame of the show as nothing in the story indicated that. Once they died they couldn't have created it together because once they were in this sideways world they didn't know each other anymore until they were "awakened".

So, do you think they created this place (the church, I'm thinking) as a sort of constant for them to reach after they were done with whatever they had to do in the "system" (the Island)?

That is an EXCELLENT question! It points to the very reason I'm so convinced everything is happening while we watch it happening and nothing happens TO OUR LOSTIES in a physical world.  There's NO way to reconcile the flashsideways world and the island world in sequential time.  Me, you and everyone else have tried to fit the puzzle together with the island in the past and the sideways in some kind of "otherworldly" future. It doesn't fit by half, and even then it's full of HUGE holes -- like the ones you brought up.

The key  is in Christian's NEXT sentence:  "There is no NOW, here."

1.  First clue is "here."

If you have a chance, check out the episode transcripts [Lostpedia has an excellent collection of transcripts HERE]. Pick any episode, and just start reading. Notice how many times the characters refer to the island as "here."

Example from "Exodus, Part 2":

• Locke: Do you really think all this is an accident?  That we, a group of strangers survived, many of us with just superficial injuries? Do you think we crashed on this place by coincidence -- especially, this place? We were brought here for a purpose, for a reason, all of us. Each one of us was brought here for a reason.
• Jack: Brought here? And who brought us here, John?
• Locke: The Island. The Island brought us here. This is no ordinary place, you've seen that, I know you have. But the Island chose you, too, Jack. It's destiny.

When Christian says, "this is a place you made together, to find one another," he's talking about the island world AND the flash worlds -- the entire "system."  The lsland and the flashes (back, forward and sideways) are each one part of ONE WORLD. [“You are HERE.” Get it? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!].

The confusing part is, seems like our losties don't have much control over "here" most of the time.  However, if you track events on the island/in the flashes from the "Pilot," there's a "Live Together, Die Alone" pattern of increased control over time.

Short answer is: I think our losties were "special" to begin with. Jacob/MIB had less control over their minds [I personally think it's because they still have physical bodies outside the system]. As they unite, on island and in the flashes, they have more and more control over what happens to them and to this world.

A good example would be Jack dropping the bomb in "The Incident." It's more than a little important that Juliet, Sawyer and Kate [especially Kate!] BELIEVE that dropping the bomb is what Jack is SUPPOSED to DO -- that it will WORK. Daniel convinces Jack ["The Variable"], Jack convinces Eloise and Sayid, then Juliet convinces James, and Jack convinces Kate. Before he drops it, they all "BELIEVE" the bomb will "work."

They lose a little faith when they wake up next to the hatch ["LA X"]. They think the bomb DIDN"T work. However, Juliet sends them a message [after she dies] saying the opposite: "It worked."  It's not until "The End" that we realize Juliet is telling the truth. Dropping the bomb TOTALLY worked. However, it was not the FINAL game changer. It was only STEP ONE. They still had work to do.

Here's the kicker: the BOMB only "WORKED" if the FLASH SIDEWAYS world is a PARALLEL WORLD -- a concurrent, co-existing world.

If the object of the bomb is to MAKE SURE Oceanic Flight 815 LANDS in LAX, right? IF, after Juliet taps the bomb, our losties wake up on the island "right back where they started," do their thing, eventually die, and then YEARS later, after they are ALL DEAD, their SPIRITS or SOULS find themselves on Oceanic Flight 815 landing in LAX, THEN saying the bomb "worked" makes NO SENSE WHATSOEVER.

The bomb "worked" by opening up a parallel world designed to allow our losties to "find each other" and WAKE UP by triggering shared memories from the island.

[See Amy's Handy-Dandy Guide for Rewatching LOST: Chapter 3 for more info on identity and memory transfer.]

NOTE: Without ISLAND memories, this transfer/awakening in the FLASHSIDEWAYS world could NEVER TAKE PLACE.

The ISLAND is status quo, the BOMB/Jacob's DEATH creates CHANGE, the CHANGE allows our losties to fulfill their mission [shut down Jacob/MIB] and LEAVE safely.

If you look at the story from the point of view that the flash worlds are ½ and the island is ½, then EVERYTHING starts to make sense. Since we know for a fact the flash sideways world isn't a physical one, it means the ISLAND can't be a physical one either. They are two halves of the same NON-Physical world. The only difference is Jacob/MIB's influence -- after Jacob dies/Juliet taps the bomb, the flash world is out of their reach.

If this is not a physical world, then our losties "made" this place with their minds.  The only way they can make this place "together" with their minds is if their MINDS are INTERCONNECTED.

The question is HOW? How is this intersect of minds accomplished?

[Hint: The same way Eloise the rat's mind is interconnected with Daniel's, only the "zapping" is done by the island!]

2.  Second clue is “now.”

Think back to my most recent post about Daniel’s rat zapping experiment. Our perception of “now” can be manipulated. That’s what’s happening to our losties. It’s also why our losties PERCEIVE their flashbacks as MEMORIES of the PAST, and DESMOND perceives HIS flashbacks as “NOW.” The rules don’t apply to Desmond.

If the island and the flash sideways world are both "here," and there is no "NOW, here," then what does that explain?

Well, it explains:

• Why Hurley referred to Ben as a "great number two" in the past tense at the church. [Important: WHEN JACK CLOSES HIS EYES ON THE ISLAND, BEN AND HURLEY have ALREADY "closed up shop."]
• Why Jacob, Richard and Dr. Chang don't age.
• Why Clairusso thinks Aaron is still a baby three years after he's born.
• Why everyone's completely obsessed with keeping track of minutes, hours, days and years.
• Why an extrapolated time line of events on and off island DOESN'T WORK.
• Why events in the flash sideways can't be forced into an exact timeline.

