LOST: Putting It All Together

Countdown to Christian, Part 3: Are You There, God? No Worries. It's Only Me.

2011-05-03T14:16:00.005-10:00

DON'T HANG UP

When LOST creator/producer/writer DamonLindelof was challenged [on Twitter by julian_gill] to sum up LOST [the ENTIRE show] in 140 characters or less, Mr. Lindelof said:

Damaged people crash on damaged island. People fix each other, then island. All consumed in bright light. Yay! (or Boo!) #LOSTINONETWEET 29 Mar

Pretty funny, right?
Did you notice terms like "redemption," "God," "heaven/hell" and "afterlife" DIDN'T MAKE THE CUT in Mr. Lindelof's description? Also missing: "save," "rescue," "repent," or anything remotely related to religion.

"DAMAGE" is the key word here, Not "damned." Our losties need to be "FIXED," Not "SAVED."

Also Good to note: the ISLAND and the PEOPLE are BOTH "damaged," the people fix EACH OTHER and our story is not COMPLETE unless the ISLAND IS FIXED -- BY THE PEOPLE. The ISLAND itself doesn't fix ANYONE or ANYTHING. [WATCH your WORDPLAY!! The people fix each OTHER, as in, they fix the others one at a time in turn. SNEAKY!]

My point is DON'T let the religious theme distract you! LOST is NOT a story about Good v. Evil. And it's NOT a story about how God in heaven helps out a plane full of dysfunctional people on an island in the middle of nowhere. LOST is NOT PILGRIM'S PROGRESS for the 21st century.

Nooooooo no-no-no-no-no.

LOST is an ALLEGORY.

If our losties need to have "faith" in "God," it means in order for them to succeed/win in the end, they must have faith in SOMEONE WITH A GOD-LIKE ROLE in the OVERALL STORY. They need to believe the CREATOR of this world has a PLAN for them.

They need to have faith in "God," not God.

[Don't panic.]

Painting by Doug Aldrich.

GOD HELP US ALL

With all this God talk, maybe it's time to talk about God. [Think?]

Let's air out the religion bit first. I'm the first to admit it. The religion thing on LOST can be very distracting. However, we've faced this challenge before. When Jack, Kate, Locke and Charlie discover the BODIES in the CAVES ["House of the Rising Sun"], Locke calls them, "Our VERY OWN ADAM AND EVE."

[Remember that? It seems like forever ago, doesn't it?]

EXCERPT from Team LOST's Sneaky Trick #4: Themes With A Capital 'T' [I highly, HIGHLY recommend reading this post again. It DIRECTLY relates to what we're discussing here.]

If Team LOST has chosen to refer to these bodies as “Our very own [version of] Adam and Eve,” what does that tell you? [Unidentified bodies aren't called Adam and Eve, btw. They're called Jane or John Doe.]

Remember, this is not a physical world. If these two bodies are “Adam and Eve” in this NON-Physical world, that tells me that this world we’re in is a CREATED world — one maybe created specifically FOR these two by someone else. Someone with the POWER to create [and maybe monitor it/them].

Painting by Jeniffer Stapher-Thomas at www.fineartamerica.com.

If we follow the analogy, “Our very own [version of] Adam and Eve,” implies:

“Our very own” [version of] “God” created this world.
“Our very own” [version of] “God” might have created “Adam and Eve.”
“Our very own” [version of] “Adam and Eve” aren’t “here” by accident.
“Here” isn’t “Our very own” [version of] “Paradise/the Garden of Eden.”
Whatever happened to “our very own” [version of] “Adam and Eve,” it started The Island ball rolling. That is, the glitch that “broke” The Island can be traced back to them somehow.
END EXCERPT
As far as the concept of "God," regardless of specific religion [pretty much], I think we can all agree on the basics.

Metaphorically speaking,"GOD" is:

THE CREATOR.
THE FATHER.
THE LORD.
THE ONLY PERSON who can see the BIG PICTURE.
THE ONE WHO CREATED "ADAM" and "EVE."
THE ONE with the PLAN that will WORK.
The one who SENDS HIS "SON."

To have faith in GOD is to believe that EVERYTHING HAPPENS FOR A REASON. That GOD has a PLAN, and that each of us has a specific part to play in order for that plan to go forward. We "have WORK TO DO" -- GOD'S work. We have FAITH that God knows what he's doing, AND He knows way more than us [He knows EVERYTHING, past, present and future], so if we just TRUST and OBEY Him -- if we KEEP THE FAITH -- then everything will work out fine.

"Hands of Fate" painting by Herbert Renard at www.fineartamerica.com.

LOSING your FAITH means you no longer believe:

God exists.
God is in control.
Everything happens for a reason -- GOD'S reason -- even if we don't understand it.
NOTHING is meaningless.
We are a part of God's plan.
God's plan will WORK.

In order to know what God wants us to do, he has to GIVE US INSTRUCTIONS. Often, we need FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS. [Watch how ALL of the following remind us of EKO in some way].

Sometimes we pray and are "told" in our heads what to do.
Sometimes we get messages in dreams [like God's peeps did in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible].
Sometimes we go to "GOD'S HOUSE."
Sometimes God selects PROPHETS, who can receive God's message and pass along the information to everyone else.
Sometimes we have to LOOK for the SIGNS God gives us -- events, chance happenings, anything that relates to our questions: What does God want me to do? Am I doing the right thing?
Sometimes, all we have to do is Check the BOOK. God's INSTRUCTIONS to us are all spelled out in our religious texts.

Some people are WAY more devoted to God than others. They sacrifice their lives and their Earthly relationships (parents, marriage, children) and vow to devote their ENTIRE LIVES to God and His work. These people are expected to give us God's advice when we need it.

Graphic "Men in Black" by OSCAL at www.clker.com.

HOWEVER, if you don't BELIEVE in God, he can't communicate with you very well, can He? He'll still send the message, but you WON'T HEAR IT because you DON'T BELIEVE the message exists. Even if the message is PRETTY DARN OBVIOUS, if you don't believe, then you'll rationalize it into a coincidence or "dumb, blind luck."

In Christianity, God exists outside of time, AND He knows everything. He's WATCHING us, sometimes protecting us directly with a miracle and sometimes letting things play out in order for things to work out in the long run. God, however, created humans with FREE WILL. We are never puppets. We have to believe in God voluntarily and do what we're supposed to do ON OUR OWN. We have to CHOOSE. Otherwise, there's no point.

"In My Father's House There Are Many Rooms" painting by J. Joseph Hart at www.fineartamerica.com.

God can SEE US at all times, is with us at all times and can NEVER be separated from us -- even in death. But WE can be separated from God -- in hell. Hell is where your soul goes when it is damned -- when your soul is damaged beyond repair and you can no longer be saved [A trip to hell is, unfortunately, irreversible].

HERE'S THE BAZILLION DOLLAR QUESTION: If LOST is NOT telling a story about the actual God [it ISN'T], then

WHO is "GOD" in our STORY?

[Don't panic. Chant with me: HOUSE OF USHER. HOUSE OF USHER. HOUSE OF USHER...]

We need LET the religious symbolism do its JOB: tell us HOW "GOD" FUNCTIONS in the STORY in relationship to WHAT HAPPENED before and WHAT IS HAPPENING NOW to our losties.

Team LOST is USING religion to send US a message. Actually, they are using a specific religion: Christianity.

WAIT FOR THE SIGNAL

Let's say we've got a problem. There's a huge, secret medical facility that's about to blow up and destroy the world. This facility is maintained by the "bad guys," who are devoted to keeping the facility up and running.

Let's say I've got a plan: I'm sending you on a secret mission. I'm gonna covertly insert you into this huge medical facility in order for YOU to SHUT IT DOWN [and SAVE THE WORLD]. You are my AGENT -- the person who will complete my "WORK" by achieving my GOALS. Hopefully, after you shut it down, you'll be able to help me OPEN THE DOOR and I'll get you out [bring you HOME].

Problem: I have to insert you when you are sleeping [you're posing as a patient in the facility in order to get in]. However, part of the entry process is a memory wipe. When you wake up in the facility, you've got NO MEMORY of ME nor the PLAN I gave you. All you have is a "FEELING" --- There's something you're SUPPOSED TO DO.

Lucky for you, I knew that was gonna happen. I've set up a SIGNAL for you. All you have to do is access it, and then you'll remember who you are, what you're supposed to do and how to do it.

Problem: The bad guys figure out what I'm up to. They BLOCK the SIGNAL and kidnap you. They try to brainwash you into thinking that I'M the bad guy.

[Dangit!]

Now I've got to find a way to GET YOUR ATTENTION.

"We're the GOOD GUYS."

Lucky for both of us, THIS FACILITY IS NOT PHYSICALLY REAL. It's a DREAM STATE, sustained by a "machine" I created. Good news is I can affect this world -- to an extent -- because ONLY YOUR MIND is inside the facility. Your BODY is right in front of me.

HUGE PROBLEM: The guys inside the facility either totally know that it's not physically real, OR they DON'T know, and believe that it IS physically real. Either way, it's in their best interest, once they figure out who you are and where you come from, to convince you to take their side. In THEIR minds, I'm trying to "end the world" because I've sent you to SHUT DOWN the facility.

The BEST way to convince you to be on THEIR SIDE, is to manipulate you into believing that I DON'T EXIST. That I NEVER existed -- I only existed as a FANTASY in your head. If they can convince you that the facility is the "REAL" world, and your "hunch" about me and the world outside the facility is nothing but your imagination, then they've got you, and I'm screwed!

If that doesn't work -- if you still think I exist -- then the next best way for them to get you on their side is to prove to you that I'M the bad guy [that I'm a LIAR]. I sent you in to play mind games with you -- just for fun. They try to convince you that if you believe that I have a PLAN for the GREATER GOOD, you are a SUCKER.

Virgin Mary STATUES from NIGERIA full of HEROIN.

Part of this facility's original function is to create a FLASH WORLD for its patients. It creates one for YOU. In this flash world, created with your MEMORY, you are placed in familiar scenarios and faced with a CHOICE. This way, you should be able to REJECT the source of your SUFFERING.

The facility is designed to EASE YOUR PAIN [like a PAINKILLER].

However, since I CREATED the facility in the first place, I know how to HACK into the flash world "signal" that creates the FLASH WORLD for you. I can use that signal to HELP YOU. I can send you MESSAGES in your DREAMS, too.

Problem: The bad guys have access to that signal, too. This has created a TUG-O-WAR between our signals. Sometimes THEY have control, and sometimes I have control. Sometimes we have EQUAL control. That's where YOU come in.

If YOU BELIEVE in my existence, MY SIGNAL will be stronger. If you DON'T, THEIR signal will be stronger.

[DO YOU SEE IT?]

In the ALLEGORY above:

I'M "GOD."
YOU are "God's" [my] INSTRUMENT. You are a MAN OF "GOD."
YOU are in the "facility" to do "GOD'S"/my WORK.
YOU need FAITH in ME and my PLAN in order to know what to do.
The "FACILITY" is the ISLAND.
The "bad guys" are whoever's UNDER THE INFLUENCE [or INFECTED].

CLUE ME IN

Turns out, "GOD" is a BIG WOM CLUE in the Eko/Yemi story.

The nun is a WOMAN of GOD, and she's a zealot! She enforces the LETTER of the law regardless of the circumstances. She CONDEMNS Eko ["Hunger does not matter"] just like the nurse condemns him for killing the bad guys.
The CHURCH is the HOUSE of GOD. It's "MY FATHER'S HOUSE."
The PRIEST, referred to as "FATHER," is a MAN of GOD.
A MAN of God takes your CONFESSION.
Eko TAKES HIS BROTHER'S PLACE as the MAN of GOD at the church.
YEMI takes his brother's place as the Man of God on the smugglers' plane.
The AUTHORITIES don't pick up on the SWITCH.
EVEN THOUGH Eko "becomes" a Man of God, he is STILL ABLE TO KILL -- EVEN IN GOD'S HOUSE. However, a murder in God's house means you can't use it anymore.

The BIGGER CLUE here is "GOD'S HOUSE."

Eko was "just told" to build a church.

There are a LOT of "God's House" type places on the island, aren't there?

The TEMPLE. [houses the "spring" which acts as a "doorway" to "between places" AND sits over Smokey's lair -- where Ben goes to be "judged."]
The CABIN. [Place used by Jacob/MIB to communicate with island peeps.]
The STATUE. [Where Mock Locke "finds" Jacob.]
LOCKE'S SWEAT LODGE [built to facilitate COMMUNICATION WITH "THE ISLAND"].

[What about that "holy ground" thing? Anyone remember the FIRST thing God said to Moses from the burning bush? That's right! He told Moses to TAKE OFF HIS SHOES. Who do we know NEVER wears shoes? Um, Jacob, maybe?]

The BIGGEST CLUE on the PLANET, however, are the themes of DIVISION and REUNIFICATION [the "brother" part].

IN THE THE NAME OF THE FATHER

If "GOD" [on LOST] is representative of a character in the story, then, in order to avoid major confusion, we need to know: WHICH "GOD" are we talking about? I mean, if we're gonna follow a metaphor for "God," there are several different ways to go with it. Which religion will give us the best metaphor to follow when deciphering this whole "God" mystery?

Ready for the easiest LOST answer on the planet? Yes?

GUESS WHO?

More to come!

Happy rewatching! Thanks for stopping by!

Countdown To Christian, Part 2: Eko and the Bunny Man

2011-04-28T23:30:00.000-10:00

Oh geez Louise, my lovely LOST readers -- I am sooooo sorry! I actually had this post FINISHED about 2 days after I published the LAST POST. However, in the final crush (after three hours' work), Wordpress ATE IT!

*POOF* -- No more post. [Amy wept!]

Then, hearing my cry in the dark, The LOSTblog.com Powers That Be changed servers from Wordpress to Greenblog (or something like that). Now the entire blog works better! Thank goodness!

After that, I flew to the mainland for 10 days to attend a family wedding (and I drank a LOT)!

Whew! The good news is the NEXT post is already written, and I've made about 250 backup copies of it to prevent further emotional damage [FRICKIN' WORDPRESS!!! ACK!].

Hm. Where did we leave off?

Oh yeah --

If we think of the Eko and Yemi story as a metaphor, according to the WOM, we will see a pattern -- a pattern that SHEDS LIGHT on the mysteries that still don't make sense [Jacob/MIB/Mother are RIGHT UP THERE for me].

"The 23rd Psalm":

When they were children, these brothers were playing a GAME together (soccer) when some warlords showed up. They tried to force little brother to kill on command. He couldn't do it. Big brother (the one with the CROSS to BEAR), grabs the gun and pulls the trigger. Warlords take big brother away. Little brother takes up the cross.

Big brother does the warlord thing [but never actually turns into one of THEM entirely]. Little brother is a Man of God. Little brother agrees to help big brother smuggle drugs on a plane [out of Nigeria].

The Authorities show up on the tarmac. Little brother interferes. He's shot and grabbed by the warlords who somehow get the plane in the air. Big brother (sans cross) is saved because he's mistaken for a Man of God.

The brothers SWITCH places: Little brother dies in the plane which crashes on the island. Big brother acts like a Man of God in Australia. His plane to LAX crashes in the OCEAN.

Big brother eventually finds the smugglers' plane/his brother's corpse, takes up the cross (that was HIS to begin with) when he realizes HIS BROTHER IS DEAD. He burns his brother's body.

From then on, Big Brother is a Man of God. He starts to build a church. [He "hears" "God's" voice.]

Let's notice:

Yemi takes Eko's place on the plane, and, according to Eko, saved his life. This is why Eko is so eager to follow Yemi's instructions on the island. He feels a HUGE amount of guilt and GRATITUDE for what Yemi DID FOR HIM. He wants to FIX it -- make up for what he did. [Smokey's no dummy. Manifesting as Yemi gets him FULL CONTROL of Eko's actions.]
The MAN OF GOD, a priest, is a MAN IN BLACK. However, Yemi's path to becoming a Man of God was determined for him by his brother's intervention. Originally, Eko wore the necklace, remember? Eko wears it in the end. It could have just as easily been Eko the priest and Yemi the druglord. HOWEVER: EKO had "WHAT IT TAKES" because HE CAN KILL. That means YEMI DOESN'T HAVE WHAT IT TAKES.
Eko is WEARING the NECKLACE when he takes the gun from Yemi and kills the innocent man for him. Only after the bad guys physically take the cross off his neck does it end up on the ground. YEMI TAKES UP EKO'S CROSS, BUT IT WAS ALWAYS EKO'S CROSS TO BEAR.

"?":

Big brother is completely manipulated on the island by the image of his little brother. Little brother gets a message to him: I'm IN BETWEEN PLACES. FYI: That guy you're hanging with on the island ISN'T ME! [Important: Whenever we see Eko's brother on the island (in a dream or otherwise), it is NOT his brother. THE TRICKY PART IS: sometimes we see the ACTUAL MAN OF GOD (the hatch) and sometimes we see the FAKE MAN OF GOD (in the jungle).]

Big brother at is ground zero when the hatch implodes. He is rescued from a POLAR BEAR, which dragged him into a CAVE of PREVIOUSLY CONSUMED HUMAN REMAINS.

[Got that? When the hatch implodes, JOHN is "spared," and Eko is "fed" to the UNDERGROUND polar bear. "The ISLAND" tells John to enter the cave and SAVE EKO.]

"The Cost of Living":

Big brother breaks open the LOCK to a food pantry -- with a ROCK -- to get food for his hungry little brother. They get busted.

A Woman of God drags them to church and orders big brother to CONFESS [to the current the Man of God, waiting with the Bible in the confessional] that he "sinned" by stealing. She wants him to admit that WHAT HE DID WAS WRONG. The brothers are separated. Big brother looks back at little brother.

In the end, big brother plays the Man of God, but is still able to kill -- and does so in God's house. The church is sealed up and abandoned because of his actions.

Big brother is manipulated by the image of his little brother. In the end, he confesses. He does not ask for forgiveness. HE WON'T SUBMIT to shame and guilt for doing what needed to be done. He won't give Smokey/MIB [SMIB] GOD-LIKE POWER OVER HIM.

SMIB blows his cover. Smokey appears and kills Big Brother.

FINAL IMAGE:

BIG BROTHER AND LITTLE BROTHER ARE REUNITED. THEY ARE AS THEY WERE BEFORE THE WARLORDS FIRST SHOWED UP. They even have the SOCCER BALL (they walk away from us, taking the GAME with them). They are together, and they are LEAVING.

HE AIN'T HEAVY...

I promised to do the Eko/Yemi WOM and apply it to Jacob/MIB [and, buddy, you're gonna LIKE IT]. Don't forget: We're looking for how these stories ECHO each other. Remember pharoh's dreams of 7 years of feast followed by 7 years of famine? When Joseph interpreted them, he said pharoh had had TWO VERSIONS of the SAME DREAM.

ONE message told TWO DIFFERENT WAYS. That's the WOM in a nutshell.

[See Team LOST's Sneaky Trick #4: Themes With A Capital 'T' for more information about Joseph interpreting dreams.]

REMEMBER: WHATEVER HAPPENED, HAPPENED. Even though our losties' story IS TAKING PLACE in the present (even in their FLASHES), they are DOOMED to RELIVE what has already happened. Lucky us! WHAT HAPPENED is what we're trying to figure out!

Trust me. It'll make more sense once we get into the WOM. Here's my challenge to you, lovely LOST readers: LOOK for elements of Jacob/MIB's story in the following:

A woman of "God" (who hates SIN) finds two INNOCENTS [brothers as children]. She DIVIDES THEM. ONE brother is singled out to TAKE RESPONSIBILITY. The other, the HUNGRY ONE, is left behind.
One brother is SINGLED OUT as a MAN OF GOD.
The brothers are divided by the "bad guys" when the "bad guys" show up. They pick the RIGHT ONE -- the ONE that can KILL. They toss off his sign of God.
The "special" brother DIES. His body ends up ON THE ISLAND. His body is NOT BURIED.
His soul is BETWEEN PLACES.
The "special" brother's soul is CONSUMED by the Darkness and becomes Smokey.
The brother left behind REALIZES his brother is DEAD.
He realizes he's got work to do.

After he checks for the cross, Eko hugs his brother's body, weeps and begs for forgiveness. That's when he puts on the cross, burns the body and says his version of the 23rd Psalm -- "The Lord is my SHEPHERD..." Can you think of anyone else who hugs his brother's corpse and weeps guilty tears? Can you think of anyone else who BURNS his brother's body?

Did you see it?

Watch the PATTERN:

We already know that "Mother" is "Eve," yes? That means SHE WAS SPECIFICALLY CREATED BY "GOD." That makes her a "woman of God." She's also a zealot. She believes "humans" can only be their "dark side." She also believes that "they" are "here" for a REASON.
We know that "Brother" is "Adam." That means, he, too, was specifically created by "God."
Claudia, Jacob's mother, is separated out from "her people." She gives birth underground (in the caves). In effect, she SMUGGLES the babies on to the island.
The boys are preteens, just like Eko/Yemi, when the GAME they are playing is INTERRUPTED by Claudia's ghost. As a result, the boys are separated.
In the end, "brother," who now has a weapon (a dagger) which, we assume, he acquired as a result of living with humans, kills his mother. Jacob loses his temper and "punishes" his brother with a fate "worse than death."
Smokey JUMPS "Brother's" SOUL and spits his body out ON THE OTHER SIDE of Scooby Doo Cave.
Jacob lays his brother's body to rest and says goodbye.

That's when Jacob realizes his brother is GONE. "Brother" has been CONSUMED, and, because he's "special." He's A MAN OF GOD, and his identity is USED by the Darkness to escape.

HERE'S WHAT WE KNOW:

The MAN OF GOD ["Adam/Brother" and Yemi] was "TAKEN" by the Darkness. However, it was the WRONG GUY.
The BURDEN of the CROSS was supposed to be the one who "had what it takes" [Jacob and Eko].
In the end, that burden goes to the "right" person [Jacob and Eko].
The RIGHT GUY has to DIE to "free" his brother. [Eko and Jacob were WILLING to die -- without apology for their actions. They submitted to SMIB.]
"God's work" was interrupted by the "bad guys" [warlords and Claudia].
The older brother breaks into a storage shed full of food [he breaks the "LOCK/E" with a ROCK] to feed the hungry younger brother.
DIVIDING the BROTHERS makes them BOTH more vulnerable.

Here's a good question: If God made Adam in his image, and Jacob is Adam's BROTHER, then does that make Jacob the son of God?

Interesting.

HOWEVER, I think THE PRIMARY QUESTION WE NEED ANSWERED IS: WHO IS "GOD?"

Happy rewatching! Thanks for your patience!

Countdown To Christian, Part 1: The Bigger Picture

2011-03-19T15:34:00.002-10:00

Jacob/MIB are still making me crazy. I think they're NOT what they appear to be on the surface, whatsoever. We'll delve into this in great detail over the next three posts, but I think we're missing something HUGE about them in general.

We need some frickin' answers!