It's a HUGE reveal – one that, unfortunately, is shielded by a huge distraction: the "I died, too." revelation from Jack.  Bummer.

Good news is: if the island and flashsideways are two halves of the same NON-physical world, and our losties die while in these worlds, then their death isn't a physical death.

If, on LOST, "dead" does NOT refer to physical death, it explains:

• Why dying on the island can be bad jou jou -- you'll get "trapped!"
• Why the dead go wherever they damn well please.
• Why things that SHOULD kill your body (like a plane crash) DON'T kill your body.
• Why Jack tells Kate: "Three days ago we all died" ["Tabula Rasa"].
• Why Mock Locke tells Jack: "You died for nothing!"
• Why Jack tells Hurley, "I'm already dead."
• Why the WHISPERS are the DEAD, and why the WHISPER PEEPS dominate the FLASHBACKS.
• Why it's so hard to kill some island peeps: Mikhail, Mock Locke.
• Why the "source" of the island is made up of the same "light" that all men have inside them. Scooby-Doo Cave is a huge collection of "lights." That's where the dead people are!
• Why MIB's body is left behind when he gets hijacked inside the cave.

Our question is, what does "death" mean if it can't mean physical death? AND what's the difference between "leaving" and "moving on?"

[I've got more on Christian and Jack coming up next post! You'll love it! :)]

Diane's Question #2:

I find it interesting that the Losties only remembered "On Island" experiences when they "awoke" in the "sideways" world. They didn't seem to remember any of their "pre-Island memories". I'm using quotations here to honor your theory that nothing that has happened is happening in their physical world.

That is an excellent observation! ErinAva and I have batted this around because we've seen so many of the clips used for the flashes in "The End" during rewatch [most of them take place in Season 1, btw]. The memories Team LOST used to "wake up" our losties are very, VERY carefully chosen. Also important to note "wake up" memories must be SHARED memories in order to "work." For most of our losties, starting with Desmond in "Happily Ever After," these shared memories are charged with emotion: the miracle of walking (John), the birth of a child (Kate, Claire and Charlie), the life and death of a lover (Libby, Hurley, Shannon, Sayid, Sun and Jin, James Ford, Juliet) and they are triggered by visual association [prior event] or TOUCH [Watch ALL awakenings from "The End" HERE]. [What does that tell us about JACOB'S touch? Hm.]

Remember, "Nobody does it alone." If you and I share the same memories, then my experiences VERIFY your experiences as "real."  We "FIND one another." Before our losties "arrive" in the sideways world, their memories are all tangled up. In a way, their memories are FILTERED by being in the flash sideways world. If you think about it, it makes sense our losties don't remember anything from the flashbacks OR flashforwards. BECAUSE THEY AREN"T MEMORIES. They're FLASHES: manipulated experiences pretending to be memories.

It all comes back to "The Constant" and Daniel's rat-zapping experiment. Daniel zaps Eloise. When she gets "back," she knows how to run the maze because Daniel gave her the experience/knowledge -- with his MIND. [He's the only one that had the information. Where else would it come from?]

This means when Daniel zapped his rat, its mind connected with his, but, more importantly, DANIEL'S MIND WAS IN CONTROL during the connection.  This makes sense. Eloise is on the receiving end of said zapping, and Daniel's mind, we assume, is WAY more powerful than her little rat mind.  Also, if she is "UNSTUCK in time" and Daniel is not, then she is the vulnerable one.

ELOISE = DESMOND

When Desmond lands on the freighter, he is UNSTUCK the same way Eloise is unstuck, probably as a result of being zapped by the island [when he turns the key] and then exposed to a strong electrical field [when Frank flies the heliocopter through an electrical storm].  Once Daniel [on the island] figures out what's happening to Desmond, he tells Desmond to "FIND ME" the next time he flashes to 1996.

• Remember how our losties' minds start INTERCONNECTING?
• I think Desmond's MIND interconnects with Daniel's mind.

Actually, I think Daniel SENDS Desmond's mind to connect with his mind -- Desmond can do this because he's SPECIAL. The RULES don't apply to him!

The connection is enough to GIVE Daniel back his MEMORY, but NOT enough to stabilize Desmond. So what does Desmond do? He FINDS PENNY.

More specifically, HE FINDS PENNY'S MEMORY.

[Don't panic.]

Let's focus on what we learn by the end of the episode:

EMOTIONAL ATTACHMENT to a MUTUAL MEMORY with someone who is NOT UNSTUCK pushes you out of "UNSTUCK" status.

MORE IMPORTANTLY:  If your memory is "MISSING," the ADDITION of a MUTUAL MEMORY with someone else in THIS WORLD WITH YOU can RETURN your memory to you. Daniel regains his memory after he shares a "past" event with Desmond, AND Desmond regains HIS memory after he SHARES a "past" event with PENNY.

In short, the power of interconnecting is MEMORY ALIGNMENT.  It STABILIZES your mind.

That also means the flash world and the island world are two parts of the SAME WORLD, just like 1996 Desmond and 2004 Desmond are TWO PARTS OF THE SAME DESMOND.

Whoa.  MORE of Diane's questions to come! Thanks for stopping by!

AFTER THOUGHT:

I got to thinkin': Jack NEVER "wakes up" in the sideways world, does he? Nope. Even when he starts having flashes -- he and Locke lookin' down the hatch, of Kate in the pilot and when she kissed him in "What Kate Did" -- Jack doesn't "understand."   And then there's that tricky convo with Christian. [Be sure to check out my full transcript and analysis of the final scene HERE.]

Hm. Let's make sure we discuss Jack/Christian in the near future.