Why is Jacob so completely different every time we see OR hear about him?
Why does MIB take CHRISTIAN'S form?
Why does MIB as Christian keep calling Jack "my son"?
Why is Jack "supposed to" temporarily take over for Jacob?
Why does Mother pass on her role as "protector" with WINE from her BOTTLE, but Jacob and Jack complete their turnovers with WATER from the RIVER?

Let's just stick with those for now. Before we get started, however, we'll have to confront two very important concepts.

The first concept is what I'm calling "House of Usher" Principle [HOU].

You remember that story, right? [Everyone my age had to sit in the school cafeteria and watch the Vincent Price movie adaptation at least once.] "The Fall Of The House of Usher," written by Edgar Allen Poe (1809 - 1849) [the "quoth the raven" guy], is a short story about a guy who visits his childhood pal's creepy house. And when I say creepy, I mean PROFOUNDLY DISTURBING. When he gets there, he realizes his pal, Roderick Usher, is basically losing his sh&t.

House of Usher Movie Trailer

See, this creepy house is the Usher family mansion [the HOUSE of USHER]. Roderick is stuck there with his half dead, inexplicably ill, crazy twin sister, and he's totally bummed because once she dies, he'll be the very last Usher on Earth.

The night the pal arrives, the sister, Madeline, dies. After they bury Madeline in a vault in a main wall of the house [to keep her doctors from digging up her body and studying it -- ew!], all kinds of weird, paranormal things start happening, and Roderick starts freaking out for real. While the pal reads Roderick a story, Madeline's bloody, ghostly form appears and flops into her brother's arms. She seems to die again, and they both hit the floor dead. The pal flees the house [He's no dummy]. When he looks back, a huge flash of light splits the house in half after which:

"There was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters - and the deep and dank tarn* at my feet closed sullenly and silently over the fragments of the 'House of Usher .'" "The Fall Of The House Of Usher"

*A 'tarn,' btw, is "a small mountain lake, especially one formed by glaciers." [TheFreeDictionary.com]

Edgar Allen Poe

If you've never read this story, you should. Poe is a master of description, and he was Goth before they sold Goth at the mall. When pondering this story, however, one does not get hung up on whether Madeline's ghost/body is "real" or not, or whether there's enough proof in the story that they buried her "alive." One does not try to use the laws of quantum physics to determine a plausible way for lightening to split a mansion in two or for a lake to swallow the remains.

Noooooooo-no-no-no.

This story is an EXPLORATORY METAPHOR. [It's also Poe's way of making fun of his peers -- a favorite pastime for any artist.] The house, the brother and sister, even the unnamed narrator are representative. Exactly which represents what is a matter of academic debate. The simplest interpretation usually posits the house representing a MIND, which, once divided, can't be repaired. This would make the story a snapshot of "insanity." But there's lots of others to choose from: incest, paranoia, agoraphobia -- you name it. Most of this analysis is based on Sigmund Freud's theories of psychoanalysis [Freud was the Oedipal Complex guy], which I think is weird. Modern psychoanalysis didn't exist in Poe's time. Freud wasn't even born until 1859, ten years after Poe's death.

[Sparknotes has interesting things to say about Poe's short stories if you're curious. If you want to have some serious fun, poke around a few Poe fansites on the net. These guys are even more dedicated than Lewis Carroll fans!]

Good to know about "The Fall of the House of Usher":

This story is considered a CLASSIC example of TOTALITY -- where every element and detail is related and relevant.*
This story is DERIVATIVE. It plays on previously published gothic stories Poe's audience would recognize.
This story is NOT A PARABLE. There's no LESSON here. [It doesn't even work that well as an allegory, if you ask me.]
This story was NEVER INTENDED to be realistic or taken LITERALLY.
The HOUSE is an important, if not the MOST important "character" in the story.

The most important thing to remember is: THE IMAGERY in the story is MORE IMPORTANT than the EVENTS.

WALL OF METAPHOR

"My Father"

The second important concept is what I like to call The Wall Of Metaphor. The Wall of Metaphor [or WOM] is THE primary storytelling tool on LOST. With it we'll FIGURE OUT WHAT IS HAPPENING to our losties.

Basically, the WOM works by thinking of each character, storyline and event [island, flashback, -forward, -sideways, LA, Australia, etc.] as "Just Another Brick In The Wall" of the COMPLETE story that is LOST. When we see several "bricks" form a pattern, we don't accept the pattern as the entire story. Only when ALL the bricks are in place can we see the way DIFFERENT patterns INTERACT in order to form ONE COMPLETE STORY.

Thing is, we have to MATCH METAPHORS in their simplest form in order to see it.

It works like math. Let's say you have a math problem on a quiz:

4+2+5+7+8+12+15 is less than, greater than, or equal to 6+1+9+0+19+8+4.

Now, you could do this the hard way and add up all the numbers on both sides for a total and THEN pick your answer, OR you can be an ENGLISH major [like me] and do this the EASY way by crossing out matching numbers on each side of the equation first.

4=4, 8=8, 15=9+6. 2+7=9, and zero doesn't count.

"My Son"

4+2+5+7+8+12+15 ----- 6+1+9+0+19+8+4.

Now you can figure out the answer just by looking: 12 + 5 is greater than 1 + 10

This is what we're going to do on LOST, BUT IN REVERSE. We want to know what MATCHES on both sides of the equation and ignore the REST.

[Don't worry. The WOM will make a lot more sense as we go along.]

Here's how it works.

WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE, WE GOT FUN 'N' GAMES

Back the fun truck up. WAY up. Let's take a look at the story of LOST in the VERY SIMPLEST TERMS.

WOM Step 1: WITHOUT using any NAMES, WHO are the most important conceptual characters in this story?

My Father [Daddy issues]
My Mother [Mommy issues]
My Son
My Brother
My Sister
My Wife
The Husband
The Power Couple [partners, married, lovers, etc. with major team impact]
"God" [fate, destiny, reason, purpose, miracle, etc]

"My Father" ---- "My Son"

WOM Step 2: WITHOUT using any names, WHAT are the most important archetypes in this story? [Not ALL of them. Just the most important ones.]

The Doctor
The Scientist
The Soldier
The Con Man
The Leader
The Mark [the object of the con]
The Therapist

I'd argue that there's one more VERY important archetype: The Guardian.

WOM Step 3: WITHOUT using any names, WHAT are the most important EVENTS in this story?

Memory cross-reference [when characters realize they share a memory or timeline]
Someone wears/takes off a "costume" [pretends to be something/someone they're not OR admits they aren't what they appear to be].
Parent abandons [or rejects, orphans, sacrifices, etc] child
Lovers separated
Child rejects parent
Crisis of faith
"I changed my mind." [radical personality alteration]
An irreversible choice is made. [a sacrifice, murder, etc.]
Weirdo Instructions. [Any kind of message counts here.]

See how this works? Keep it as simple as possible.

Now that we've picked out what's important, let's put them together with what we know and see what we come up with. Let's start with an easy one.

"The Guardian"

Kate blew up 'my father.'
She's obsessed with "my son."
She's abandoned by her parent(s).
She pulls cons a LOT. She's had a few pulled on her, too.
She "changes her mind" like every other day.
She gives Aaron up [irreversible choice].
She finally chooses to "believe" in Jack.
I'd argue Kate qualifies as A Soldier.
Most important relationship: She's Claire/Aaron's GUARDIAN.

See? No worries! This is EASY!

Let's try a tricker one.

"The Con Man"

Daddy issues, absolutely.
Soldier, definitely.
Sawyer abandons his daughter.
He's an orphan.
Pulls cons. Has cons pulled on him.
RADICAL alteration of personality as Sawyer and from Sawyer to James Ford and back again.

As James/Jim

He becomes a leader.
He's separated from his lover.
He's part of several Power Couples, but I'd argue his partnerships with Jack and Locke have the most impact on the story.

Okay, let's try someone WAY out there.

Claire get a call from her "Con Man."

RICHARD MALKIN -- Claire's psychic

Hm. Well, we know he's a con man. He conned Claire into getting on the plane. Interesting to note, the con comes back to haunt him. Literally. His daughter, Charlotte, is the "miracle" Mr. Eko investigates in Australia before he gets on Oceanic 815.

Malkin: I know why you're here, friend. But you can save yourself the trouble. What happened here was not a miracle.
Eko: The doctor that treated your daughter seems to feel differently.
Malkin: Treated her? He tried to cut her open. He's just trying to cover up his own negligence. He tell you the whole story -- how she supposedly drowned? She fell into a mountain river, her body shut down; she went into hypothermia which made her appear dead.
Eko: And why is your wife so convinced otherwise?
Malkin: Because she's a zealot. All of this -- everything she's doing -- is to spite me.
Eko: Why would she spite you?
Malkin: Because she knows I'm a fraud. Because I make my living as a psychic. You see, that's what I do. I gather intelligence on people and I exploit it. Everyday I meet people looking for a miracle, desperate to find one. But there are none to be had. Not in this world, anyway.
Eko: I will report back to my Monsignor that there was no miracle here. Your daughter is alive. This is all that matters.

Later, Charlotte intercepts Mr. Eko at the airport.

Charlotte: ... I know you probably think I'm crazy, but I have a message for you and I promised to deliver it.
Eko: A message?
Charlotte: He says you were a good priest.
Eko: Who says that?
Charlotte: Yemi.
Eko: Speaking about my brother is not a joke, so you should be very careful what you say next.
Charlotte: I saw him when I was... between places. He said that you would come and see me. He said that even though you were pretending, you're a good man.
Eko: Who put you up to this? Did your father tell you to do this?
Charlotte: He wants you to know that he will see you soon. He said that even though you don't have faith in yourself, that he has faith in you.
Eko: Why are you doing this to me? What do you want from me? Why are you doing this to me?!

Okay, STOP.

Introducing Yemi as the Man in Black

Mr. Eko's story gives us a LOT of metaphors to work with!

First, in "The 23rd Psalm"

Eko takes his brother's place when he's forced to kill an old man by the local thugs. [Irreversible decision -- self sacrifice]
Eko becomes a bad guy/drug lord. [Radical personality shift. Remember, Eko was wearing the cross FIRST.]
His brother, Yemi, becomes a PRIEST -- a MAN OF GOD -- a MAN IN BLACK! <------IMPORTANT
Yemi helps Eko and his friends become "priests," so they can safely smuggle heroin out of Nigeria. [They get fake IDs to become FAKE men of God -- Fake Men in Black]
Yemi tries to keep Eko from leaving. Yemi is shot and taken on the plane to the island -- INSTEAD of EKO. [Irreversible decision -- another sacrifice]
Eko pretends to be a priest/Man of God/Man in Black. [Wears a "costume."]
Eko finds, weeps over and AND BURNS his brother's body. [Memory cross reference]
He puts on his necklace, the one his brother took from him in the beginning, and becomes a MAN OF GOD on the island. [He "changes his mind."]

Later in "?":

Eko, in Australia, gets hold of a FAKE ID -- the ID that will get him on the PLANE. [Wears a "costume."]
He meets Malkin, who confesses to being a CON MAN. A FAKE Man of Faith. [Admits he's not what he pretends to be.]
Eko gets a message from his brother [via Malkin's daughter]: "He says you were a good priest. He said that even though you were pretending, you're a good man." [Weirdo Instructions]
The message galvanizes his efforts to follow Yemi's Weirdo Instructions -- Both in HIS dreams and in JOHN'S. [I'd file this one under memory alignment. Eko cross-reference his memory with John's and vis versa.]
He TAKES JOHN'S PLACE as the MAN OF FAITH -- He pushes the button. [Crisis of Faith resolved]

Good to notice that Eko pushes the button until Desmond returns. John then takes Desmond to the Pearl Station, previously discovered by him and Eko -- based on Eko's interpretation of Yemi's message in John's dream.

Interacting with the Pearl Station drives Desmond to align his memory with John's [when he banged on the hatch after Boone died, Desmond turned on the light. They both inspired each other to keep going -- solving each's CRISIS OF FAITH].

In all, everything works out according to MIB's master plan to LEAVE the island.

However, it's the WOM relationship to JACOB/MIB that makes Eko's story most interesting to me.

If we think of the Eko and Yemi story as a metaphor for Jacob/MIB's story, we can see a pattern -- a pattern that SHEDS LIGHT on the JACOB/MIB mysteries that still don't make sense.

[You're panicking. I told you not to do that! Hold your horses and keep in mind -- this is NOT a PHYSICAL WORLD. Deeeeeeep breath now... ]

Eko/Yemi Jacob/MIB story to be analyzed in the NEXT POST [COMING SOON!]: Rewatching LOST: Eko and The Bunny Man. I had to break it up because this post is eternal!

Rewatching LOST: So What Happened?

2011-02-22T22:41:00.002-10:00

This is the second of two posts dedicated to questions submitted by groovy LOST fan, Diane. [Thanks, Diane!]

Diane asks THE question: What's up with our losties? Why are they "here?"

So, if I'm reading your posts correctly, the Island is really some kind of a system to help people in some way, maybe to overcome trauma or problems or whatever, but it somehow has been broken (by Jacob?) The Losties have come to this system (the Island) to fix it, but something is amiss (MIB) .

Kinda. I've been thinking this one over a LOT lately. Here's what I've got so far:

[Watch this!]

THINK OF THIS WORLD AS A STORAGE UNIT. [The BOTTLE is "HERE."]
FILL THE STORAGE UNIT WITH INTACT MINDS/MEMORIES. [You are "here."]
EACH MIND/MEMORY represents ONE PERSON.
These MIND/MEMORIES are in STASIS. ["There is no NOW, HERE."]
THEY CAN'T EVER LEAVE. [They're TRAPPED by the island -- the "cork."]
SOME MINDS ARE MORE POWERFUL THAN OTHERS. ["You're special."]

What if:

You were in charge of tending these stored minds? [i.e., a security system]
You had to mentally connect with this world in order to do your job? ["As long as my body's alive, you're not going anywhere." Jacob to MIB in "Ab Aeterno."]
You had the ability to take a few minds out of storage and play with them? [Jacob "brought them here" to "prove [MIB] wrong." -- Jacob to Ricardo in "Ab Aeterno."]
You talked yourself into believing your "game" was "helping" them? [Jacob implies this to Ricardo in "Ab Aeterno" and to Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Hurley and Ben in "What They Died For."]
You conned someone into connecting into this world with you? [RICHARD, possibly BEN, too.]
This person wanted to leave? ["Just let me leave." -- MIB to Jacob in "Ab Aeterno."]

HUGE WHAT IF:

Your body, outside the system and supporting your mental connection to this world, was DYING? ["System failure."]
Your mind, inside the system, was "disconnected" from "reality?" [Jacob in "Across the Sea."]
You LOST CONTROL of the system and the stored minds got out on their own, ie, "escaped" your control? [Smokey escapes from Scooby Doo Cave.]
These escaped minds banned together and set up two camps? [The Dharma Initiative and the OTHERS.]
Your cohort, the guy you conned into helping you by promising him he would live forever, started fighting for control of the system?

And finally, What if:

Someone broke into the system [bypassing your security measures], in order to "wake up" certain stored minds? [DESMOND]
These minds are particularly resistant to your influence? [Everyone in the CHURCH.]
These stored minds started interconnecting? [Flashbacks and flash forwards.]
By interconnecting, these minds increased their ability to control their environment? ["It has to be ALL OF US." Mock Locke to Jack in "The Candidate."]
Gradually, these interconnected minds take control of the storage unit? [Juliet TAPS the BOMB.]
These interconnected minds pull a CON on you to get to you step aside? [MIB kills Jacob; Jacob hands over control to Jack.]
These minds, and the intruder, execute a plan to get you to "move on?" [FlashSIDEWAYS]
Once you're out of the way, these interconnected minds "leave?" ["The End"]

[Did you see it?]

The HUGE questions here are:

Who created the system in the first place?
Why was it created?
How did it get "broken?"
Who decided to "fix" it?
How did it get fixed?

But for ME, the huge question is: Why does Christian leave the church separately in "The End?" I think if we can answer that ONE question, everything else will fall into place.

[Of COURSE I have an answer! We'll talk about that one NEXT TIME!]

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Rewatching!

Rewatching LOST: HERE and NOW

2011-02-22T14:43:00.002-10:00

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.

Amy Smashes Through The Looking Glass: How "Lighthouse" Illuminates LOST

2011-02-13T00:00:00.002-10:00

This is a REWIND POST -- Originally published February 25, 2010 [Nearly a year ago! ACK!], just a few weeks into Season 6. I'm so excited because this post actually builds on our recent discussion of ELOISE the RAT and DANIEL'S EXPERIMENT [HERE]. Whenever you read "Jack," think "Eloise." Whenever you read "Jacob" think "Daniel." Same rules apply -- I haven't changed ONE WORD of this post since it was published. Please keep that in mind as you read.
_____________________________________________________________
The Brilliance of "Lighthouse" - The Mystery of LA_X

First things first, and I’m just gonna say it. I think this Jack-centered episode (6.06) is one of the best LOST episodes ever. I mean best made, best edited, best written AND best acted (especially by Matthew Fox). I know many disagree and might even accuse me of selling out to my imaginary lust for MFox, but I protest! I think, if you let me show you what actually happened in “Lighthouse,” you’ll see it too.

Disclaimer: I’m known for my “far out” theories, and they play a big part in what I’m about to do with “Lighthouse.” However, don’t let this dissuade you. In order for you to get the full effect, I recommend that you forget everything else – all the other shows – and consider “Lighthouse” as a “stand alone” story.

There are only two things we’ll need to cover before I prove how AWESOME “Lighthouse” is. These basic elements of how storytelling takes place on LOST can be tough to swallow at first, but I promise, you’ll like how it feels in the end. [So soft and comfy—ahhh--]

_____________________________________________________________

Thing 1

Nothing in Jack’s flash-sideways is real. It’s not an alternate timeline, it’s not a reset, it’s not time travel and it doesn’t take place in the future or past for Jack.

[Don’t panic. I CAN prove it with “Lighthouse,” but only if you keep reading!]

If it’s not real, then what is it (you might say)? Simplest answer: Jack’s LA_X story is an interactive experience that takes place in his mind. Think of it like a vision quest, a walkabout but one he experiences on “The Other side.”

Let's be clear. LA_X Jack is still the REAL Jack, just not in the physical world (where his SUPER hot bod is). He has been planted into a scenario that looks and feels familiar – his apartment, his mom, his dad’s study, but he’s been given an assignment, a problem to solve. Solving this problem is Jack’s walkabout.

And his problem is this: Jack must fix his relationship/make emotional contact with his son, David, who, for reasons unknown to Jack, hates his guts.

_____________________________________________________________

It’s Not Not Real Panic Relief

How is this possible, this unreal directed dream thingy that’s only in Jack’s mind? The simplest answer is the easiest answer, and it’s provided for us in “Lighthouse.” Jacob admits he provided this experience for Jack. Somehow, Jacob is able to generate these experiences for our losties [which play out IN THEIR HEADS] and monitor them while they work through the program/figure things out (“He’s been watching us!”). NOTE: he’s also able to “show” them “unreal” things on the island (lighthouse mirror), which makes the island a “real” world modified by perception. Things are not always what they seem.

[More on "exactly how" the island works later. Also, Karen over at Karen’s Lost Notebook has some pretty excellent ideas about “exactly how,” so check out her stuff if you’re wantin’ more.]

I actually think the island/Jacob was originally intended to provide folks with ways create their own psychological/emotional healing just like Jacob does for Jack. Remember, Jack tells Hurley he came back to the island because he was “broken,” and nearly every single one of our losties seems to have some kind of psychological damage. It would explain, a little, the Dharma Initiative’s obsession with Jacob, too.

I can’t be more specific into the “exactly how” that without going into lots of side ideas, so let’s just stick with “Jacob” is the “how.”

If you examine the flash-sideways from this perspective, it eliminates a lot of confusion about timelines et al. There are NO timelines necessary because this experience is taking place in Jack’s mind. There’s no need to physically relate this experience to the island in any way. His body stays on the island. His consciousness is visiting LA_X – much like Desmond’s did when he collected Penny’s phone number (DING DING DING).

What’s more, it totally doesn’t matter who David’s mom is, or when Jack got married, or how he got from the island to LA_X. It doesn’t even matter if David is actually a musical genius or even if he’s “really” Jack’s son or even if Jack HAS a son. NONE OF THOSE THINGS MATTER because this experience is NOT taking place in the physical world.

However, this doesn’t mean David isn’t a “real” person to Jack, or that Jack’s problems with David aren’t “real” or important. In fact, reconciling his relationship with David becomes the KEY factor in Jack’s fixing what’s wrong with himself.

Thing 1 Review:

Jack’s flash-sideways is not physically “real.” It is a constructed experience created and monitored by Jacob specifically for Jack.
This experience only takes place in Jack’s head as a directed (day) dream-type deal.
In this world, Jack only knows or needs to know whatever information helps him solve his problem.
In LA_X, Jack’s problem to solve is: how do I talk to my son?

_____________________________________________________________

It's Not Not Real Panic Relief - Pt 2

I know. I know. You don’t think Darlton would “cheat” by having half the show be “not real.” But ask yourself this: if it influences our losties and events on the island, is it still “not real?”

If Jacob helps Jack with these experiences, are they still worthless because they’re not physically “real?”

Jack’s LA_X story, I’d argue, is just as “real” to him as his physical experiences on the island, right? Especially if he was aware of his internal LA_X experiences and they became integrated into his internal beliefs and external actions on the island (this is what I’m gonna prove later on).

Consider every hint Darlton have given us about Season 6 (I’m stickin’ with Official Podcasts only). Everything they say about how to interpret the flash-sideways fits, but ONLY IF these flash-sideways take place on the “Other Side” as directed dreams, directly connected to our losties’ minds, and ONLY IF THEY TAKE PLACE IN THE PRESENT TENSE.

This brings us to:

_____________________________________________________________

Thing 2

I’ve heard many an unhappy fan claim LA_X doesn’t connect to the island.

But in Amy’s world, this is not true! I’d argue it ABSOLUTELY connects. In fact, LA_X is MORE relevant to what’s happening to our island losties than any of the flashforwards or flashbacks were.

Here's the problem: fans are trying to plug LA_X events into the perceived timeline fans have created out of what they’ve seen on the show up to now, and that’s not how LA_X works. Which is why interpreting LA_X this way isn’t working. It doesn’t fit or make sense.

Do you want to rid yourself of this aggravating problem? Cuz I can help! But it won’t work if you keep uniformly rejecting the idea that events in LA_X aren’t happening in the physical world. Try putting your rejection on hold, just for a bit, and I’ll see what I can do.

Got it? Are you on board? Dedicated to the idea that LA_X storyline takes place in a directed daydream world (NOT the physical world)? Good for you! [I’m very proud of you!] I’ll be quick!

_____________________________________________________________

Jagged Little Theory Pills

If Jack’s LA_X storyline takes place in Jack’s mind and doesn’t exist anywhere at anytime in the physical world, then the calendar date in LA_X is irrelevant.

Oceanic 815 lands 9/22/2004, obviously. BUT it’s only 2004 in JACK’S MIND as he THINKS or experiences this LA_X storyline/directed dream. Stick with that, and POOF! The timeline conflict disappears.

If Jack’s LA_X storyline takes place in Jack’s mind and doesn’t exist anywhere at anytime in the physical world, then the only way events in the LA_X storyline fit into the overall story entirely depends on WHEN Jack experiences them in relationship to his experiences on the island.

That is, since events in LA_X take place in Jack’s mind, and since the human mind is physically anchored to the human brain, and since Jack is human and keeps his brain handy with him on the island, it goes to show that events in Jack’s mind happen ONLY when he is thinking or paying attention/experiencing them regardless of where his body is. This means that before and after Jack is experiencing his LA_X story in his mind, he is experiencing his story on the island.

No two scenes could happen simultaneously because Jack can’t experience the physical world of the island (for us to see) at the exact same time as he’s experiencing his directed (day)dream.

In “Lighthouse,” the scenes for JACK, and only Jack, would appear like this:

Scene 1 - LA_X events – Jack – Picks kid up late.
Scene 2 - Island events – Mainly Jack – Chats up Dogen.
Scene 3 - LA_X events – Jack – David rejects Jack’s efforts.
Scene 4 - Island events – Mainly Jack—Sayid questions Jack.

And so on.

NOTE: After watching David blow off his conversation efforts in LA_X, we find Jack meditating in the Temple courtyard when we return to the island. THAT’S what’s happening. He is physically “waiting” while his directed dream experience is happening. He’s “watching”/experiencing LA_X with us. [That makes us the observers. Cool right?]

As long as you can prove that events in a scene affect the events the scene or scenes to follow, you’ve proven that the use of flash-sideways nothing more than LINEAR STORYTELLING (Take that, Darlton!). It’s just plain, old, simple storytelling: showing us what Jack experiences on the island (with his physical body) and what Jack experiences in LA_X (in his head) in chronological order.

So let’s prove it.

_____________________________________________________________

This LOST Theory created by A. Monroe (@aohora)

Amy Smashes Through The Looking Glass: Desmond v. Alternate Timelines

2011-02-11T00:00:00.000-10:00

This is a REWIND POST -- Originally posted April 6, 2010 -- right in the middle of Season 6. It relates very much to our recent discussion of Desmond, Daniel and "IN TIME." BTW- I haven't changed ONE WORD of this post since I published it. Please take this into account as you read.

DASH AND SMASH THE "FLASHES"

We've covered how the "flashsideways" work in a previous post. I used events and visual effects in "Lighthouse" to demonstrate how Jack's experiences with David directly inform or influence his revelation at Jacob's lighthouse. That is, Jack's journey is incomplete if you externally separate the episode into two storylines.

The basic premise is this:

Jack can't see the house reflected in the lighthouse mirrors and (eventually - in "Dr. Linus") call it "the house I grew up in" (instead of three different identifications: My house; the house I grew up in; I haven't lived there since I was a kid), until he "sees" himself in David.

That is, when he sees David playing the piano at his audition, he understands that David is his mirror (the reflection of his identity). He IS that uncertain, afraid, angry kid -- just like David. David "is" Jack. [We know this because the camera work at that moment echos the camera work at the beginning of this episode when Jack is staring at himself in the reflecting pond at the temple.]

Jack IDENTIFIES with David. That's the key event that leads him to tell Richard in "Dr. Linus" that he saw "the house I grew up in" reflected in the lighthouse mirrors. Jack has made a choice, and that choice has put him on the path to complete the "something he has to do." This is the story of Jack's walkabout. It's the journey he must complete in order to, literally, get his head straight on the island.

In order for this walkabout to work, Jack's "flashsideways" can't take place in an "alternate universe" in the "real" world.

But, apparently, we need more proof. So let's take a look at Desmond.

YOU ARE YOUR TIMELINE

The primary issue I have with the alt timeline idea is that it is impossible for humans, physically, consciously (in their conscious mind) or subconsciously to be engaged or "present" in two places at once (just like the human mind is not capable of holding 2 independent conversations simultaneously). If there's no such thing as time travel (think anti-paradox here), and humans can only consciously exist in ONE "HERE and NOW" at any given time, then what gives?

We have a personal timeline of existence (our memory), and it’s linear because we are linear beings. We understand our existence in sequence. The past is “BACK THEN.” We are “HERE and NOW.” The future doesn’t exist yet. Consciously flipping our sense of “HERE and NOW” back and forth between two completely different points in our personal timeline (our memory) is impossible for the human brain to handle.

For example, you are currently reading. This is your HERE and NOW. If you are currently 30 years old, and you jumped HERE and NOW to when you were 12 years old, you would believe you are actually 12 again. You would act 12. You would view the world as if you were 12. (And you'd be in the looney bin, because these behaviors are defined as "crazy" or "delusional.")

We see this happen to several characters on LOST. Charlotte shifts from one “HERE and NOW” to another before she bites the dirt. We hear little girl Charlotte tell us she's not allowed to have chocolate before dinner, as if Charlotte was a little girl. Flipping back and forth in her HEAD (conscious mind) damages her brain. In fact, all peeps who are consciously aware of the jumping around on their own timelines of experience (through memories IN THEIR HEADS) go crazy, kill themselves (peeps on the freighter) or fall over dead from a brain hemorrhage (Minkowski on the freighter, Charlotte on the island).

The one and only exception is Desmond. Remember Daniel’s (and Darlton's) words: “The Rules” don’t apply to Desmond. He’s “special.”

WHEREFORE ART THOU, DESMOND?

In "The Constant," Desmond arrives on the freighter a little freaked out. He has no idea where he is or when he is. To make matters worse, he abruptly finds himself in 1996 (mid sentence!). Weird thing is, he recognizes it as the past, but realizes he is experiencing it in his "HERE AND NOW." He is very aware that something is not right. Actually, EVERYTHING is not right!

The important thing to notice is that Desmond is consciously aware of what's happening to him (and how Not Cool it is) during his “flashbacks.” He also remembers exactly what's happened to him once he’s "back" on the freighter. He feels his memories, his flashes as “NOW” [not BACK THEN]. Whatever he is experiencing at that exact moment is “HERE” whether it’s on the freighter or in England. NOTE: Desmond does NOT know the contents of his “flashbacks” until they “happen” to him. Until he lives those moments, they don’t exist.

These experiences for him are also interactive. He has a certain amount of free will of thought and action. Using information he learns from on-island Daniel, he seeks and finds (a not so sympathetic) Oxford Prof. Daniel and gets the skinny on his predicament. He seeks out Charles Widmore to find Penny. He talks Penny into giving him his phone number to save his own life by calling her on the freighter. [Buyer Beware: Penny makes absolutely NO mention of this interaction or keeping her phone number on purpose. She already knew he was alive after she spoke with Charlie at The Looking Glass station.]

HOWEVER, even though Desmond is “special,” even HE can’t experience two points (as the HERE and NOW) on his mind’s timeline simultaneously. When Desmond is meeting Daniel and getting Penny’s phone number, his body on the freighter is unconscious. Same thing the other way: Daniel notes this when Desmond wakes up in his office. We find out this timeline jumping (and his awareness of it) will end up killing him eventually (this is why he needs a “constant.” Something to “hold on to” that connects the two points in time. NOTE: His constant is Penny, a PERSON. This is another exception to the rules.)

The important thing to remember is this: Desmond's decision on the freighter (Penny is his constant) directly influences his actions in his “flash” (get Penny’s phone number) which (immediately) influences his actions and outcomes on the freighter (he talks to Penny and doesn’t fall over dead from a brain hemorrhage).

MOST importantly: the SEQUENCE in which we see his flashes (the order they happen between his experiences on the freighter) matters. A LOT.

THE KICKER

So here’s the question: Are Desmond’s “flashback” experiences REAL? Do they take place in the "real" world? Is he physically in the past, in England AND physically on the freighter? Good question, right?

The logical argument here is that, sure, Desmond’s flashbacks aren’t “real” in that way, but they are in the PAST, so it shouldn’t make a difference if they are real or not because the past influences the present, and that’s perfectly logical. However, the “flash” storyline does not take place as a COMPLETE AND SEPARATE UNIT OF TIME in Desmond’s “past.” It is (obviously) interrupted by and integrated with his experiences on the freighter.

For example, if you pick out all of Desmond’s flashbacks from this episode and reconstruct them into an “alternate timeline” separate from or outside of his experiences on the island, neither “storyline” makes any sense. That’s because they are NOT two different storylines. All of Desmond’s experiences, freighter and memory, are ALREADY in chronological order – as we see them on the show – ONE storyline from beginning to end, in a straight LINE of existence.

In fact, if someone told you that was the ONLY way to interpret Desmond's experiences in this episode -- by dividing them up by year/location, first telling the story of the freighter and then telling the story of his "flashback"-- you know, kinda like they do for nearly every recap of the show -- you would tell them, what?

You would tell them interpreting the story that way made absolutely no frickin' sense whatsoever.

[It seems like a simple answer, right? Even our lovely LOST buddies over at Lostpedia.com (master of ALL things on LOST) did NOT split Desmond's flashes in to a separate story in their posted recap for "The Constant" (unlike how they do in recaps for EVERY OTHER EPISODE).]

LOST HELPS THOSE WHO HELP THEMSELVES TO LOST

Wanna know how the writers were able to come up with a "complete" timeline for all our losties years in advance?

THEY DIDN'T.

Wanna know why some episodes in Season 4, many episodes in Season 5 and nearly all the episodes in Season 6 don't "make any frickin' sense?"

YOU ARE REARRANGING SCENES IN THE SHOW IN YOUR HEADS (and recaps) WHEN THEY ARE ALREADY IN THE CORRECT ORDER FOR INTERPRETATION. [The results are just as if you rearranged events and/or split "storylines/timelines" in "The Constant."]

Wanna know how to make it all better?

STOP REARRANGING THE SCENES. THEY ARE ALREADY IN ORDER.

Give it a try and see what you come up with!

_______________________________________________________

This theory created for LOSTblog.com by Amy/aohora.

ADDENDUM: Might as well cover this here with the rest of Desmond's weirdness!

THE EXCEPTION PROVES THE RULE

If Desmond is the exception to the rules, then there's only a few rules that I can see he's breaking (especially in "The Constant").

Desmond is consciously aware of his "flashbacking/flux" state of existence, both in the flashes and on the freighter.
Desmond can remember everything he experiences from one scene to the next as he passes back and forth between the flashes and the freighter. (His experience is cumulative.)
Even though his is aware of what's happening to him, his "body" alternates consciousness. He is unconscious on the freighter when he's experiencing 1996 and vis versa. [He's not babbling like Charlotte did.]
His "constant" is a PERSON. Contact with his "constant" can be aural (heard - not seen or touched). His constant is not an "anchor" for his indentity. Desmond is still Desmond after contact.
His SITUATION changes because of his flashes (won't die), but not his personality or perspective.
Near the end of the episode, it almost looks as if he can control when he "jumps."

There are probably more, I'm sure. But even if we just stick to these, they mean that "The Rules" for everyone else include:

Our losties are not consciously aware of their "flashing" state of existence (moving between flashes and the island).
They can not remember everything that happens during their flashes on the island, and they can't remember everything that happens on the island in their flashes.
Their "bodies" do not HAVE to be unconscious on the island for them to experience their flashes and vis versa. [However, they often are.]
Their "Constants" are OBJECTS. These objects are catalists for memories and/or flashes. Meaningful contact can be visual (when they see their "constant"), but definitive contact is by TOUCH. They must touch the object in order for it to work. Their "constants" act as anchors to a set of memories. Post contact, often our losties are different than they were before.
Their situation is not changed by their flashes, BUT their personality and perspectives are often altered, sometimes significantly.
They have NO control whatsoever over when they flash. (However, others can control it for them by knocking them out or drugging them.)

Rewatching LOST: Brain Trust

2011-02-09T21:47:00.006-10:00

Here's what we have to work with:

IF: After Ben and Locke turn the frozen donkey wheel, our left behind losties experience flashes of light and see landmarks and events that belong to different time periods on the island.

THEN: Either the island OR our left behind losties are traveling through "time" with each flash.

That's the basic consensus, yes?

PROBLEM: Oh, there are so many problems with this, lovely LOST readers, I don't know where to begin.

This "time travel" conclusion is based almost entirely on Daniel Faraday's discussion with Desmond over poor Eloise the Rat in "The Constant" and his assessment of the flash situation on the island in "Because You Left."

Let's start with "The Constant" : Desmond, Sayid and Naomi's body leave the island for the freighter via Frank's helicopter. However, after flying through "some weather," Desmond starts to freak out. When they land on the freighter, he thinks it's the year 1996, and doesn't recognize or remember anything about a hatch, island or our losties. He's "not supposed to be here."

Daniel (still on the island) tells Desmond [via the SAT phone] to find the 1996 version of himself [Daniel at Oxford University]. He gives Desmond a "code," the numbers needed to make Daniel's brain zapper work on Eloise the Rat, so "I'll believe him." Next time Desmond flashes "back" to 1996, he witnesses Daniel successfully work his zapper on Eloise for the first [and ONLY] time.

Desmond: What does this do?
Daniel: This -- if the numbers you gave me are correct, what this will do is unstick Eloise in time, just like you.

It WORKS. Eloise "comes back" and runs through the maze Daniel just built and planned to teach to her "an hour from now."

Desmond: S-so, you -- you sent her to the future?
Daniel: No-no-no, her consciousness. Her mind.

Let me ask you this very important question, lovely LOST readers: Did we just witness Eloise the rat TIME TRAVEL? Like in a Time Machine?

Answer: Nope.

Don't let the term "IN TIME" confuse you. If you'll remember in Rewatching LOST: It's Time or How The Island is "Moving", we discussed how Mrs. Hawking uses the term "IN TIME" in her little return-to-the-island pep talk. She says "they" found the island by building the Lamp Post station to predict where the island is "going to be, at a certain point IN TIME." We know she is NOT referring to where the island will be in the space-time continuum nor geographically on Earth.

The island itself never changes geographic locations. The “movement” of the island is an ILLUSION created by the magnetic properties of the island itself.

I repeat, when Mrs. Hawking says the island is "always moving," she in NO WAY is referring to the island changing geographical locations.

The illusion of "movement" of the island changes in a PATTERN. This pattern either repeats over time or follows a specific algorithm -- RHYTHM being the key word here. The island "moves" by altering how a compass needle finds North. In order to know how to get there, you need to know how MUCH the island's magnetism has "moved" North and make the appropriate adjustments.

When Mrs. Hawking says "where the island will be at a certain point IN TIME," it translates DIRECTLY to "where the island WILL APPEAR/SEEM to be at a certain date/time in the future." [Go back and read the post if you're still confused.]

The most important thing for our discussion is this: Daniel makes it VERY clear to Desmond that Eloise the rat was NOT "SENT INTO THE FUTURE." Only her CONSCIOUSNESS. HER MIND was "sent into the future."

The questions for us are:

What does it mean to be "unstuck?"
What does "the future" mean?

DANIEL'S RESEARCH

IF: Eloise is "just like you [Desmond]" after she is zapped, and zapping her sends her CONSCIOUSNESS, her MIND, into the "future," AND if we've just seen this happen in such a way that we KNOW we didn't just watch Eloise ACTUALLY PHYSICALLY TRAVEL IN TIME, then what do we know about Desmond's "time travel" into the "past?"

THEN: Only Desmond's CONSCIOUS MIND is "traveling" into the "past" the ENTIRE EPISODE. The only way for your conscious mind to travel into the past is for YOUR MIND to experience a MEMORY. The only way to experience a memory AS IF it were taking place in the PRESENT [like Desmond is experiencing "1996" in "The Constant"], is if you are UNSTUCK in "TIME" AND LOST "IN TIME." [You don't know WHEN you are in your mind.]

Desmond is chatting with Daniel in a FLASHBACK. The flashback is PRETENDING to be a memory. We are NOT WATCHING Desmond interact with Daniel in a PHYSICAL WORLD.

[Don't panic.]

What Daniel's zapper has just done is remove the fail-safe mechanism in Eloise's brain that tells her what is the "past" and what is the "present." If Eloise is an example of what's happening to Desmond in this episode [like Daniel says she is], then we've just learned something VERY significant.

When he is in 1996, Desmond may THINK he's in present, but the fact that he remembers events in 2004 tells us that even though Desmond's MENTAL SENSE [perception] of what's HERE and NOW is broken or disrupted, he is NOT experiencing the PAST when he hooks up with Daniel at Oxford. He only THINKS he is. His internal clock -- his sense of "the here and now" is flipping back and forth from 1996 to 2004.

Flipping back and forth is a BAD thing. In order for Desmond to "fix himself," he has to establish ONE "present": on the freighter in 2004. This happens when he finally gets in touch with Penny. Once that happens, his memories of "the future" are reshuffled back in to perspective, and his "lost" memories resurface to bridge the gap.

Darlton say it over and over and OVER again: Desmond is CONSCIOUSNESS TRAVELING, NOT Time Machine Time Traveling.

PRESENT AND ACCOUNTED FOR

Here's a good question: How do you know that RIGHT NOW is the present? How do you know YESTERDAY is the past? How do you know tomorrow is the FUTURE?

The answer is YOUR BRAIN TELLS YOU SO. Your physical brain exists in a LINEAR reality. As long as your consciousness is ATTACHED to your BRAIN, your consciousness is SUBJECT to your physical brain's sense of past, present and future. NOW is what your brain is experiencing/recording. THE PAST is what your brain has already processed as MEMORY. The FUTURE is what your brain has NOT experienced yet -- no DIRECT physical/sensory memories of the future are being stored/created.

On LOST, the PRESENT, PAST and FUTURE are all about PERSPECTIVE. ["When" you are depends on "when" you THINK you are.]

But you don't have to take my word for it.

Meet Warren Meck, professor of psychology and neuroscience at Duke University. Considered THE leading scientific mind studying the brain and how it perceives time, Meck has published several studies demonstrating how our brains PERCEIVE time and how that perception can be MANIPULATED as a reaction to stimuli.

Current theories of interval timing assume that humans and other animals time as if using a single, absolute stopwatch that can be stopped or reset on command. Here we evaluate the alternative view that psychological time is represented by multiple clocks, and that these clocks create separate temporal contexts by which duration is judged in a relative manner. Two predictions of the multiple-clock hypothesis were tested. First, that the multiple clocks can be manipulated (stopped and/or reset) independently. Second, that an event of a given physical duration would be perceived as having different durations in different temporal contexts, i.e., would be judged differently by each clock.

Results suggest that the brain processes the duration of an event in a manner similar to Einstein's special relativity theory: A given time interval [ONE time interval]is registered differently by independent clocks [internal brain clocks] dependent upon the context. -- "Relativity and Time Perception, Single or Multiple Clocks?" [published July of 2009, W. Meck and C.V. Buhusi, PLos ONE].

[Oooooooo -- Who remembers our CONTEXT discussion?]

In short, our brains have THREE clocks to measure time, three INDEPENDENT clocks that can be interrupted, reset and reallocated separately given specific stimuli. They are NOT absolute. That is, human minds do NOT automatically track time the same way. We are NOT automatically in SYNC with each other.

Our perception of time occurs inside our PHYSICAL brains, and exactly how our brains perceive time is a hot topic in MULTIPLE fields of science including psychology, neurology and metaphysics.

But the most radical reworking of time may come as we inscribe it in our memories. We recall not just what happened but when. We can recall how much time has passed since an event occurred by tapping into our memories. Injuries and surgeries that destroy a particular part of the brain can give some hints about how the brain records time in memory. French scientists in 2007 reported their study of a group of patients who had suffered damage to a region known as the left temporal lobe.

As it stores time in memories, the brain may alter it in another way that is even more radical. It may record time so that our brains recall events in backward order. Scientists at MIT discovered reverse memories in an experiment on rats. They had rats run down a track and then stop to eat food at the end. When rats (and humans) become more familiar with a place, individual neurons start becoming active when the rats reach particular spots. The scientists identified “place cells” that fired when the rats moved to different spots along the track. When the rats stopped to eat, the scientists eavesdropped on their brains again. They heard the place neurons fire again—probably as the memories of the track were becoming stronger in the rat brain. But the place neurons at the end of the track fired first, and the ones at the beginning of the track fired last. It’s possible that we reverse time in our memories in order to focus our brains on goals (for the MIT rats, the goal was the food at the end of the track). -------"The Brain: How Your Brain Can Control Time," by Carl Zimmer, July 12, 2008; Discover Magazine [online version]

Got that? Our brains tag our memories in the ORDER in which they are stored. VERY important to do that, because if our brain can't figure out the order in which our memories are stored, then it can't tell which events happened to us when. When we try to remember past events, we won't be able to recognize which ones happened last week and which ones happened last year. [KINDA LIKE DESMOND IN "THE CONSTANT."]

Well [you might say], that wouldn't create too much chaos. Like, I would remember that I broke my arm when I was 10 years old. If I know I'm 25, I know how long ago I broke my arm, and I know it happened before I was 11 and after I was 9.

And [I would tell you], you are absolutely right! YOU can logically order the memories of events that happened to you if you have LANDMARKS within those memories. Can anybody tell me most SIGNIFICANT LANDMARKS in our memories?

Yunh hunh, that's right!! We tag our memories with NUMBERS.

When we assign numbers to events, we are able to order them in our heads: Dates, ages, times, years -- all help us keep track of the order of events in our minds -- OUTSIDE of the chemical memory tag job our physical brains do for us.

Guess what else? MUTUAL MEASUREMENTS of TIME are CONSTANTS. If you and I both agree we met at a bar on, oh, I dunno, September 21, 2004, in the morning, before our shared flight to LA X from Sydney Australia, then those NUMBERS verify THAT EVENT "IN TIME."

There are, of course, literal landmarks, too. Structures mark events, too. They often work as cross-references to fill in the holes. For example, let's say you can't remember how old you were when you broke your arm. But you DO remember it was at your grandma's old house. Since your grandma moved out of the house when you were 11, thinking back, you now know that you must have broken your arm before you were 11. ["It's my house. The house I grew up in. I haven't lived there since I was a kid." -- Jack looks in Jacob's lighthouse mirror in "Lighthouse"].

Know what other kind of landmarks we use to keep our memories straight? OUR MEMORIES OF OTHER PEOPLE. AND, know which memories are MOST likely to chemically stick in our brains? THE MEMORIES WITH STRONG EMOTIONAL ASSOCIATION [like fear or LUUUUUUUUV].

Bottom line here is: TIME, as measured and stored in our BRAINS, is RELATIVE. We MAKE the "past" the past and the "future" the future AFTER WE DETERMINE WHERE THE "PRESENT" IS.

Desmond's problem is that after he was zapped by the island [turned the key] and then flown through a thunderstorm [flown off the island by Frank], he has no idea where the "present" is.

Back to "The Constant."

After Eloise the rat croaks, Desmond gets upset.

Desmond: If this keeps happening, am I gonna die?!
Daniel: I don't know. I think Eloise's brain short-circuited. The jumps between the present and the future , she -- eventually, she couldn't tell which was which — she had no anchor.
Desmond: Wh -- what do you mean, anchor?
Daniel: Something familiar in both times. All this, see this is all variables, it's random, it's chaotic. Every equation needs stability, something known. It's called a constant. Desmond, you have no constant. When you go to the future, nothing there is familiar. So if you want to stop this, then you need to find something there -- something that you really, really care about -- that also exists back here, in 1996.
Desmond: This constant — can it be a person?

In Desmond's case, the constant is PENNY. Once he orients himself with PENNY'S past and present -- with their SHARED past and present in particular -- then Desmond's sense of HERE AND NOW self-corrects. He becomes his old self on the freighter during his phone call to Penny.

PENNY identifies Desmond's ISLAND/FREIGHTER experience as the "present" by filling in the holes between 1996 and 2004. In a way, by the end of the episode, DESMOND'S MEMORIES are ALIGNED WITH PENNY'S. [Hold on to this thought for later. Seriously.]

[Notice early in "The Constant," Desmond specifically mentions the PICTURE of him and Penny in front of the boats. This is the SAME picture he left behind in the hatch, without a second thought, in "Man of Science, Man of Faith." Leaving that picture behind means Desmond doesn't remember Penny until he "remembers" Penny -- in a FLASH.]

MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS POST

Our LOSTIES don't have Desmond's problem. They "remember" their flashes as the "past." Looking back, especially over Season 1, each of our losties' "flashbacks" center around an OBJECT or SITUATION that is the SAME in the flash AND on the island.

Locke "remembers" the wheelchair. ["Walkabout"]
Kate "remembers" the toy plane. ["Whatever The Case May Be"]
Charlie "remembers" the heroin baggie. ["The Moth"]
Hurley "remembers" the numbers. ["Numbers"]
Sun "remembers" her wedding ring. ["House of the Rising Sun"]
Sayid "remembers" Nadia's picture. ["Solitary"]

If you go back and read any of my recaps for Season 1, you'll notice how often I refer to those OBJECTS as CONSTANTS for our losties. They are "something" our losties "really, really care about that also exists back HERE," on the island. These OBJECTS identify the FLASH as the "past" and the ISLAND as the "present" AS WELL AS identify specific memories that inform our losties' IDENTITIES on the island.

This is exactly what happens when Desmond finally talks to Penny. Desmond's identity on the island is: "guy who wants to get back to the woman he loves," which is what it NEEDS to be in order for things to play out.

Now, here's where it gets tricky -- what if our losties had the same problem as Desmond? What if, while "remembering" how he ended up on Oceanic Flight 815 [in "Walkabout"], Locke "forgot" that the island was the "present?" What would happen?

Answer: Same thing that happened to Desmond in "The Constant" -- on the ISLAND, Locke would "be" who he was BEFORE he got on the plane [a cripple]. So would Kate [on the run], Charlie [a hopeless junkie], Hurley [cursed] and Sun [madly in love with her husband].

[This is what happens to Claire, btw, when she is returned to the caves in "Homecoming." She can't remember anything except the plane ride.]

Now, think ahead to Season 4. What if our losties THINK their flashes are the FUTURE? [After they go "Through the Looking Glass," perhaps.]

[Did you see it?]

Remember: The FLASHES are NOT MEMORIES. They are only PRETENDING to be memories [just like the island PRETENDS to tell your compass where North is]. Now we finally see how it works.

Our LOSTIES experience their flashes EXACTLY the way Desmond experiences his flashes in "The Constant," ONE AT A TIME -- in the ORDER we see them happening!
Our losties ARE "consciousness traveling" just like Desmond is "consciousness traveling."
The only difference is THEY ARE NOT CONFUSED about PAST/PRESENT. They INTERPRET their EXPERIENCES in the flashes as MEMORIES -- experiences of the PAST.

Which means,

Our losties' experiences in the FLASHES are happening AS WE WATCH THEM -- just like how we watch Desmond in "The Constant." CURRENT EVENTS IN THE FLASHES ARE NOT/HAVE NEVER TAKEN PLACE IN A PHYSICAL WORLD.

If you're balking, ask yourself this: If "the rules" don't apply to Desmond because he's "SPECIAL," then what are the rules being applied to everyone else?

How is Desmond breaking "the rules?"

[Are you with me? Oh good.]

DANIEL'S RESEARCH, PART DEUX

But, guess what? THIS PAST/PRESENT/FUTURE stuff is all a TRICK. It's almost TOO good a trick because focusing on PHYSICAL, time machine-type time travel blurs away ALL the rest of the clues in this scene.

Look at EXACTLY what Daniel accomplishes with his experiment:

Daniel zaps Eloise. After a few moments, she wakes up. He opens the door and cheers her on as she runs the maze.

Daniel: Yes! Oh, it worked! This is incredible!
Desmond: I'm sorry, how is a rat running through a bloody maze so incredible?
Daniel: What's incredible is I just finished the maze this morning. I'm not going to teach her to run it until an hour from now.

New question:

IF Eloise's MIND is sent to "the future," and she is NOT Time Machine Time Traveling, then WHERE does her MIND GO?

The answer is in the answer.

Daniel zaps Eloise AFTER he builds the maze and BEFORE he teaches it to her.
Daniel, who works alone, is the ONLY person on Earth who knows what the maze looks like.
Daniel ALREADY has MENTAL plans to TEACH Eloise to run the maze.
After Eloise "gets back," she knows how to run the maze.

This one's a no-brainer [HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!].

The only way Eloise could possibly know exactly how to run the maze is if that knowledge was given to her, if she acquired it somehow.
The only person who HAS the knowledge at the time of her zapping is DANIEL.
Therefore, whatever Daniel's zapper does, the result is a transfer of knowledge -- FROM Daniel TO Eloise. [This might be why he doesn't cover his head during the experiment.]
This transfer does NOT happen in a PHYSICAL world. It takes place in HER MIND, in a directed dream state -- one SHARED and CONTROLLED [or HOSTED] by Daniel.

Creepy.

What's even MORE disturbing is if Daniel is able to IMAGINE teaching Eloise how to run the maze and is able to CROSS his IMAGINED EXPERIENCE with HER REALITY/Memory and she comes "back," "remembers" the experience as "real" and applies the knowledge, then what if Daniel could do this to a person? The imagined experience Daniel could provide would be limited ONLY by HIS OWN MEMORY.

What if he imagined something scary, like, say, a smoke monster?

[Who remembers our Amy Land Discussion? Rewatching LOST: Amy, "Matthew Fox" and The Island]

WHAT DANIEL JUST DID TO ELOISE IS WHAT'S HAPPENING ON THE ISLAND, except instead of Daniel manipulating his rat's mind, JACOB/MIB are manipulating our LOSTIES' MINDS. With FLASHES.

The flash "backs" and flash "forwards" are:

PRETEND MEMORIES.
MANIPULATED.
LIMITED to available MENTAL RESOURCES.
CROSS CONNECTED.
TAKING PLACE IN THE PRESENT, as we watch them.

Remember: There's a HISTORY of the island, a MYTHOLOGY of the island and WHAT'S HAPPENING TO OUR LOSTIES while we're watching.

Desmond's visit to Daniel is WHAT'S HAPPENING "NOW." [ie, the VARIABLE]
Daniel's experiment is WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE -- HISTORY of the island. [You can't change the past. Whatever happened, happened.]

Desmond is "unstuck in time" like Eloise, yes? If Daniel is able to cross minds with Eloise, then what does that tell you about Desmond's flash?

DESMOND'S EXPERIENCE WITH DANIEL in 1996, is DESMOND'S interaction WITHIN Daniel's MEMORY. Their TWO memories are CROSS CONNECTED. Daniel doesn't seem to be in control of Desmond's experience in the flash. Seems to me like they have equal "power" in their combined memory. What does that tell you about the other shared flashes we've seen?

["This is a place you made together -- so you could find one another." -- Christian to Jack in "The End"]

Question: If this doesn't happen in the "real" past, then why does Daniel's journal change to say that Desmond will be his constant?

When Desmond realigned his memory -- to match Penny's, it worked like an anchor, yes? It pinned him down into "2004 is the present." Desmond "finding" Daniel in the flash works the EXACT same way.

Remember, before Daniel parachutes onto the island, his memory is MISSING. He is trying to RECOVER his memory -- to get it back. That tells me his memory was REMOVED from him and STORED in relation to the island somehow.

A FLASH becomes a MEMORY for peeps on the island. It's PRETENDING to be a memory, remember? Once that SHARED memory takes place, the one shared between Daniel and Desmond when they cross connect in "1996," they keep the memory. Daniel can "think back" and "remember" his flash time with Desmond -- much the same way DESMOND "remembers" Daniel knocking on the door to the Swan Station and telling him to look for "my mother." [Desmond WAKES UP with the memory. Remember that?]

This can get tricky, so work with me here: Events in the flash took place in real time -- the order in which we watched them -- for Desmond AND for Daniel. The reason Daniel's journal doesn't state that Desmond is his constant until AFTER they intersect in Desmond's FLASH, is because until that moment, it hadn't happened.

After they intersect, that memory becomes part of Daniel. EVEN THOUGH IT JUST HAPPENED TO HIM, Daniel "remembers" meeting Desmond in 1996. Once that memory becomes a part of Daniel, it CHANGES who he is [It works kinda like a RECOVERED memory would].

Once that memory becomes a reality in Daniel's mind, it manifests as a note in his journal. The journal changed because Daniel changed. BECAUSE your environment reflects your MIND -- who you are -- on the ISLAND. ["It was only as real as you made it," Locke to Boone in "Hearts and Minds."]

BECAUSE THE ISLAND ISN'T A PHYSICAL WORLD, EITHER.

[See: Amy's Handy-Dandy Viewing Guide for Rewatching LOST Chapter 3 to learn more about identity and the island.]

FINAL THOUGHTS

The huge question here is HOW. How does Daniel exist in the "present," on the island and still participate in his memory as his 1996 self? I've got a pretty good idea, but we'll have to save it for the next post. Suffice to say that our MEMORIES are the RECORDS of our minds, like medical records or files would be of our bodies. Everything we experience, right down to the last detail, goes on record. Once our memories STOP -- after we are physically dead -- that record is COMPLETE.

What if we had a RECORD PLAYER -- a device that PLAYED the RECORD that is our completed memory?
What if WE were the needle on the player?
What if that needle started SKIPPING while the record was playing?
What if we could "MAKE OUR OWN KIND OF MUSIC," like Desmond?
What if we "can't make a record" like Dr. Chang?

Until next time -- Thanks for stopping by! Happy Rewatching!

Rewatching LOST: It's Time or How The Island "Moves"

2011-01-12T19:45:00.004-10:00

Here's what we've got to work with:

IF: Mrs. Hawking ["316"] and Ben ["The New Man In Charge"] tell us that "the island" is always moving. Mrs. Hawking says The Lamp Post station was built to develop coordinates predicting where the island WOULD be, and Ben says unmanned computers at The Lamp Post station were automatically transmitting those coordinates to poor Hector and Glen, who used them to direct the drones executing the Dharma Food Drop.

THEN: The island is always moving GEOGRAPHICALLY. The coordinates provided are GEOGRAPHICAL coordinates that indicate WHERE the ISLAND is/will be on the EARTH.

That's the basic consensus, yes?

PROBLEM: A "certain point in time" does NOT translate to "approximate geographical coordinates." [Not in the physical world, anyway.]

Mrs. Hawking says "While the movements of the island seem random... a series of equations tell us, with a high degree of probability, where it is going to be at a certain point, IN TIME."

What the heck is she talking about?

Let's say you're pregnant, and I plan to visit you before your baby is born. Naturally, I ask you what your baby's due date is [an approximate PREDICTION of an EVENT WINDOW -- a pending future event IN TIME]. If your answer is "Albuquerque," I'm now mad at you.

Now let's say I've decided to visit you tomorrow. If I ask you for your address or directions to your house and you say "June 5," now I'm really mad at you. [How dumb are you? Why am I even bothering?]

I repeat: What is Mrs. Hawking talking about?

If I pull out a calendar and ask you to point out the PLACE on the calendar that indicates your baby's due date, that might answer my "where" question. I'm asking you to show me WHERE on THIS CALENDAR ["in time"] you PREDICT a future event might happen.

That still doesn't work out quite right, does it? A baby's birth is an event with a beginning, middle and end. An island has a beginning, middle and end, too. A volcano erupts under the ocean. Over time the cooled magma builds an island [An island is actually the tippy top of an underwater mountain]. Over time [unless you shellac it with parking lots], that island is VERY slowly eroded by wind and rain and eventually "sinks," inch by inch, back into the ocean.

But if I want directions to a specific place [say, an island in the South Pacific] on a MAP of the EARTH [like the one under the swinging pendulum], telling me "where" that place "is going to be at a certain point, IN TIME" isn't very helpful. [Unless I'm attempting to get to the island from orbit. "Head for Guam. It'll be on yer left. You can't miss it!]

[And I'm still mad at you.]

There's only ONE place I can think of where a POINT in TIME would be a geographical location.

A map of the HUMAN BRAIN.

[Don't panic. We're gonna save the brain stuff for next post. However, I'll make you a promise here and now. I hereby solemnly swear that by the end of this post, you'll know EXACTLY how the island "moves." More bang for your buck, brought to you by LOSTblog.com! :)]

WHAT TIME IS IT WHERE YOU ARE?

Once upon a time [HA!] Sir Isaac Newton (1643 - 1727) was The Man. This English physicist-mathematician-philosopher-astronomer-alchemist-theologian published his book, Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, in 1687 [at the ripe old age of 25] and reset the pace of scientific world for centuries.

I love Newton, okay. I'm just gonna say it. He was my hero when I was a kid because his personal philosophy boiled down to: "I'm lookin' right at it, and I'm thinking, um, DUH."

For nearly 250 years, Newton had the concept of time in a bottle [HA!!]. He reasoned that time was a constant. It passed uniformly no matter what. Even today, his reasoning is sound. No matter how hard you try, you can't stop, pause, collect, reverse or create time. No matter what system of measurement used, the bottom line was time keeps on truckin at the same pace for everything in the universe.

[Newton was big on explaining everything in the universe.]

Enter Einstein, H-bombs and the modern age. Albert Einstein (1879 - 1955) boiled down the answer to life, the universe and everything, including time, into one simple response.

Einstein's Answer to Everything: It depends on how you look at it.

Relativity. Basically, it means that there are NO absolutes [constants] in the known universe. Objective observation/definition of any element of the universe is impossible because everything is defined according to its relationship to something else, including YOU. Since there is an infinite number of "something elses," there are infinite definitions for each and every element in our universe.

When Albert broke the objectivity mold, thousands of years of mathematical/scientific/philosophical studies bounced out the theoretical window --- leaving physicists, above all, sheepishly holding the bag. He was particularly touchy about the assumptions scientists made about time and space, and he was pretty irked when the scientific community failed to "get it" after he published his Special Theory of Relativity and E=mc²articles in 1905, [at the ripe old age of 26]. Didn't take long though. By the following year, scientists were eating that stuff up!

Mostly on his own, and mainly by daydreaming about the problems/questions when he was supposed to be working, Einstein figured out:

Time is not absolute: "Despite our common perception that a second is always a second everywhere in the universe, the rate at which time flows depends upon where you are and how fast you are traveling."
Light travels at a constant speed: "his Special Theory of Relativity. The theory, which revolutionized our understanding of time and space, is based on Einstein's astonishing recognition that light always travels at a constant speed, regardless of how fast you're moving when you measure it" [UNlike TIME].
Energy (E) equals mass (m) times the speed of light (c) squared (²), or E=mc²: "The secret the equation revealed—that mass and energy are different forms of the same thing—had eluded scientists for centuries."
Gravity and acceleration must be equivalent: Gravity [of the Earth on US] is equal to acceleration [of US as we fall to Earth]. This is why, if you're on a plane and it hurdles to the ground, you'll float like you're in outer space. During the fall, you are weightless. [And after the fall is over, you barf your guts out]. Astronauts actually train for zero gravity this way.

Bummer for Newton, turns out he was wrong about GRAVITY after all [according to NASA].

"When Einstein wrote his general theory of relativity in 1915, he found a new way to describe gravity. It was not a force, as Sir Isaac Newton had supposed, but a consequence of the distortion of space and time, conceived together in his theory as 'space-time'. Any object distorts the fabric of space-time and the bigger it is, the greater the effect.

Just as a bowling ball placed on a trampoline stretches the fabric and causes it to sag, so planets and stars warp space-time - a phenomenon known as the 'geodetic effect'. A marble moving along the trampoline will be drawn inexorably towards the ball.

Thus the planets orbiting the Sun are not being pulled by the Sun; they are following the curved space-time deformation caused by the Sun. The reason the planets never fall into the Sun is because of the speed at which they are traveling." ["Einstein was right: Space and time bend." The Observer, April 15, 2007]

That last bit works just like a ball on a string. Swing that ball round and round. The faster the ball is moving, the more stable its orbit around your hand (via the string). Slow the ball down, and the orbit collapses.

ALSO, the shorter the string, the faster the ball moves. Ever see a lifeguard spin his/her whistle? Same thing. [FYI: Lifeguards spin their whistles because it keeps them from going nuts waiting around for someone to drown. I'm not making that up. I used to be a lifeguard in my svelter days.]

MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THIS POST

Good news is: Einstein DID prove Newton was right about TIME -- to an extent. Time IS moving at a constant rate -- for EARTHLINGS. Because we are all moving (with the Earth) at the same rate and are all exposed to the same level of gravity.

However, if we were still on Earth (like on an island) and exposed to a something special in the environment -- a HIGH level of EM energy, perhaps (like that of a powerful pocket of EM energy), time might not move at the same rate for us as it does for everyone else. Hm.

[Ahhhhhh -- did you see it? I think we just figured out what the Dharma Initiative was trying to do with the island.]

REMEMBER: There's the HISTORY of the island, the MYTHOLOGY of the island and the STORY of our lostes (happening in the "present" - as we watch). They are interrelated, but each one can be separated out from the other two and deciphered on its own.

The Dharma Initiative was part of the HISTORY of the island, the physical island that existed and had its own story before our losties landed. [Cuz the DI guys are all dead BEFORE our losties land. According to Naomi in "Some Like It Hoth," the dead RESIDE at the island. And the dead folks, in case you haven't noticed, are doomed to repeat history.]

According to the LOST Encyclopedia, in 1970, Alvar Hanso, the "financial backer" of the D.I. learned of the island from his ancestor's diary. He told the DeGroots, founders of the D.I., about the existence of the island and suggested it as a research site.

Team DeGroot poked around and discovered underground, interconnected pockets of electromagnetic energy all over the world. They found a "unique pocket of energy in Los Angeles and built a research room around it -- the Lamp Post" (p. 212). They had enough evidence from Hanso's journal that the island existed, but they couldn't find the damn thing.

That's when they started looking for "where [the island] is going to be at a certain point, in time."

[Dang. Now we're back where we started!]

Let's focus on what we've learned today and try to apply it to the Dharma Initiative story.

TIME is RELATIVE -- NOT absolute, NOT a CONSTANT.
Where you are, how fast you're moving and the level of gravity you're exposed to AFFECTS the way YOU feel and measure time.
Gravity is NOT a FORCE. It's a distortion of space and time, which leaves the door open: what else can distort space and time?
"Any object distorts the fabric of space-time and the bigger it is, the greater the effect."

Let's say I've found an island in the South Pacific with an enormous pocket of EM Energy underneath it. I suspect that the magnetic field around the island (confined to this island) due to this energy pocket will disrupt the fabric of space and time. I've even got empirical evidence -- the journal of an eye-witness -- to the effects of the island on peeps who go near it.

I surmise that compared to how time moves everywhere else on Earth, time will SLOW considerably proximate to the source of energy. Therefore, if I am proximate to the source of energy, then TIME will slow down for me, too.

I call you up and tell you I'm going to the island for two weeks to run a little experiment. We meet for drinks and say goodbye.

Two weeks later, I come back. Turns out I'm right! For every two weeks that passes on the island, two YEARS passes everywhere else. You are TWO YEARS OLDER than when we last saw each other, and I'm only TWO WEEKS OLDER.

Buyer Beware: My MIND is two weeks older than when we last met. According to MY memories and MY perception of MY reality during my time on the island, I THINK only two weeks has gone by. I only REMEMBER two weeks going by.

Here's the question, and I think it's the question the Dharma Initiative was trying to answer: Which kind of time was distorted for me while I was on the island? Virtual time (described as hours, minutes and seconds) perceived in a left brain mode, OR EXPERIMENTAL time, which is perceived through the memory.

Is my BODY two weeks older? Or two YEARS older?

If my body is only two weeks older after spending two Earth years on the island, then guess what? I've just discovered the secret to immortality. The source of POWER to live FOR CENTURIES. Or MILLENIA, even.

["Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket/Never let it fade away..."]

EPILOGUE

As for the Lamp Post coordinates, I had a military historian [the one that lives with me] take a look at them. He told me that they look remarkably similar to "return to force" coordinates used by the military [U.S. Navy]. If you are in a military airplane, for example, and you lose contact with your peeps, esp peeps on an aircraft carrier, you simply open up your "return to force" specs and navigate your way back.

The "return to force" specs are NUMBERS -- coordinates that give you specific directions on a predetermined PATH to return to the ship. That way, when you fly back, YOU'LL FOLLOW THE RIGHT PATH and approach the ship on the RIGHT BEARINGS. They'll know you're one of "US" and won't shoot you down [very important].

These numbers are pre-determined with a combination of direction, location, speed and altitude to define a safe CORRIDOR for the plane to fly home, and they are rotated daily for security reasons. [You'll already know just about where the ship will be at a certain time: the place you were supposed to land when your mission was over. Military planes can't land on an aircraft carrier unless it is moving, so determining where the ship will be at the end BEFORE you take off is pretty important.]

If it matters in which direction you approach the island, and we already know it does, then the coordinates generated and transmitted by the Lamp Post could be for that purpose, which would mean, the "safe passage" path is constantly changing.

That's weird. Why would the path change? And what does that mean?

[WATCH THIS.]

I'm thinking MAGNETS are the key [HA! Key! Get it?]

When Sayid is orientering in Season 1 ["Hearts and Minds"], he demonstrates to Jack how the compass John gave him "is obviously defective" because it's not pointing "where north should be." Sayid and Jack know where north really is based on the position of the sun in the sky.
We know the "source" on the island is responsible. John's compass is NOT defective. [and the sun is telling our losties the "truth."]
We also know electromagnetic interference on the island increase the closer you get to one of the "pockets." The compass needle SPINS when you're on top of one ["Happily Ever After"]. It points NOWHERE

Consider: Since Sayid can determine where north SHOULD be [via the sun] and compare it to where the compass says north is, he can calculate the DEGREE of VARIANCE caused by the island's electromagnetic interference.

Let's pretend after Sayid explains the problem to Jack, Sayid stays right where he is [with one eye on the compass, one eye on the sun and paper and pencil in hand] for exactly 1 year. My best guess is the DEGREE of VARIANCE will CHANGE over time -- maybe slowly and consistently, like a clock, or in spurts because the EM energy fluctuates. Maybe both. If Sayid plots the variance every day using the sun to find true north and the STARS to calculate the day of the YEAR, guess what?

He'll MAP OUT the PATTERN of the EM interference's fluctuations' effects on the COMPASS over time. Almost like an EQUATION. [Isn't he a CLEVER FELLOW?]

Did you see it, my lovely LOST readers? CORRECTLY PLOTTING the location of the island is only half the problem. As soon as you get close to it, the island "moves" north [the island "moves" the DIRECTION "North." It's classic Team LOST Wordplay Bullshit!]. And, since the island is always "moving" north, it's nearly impossible to find it ON PURPOSE. If you never know where you are, it's impossible to get to a specific destination.

[That's called being LOST, btw.]

AND [because Team LOST is SMART], skipping the compass and relying on electronics to stay on target won't work either. The EM field generated by the island kills any electronics as soon as they cross the field's "border."

OMG! We've just figured out why:

FLYING OVER the island is the best way to get there from the outside. The field works like a dome. The closest you can get to the island's exact location without being inside the field is to be ABOVE the field.
Leaving the island headed in a certain DIRECTION (by boat) and maintaining that direction makes you go in CIRCLES.
An underwater BEACON is still necessary for the submarine to find the island.
Naomi has to adjust the Uber phone by HAND once she's ON the island ["The Beginning of the End"].
Peeps on the freighter think its not MOVING ["Ji Yeon"]. They ARE moving. They just THINK they're not moving because the instrument readings never change [Sure. Michael cut the engines, but they should still be floating around, right?]. The instruments never change because the freighter is IN SYNC with the EM anomaly's fluctuations -- its "movement." It's like the freighter is the BALL on the STRING (the safe path to the island), and the island is the HAND spinning it around. For all intensive purposes, the freighter is in a safe ORBIT around the island. That's why they can't move any closer to the ISLAND (they can't safely shorten the string). [This one is more of Amy's Guess. I'll need to rewatch that Season 4 to be sure.]
Plotting a course on a BEARING works if you want to get to/leave the island. Bearings are RELATIVE. [If I tell you to "bear to your right," you could be headed north, south, east, west -- any direction. I'm telling you which way to go in relation to where you are NOW. This is why when someone says, "Go right," we ask, "My right or your right?"]

[Wow. I just got a buzz.]

We've also FINALLY figured out what the heck Mrs. Hawking (and Ben) are talking about!

When Mrs. Hawking tells the story of how that "clever fellow" found the island, what she's explaining how, given a pattern of variance over time, PREDICTING "where" the island is supposed to be is possible. Whoever this guy was, he WAS a very clever fellow because not only do you have to recognize the variance over time, you have to account for the gradually INCREASED variance as you approach the island.

The island itself never changes geographic locations. The "movement" of the island is an ILLUSION created by the magnetic properties of the island itself.

In order to GET to the island, you have to KNOW the exact geographic location, recognize the illusion, sync up with the pattern of the illusion AND compensate for it over time and distance.

Like I said. Wow. Even my brain hurts! Let's save the rest [how the PENDULUM at the Lamp Post proves our little theory] for next time.

Happy rewatching!

Rewatching LOST: As The Wheel Turns

2010-12-23T02:08:00.001-10:00

QUESTION: HOW DOES BEN MOVE THE ISLAND?

Hm. Dunno. Let's ask J.J. Abrams.

[FYI: I'm about to chat up what could be considered spoilers for the show FRINGE, if you care about such things. For the record, I don't think knowing a few things ahead of time spoils a show like Fringe, but that's your call.]

Are ya'll watching Fringe? Cuz if you're not, lovely LOST readers, you need to be. FRINGE is FULL of huge clues about LOST, especially Season 3. And God bless J.J. & Team LOST for those clues, without which we'd've NEVER figured out ANYTHING about the ISLAND!

To catch you up: On Fringe, there are two universes of existence. Our story begins in Universe 1. Our Fringe team, led by Special Agent Olivia Dunham, investigates X-Files-like weirdo things happening in and about town. Long about the end of Season 1, Olivia meets up with a guy named William Bell [Ep. 1.20 - "There's More Than One of Everything"]. She meets him at his company, Massive Dynamic, under VERY strange circumstances.

Olivia is pulled from Universe 1 ("Over Here") to an ALTERNATE universe ("Over There") where uber-scientist William Bell gives her the scoop on the Alt-Universe problem. These two PARALLEL universes are, for all intensive purposes, ONE world in duplicate. However, there are differences. For example, Over Here, the twin towers of the World Trade Center fell after the attacks on 9/11, and the plane headed the White House never made it. Over There, the Twin Towers avoided attack, but the White House had to be rebuilt. 9/11 still happened, see, but the results of the attacks are different in each Universe.

We're not gonna veer off into specifics, but it's important to note TWO things about this universe shifting:

There's a rotating WHITE FLASH, like the light of a very bright LIGHTHOUSE that tells US when the shift between universes is taking place. We've seen it happening on Fringe all along, but the effect is explicitly explained to us in "Entrada" [3.08]. One sweep reveals Over Here. Another reveals Over There. The light originates from a fixed point in the sky OVER New York, and is not visible any other time. AND the light is ALWAYS MOVING.
These sweeps do NOT change the forward progression of TIME. Both universes move forward in time at the SAME RATE. These are PARALLEL universes. However, they are not exactly in sync time-wise. According to a book Walter found on the subject, Over There is a bit ahead of Over Here. When Olivia shifts between universes, she's got no problems going from Here to There, but coming back she always has some kind of seizure and is out cold for a while. It's almost like her brain has JET LAG.

Entrada - Over Here flash to Over There from Amy Monroe on Vimeo.
[Notice the sweeps occur in slow steady circular patterns, just like a lighthouse as seen from the open sea----- REMEMBER THIS FOR LATER.]
When we see the FLASH sweep across our screen for the first time in "Entrada" [CLIP HERE], three things happen:

The Statue of Liberty changes color -- from green to copper.
A pair of birds appear in the sky, in mid-flight. Then a MIRROR set of birds (OBVIOUSLY) pops out of where the light originated and flies off in a different direction -- the OPPOSITE direction. [Don't worry. We'll get back to the birds later, too.]
The TWIN TOWERS APPEAR.

Let's say we keep watching until the light swings around again, and we switch from Over There back to Over Here. After the switch, the Twin Towers are gone. They DISAPPEAR.

Question: Since the light seems to be the agent of change here, did the Twin Towers MOVE?

(Screencaps courtesy of Fringepedia.)

Think of the Over There universe as a phase shifted or "mirror" version of "Over Here." It's the SAME universe in another dimension -- the OTHER SIDE of the LOOKING GLASS. These TWO universes CO-EXIST simultaneously -- they occupy the same SPACE -- but they are each invisible to the other. That literally means they exist on top of each other.

If WE shift from one universe to the other, then the TOWERS do NOT move. That means WE must be moving, right?

WRONG. When we shift, we remain in the same geographic location relative to the EARTH and both universes. That means WE are NOT moving AT ALL. However, since our location does NOT change when we shift between the two universes and since these universes occupy the same space at the same time, we are ALWAYS located in BOTH universes simultaneously regardless of our geographic location.

[Wh0a.]

The key to the puzzle is PERCEPTION. In the case of FRINGE, we are only able to SEE one universe at a time. If we could see BOTH at the same time, they would overlap each other. It would kinda be like if you got two channels on screen at the same time on your television.

When you turn on your television, ONE signal for ALL channels is feeding into your TV, yes? That's why, when the cable "goes out," you can't see ANY channels. Your television accepts the FULL TRANSMISSION, but has a built in filter that only allows ONE UNIT of that signal to reach your TV screen at a time. One unit equals one CHANNEL.

YOU control that filter. If you're watching the football game on ESPN and want to watch The Walking Dead on AMC, you CHANGE the CHANNEL. What you've just done is adjust the TV's filter so the ESPN part of the signal is BLOCKED and the AMC channel is UNBLOCKED. Ta-da! AMC is visible on your TV screen.

If you follow the metaphor and think of each universe as a "channel" or "frequency" of existence, then the only thing CHANGING when we "move" between universes is WHICH UNIVERSE/channel/frequency we are able to SEE at any point in time. If we "are" Over Here, it only means that we are able to SEE the Over Here universe. The Over There universe still exists [on TOP of Over Here].

Walter (the "mad scientist" of our little group) discovered this very thing 20 years before our FRINGE story begins. Walter creates a WINDOW into the other universe that allowed him to SEE what was going on on the other side. He couldn't interact --- they couldn't see him and had no idea he was watching. This "window" worked like like a TV SCREEN.

Walter ends up creating a DOOR to the other universe. It allows him to cross over and to bring someone else back with him. [Walter's journey, btw, seems to be "The Incident" that caused these alt-universe problem.]

Over Here Olivia is "special" is because she can exist in either universe at will, but she can still only SEE or EXPERIENCE ONE universe at a time. Guess what folks! The only way to SEE both universes simultaneously, is if you are a HYBRID of both universes or you are OUTSIDE the SYSTEM and can see both universes from a third perspective [which would make you an OBSERVER].

Confusing isn't it? Welcome to physics. Try not to let it bother you too much. Focus on the end result: The answer is NO. The LIGHT didn't move the Twin Towers BECAUSE the Twin Towers didn't move. WE didn't move in relation to the Two Towers either.

The ONLY thing that MOVED is the LIGHT. The only thing that CHANGED is what we are ABLE to see. OUR PERCEPTION of the world around us. All the light did was alter which universe WE can see, just like changing the channel on the TV.

So, what does all this FRINGE universe business have to do with LOST?

Well. . . In order for that to make sense, we need to track down the HISTORY of the island as separate from the MYTH of the island. [See: Team LOST's #1 Sneakiest Trick Ever: Making History for more on history v. myth).

WHAT'S THE FREQUENCY, JACOB?

Let's pretend that you and I find a very weird island in the South Pacific. Due to the "unique properties" of the island [and, perhaps, after effects of nuclear testing on said island 50 years ago], there's an invisible FIELD around it, like a bubble. Anything inside that field is subject to the field's effects, including anyone on the island. We are CURIOUS, so we decide to investigate.

Fairly quickly, we figure out there's only two ways of safely/successfully crossing that field. The field is neutralized (partially) by the OCEAN. Therefore, traveling to and from the island underwater, via submarine, will work. However, we need an underwater beacon to work as a lighthouse for the submarine. Drugging passengers keeps them from experiencing any possible side effects of crossing the field.

We note the field also has a limited boundary. With the proper equipment, FLYING away from the island, passing through that boundary, puts you out of that field.

We decide to hunt down the source of this field. We discover that we're not the first people to poke around on this island. We discover these FIRST PEOPLE located a SOURCE for that field [deep down in the Earth], and looks like they decided to create a mechanism giving them the ability to TAP INTO that source and manipulate the field.

Based on what these "native" people did, we bring in "modern technology" and create a BETTER mechanism to TAP INTO the source.

Once that mechanism is in place, we start experimenting with it. What exactly are the field's effects? What can we do with it? What are its limits, and how far can we push them? And, most importantly, how can we use this technology as a weapon/to better mankind/to make lots of money?

[Uh-oh.]

Turns out, those First People, they're still around! Hm. We decide to experiment on them too. Hopefully, we'll be able to do this without them knowing. Wouldn't it suck if they found out what we were up to and decided to PURGE us?

EEK!

[Remember: Just because the story of our losties isn't taking place in a physical world DOESN'T MEAN that the ISLAND and the peeps on it never physically existed!! Check out: Rewatching LOST: Myths and Mommy Issues]

If you recall, we discussed the "bubble/field" concept when we covered how Ben "moved" the island in Chapter 2: Amy's Handy-Dandy Guide for LOST Rewatch. When Ben turned the wheel ["There's No Place Like Home, Part 3"] and created a HUGE, LOUD, bright flash, complete with purple sky, the Oceanic 6, in Frank's helicopter, were OUTSIDE of the island's FIELD.

Ben didn't MOVE the island. He CHANGED the CHANNEL of the field AROUND the island. Anyone outside that field remained on their previous channel -- UNTIL they hit the WATER on the other side. Once that happened, they were completely CUT OFF from the island's "channels."

Check out the following excerpt from: Chapter 2: Amy's Handy-Dandy Guide for LOST Rewatch:

THE GREEN SCREEN

Remember in Chapter 1 where I described our losties existence as linear? Our losties are all together on a zipcord, and they can only go forward in their linear existence. They are not time traveling because they can't. They can only move forward on the zipcord. And they are all together at the same point on the same zipcord.

Their zipcord is surrounded by a green screen. The green screen can be the island, LA, a flashback, a flash forward, 1977 etc. When they "time travel," our losties do not leave their spot on their zip cord. Rather, the green screen around them changes to a different "time." That's why our losties all experience time at the same rate no matter where they "are." [It's three years for the Oceanic Six and three years for Sawyer and Juliet.]

This is our characters' existence on LOST.

Miles explains what Team LOST is up to when he and Hurley argue about paradoxes in "Whatever Happened, Happened."

We can't change the past.
This is our present.
Our experiences, both in the past and in the future have already happened TO US.

Daniel furthers this explanation to Jack: "When I met you, did I have a scar on my neck? No. That's because I hadn't been shot yet." This is Daniel's existence: Before he was shot and after he was shot -- in a straight line.

If you can't change the past, and you can't change the future, and you can't change yourself (this "universe" will course correct to keep your identity/ghost intact), but you can skip back and forth "in time" on this island when the Frozen Donkey Wheel is turned, then what gives?

What's making the green screen change?

[Remember, the worlds of LOST (island and flash) are REAL, but they are not PHYSICAL worlds.]

AMY'S THEORY, MEET "THE CONSTANT." "THE CONSTANT?" AMY'S THEORY.

I got this idea from a show called FRINGE. In the pilot, FBI agent Olivia Dunham needs information from her dying, comatose boyfriend. Her kooky scientist pal hooks her and her boyfriend up to a machine that will synchronize the frequencies of their brain function. He dopes her up and puts her in a sensory deprivation tank. When the monitor shows the two brains syncing to the same frequency, the agent and her boyfriend connect in a mutual dream world, an environment created using memories from both of them. They talk (mostly he's like um, what's going on, sweetie?), and she gets him to "show her" the guy who tried to kill them both. He shows her by thinking about it. They both experience his memory of the bad guy. The kooky scientist wakes her up, and she jets off to save the day.

Think back to what Christian tells Jack in "The End":

Jack: Where are we, Dad?
Christian: This is a place that you – that you all made together so you could find one another. The most important part of your life – was the time that you spent with these people. That’s why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone, Jack. You needed all of them, and they needed you.

Remember, NOTHING we've seen on LOST is taking place in a physical world -- not the sideways, not the island, not the FB or FF, not LA (off island). None of that is PHYSICAL. However, as Christian says: "it is all real. Everything that's happened to you is real." The sideways does not have to be a physical world to be a real world. ["The End"]

The only way that that the sideways world can be "real" and "made together" by "you all," meaning our losties, is if it is made by their "real" minds -- just like our girl and her comatose boyfriend did on FRINGE. The only way it can be made together is if their minds are somehow connected -- if they are all on the same page. If they are in sync.

If they are all on the same FREQUENCY.

We'll explore more of this concept in Chapter 3 when we discuss how identity works on LOST, so let's just stick to the basics: location. Remember, our losties are all on a zipcord, and they are all in the same exact SPOT on the zipcord. As they zip down their zipcord of linear existence, the green screen around them changes: island, flashback, flashforward, L.A. etc.

Our question remains: how does the green screen change?

The answer is: I think whatever's lighting up Scooby-Doo Cave is generating an electromagnetic field [EMF]. A stable EMF. The frequency of the EMF determines what the green screen is for our losties within range. I think the island's EMF cycles frequencies naturally, and I think that process was "corrupted" by whatever Jacob did to the CAVE EMF and/or whatever the Dharma Initiative did at the Orchid and/or the Swan Station.

So I think the green screen is changed by the "heart" of the island. The frequency of the island's EMF determines what's on the green screen, including all the flashes (back, forward and sideways) for all the peeps ON the island.

Still balking? That's okay. I totally understand. However, ask yourself how did Ben move the island? If our losties' minds are synched to the island's frequency (our losties are on Island Channel 4), then that's their reality. That's their green screen. However, if Ben changes the Island to Channel 8, and you stay on Island Channel 4, oh, I dunno, because you are in a helicopter in the air and don't have physical contact with the island as it changes channels, guess what happens?

The island disappears right before your eyes.

Ben didn't "move" the island. He changed the green screen channel! That's why the peeps on the island get "jet lag" when they are "skipping through time." They are unable to adjust to the changing frequencies before the island changes again. Result? Brain bleed and frequency crossover [Not good].

That's also why Hurley and KIB (kid in black) can see the dead. Their minds are able to tap into their "dead" frequency.

End Excerpt

Remember:

To the peeps on the heliocopter, the island and everything on it "disappeared."
However, to the peeps on the island, the FREIGHTER "disappeared."
As much as you can argue Ben PHYSICALLY moved the island, you can only make that argument from the point of view of our losties on the helicopter.
You can make that SAME argument about the FREIGHTER from the point of view of our losties left behind. To them, Ben moved the FREIGHTER.

PERSPECTIVE, my lovely LOST readers, is where storytelling draws the line. Cross it -- Don't cross it. It's up to US.

FINAL THOUGHTS

Here's a good question:

IF we look at the island as a "green screen" [like a TV screen], and
IF we look at the different "times" our losties skip through as different "channels" of existence,

THEN

WHERE does the CONTENT for each channel COME FROM?

Think that one over for next time!

Rewatching LOST: That's Not My Name

2010-11-12T11:44:00.001-10:00

NATURE V. NURTURE

Sneaky, sneaky Darlton! Did you notice the comment they made about the "Nature v. Nurture" theme in LOST? It's right in the middle of their commentary on "Across the Sea" [AGAIN with the wonderful clues! Read the FULL TRANSCRIPT HERE].

Carlton Cuse: We sort of saw this [episode] as its own little morality play. And understanding the personal relationships between Jacob, the Man in Black, and their mother or their surrogate mother in this case, was really the thing that interested us as storytellers. And again, like everyone else on Lost, they're not black and white depictions. I think that there might have been sort of a notion that the Man in Black was all evil and that Jacob was all good. But this episode kind of is our attempt to say, "No, it's actually much more complicated than that." And particularly, we wanted this episode to challenge your assumptions about the Man in Black.

Damon Lindelof: Yeah, and kind of what's cool and is articulated in the scene we're about to see is there's this idea of nature versus nurture. And Mother already recognizes that the Man in Black is capable of doing something that Jacob isn't. Which is lying. And this is his nature. She's gonna nurture them. She's gonna shape these boys. But these boys are very different. And she's identifying the Boy in Black as special, a word that we have heard used to describe other individuals on Lost. Obviously, the Boy in Black shares certain attributes with these characters. We'll see that he demonstrates he can see dead people. Where Jacob cannot. But he's got this wanderlust. His need to leave the island and find out what's across the sea is essentially a very accessible desire, and it ends up being his undoing.

For those of you unaware, the Nature v. Nurture debate struggles to define RESPONSIBILITY.

That right -- I didn't say "humanity" or "identity" because guess what? Who You are is defined by your MEMORY [of experience and knowledge]. Your memory forms the BASIS of your perspective. What it means to be "human" is defined by PERSPECTIVE. Tricky. Guess what else? Perspective and memory can be manipulated -- EASILY and without your knowledge or consent. We've seen it over and over again in science fiction and over and over again on LOST.

The Nature v. Nurture question wants to know: how much of your behavior is YOUR fault, and how much of your behavior is NOT your fault.

Most of our LOST characters have one or both names of prominent [Western] philosophers [From LOSTpedia philosophers entry]: Richard Alpert, John Austen, Mikail Bukunin, Jeremy Bentham, Edmund Burke, Joseph Campbell, Thomas Carlyle, Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Hugo De Groot, David Hume, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Clive Staples Lewis [just to name a few].

[Wait, Hugo De Groot? Really? Oh, we're totally coming back to that one!]

A deeper analysis into each of these philosophers would lead us into the fray of human existence: How much power do we have to shape the world around us? Are we merely ignorant pawns in a huge plan? How do we as humans balance the needs of the many against the needs of the few? Is there such thing as a "greater good?" Who should wield power in a society and why? How much does the "letter" of the law weigh against the "spirit" of the law? What "archetypes" are universal across cultures? How does a spectrum of cultures originate the same types of mythology/mythological figures?

All very cool stuff. However, we, lovely LOST readers, are sticking to the BIG PICTURE. For us, these philosophers fall primarily into one of two camps.

Camp Blame Individuals -- We are solely responsible for our behavior. We make choices, and those choices, good or bad, have consequences. The responsibility for our behaviors ultimately lies within us.

Camp Blame Society -- We were FINE until social conventions, laws, governments, religions and economics screwed us up. The responsibility for our behaviors lies OUTSIDE of ourselves -- in society.

Thanks to scientific advances [across many fields] during the late 20th Century, we have a third camp: Blame Your Problem and/or Your Biology.

That third camp is not a frivolous one. If you catch your husband/wife in bed with someone else, lose your mind and bash their heads in, BY LAW you are allowed to blame Your Problem: temporary insanity. Same thing if you are under-aged, mentally incapacitated or below a certain IQ threshold -- BY LAW you are given some leeway in how responsible you are for your actions because of Your Biology.

Interesting to note: Your Biology can trump Your Problem depending on the circumstances of your behavior. If you kill someone because you are spun on crank, you can blame Your Problem [drug addiction], but you aren't gettin' much sympathy from the judge. If you kill someone defending your own life or the life of another, that's totally different. You can blame Your Biology [that fight or flight instinct --->Primal FEAR!!], but legally speaking, you have the right to BE ALIVE and STAY ALIVE. Defending yourself is a "natural right."

In each case the crime is the same: you have killed someone else. However, which one do you think will land you in jail? [Don't answer that! It's an election year!]

It gets even more complicated when Your Problem's/Biology's impact on you is measured on a subjective sliding scale: If you steal to feed your family, your crime is judged in a different light than if you steal to buy yourself a nice set of steak knives. Question is: who gets to sit in judgment over you and why?

The Nature v. Nurture theme has always seemed a bit redundant to me -- we've got all the Free will v. Destiny/Choice v. Fate/Science v. Faith to deal with [NOTICE I did NOT say Good v. Evil]. After Darlton's comment above tho, I started thinking about how often they've mentioned "Daddy Issues," and how often we've seen characters abandoned, mistreated, used, sacrificed, left behind and ignored by their parents or parental figures [Or TAKEN by OTHERS].

Time to take a closer look.

THE NAME GAME

Watch how the NAMES of our losties play out the Nature v. Nurture theme. If you think about it, your LAST name, your FAMILY name [typically speaking] is the "Nature" side of your name. You inherit your last name from one or both parents, adoptive or biological. You inherit your GENES from your PROgenetors: your biological parents. Your DNA, your BIOLOGY or BIOCHEMISTRY is the primary fall guy when it comes to explaining your behavior in "instinctive" terms.

Your FIRST name, however, is NOT inherited. It's chosen and has no genetic influence or predetermination attached to it.

Your first name identifies you, but it's your LAST name that puts you in CONTEXT.

It's no wonder then that we learn most of our losties' first names WELL before we learn their last names. After the pilot, we only know the first names of Jack, Kate, Charlie, Sayid, Hurley, Boone, Shannon, Walt, Vincent and Sawyer.

For example:

We don't know Mr. Locke's first name is John until "Walkabout" [Kate says it with their boar hunt goes bad].
We don't know Christian's first name until "All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues." [But we know he's Dr. Shephard and "my father."]
We don't know Sawyer's first OR last name for a while.

In the flash sideways world ["Happily Ever After"] many familiar characters have the same FIRST names but different LAST names.

Daniel Faraday becomes Daniel Widmore.
Eloise Hawking becomes Eloise Widmore.
Penny Widmore becomes Penny Milton.
Sun-Hwa Kwon becomes Sun Paik.

Important to notice that a few characters hide both their first and/or last names on the island or change their names -- most often in the flashes.

Hurley is Hugo Reyes.
Sawyer is James Ford.
Ethan's last name is "Goodspeed," but he tells Hurley it's "Rom." ["Solitary"]
Kate uses a bunch of names while she's on the run.
Anthony Cooper admits he uses lots of names in his cons. ["The Brig"]
Miles' Dad. Pierre Chang uses a different name in nearly every Dharma Initiative Orientation video.
Sawyer/James Ford changes his name to the "fake" name of the con man who got his parents killed. He also has a "con" name: Jim LeFleur.

Losties' last names are SHOWN to us in the flashes and put our losties' identities -- their "baggage" -- into context. Their baggage, go figure, comes directly from the ties to their OTHER name and the "previous life" attached to it.

For Juliet, Burke is her ex-husband's last name [her maiden name is Carlson. It's also the name she uses in the flash sideways]. His possessiveness informs who she is on the island. ["The Other Woman"]
Jack shares his last name with his father. Being under his father's shadow informs his decisions on the island.
Locke has his mother's name -- the mother that abandoned him and helped con him out of his kidney. ["Deus Ex Machina"]
Claire has her mother's name -- when she finally does meet Christian, she specifically tells him, "I don't want to know your name." ["Par Avion"]
Walt's last name is Lloyd, his mother's name -- his mother who separated Walt from his father, Michael Dawson, at a very young age. ["Special"]
Kate's last name, Austen, belonged to her "father," Sam. However, her biological Dad's last name is Jenssen [Wayne]. ["What Kate Did"]
Aaron's last name changes depending on who's got custody of him: Kate, Claire or Claire's mom.
Miles gives his name as "Straum," but his mother and father both share the name "Chang."

Think of how many FIRST names are repeated [Go to Lostpedia for more Character NAMES]: Charles/Charlie/Chuck/Charlotte, Daniel/Danielle/Danny, Tom/Thomas/Tommy, David/Dave, etc.

Think of how the names relate to each other: JACK is a nickname for JOHN AND JACOB. JAMES is a VERSION of Jacob (they share the same cognate, or originating word). Jim is, of course, a nickname for James.

[Shoot. That can't be a coincidence.]

GRAFFITI CAVE

Weirdest of all is how our losties' LAST names are used to "pick" them as "candidates." Illana calls them all by their last names, and their last names are NUMBERED. ["The Substitute"]

[This candidate business, btw -- total bunk. Hurley was ALWAYS the ONLY one intended to take over the island from Jacob. That's why the candidates' names correspond to HURLEY'S NUMBERS.]

There's even some confusion with the last names. In a deleted scene from Season 6, Illana specifically names Sun as "the candidate." However, we know that Sun's father's name is Paik, so how does that work? Plus, didn't Jacob tell Kate her name was crossed off the wall because she "became a mother?" ["What They Died For"]. Sun had a BABY, right? So why wasn't her name crossed off? I mean, technically speaking, Kate didn't even give BIRTH. How did she earn the exemption?

[BUNK, I tell you. BUNK! This candidate business falls along the lines of Ben's pleas to convince Locke not to blow up the submarine. He tells Locke that "my people need the illusion that they can leave." This "volunteer to take over" stuff is all a DISPLAY of free will. Jack already knew it had to be HIM first, and then he (and we) already knew that Hurley was next in line for the handover. See Rewatching LOST: Hurley for more info.]

Most important question to me is: how does this Nature v. Nurture play out? If your NATURE is derived from your PARENTS, and these boys are raised by another, then perhaps NATURE is the issue here.

DEAD CENTER

If Mother is trying to "shape these boys" despite their "nature," then we need to know why. After all, according to Darlton, Mother originally wanted MIB to take over as "protector" of Scooby-Doo Cave but settled for Jacob when time ran out [. Is there something about MIB's Nature that would make him "better" at becoming "protector" of "the island?" [See Rewatching LOST: Myths and Mommy Issues.]

Damon says Mother already recognizes that KIB [Kid in Black] is capable of something Jacob can't do: tell a LIE. He also points out how Mother tags KIB as "Special" and how KIB can see the dead.

Well, if KIB can see the dead (and Jacob can't), that makes him like Hurley, correct? As far as we know, Hurley is the ONLY lostie that can see/talk to the dead on the island.

However, seeing and chatting with the dead is tricky business. BEN as a kid, saw HIS Mother after she was dead, a fact Richard is TOTALLY impressed with when he intersects with Ben in the jungle in "The Man Behind The Curtain." And Locke had a little chat with a tree-chopping Horace ["Cabin Fever"], who openly admits he's been dead for 12 years [Horace, btw, was witness to Ben's birth/his mother's death and arranged for Ben to come to the island].

Horace: Hello there.
Locke: Who are you?
Horace: I'm Horace. Whew!
Locke: And what are you doing out here?
Horace: Oh, building a place — a little getaway for me and the missus ["This is a place you made together"]. No, I mean, sometimes you need a break from the D.I., ya know? The DHARMA Initiative? I'm not making any sense, am I?
Locke: No.
Horace: That's probably because I've been dead for 12 years.

Blood runs from Horace's nose. He pushes a tree down.

Horace: Hello there. You gotta find me, John. You gotta find me. And when you do, you'll find him.
Locke: Who?
Horace: Jacob. (chuckles) He's been waiting for you a real long time, man.

From Damon and Carlton's Official LOST Podcast [March 21, 2008] we learn:

It's the Monster when we see: The Medusa Spider (that paralyzed Nikki) ["Expose"] and Yemi ["The Cost Of Living"].
It's an APPARITION when we see: Ben's mother, Emily ["The Man Behind The Curtain"].
It's an apparition AND a figment of imagination when we see: Dave ["Dave"].

AND

It's a Monster-Related Apparition when we see: Weirdo appearances by Walt.

And Walt the actual person is, of course, one of those "Special" losties. Just like John, whose mother, Emily Locke, tells him he's "special" in the same breath she tells him he doesn't have a father because he was "immaculately conceived" ["Deus Ex Machina"].

Hm. That's a weird thing to say. Immaculate Conception doesn't translate to "virgin birth." Immaculate Conception is part of Catholic dogma surrounding the HUMAN NATURE of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.

THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARY

In Christianity, when God decided it was time to send his Son to Earth, he chose Mary to be the mom. He sent an angel down to give her the news in person: The Holy Spirit would be paying her a visit, and she'd magically become pregnant with God's Son. Mary was understandably freaked out. She was a virgin and under contract to marry Joseph. How's that gonna work? More importantly, how's that gonna work without getting her KILLED? [Technically, Joseph could use her pregnancy as evidence of adultery, which was a sin AND a CRIME.]

Mary broke the news to Joseph. Lucky for her, Joseph wasn't a jerk. When he learned of her pregnancy, he figured he'd break the marriage contract on the down-low and keep everything out of the press. God touched base with Joseph in a dream, assured him Mary was 1) not lying and 2) pregnant with the Messiah and told him to take her as his wife and name the baby Jesus [Matthew 1:18-21 NIV].

Mary and Joseph did not advertise the circumstances of Jesus' conception and birth after he was born. In fact, they had to take off for Egypt in the middle of the night to hide the baby from King Herod. The "We Three Kings" guys tipped Herod off to Jesus' birth on their way to deliver the gold, frankincense and myrrh. They told him the prophesy had been fulfilled. The King of Israel had been born. Herod acted thrilled about the news then ordered a clean sweep of all male babies two and under in a paranoid attempt to eliminate him.

Joseph and Mary stayed in Egypt until that Herod psycho DIED.

Prophecies of a future messiah/king/leader of Israel [the Jews] are all over the first half of the Christian Bible (Old Testament). As the second half of the Christian Bible (the New Testament) tells the story of Christ's birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension and legacy, it checks off many of those prophesies along the way. The miraculous circumstances of Jesus' conception and birth were foretold hundreds of years prior by the prophet Isaiah: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means 'God with us')" [Isaiah 7:14 NIV].

The prophesy system is designed to help future peeps recognize the messiah/king/leader of Israel when he finally gets here. It's also designed to help peeps weed out the crazies claiming to be the messiah. Like this:

Guy: Hi! I'm the Messiah! Sorry it took me so long to get here.
Peeps: Hold up! Were you born in the City of David [aka Bethlehem]?
Guy: Uh -- no.
Peeps: (grabbing Guy) Then you can't be the Messiah.
Guy: Wait!
Peeps: Off to the nuthouse with you!

Here's the thing that always got me in trouble in Sunday School [you didn't have a doubt, did you?]: The Son of God/Virgin Birth didn't bother me [probably because I really liked Christmas]. However, the prophecy stuff bothered me -- a lot.

Typical Sunday Morning in Amy's Childhood:

Sunday School [SS] Teacher: The genealogy of Christ was part of the prophesy of his arrival as Messiah. So you see here in the very first chapter of Matthew, Jesus was a direct descendant of Abraham and King David.
ME: No he's not.
SS Teacher: Yes he is. Look, it says right there in your Bible that this is Jesus' lineage. Now --
ME: My Bible also says that Joseph's not his real dad. Jesus' human half comes from Mary.
SS Teacher: Back in Bible times, as his adoptive father, Joseph's lineage counted as Jesus' lineage.
ME: Not if He tells everyone He's the Son of God! You can't have it both ways. Although -- maybe He was just trying to cover his bases.
SS Teacher: Jesus Christ does not need to cover his bases!!

[Class titters.]

SS Teacher: Just ---- Here. Have another doughnut.

[FYI: Joseph's dad was named JACOB [Matthew 1:16 NIV]. That means Jacob was Jesus' Grandad!]

For the record, I'm not the only one who had trouble with this. The Catholic church struggled to nail down the "official" complete story of Jesus' conception and birth for hundreds of years. Their problem was what to do with Mary. If she was plain old human, then she had Original Sin like all humans do. We're born with it. If Jesus was truly a human -- one of us -- as well as the Son of God, then technically speaking, he should have Original Sin, too. However, Christians firmly believe that Christ was sinless throughout his life. It's part and parcel to his sacrifice -- he was a true innocent when he was crucified.

Catholic leaders came up with a solution in 1854: Immaculate Conception.** Mary was officially Special. Since God specifically chose her, she was designated as the mother of Jesus from her own conception. It was her DESTINY. The theory is that Mary was born without Original Sin. It was removed from her by God when she was conceived. That way, she didn't have any to pass on to her child. She was "the NEW EVE who was to be the mother of the NEW ADAM" [online Catholic Encyclopedia Official Immaculate Conception doctrine HERE.]. [See Team LOST #1 Sneakiest Trick Ever: Making History for more on Adam and Eve.]

[Adam and Eve as Son and Mother? THAT'S interesting.]

Note that Immaculate Conception refers to MARY'S conception -- NOT Jesus' conception. Jesus' conception falls under the dogma of Incarnation. [Can you think of anyone referred to as INCARNATE on LOST?]. When Emily tells John he was "immaculately conceived," it's almost as weird as learning "our very own Adam and Eve" are Mother and Brother/MIB.

Believe it or not, I'm prone to think Emily tells John he is immaculately conceived so we'll think she's crazy and later figure she was conning him from the beginning. I'm also prone to think Team LOST might be using the term erroneously because they assumed what it meant. [Try not to pass out! I know how unnatural it sounds for me to blow off a potential clue!]

HOWEVER, Emily also calls John "Special," the same term Mother uses on KIB. Knowing what we know now for rewatch, how MIB will work his plan to take the form of John Locke, the correlation between these two conversations shouldn't be ignored. However, the biggest Elephant in the room remains: DADDY. Locke is asking about his father. MIB and Jacob couldn't care less. MIB is obsessed with where he "comes from," but dad never comes up. Mother specifically tells KIB: "You came from me, and I came from my mother." -- NO DADDY.

Why not? Especially if Nature v. Nurture is a theme we should be keeping in mind. 23 of your 46 chromosomes come from your FATHER and 23 come from Mom. Dad is HALF of who you are, biologically speaking. That's why Anthony Cooper is after John in the first place: He's the most likely match for a kidney transplant. Cooper takes a part of John for himself -- to prolong his own life -- and gives NOTHING in return.

Let's just run with the metaphor, shall we?

If John is "immaculately conceived," it could mean that he has a mother and a father, but, at "conception," some essential part of him was taken away. At Mary's conception, her Original Sin was removed to prepare her to conceive and give birth to an Incarnation of God: His Son. WHAT IF John's "conception" works the same way?

Horace tells John that Jacob has been waiting for him for a "long time." The others are in awe of John because of his "connection" to the island. John IS Special -- he's The One they've been waiting for in order for THE PLAN to GO FORWARD. Jacob wants to fix his "mistake." MIB wants to become an INCARNATION of John Locke so he can LEAVE.

Think about it. Locke is the only lostie that can "feel" the hatch. He's the only one looking for a PURPOSE on the island. He's the only lostie besides Hurley that's been INVITED by whoever's using the cabin. In particular, Locke's consciousness, his awareness, is instrumental to JACK'S story.

In a way, Jack is an INCARNATION of Christian Shephard. He takes his father's place as Dr. Shephard in "All The Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues." We see Christian send Vincent to "Wake up my son" ["Missing Pieces: So It Begins"], and we see Jack's mom beg him to "bring your father home" ["White Rabbit"]. [Uh-oh! Flashback to "The Substitute!" ] We see "23 Shephard" scribbled on the wall in Graffiti Cave. Sawyer asks: "That'd be Jack Shephard?" Mock Locke answers: "There's more than one."

"My father" is wearing Jack's shoes to his own funeral -- but is NEVER in the COFFIN. And the last time we see the coffin on the ISLAND is when Jack and Hurley stop by the caves on Jack's journey to Jacob's lighthouse ["Lighthouse"]. Jack confronts the empty coffin while Hurley LOOKS OVER "ADAM and EVE." They are interred together -- in a GRAVE without a COFFIN -- as we'll see Jacob place them in "Across the Sea."

The last time we see the coffin on the show is in "The End." Jack triggers memories of the island when he touches the coffin -- the EMPTY coffin. He and CHRISTIAN reconcile the final event. Jack is the LAST person Christian touches before he opens the doors and leaves the church.

[We always seem to circle back around to Christian, don't we? He's like the Kevin Bacon of LOST!]

One last VERY weird thing:

Christian (aka "my father"), according to the same podcast quoted above, does not have his picture on the "deceased" door with all the other characters who have died, but instead on the "door that says 'undead'." According to Damon, there's only three characters on that door: One of them is Christian Shephard. One of them is Yemi. And one of them is -- Kate's horse/Just picture of a horse. "So Kate's horse is. . .Undead."

IF Nature v. Nurture is an issue in the story of Mother, Brother/MIB and Jacob, then DADDY MATTERS. In this case, Daddy is MISSING.

Next time we'll try to figure out WHERE Daddy is!

Happy Rewatching!

NOTES:

*Did you know Jesus is the Greek form of Joshua? It means "the Lord Saves." Christ is Greek for "anointed one."

**Remember: Original Sin = Awareness of Nudity. [See Team LOST #1 Sneakiest Trick Ever: Making History]

According to Genesis, Adam and Eve didn't have sex until AFTER they were tossed out of the Garden of Eden. You know what that means -- Lack of Original Sin = Virginity. Lucky enough, Mary was deemed a Perpetual Virgin from the 3rd century. [Bummer for Joseph!]

For the record, Immaculate Conception is not universally recognized in Christianity. I was raised Southern Baptist (in the actual South), and although sex before marriage is evil, bad, dirty and sinful, sex within marriage is 100% okay. Although the Christian Bible says Joseph and Mary skipped the Big Wedding Night until after she gave birth [Matthew 2:22 NIV], Southern Baptists believe that after that, Mary and Joseph were a normal husband and wife and had more kids (they are referenced later).

From LOSTpedia:

Other philosophers of note:

Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) Blaise Pascal is a French mathematician, physicist and religious philosopher. "Pascal Flats" is referenced in Lost. comparisons of Pascal to Locke: Pascal is originally a mathematician and scientist. He has a paralytic spell and many physical ailments. Pascal is left by a beloved sister and has abandonment issues. He came close to marriage, late into his bachelorhood, but it didn't take. Then Pascal has a near death experience and is converted to Jansenism/a non-mainstream sect of Christianity.

Pascal writes these letters (Provincial Letters), which are humorous and satirical, under a fake name, and he even went against the Pope. (comparison to Jacob..Pascal mentioned "god loves Jacob" in his vision, a phrase he carries with him).

12th century scholar Honorius Augustodunensis, also known as Honorius of Autun, was a popular Christian theologian and philosopher. His work, De Imagine Mundi, contains a passage that reads:

"There lies in the Ocean an island which is called The Lost. In Charm and all kinds of fertility it far surpasses every other land, but it is unknown to men. Now and again it may be found by chance; but if one seeks it, it cannot be found, and therefore it is called The Lost."

Rewatching LOST: Hurley

2010-11-06T20:56:00.002-10:00

Let's put together everything we know about Hurley.

1. Hurley was supposed to take Jacob's place all along.

That may sound hinky, but let's consider:

After "The Incident," we see [and Miles tells us] that Hurley takes "more of a leadership role."
In "Everybody Loves Hugo," Michael chides Hurley at Libby's grave: "People are listening to you now!"
Hurley is the ONLY lostie that can see and chit-chat with the dead. He's also the only lostie that can "will" things to appear and disappear on the island [usually by squeezing his eyes shut and chanting "It's not real! It's not real!"]
He's the only lostie that Jacob can task directly. Everyone else, Jacob has to sneaky influence.
He's the only one that works with Jacob to create a journey or experience for another Lostie ["Lighthouse"].
Taking over for Jacob turned out to be what Jack was "supposed to do." However, he was only "supposed to" do it in concert with Desmond -- to kill Mock Locke and replug the island. After Jack plugs in the island, gets the water running and turns the LIGHT back on, the island is "fixed." Once the island is fixed, Hurley takes over.

From the very beginning, we need to keep in mind: Hurley's The Man, and he was The Man from the get-go.

[Okay. Are we all good? Cuz this next one might pinch a little -- ]

2. HURLEY AND Jacob brought our losties to the island.

Yeah, I said it: Hurley is JUST as responsible for our LOSTIES coming to the island as Jacob is. Wanna know how I know? Jorge Garcia told me!!

Geronimo Jack's Beard [GJB], Jorge's LOST Season 6 podcast/blog, produced by him and his girlfriend Beth [Sidekick22], did ONE final post finale podcast [August 23, 2010 - day before the DVD release] that specifically revealed something very, VERY interesting about HURLEY and the numbers.

And I QUOTE:

Beth: Here's a big one. Was it Hurley reading the numbers when the French team crashed on the beach?
Jorge: Oh, that's a good question. It definitely -- sounded like me. I definitely -- at one point -- recorded the numbers.
Beth: At one point around the time when they were filming that episode? [laughs]
Jorge: After they were filming it. I think, after they had filmed it.
Beth: ADR, yeah.
Jorge: Annnnnnnnd that's all I can really say there. There was never anything about --
Beth: -- It was. It was. --
Jorge: me -- I mean, are they asking if it was my voice on the recording?
Beth: Yes, yes --
Jorge: I'm pretty sure it was.
Beth: A million people have asked, was it Hurley saying the numbers?
Jorge: I'm sure it was.
Beth: I was there when you recorded it in the ADR booth, and it sounds exactly like what was aired on the beach with the French team.
Jorge: I'm pretty sure it was, but it was never something that was addressed in the story enough to say it's definitely Hurley. Because honestly, if you go to the pilot --
Beth: It's not you. What?
Jorge: Oh, that was something else. Nevermind.
Beth: The Iterations? That was something else.
Jorge: Right.
Beth: So people who are still theorizing on the show, even though it's over, are saying now that Hurley brought himself to the island because you heard the numbers --
Jorge: Right. Well --
Beth: So when did you record those? When did Hurley record them?
Jorge: Hurley never heard himself say the numbers.
Beth: But when did Hurley record them? Just one day at Dharma, when he was working at Dharma, he decided to record them?
Jorge: That's what I'm saying -- we don't know. That's not information that we have.
Beth: Okay.
Jorge: So, I'm not going to -- write -- LOST.

Not gonna "write LOST?" Uh-oh. You know what that means! If it wasn't significant, then Jorge would have speculated the crud outta it or just downright denied it!!

[On a side note, if Jorge doesn't marry Beth and live happily ever after, I'll be so depressed! They are really fun together! Take time to check out their Geronimo Jack's Beard blog and podcast, and Bethany's youtube channel with a HYSTERICAL clip of Beth during "The Rat Incident!" HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!]

Jorge and Beth are discussing "This Place Is Death," episode 5.05, which starts off with Jin hanging with a young, 7 months pregnant Danielle and her "science team." Danielle's team is newly shipwrecked on the island and have agreed that following "the signal" inland to a possible radio tower is the best plan. [Sound like a familiar plan? Yeah, me too.]

I'd never picked up on or heard anything about Hurley's voice reading the numbers, so I took a second look. Guess what? In the clip below [Link HERE], if you listen CAREFULLY to the voice reciting the numbers, you definitely hear Hurley's voice.

Between taking a second listen and Jorge's comments, it's pretty clear: there's a HUGE clue here.

[Hm. Let's think about that one for a bit.]

Okay, what else do we know about Hurley?

Oh right!

3. Hurley is the SOLUTION to a PROBLEM.

In "Numbers," we see Hurley first come to believe that HE is "bad luck." Then he decides the numbers are "cursed" and bad luck is happening to him and his peeps because of his association with them. However, after "The Incident," we see Hurley/Hugo heralded as The Man who will bring us all together [in "Everybody Loves Hugo."]

Check out this excerpt from "Everybody Loves Wordplay," a previous post deciphering Dr. Chang's introduction/slideshow:

Dr. Chang: Born to humble surroundings, Hugo Reyes has always been a beacon of light for all who cross his path.

"Humble Surroundings." Hurley wasn’t a CHOSEN one or preordained or “special” like John Locke’s been told over and over again. What I mean is, Hurley has never been marked for “destiny.” He’s been in on-the-job-training. By the end of this episode ["Everybody Loves Hugo"], we see Hurley come up with his own plan, and our losties are trusting, following and listening to him.

"Beacon of Light." A beacon like a lighthouse, maybe? Lighthouses are FIXED MARKS in the DARKNESS that guide you home or help you avoid shipwreck. Jacob’s lighthouse is the endpoint of Jack’s journey of enlightenment. A BEACON is continuous signal in a fixed location used by travelers to orient themselves. If you are LOST at sea, for example, a beacon is pretty handy. A beacon can also be a tool for "gathering" peeps together. It beckons them ("Come into the light!"). It draws them in. The Looking Glass station was basically a beacon that allowed the submarine to return to the island. A beacon is also something you can use to help others people find YOU. I'm thinkin' Hurley’s job is to be the beacon, to illuminate the safest path home.

[HANG ON!! A BEACON is what the NUMBERS are for the ISLAND!! Well, that's pretty darn interesting, isn't it? That would mean a beacon could be a SIGNAL, in this case, a signal that instigates events due to Rousseau's team's CURIOSITY. However, this beacon, Hurley's numbers, is NOT what brought our LOSTIES to the island. However, Danielle's distress call is what draws them from the beach and into the jungle. Hm.]

Chang: The exponential growth of Hugo's success was startling. But financial success wasn't the end. It was the beginning. Hugo and giving became synonymous. Parks, playgrounds, hospitals, the Mr. Cluck's House for Children... the philanthropy was unparalleled.

Unparalleled: THIS is my favorite word drop! We’ve seen at least two of everyone (even Desmond as of “Happily Ever After”). Hurley, however, is unparalleled – flash Hurley and island Hurley are the SAME Hurley. I’ve noted in the past that Hurley is the only character who’s exactly the same guy the entire show. His situations have changed, he’s grown some confidence and taken more and more of a leadership role, but this is still HURLEY whether you call him HUGO or not. That is really frickin’ important because it means that Hurley’s is The Guy. He’s supposed to be the leader/guider now because he’s got all the abilities and now, under Jacob’s guidance, he’s got the skills. It’s time for Hurley to take his place and start doing his job. [Of everyone else on the island, Desmond is the only other one of our losties who's the same person in his flashes and on island -- UNTIL he gets zapped!]

Chang: Which brings us to this evening and the opening of the Hugo Reyes Paleontology Wing at the Golden State Natural History Museum. A lasting beacon of culture that bears the name of one of our city's greatest benefactors.

Benefactor: Turns out, I love this word. If you are a helper, donor (includes donations of organs, tissue, or your entire bod to medical science), sponsor, provider, rescuer, liberator, bondsman (yeah - even the sleazy guy who puts up your bond money for you), accommodator, savior, deliverer, improver, (one who makes or facilitates improvement - one who FIXES or UPDATES - Get it?) humanitarian, Good Samaritan or fairy godmother, you are a benefactor. You can give a little or a lot. You can give money, cheese or roof tiles. It doesn't matter. You can be anonymous or print your logo on everything. If you are providing any type or level help for someone else, you are a benefactor. Given every other hint in Chang's speech, it's pretty clear - Hugo is SIGNIFICANTLY contributing in a POSITIVE way for a group or groups to DO SOMETHING.

Note: The official animal of the "Golden State" (California) is a BEAR, but not a POLAR bear [A bear that has been POLARIZED, get it?].

All in all, I think we're getting a clear message here: Thanks to Hurley, the division or split will be healed/fixed and the island is about to be shelved as a relic of the past. We see it happen in "Epilogue: The New Man In Charge." Ben tells Hector and Glen that he's closing up shop.

And finally --

4. Hurley's primary problems are INTERNAL -- in his HEAD.

Jack has a horrible father. Kate has a criminal past. Charlie has addiction. Claire has an unwanted pregnancy. Jin made a deal with the "devil," his father-in-law. Sun has a horrible marriage. Sayid has a past as a torturer. Sawyer has a criminal past and a vendetta to boot. All of these issues are externally applied to our losties by someone or something else. Hurley's problems are not externally applied.

His is a problem of faith.

He believes that he's responsible for people dying when a deck collapses at a party.
He believes that Dave is "real" and that he "needs" to keep eating to feel better.
He believes that the lottery money is cursed.
He believes that HE is cursed.
He believes the NUMBERS are cursed.
He believes that he's crazy.
He believes that everyone hates him.
He believes that he'll never get the girl.

Raise yer hand if you know why Hurley's internal problems are causing him so much grief? That's right!

On the island, what you BELIEVE MATTERS. What you believe IS reality. If Hurley is like Jacob and can "run" the island, then what he believes is pretty darn significant.

Important to note is how "lucky" Hurley is OFF island ONCE HE BELIEVES. In "LA X" he becomes the luckiest guy in the world.

Here's the BIG QUESTION:

If the numbers "belong" to Hurley, and Hurley is reading the numbers FROM THE ISLAND when Rousseau lands with her posse, then how are the numbers related to our losties and Jacob? Especially, if Mock Locke is telling Sawyer the truth and Jacob wrote down all our losties' LAST NAMES with corresponding NUMBERS at Graffitti Cave.

If "Jacob has a thing for numbers," how does that relate him to Hurley?

Hopefully, we'll get some "Frickin' answers!" during rewatch!

"We're All Mad Here" - The Annotated Alice

2010-11-03T22:37:00.003-10:00

This month WRLB/Bookclub's selection is Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. This book, I'm sure you'll remember, pops up on LOST quite a bit. However, a specific EDITION of this book is associated with Jack/Christian/David [in "Something Nice Back Home" and "Lighthouse"].

The Annotated Alice: The Definitive Edition Lewis Carroll, Introduction and Notes by Martin Gardner.

It's that "NOTES by Martin Gardner" part that sent your old pal Amy to the bookstore. The NOTES are the most valuable clue here.

Try THIS on for size:

From "Chapter VI: Pig and Pepper" [Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, pp. 65-66]

Alice, having released a baby-turned-into-a-pig into the forest, comes upon "the Cheshire-Cat sitting on a bough of a tree a few yards off."

The Cat only grinned when it saw Alice. It looked good-natured she thought: still it had very long claws and a great many teeth, so she felt that it ought to be treated with respect.

"Cheshire-Puss," she began, rather timidly, as she did not at all know whether it would like the name: however, it only grinned a little wider. "Come, it's pleased so far," thought Alice, and she went on. "Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?"

"That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the Cat.

"I don't much care where --- " said Alice.

"Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat.

"---so long as I get somewhere," Alice added as an explanation.

"Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

Alice felt that this could not be denied, so she tried another question. "What sort of people live here?"

"In that direction," the Cat said, waiving its right paw round, "lives a Hatter: and in that direction," waving the other paw, "lives a March Hare. Visit either you like: they're both mad."

[Notice that the Hatter and the Hare "live" in opposite directions -- they are POLARIZED. Get it? We learn in the next chapter that they actually ARE together. They are stuck at the tea table (with a sleepy dormouse) because Time is angry with the Hatter. Um, I guess the Hatter ticked him off. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!].

"But I don't want to go among mad people, " Alice remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad." ["I'm real. You're real."]

"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.

"You must be, "said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

Alice didn't think that proved it at all: however, she went on: "And how do you know that you're mad?"

"To begin with," said the Cat, "a dog's not mad. You grant that?"

"I suppose so," said Alice.

"Well, then, "the Cat went on, "you see a dog growls when it's angry, and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now I growl when I'm pleased, and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore I'm mad."

"I call it purring, not growling," said Alice.

"Call it what you like," said the Cat.

The Cat defines himself as "mad" based on hinky logic: As a cat is the opposite of a dog, and since, as Alice admits, "a dog is not mad," then the Cat, as POLAR OPPOSITE, MUST be mad by definition. Alice points out that the Cat doesn't compare to a dog -- the criteria don't match. The Cat basically says, well, that's your perspective, isn't it?

Interesting to note that there's only ONE dog in this entire story: a puppy Alice encounters early on. The puppy is the only animal that doesn't speak. It still acts like an animal.

Know why the Hatter was "mad?" Hatters used mercury to set the brims on hats. Mercury poisoning made the sufferer act "crazy." Gardner mentions this in his notes, but I'd already heard this interesting little tidbit on TV. Walter, the crazy scientist, tells his son about mercury and the hatters on episode 3.03, "Do Shapeshifters Dream of Electric Sleep?" On FRINGE.

Further notes on the same scene [pp. 67-68]:

Compare the Cheshire Cat's remarks with the following entry of February 9, 1856, in Carroll's diary [That would be LEWIS CARROLL. The guy who WROTE the Alice books.]

Query: when we are dreaming and, as often happens, have a dim consciousness of the fact and try to wake, do we not say and do things which in waking life would be insane? May we not then sometimes define insanity as an inability to distinguish which is the waking and which the sleeping life? We often dream without the least suspicion of unreality: "Sleep hath its own world," and it is often as lifelike as the other.

[Truck on over to Rewatching LOST: Amy, "Matthew Fox" and The Island to find out more about PERCEPTION, REALITY and MEMORY.]

Finally, Gardner throws in a little Greek philosophy, just for kicks.

In Plato's Theaetetus, Socrates and Theaetetus discuss this topic as follows:

Theaetetus: I certainly cannot undertake to argue that madmen or dreamers think truly, when they imagine, some of them that they are gods, and others that they can fly, and are flying in their sleep.
Socrates: Do you see another question which can be raised about these phenomena, notably about dreaming and waking?
Theaetetus: What question?
Socrates: A question which I think that you must often have heard persons ask: how can you determine whether at this moment we are sleeping, and all our thoughts are a dream; or whether we are awake, and talking to one another in the waking state?
Theaetetus: Indeed, Socrates, I do not know how to prove the one any more than the other, for in both cases the facts precisely correspond; and there is no difficulty in supposing that during all this discussion we have been talking to one another in a dream; and when in a dream we seem to be narrating dreams, the resemblance of the two states is quite astonishing.
Socrates: You see, then, that a doubt about the reality of sense is easily raised, since there may even be a doubt whether we are awake or in a dream. And as our time is equally divided between sleeping and waking, in either sphere of existence the soul contends that the thoughts which are present to our minds at the same time are true; and during one half of our lives we affirm the truth of the one, and, during the other half, of the other; and are equally confident of both.
Theaetetus: Most true.
Socrates: And may not the same be said of madness and the other disorders? The difference is only that the times are not equal.

Not equal as in UNBALANCED?

Whoa.

Happy LOST Reading!

Rewatching LOST'S Missing Pieces: Ep. 1 - "The Watch"

2010-11-03T22:29:00.001-10:00

This week, check out Missing Pieces "Ep. 1 The Watch," centered on Jack's relationship with Christian.

Don't forget to check out Karen's transcript and write up HERE.

"The Watch"

WATCH YOUR WORDPLAY HERE: Check out all the references to "ROCKS" in this little scene. Do you see any OTHER references interesting for LOST Rewatch? [Especially in terms of "Across the Sea?"]

CHRISTIAN REVEALED:

[This is a repost of part of my recap for "The Moth," but I think it applies now that we get our second look at Jack and Christian.]

In the original PRODUCTION DRAFT of "White Rabbit," Christian does a little demonstration for young Jack to illustrate why jumping into the fight when "a coupla guys jump Mark Silverman" wasn't a good idea.

Dr. Shephard holds out both fists to Jack and tells him to choose one. He says, "If you choose the one with the quarter in it, I'll give you the quarter. If you choose the empty hand, you have to give me a quarter. Decide." Jack chooses his left fist, and it's empty. His dad makes him pay up. THAT'S when he tells Jack:

"Don't decide. Don't choose." He says, "Your heart's in the right place, sticking up for the little guy. But look what happened. You made the wrong call. You lost, buddy. You failed."

Christian holds out his fists again and tells Jack: "Same rules. Double or nothing. Decide." Jack stares at his father's fists for a long time, then shakes his head no. He's not gonna decide anything.

Christian says: "Good boy."

Who can tell me WHAT MESSAGE Dr. Shephard GIVES to JACK in this flash?

DR. SHEPHARD HAS JUST TOLD JACK NOT TO PLAY THE GAME -- the Jacob/MIB Game, the "game" of the island -- because the game is a TRICK. It's RIGGED. BOTH of Christian's fists are EMPTY from the beginning.

The "directions," the "rules" are STRAIGHT UP WORDPLAY. And according to the Production Draft, Christian's chat with Jack is "said out of love, no matter how cruel it sounds to us." More importantly, the script says this lesson becomes "hard wired" into Jack. It won't be changed or deleted by the island.

Given what we know now about Mother's LONG CON on Jacob and MIB, it's interesting to note that Christian WARNED Jack about the long con from the get-go. Christian tells Jack NOT TO PLAY THE GAME, which tells me PLAYING the GAME is NOT JACK'S PURPOSE in the story/on the island.

Don't choose. Don't decide. It's all a CON.

[Mark Silverman shows up as Jack's best man in "Do No Harm."]

ALSO INTERESTING TO NOTE:

Christian's little ancedote remind you of any other lostie we know?

Yup. JIN has much the same watch/wife issues -- but in REVERSE. Jin's father-in-law disapproved of HIM. Jin doesn't blow off Mr. Paik's approval, tho. He takes it upon himself to earn Mr. Paik's approval, and guess what? That was NEVER gonna happen regardless of what Jin did.

The game was rigged.

Happy Rewatching!

Rewatching LOST's Missing Pieces: "So It Begins"

2010-10-27T22:59:00.001-10:00

As we get further and further into rewatch, it behooves us to remember the "Missing Pieces," the thirteen ADD-ON scenes [called "mobisodes"] that aired online [and in the Season 4 DVD set] from November 2007 to February 2008.

HIGHLY recommended you take a second GOOD look at all the mobisodes [I'll be posting them as we go, but Karen already has all of them up and running at her site]. These are NOT just PLAIN OLD deleted scenes, folks. Except for ONE, all of the mobisodes were written, produced and filmed just as if they were TEENY EPISODES of LOST. Team LOST did not convince ABC/Disney to spend money making "unnecessary" extra scenes to entertain us between seasons, either. [We should pay for a full production "just for fun?" I don't think so, chico!]

These scenes were made thoughtfully and WITH A PURPOSE: they FILL IN THE "MISSING PIECES" of LOST's BIG PICTURE. So, if you're looking for more info to figure out Juliet, you've got FOUR "Missing Pieces" dedicated to filling in the blanks of Juliet's participation with the Others before she defected. [Same thing with Walt.]

These scenes are important for us to USE while rewatching LOST. They are FULL of INFORMATION in its purest LOST format: hidden in plain sight, hidden in seemingly random dialog and expressed in RIDDLE FORM [read: WORDPLAY].

This Missing Piece, "So It Begins" was number 13 in the series. It's an ADD-ON for the PILOT, and it takes place BEFORE Jack opens his eyes. While you watch, ask yourself this: Why doesn't Christian go "wake Jack up" himself? [Answer: He can't cross the "circle-line" in the grass in front of him.]
"So It Begins"

Amy's Transcript:

POV, low to the ground. We move through high grass jungle to a clearing. We see an open suitcase and investigate the clothing scattered around it. Inside the suitcase, Sawyers checkered shirt, jeans, a pink sweater sleeve (?), beige pants (?). We follow a trail of clothes on the ground: A WHITE dress shirt crumpled next to black slacks. 2 BLUE SHIRTS [very familiar clothes, I think]. We see the WHITE SHOES we now associate with "my father" aka Christian Shephard standing in front of us. We see Christian, focused on Vincent. He's in his funeral suit with GRAY HAIR.

He calls Vincent to him [clapping twice]. He pets him, then holds the dog's collar to keep eye contact.

"Christian": Hey. Listen. Yes. I need you to go find my son. He's over in that bamboo forest unconscious."

"Christian" nods "that-a-way" to Vincent.

"Christian": I need you to go wake him up. Okay? Okay. Go on.

Vincent takes off into the jungle. Christian watches him leave.

"Christian": He's got work to do.

Jack's eye opens. He stares at the swirling trees above him [WHITE SKIES]. We hear crunching. Jack's head whips left. POV of the empty jungle floor [WE'RE ASSUMING it's Jack's POV]. Vincent appears. He kneels. Jack's face shifts [I still dunno what to call it]. He takes a deep breath. Vincent takes off, nearly stepping on Jack's head on the way out. Jack looks up. Cut to black.

End Scene

OBSERVATIONS:

As far as I can tell, there's very little difference between the opening scene in the pilot and what we see here. However, I did notice something that I never noticed before -- the emphasis on Vincent's point of view. When we "see" the world as Vincent does, it's like we are in his head, right? We nose through the grass and "our" heads move side-to-side, just like a dog's would.

Vincent's moving POV fades in from black. He's trucking through the High Grass Jungle [spooky stuff, that. A polar bear will come trucking out of the High Grass Jungle scenery in a few episodes]. Vincent's POV [and ours] moves to a clearing and finds a suitcase full of familiar clothes. A suitcase full of familiar, random and rummaged clothes.

Why rummaged? BECAUSE -- that suitcase didn't just pop open when it landed. NO SIREE! That is a soft-sided, ZIPPERED suitcase. People, that means someone had to UNZIP it to OPEN it. [Someone LOOKING for something SPECIFIC.]

We leave the suitcase. Vincent/we follow a "TRAIL" of discarded clothing, a trail that leads DIRECTLY to a man in a suit wearing JACK'S SNEAKERS.

That's right! Remember, JACK dressed his father for his funeral and had his OWN sneakers put on "my father's" feet before putting him on the plane. Come hell or high water, Christian wears those sneakers until he opens the church door and walks in to the light [due LEFT] in "The End."

[Here's me: *slaps forehead* "SonuvaBITCH! Are you kidding me?!"]

Ya'll, this is a huge, HUGE clue. [Stick with me, cuz this gets really complicated REALLY fast.]

Shot 1: A noise. Jack whips left.

Think back to "316." When Jack and the rest of the Oceanic 6 come BACK to the island on Ajira Airlines, Ben makes SURE they bring John's body with them [He hides this "piece of meat" with a butcher. Get it?], and ELOISE makes sure John's body is wearing "my father's" shoes. Somehow, "somebody" makes sure that Jack is reading John's letter when they flash off the plane ["I wish you had believed me"]. Jack is HOLDING a PIECE of John's letter when he wakes up in the jungle.

First time around, he was standing the the middle of a bamboo forest holding a teeny airplane sized bottle of vodka [vodka = Dr. Shephard].

[Did you see it?]

One more thing, and it'll all make sense.

Jack stares at the trees above him [NOTE the WHITE SKY]. He jerks (his left hand, mostly) and gasps for air. Right in the middle of this mini-awakening, we hear a CRUNCHING noise, which we know in hindsight is Vincent headed Jack's way.

HOWEVER, after we HEAR Vincent, when Jack whips his head left, we don't SEE Vincent. [That always bugged me.] We see an EMPTY bamboo forest floor for a split second. Then we see Jack blinking and confused -- trying to focus. THEN we see Vincent arrive. Vincent stops and partially kneels. Jack's face changes, remarkably.

Something SPECIAL is happening here, but you have to PAY ATTENTION to the CAMERA to see it. That continuity "error," of Jack HEARING Vincent but Jack not seeing him is a HUGE CLUE!

The REASON that ONE POV shot of the empty bamboo forest floor doesn't match when we see Vincent arrive is simple: THAT'S NOT JACK'S POV.

Shots 2 & 3 = a FLIP POV Match [Plus, notice how DARK it is behind Vincent.]

That's VINCENT'S POV. When VINCENT ARRIVES, he CAN'T SEE JACK. That's also why we HEAR Vincent before he arrives. The man and the dog are NOT in the same "place." These two parts of the island, the jungle and the special bamboo spot, [these two pieces of the mosaic that IS the island] are out of sync. Just like the freighter wasn't in sync with the island, remember?

It makes sense, tho, from what we know about the island so far: If you are for any reason not on the same "plane of existence" as our losties, then, except for Hurley, they can't see you. Also, that WHITE SKY is an IMPORTANT signifyer: It means you are "in-between" pieces of the mosaic. The world around YOU (specifically) is in flux.

When Jack dies in "The End," he looks up and sees a beautiful BLUE SKY. And guess who's there to help Jack "wake up?"

Shot of Vincent; Cut to Jack; Vincent runs off.

Let's work backward and figure out what we just learned.

NOW WE KNOW:

That's not Christian. That's not even Dr. Shephard. That "wake up my son" guy is MIB/Locke that only LOOKS like "Christian." EVERY time we see Christian ON the ISLAND and every time we see him call Jack "JACK" (and not "kiddo") in the FLASHES [more on this later], that's not Christian/Dr. Shephard.

This was a SET UP specifically to draw MIB/Locke out [Shoot. Probably Mother, too]. Everything about this reads set up! MIB/Locke "jumped" Christian's identity when Oceanic 815 FLASHED to the island. Now we know WHY Christian's body, from the beginning and all the way til "The End," is NEVER in the coffin. If the body's in the coffin, then MIB/Locke would have made a successful jump [like he does later when he "jumps" John's body]. No body, no new identity for MIB/Locke.

In the pilot, there's a BARRIER of some kind between MIB/Locke/Christian and our losties. His unadulterated influence is limited. He can't send someone else through with a message, either [like he does later when he sends Clairuso into the temple with a message].

AND FINALLY. . .

We know that MIB/Locke's plan to jump Christian's identity probably would have worked IF DESMOND and the EM POWER of the HATCH hadn't intervened.

Cool, right? I LUUUUUUUV me some LOST rewatch!

Rewatching LOST: Myths and Mommy Issues

2010-10-27T02:25:00.004-10:00

LET THE CONTEXT BEGIN

Mother, Jacob and MIB are making me crazy, so let's start with them.

Three hours from "The End," we get our "mythological download" in "Across the Sea" [More on mythology at Team LOST #1 Sneakiest Trick Ever: Making History]:

Claudia pops out of the ocean. She wanders inland. Mother leads her ACROSS the RIVER.
Mother delivers Claudia's babies. She names the first Jacob. She doesn't name the second. ["I only picked one name."]
Claudia says: "May I see him?" Mother bashes Claudia's head with a large rock. She raises the boys.
She recognizes KIB as "special."
The boys happen on "men." Mother is upset. She hates "people." She shows them Scooby-Doo Cave.
MIB splits as a kid and grows up with "people." He's got a plan to leave the island.
Mother tries to talk him out of it. She knocks him unconscious and destroys his village.
Mother shows Jacob the way to Scooby-Doo Cave.
Mother tricks a reluctant Jacob into "drinking" the wine [aka taking over as "protector" of Scooby-Doo Cave].

What? You didn't know she tricked him? I didn't pick up on it either! That's why it blew my MIND when I heard it on the commentary!

Damon's and Carlton specifically mention how Mother manipulated BOTH Jacob AND MIB to quit her job as "protector." ALL commentary quotes from Lostpedia. [full transcript of "Across the Sea" commentary HERE]

Scene: Jacob takes over as "protector" of the island. [emphasis mine]

Damon Lindelof: Speaking of choices, if I may segue, that's what this entire scene that we're about to see is about. Obviously, this is when Jacob becomes Jacob. But much greater, the show is about character and we always want to explain where the origin of certain behaviors is for our character. Jacob seems to be a guy on the series who is obsessed with this idea of choice and freewill. Even when Ben is about to stab him, he says, "Hey, you don't have to do this. You still have a choice."

Carlton Cuse: Right.

Damon Lindelof: But that is not what Mother says to him here. She thrusts this responsibility on him, and it is not something that he chooses. This scene is really about Jacob's character, but for people who hate on this episode, this scene basically is as far as we ever go in really articulating this theme of where we stand in the battle between free will and destiny.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Damon Lindelof: What we begin to realize in this scene is that Mother, the moment that pregnant woman washed up, was already starting to try to plan out her own demise [WTF?!]. She doesn't want this job anymore. Although the benefits are clearly awesome because you don't age. But the wardrobe is very limited and there's not a lot of good food on the island. [SPECIFIC mention of the WARDROBE and the FOOD. Note that for later.]

Carlton Cuse: The work hours are horrible.

Damon Lindelof: So now she saw these two boys, she wanted it to be the Boy in Black but she managed to sort of con Jacob in many ways into doing this. And she knows that based on what she just did to the Boy in Black that, sorry, the Man in Black, that he is gonna come and kill her. And that's why she says, "Thank you" when he does. So she actually sort of manipulated, just like Sawyer does in many ways, she conned these two guys into relieving her of this massive responsibility. And there's a certain amount of tragedy in that. One might ask, did Jacob do the same thing?

Carlton Cuse: Right. And I think that, in some sense, he did.

[That's what I said -- HOLY SH&T!]

So what do we actually KNOW about Mother?

She got "here" by accident [same as Claudia].
She USED Jacob and MIB to get out of "here."
She WANTED to die. She SET UP MIB to kill her. ["If you kill me, someone will just take my place." Jacob to MIB from "Ab Aeterno"]
She WANTED MIB to "take over" for her, but settled for Jacob.
She recognized MIB as "Special."

Interesting things to remember about Mother:

She is HIDING Scooby Doo Cave [and HER cave, too.] She tells a nice story about protecting "the heart of the island," but did any of you see how she did any actual "protecting?" Whatever her abilities, whatever her responsibilities, Mother is somehow able to hide herself, her cave and Scooby Doo Cave on the island. The boys the beach and the water seem to be the only things she can't control. ["They came from the water" in "Solitary"]
She is NOT the first MOTHER. She tells MIB, "You came from me, and I came from my mother." So who was her mother? Bigger question: Who was her FATHER? [Cuz ya gotta have one of those in there somewhere.] What's going on here? We're missing somthin'.
She may or may not "believe" the "island is all there is." It's not entirely clear to me either way, and Darlton never mention it. The very first time we see her, she all but admits to Claudia that she herself came "here" by "accident." This certainly implies that she's aware that she came "here" FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE. [I'm gonna blow yer mind on this one in a minute!]
She seems pretty convinced that people are bad, but gives ZERO reasons why or how she came to this conclusion.
One more Problem: Mother seems pretty darn good at lying. The SENET GAME is a good example. She makes Jacob tell her about it then tells KIB it "came from" her. Is this the truth? At this point, who knows?! She admits she's a liar [and murderer] when KIB confronts her, but this doesn't seem to phase Jacob at all? What's that about?
She thinks People are "dangerous."
She speaks Latin. CRAPPY Latin.

AND THEN THERE WAS TU

That's right, lovely LOST readers! You're old pal Amy studied Latin for 3 very long, painful YEARS, and let me tell you somethin' -- Latin is NO FUN to learn AT ALL. The only thing it's really useful for is translating writings in Latin [the war journals of Julius Caesar anyone?] which is more boring than you can possibly imagine. So, why was I first in the Latin line when it came time to choose a language? Because Latin has NO CONVERSATIONAL REQUIREMENTS! There's no labs or verbal tests because LATIN IS A DEAD LANGUAGE [WOOT!]. There are NO NATIVE speakers of Latin ON THIS EARTH.

Where did Latin go? Well, the simplest answer is, unless you had to study it at school or use it for work, it turned into modern French, Italian, Spanish -- all the ROMANCE languages [English is a Germanic language, btw]. Latin terms are still used in the fields of science, medicine, music, you name it. Latin is EVERYWHERE! [But it's still a DEAD LANGUAGE.]

Observe the following excerpt from transcript posted at Lostpedia [I tried to find a more "official" transcript of the Latin lines, but no go. If ya'll know of one, please share the info!]:

Mother: Olle quidae graves? Ego auxilium tibi. [You're hurt? Let me help you.]
Claudia: Gratias ago tibi. [Thank you.]
Mother: Ago nomine appelarus? [What are you called?]
Claudia: Mihi nomine es Claudia. [My name is Claudia.]
Mother: That's a lovely name.

There are so many problems with these lines, I'm surprised Latin scholars didn't throw a revolution and throw Team LOST first up against the wall.

[I tried to find at least one good Latin Lostie source for you, but they all had the same problem. Lack of an official transcript of the Latin lines made deciphering the lines correctly just about impossible. I did find a terrific write up of "Across the Sea" called: Lost S06E16: This Show Is One Big Yin Yang Tattoo On The Bicep Of A Jerk at videogum.com.]

I don't claim to be a Latin pro, but I can look up Latin words in a Latin-to-English dictionary. As far as I can tell, Mother doesn't use the correct word for "hurt," as in "harmed or injured." 'Graves' (used here as an adjective describing/renaming "you") comes from the word 'gravatus' which means : sick, oppressed, ill [ie. INFECTED].

I won't go any further into it [why should you be bored to tears?], but I can tell you this. Without an "official" release, these lines in Latin are screwy and ambiguous.

But THAT'S NOT WHY THE LATIN IS SO IMPORTANT!!

Pay attention! Watch how Team LOST works the Latin: Leg bleeding, a hugely pregnant Claudia limps through the "jungle" and drinks from a stream. She's scared to death when she sees Mother's reflection in the water [a mirror AND that PRIMAL FEAR we keep talking about!]. Mother speaks Latin to Claudia. She offers to help. When it looks like Claudia might understand her, she crosses the stream and coaxes Claudia to take her hand. Claudia says thank you and tells Mother her name.

Once she says her name, both women speak English.

I know, I know -- this is a narrative tool so the actors don't have to speak their lines in Latin for the entire show. And you are totally right. Jorge Garcia backs this up on his Geronimo Jack's Beard podcast discussing "Across the Sea."

Except, check out how this narrative tool works! [It's very cool.] WE see the women speaking Latin. Once we see the women switch to speaking English, WE ASSUME THEY ARE STILL SPEAKING LATIN, and we are hearing what they would be saying if they were speaking English.

One more time, just for emphasis: When we see the women switch from speaking LATIN to speaking ENGLISH, we ASSUME they CONTINUE to speak Latin even though we're hearing it in ENGLISH. That would mean that EVERYONE is actually speaking Latin the entire EPISODE. Once we enter the "world" of these women, we can understand them. As the audience, we're INSIDERS. We're one of THEM. OUTSIDERS to the world we now share with them would STILL be unable to understand them unless they speak Latin, too.

No question WHY someone would do this right? First, if someone overhears your conversation, but doesn't understand your language, you can say pretty much anything you want -- even your rudest comments or darkest secrets!! Because, technically speaking, no matter what language you use, what you say is ENCODED by the language you're using. Your listener then DECODES what you've said -- but only if your listener speaks the same language you do. [Ever heard of "code talkers?" Same thing.]

Secretly knowing someone's language [CODE] can be helpful, too [if you're into that sort of thing]. You can learn a LOT about people if they think you can't hear them! It's RECON!! [Can you think of any characters on LOST that pretend they need an interpreter to communicate with "others?" Um, how bout SUN? She pretends she can't speak or understand English. Dogen pretends he can't speak or understand English. Charlotte pretends she can't speak or understand Korean. Hm.]

Except for for Jacob's flash near the end [of Jack, Locke and Kate finding and naming Adam and Eve in "House of the Rising Sun"], it's even reasonable to think maybe Jacob and MIB are speaking Latin the whole time too. This COULD explain why "The Others" are taught Latin [Juliet tells us this little tidbit in "Jughead"]. They are OUTSIDERS, and need to LEARN Latin in order to be able to understand what's going on on the island.

But [you might say], these ladies are speaking Latin because the events we see here are taking place thousands of years ago! People spoke Latin thousands of years ago!

Maybe. But probably not. [We'll get to this later.]

Here's the even weirder part. If Eloise, Widmore and a bunch of British soldiers washed up on shore (somehow) before 1954, there's about ZERO CHANCE they washed up on shore knowing how to speak Latin.

ZIP, people.

So WHO TAUGHT them how to speak Latin? [Cuz you CAN'T learn Latin in 1954 unless you STUDY IT.]

[Good question, right? We'll come back to that one later, too.]

Here's the thing, Latin is the ONLY ancient language found in about every field of study in existence today: law, science, theology, education -- you name it. Whatever it is, there's some Latin in there somewhere. [Uh -- military too: "Semper Fi."]

More than anything, you know what Latin reminds me of? ROMANS. Know what Romans remind me of? MYTHOLOGY [Yay!].

MOMMIE DEAREST

Even before she gets her brains bashed in, Claudia is having a bad day. Apparently shipwrecked and apparently the only one still underwater two days later, Claudia pops out of the ocean and looks around. There be the island [Land ho!]. She wakes up on the beach, lurches inland and introduces herself to Mother [who, at this time, is just the Woman in Beige].

She says her name is Claudia. Hunh. That's interesting, right? You know who Claudia is in Roman mythology?

Ever heard of Romulus and Remus? They're the twin sons of Mars, the god of War [who raped their mom] and the grandsons of King Numitor of Alba Longa. Their great-uncle, Amulius, bumped his brother out of power and tossed the boys into a river at birth. They were rescued by a she-wolf [who nursed them] and a woodpecker [no idea what he did for them] who cared for them until they were finally handed over to a shepherd who raised them right.

After they helped grandpa retake his thrown, Romulus decided to go back to where they were found and build a city, starting with a wall. When his brother made fun of his wall, Romulus killed him. [This is why ROME isn't called REMUSLAND.]

Two sons, raised by another. Two founders of ONE city -- only one brother survives. [I repeat: One brother lives -- the other dies.]

Think about it: two babies, one name [their mother, Claudia, basically "smuggles" them in from the "outside." She's their "carrier"]. Two bodies with NO names: Mother and Brother [bodies that Jacob "rejoin" in "death"]. Two sides: black and white [Each equal to one-half of the stones, the backgammon pieces, the scales]. The plane splits in two [when we are introduced to the barracks] in "A Tale of Two Cities" -- two "cities" on ONE ISLAND.

Claudia, you might think, would be mom to these two, right? The association with twins AND Rome is pretty clear. However, Claudia was their MOM'S SISTER [Mom's name: Rhea Silva], and famous in her own right. She was a Vestial Virgin, a priestess of the goddess Vesta, one of the few goddesses in the pantheon that required permanent virginity. Legend says she threw herself in front of a mob of angry plebs to save her father [plebs were like the pitchfork peeps of Rome].

THE GEMINI SUN SIGN

Speaking of mommies, in "White Rabbit," a very pregnant Claire asks Kate, "Are you a Gemini?" Kate admits, yes she is. Guess what? So is Claire! Gemini would be the astrological TWIN sign.

For those of you unaware, astrology is not just your daily horoscope in the paper. Astrology, or interpretations and predictions of Earthly events based on the alignment and movement of constellations and planets in (relative to Earth) has a history even older than Backgammon! For as long as there have been stars in the sky and crappy things happening to people on Earth, there've been astrologers, in the mainstream and/or the margins, helping people blame the heavens (and not themselves). Ever heard of "star-crossed lovers?" That's how Shakespeare described Romeo and Juliet. Their "stars" or signs are "crossed" or will never align or match up (or whatever astrology peeps call it), so even though they are madly in love, their love affair is doomed from the beginning. It's their fate. The double suicide at the end is just a formality.

Although nearly every ancient culture on Earth, across the entire Earth, incorporated meaning or significance to the stars in some way or another, it's believed that the Babylonians came up with whatcha call "Houses" (signs of the zodiac). [Yeah -- the Babylonians. As in, "Look Ma! Ancient Mesopotamia! I heard those Babylonians play a wicked game of backgammon!"] The Zodiac sign Claire refers to, Gemini [May 21 - June 21], is the 3rd "House" in horoscope astrology.

Interesting things about the peeps born under Gemini [a SUN sign]:

They have two very pronounced sides to their personalities: The one everyone likes, and the "moody" side. Problem is, never know which one you'll get.
Gemini is ruler of the nervous system, causing mental and nervous exhaustion to be trouble spots. [Like, the SPINE which could require a SPINAL SURGEON? Also, images of brain scans (almost ALWAYS associated with JACK), discussions of mental health, sleep deprivation, "going crazy," memories - lost or gained, and identity or consciousness.]
Gemini’s seem to be especially prone to problems with the respiratory organs. [Like, ASTHMA maybe?]

The Gemini constellation is named for Castor and Pollux, twin brothers who had DIFFERENT FATHERS. Their mom, Leda, was seduced/raped by Zeus [in the form of a SWAN -- Painting "Leda and the Swan" by Josephine Wall] who fathered Pollux. As half-god, Pollux was immortal while his brother Castor was not. After Castor died, Pollux asked Zeus if he could share his immortality with his brother. [These guys were also brothers to Helen of Troy -- the chica who caused all that trouble for the Greeks -- and the patron gods of SAILORS. They were also excellent HORSEMAN and HUNTERS. They were "constantly associated with horses" in art and literature -- usually holding SPEARS.]

Castor and Pollux, btw, also the name of twin brothers in one of Robert A. Heilein's novels: The Rolling Stones (1952). [Get it? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!]

The GEMINI -- Castor and Pollux:

One brother lives, the other dies, BUT both are "alive" as long as they are TOGETHER.
Two brothers with DIFFERENT FATHERS -- one HUMAN and one NOT human.
Two brothers SHARING the immortality given to ONE of them.

Before we lay this twin/mythology thing down [only for a little while], let's remember one more set of twins. From Myths Encyclopedia -- Twins:

[caption id="attachment_4963" align="alignright" width="283" caption=""The two complete each other -- forming a whole.""][/caption]

"According to one version of the Egyptian creation myth, the earth god Geb and the sky goddess Nut were twins and also lovers, locked together in a tight embrace. The great god Ra* separated them with air, leaving Nut arched across the heavens above Geb. Nut and Geb are complementary symbols—meaning that the two complete each other, forming a whole."

AND speaking of creation myth, in the commentary for "Across The Sea," we learn:

Damon Lindelof: . . .when we were working on that episode, "House Of The Rising Sun," we knew that Adam and Eve were going to be mythological figures that were entirely responsible for Oceanic 815 crashing on the island. So that when Locke called them as Adam and Eve, he'd be referring to these characters are personally responsible for us being here in some way.

Which brings us right back to Claudia/Mother and Jacob/MIB.

[And they are STILL driving me nuts!]

LET'S DO THE TIME WARP AGAIN

Maybe it's just time to "wipe the slate clean," and rethink this WHOLE MESS from the beginning.

[Frustrating, isn't it? I'm right there with you.]

To do this, I did what all academics do when they hit a wall: Go ask someone else what THEY think. To wit, I found an excellent podcast/column called "LOST Central" featuring Jen Cheney and Liz Kelly. [It's part of the "Celebritology 2.0" section of The Washington Post online.]

If you get a chance to go back and re-read Jen's and Liz's discussions of Season 6, you should DO IT! Especially if you've been able to listen/read/watch all the Season 6 extras from the Boxed or Complete set. These ladies were DEAD ON about "Across the Sea" when compared to Damon's and Carlton's commentary on the episode. If I didn't know any better, I'd think that Darlton stole quotes directly FROM Jen and Liz and USED them on the commentary -- word for word! [WATCH THIS!!]

From 'Lost' Dueling Analysis: Across The Sea [May 12, 2010]

Jen: . . . here are the links to the story of two wacky twin brothers from the Old Testament who just couldn't get along: Jacob and Esau. (And yes, you could certainly draw Cain and Abel analogies, too. You know, if you're in the mood.) [Cain and Abel are the sons of ADAM and EVE.]

I don't think the Jacob/Esau story fully parallels this "Lost" narrative, but I think the fact that it's a significant Bible story about two twin brothers who didn't see eye to eye -- one of them (Esau) eventually sold his birth right as the eldest to his younger brother (Jacob), essentially because he was hungry for lentils -- should tell us something. If nothing else, it, along with the other significant religious/mythological stories about dueling siblings, reminds us that the foundations of "Lost" come from narratives that are passed along -- and believed -- for generations. Essentially, what we watched last night explained the entire, for lack of a better word, "religion" of the island. Everything that everyone has believed was based on two guys with mommy issues.

Also maybe worth noting: In the "Lost" story, Jacob was born first, which is a switch on the Bible version. So actually, Jacob is technically the eldest and the one who, by birth, has first rights to inherit his mother's responsibilities and authority. Lucky him.

[NOT his MOTHER'S responsibilities, right? His FATHER'S. In the Christian Bible, Jacob tricks his brother Esau out of his "birthright," his rightful inheritance from his FATHER. Then he tricks his father, Isaac, into bestowing the birthright before he dies. Know who helps Jacob pull all this off? His MOTHER.]

* * * * * * * * * * * *

Liz: Did you catch Janney's dying words to MIB after he thrusts that dagger through her torso? She thanks him. Thanks him for killing her. Which had me wondering if she had been similarly duped into guarding the island's life force and ultimately wanted out and -- bear with me -- orchestrated the familial bloodbath that unfolded because it was the only way (within the parameters of "the rules" -- which still haven't been adequately explained) for her to find peace, or to escape. After all, she tells Jacob that he will also one day have to choose a successor to take over as guardian. Which kind of implies that she herself was chosen.

So, she's protecting the island because she herself drank the Kool-Aid wine.

[DIRECT FROM CARLTON on Commentary for "Across The Sea": It seems that the show is telling us that you can be the protector of the island for a period of time but it is a limited period of time. That time might vary from person to person, but at a certain point, you become aware that your time is over and it’s time for someone else to come take that job.]

Jen: Right. And I was wondering where that wine came from, too. Is there a Best Cellars on the island that I don't know about? But I also was about to ask why she or her son died when, technically, she claimed they were immune from that. Here's the thing: I don't think their spirits did die. Which is why this dynamic keeps replaying itself over and over.

Janney's spirit winds up in Rousseau, then in Claire. Some of MIB's tendencies wind up in both Locke (being "special") and Jack (desperately needing to leave the island). So in that sense, they are immortal. I have no idea if that makes sense, by the way. But it does in my head.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Jen: . . .And then there's resolved issue No. 4. Or what I suggest might be resolved issue No. 4: the island fertility issue.

I'm not sure I'll be able to articulate this, but here goes. Claudia shows up on the island, gives birth to two boys and then dies. Now, obviously she dies because Allison Janney beat her in the head with a rock. But the point is she's a mother who doesn't live much beyond childbirth, which creates a narrative for the island, a story that's going to get passed on, potentially, from one island generation to the next, that bad things happen when women try to give birth. And over time, that becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy until someone -- Claire? -- comes along and proves wrong.

In other words, that story is part of the religion of the island. And it keeps playing itself out over time.

End Excerpt

HOLY CRAP! [Did you see it?]

Congrats to these two LOST fans for nailing so many concepts and ideas -- all confirmed directly by Team LOST, I might add. [Turns out nobody's passing out kudos to LOST fans that were RIGHT, so I'M gonna do it!!]

From Commentary on "Across the Sea":

Damon Lindelof: One of the things we love to do on Lost is this idea of history repeats itself. . . .at the end of the day, these themes are sort of in play and this episode lives in a much more metaphorical space than in terms of giving direct answers. But again, what we wanted to show was, even all these years ago, when Jacob and the Boy in Black were growing up on the island, certain things that we saw happen to our castaways in the series Lost, are happening to these boys, to Jacob and the Man in Black themselves.

Think of "Across The Sea" and "Ab Aeterno" as stories containing all the "original" building blocks that are used and reused over and over again to tell the story of LOST. This means the patterns we see in these two episodes are the storytelling BLUEPRINTS of EVERYTHING ELSE that happens. We need to 1) identify those patterns and 2) weed them out of our losties' story to sort all the puzzle pieces into place. Also, this story sets up the METAPHORS in the story to follow. We need to 1) identify those metaphors and 2) weed them out of our losties' story to sort all the puzzle pieces into place.

Here's the hard part: Those repeated patterns are NOT what we will use to solve the puzzle. We are looking for the story that BREAKS the cycle -- that VIOLATES the patterns demonstrated in these two episodes.

The story of Jacob is the STARTING point, not of a HISTORICAL timeline, but of a METAPHORICAL CYPHER.

THIS is IT, my lovely LOST readers! THIS is what we've been looking for!!

[Follow-up post coming VERY soon. Aren't you excited? I am!]

NOTES:

http://www.oxfordlatin.co.uk/history.htm

Latin Wikipedia -- http://la.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagina_prima

Team LOST #1 Sneakiest Trick Ever: Making History

2010-10-09T11:31:00.001-10:00

MYTHOLOGY USED TO BE A FRIEND OF MINE

: The HydraMYTHOLOGY USED TO BE A FRIEND OF MINE

The "past" is basically a collection of stories. A story is considered History with a capital H when it has been verified as "based in fact." A story can't be verified as "based in fact" without independent, credible sources of verification. The higher the number of independent, credible sources of verification, the more likely the story will become Historical Fact [as in, this is "the truth." This story is what "actually happened"].

From then on, this Historical Fact is a piece of History, and it is combined/compared with other pieces of History with the express purpose of INTERPRETING what happened before, EXPLAINING what's happening now and PREDICTING what may happen in the future.

[Image, "The Hydra" (right) found at Lists O' Plenty]

If a story is not fact, then it must be fiction, yes? Fiction would the opposite of fact: a lie, a mistake, untrue, pretend, made up, a delusion, etc. Problem is, SOME stories are VERY important to the cultures or groups they belong to whether they are "verified fact" or not. To prevent pissing off most of humanity, Historians have a ready-made loophole.

A story that can't cut it as History but is culturally important is called a MYTH.

A mythology is a collection of [usually related] myths with an official label. A mythological figure is someone featured in a myth.

: The OTHER Hydra: Computerized Chess Player

[Image from ChessDailyNews.com]

Mythology can be a touchy subject because nearly every religion on the history of the planet is centered on a collection of stories, and calling religious stories myths can seem insulting or demeaning. For our discussion, I'm rolling with what my humanities professor always said when it came up in class.

A fact is a fact whether you believe it or not.
A myth is a myth whether you believe it or not.
It's a matter of function, not origin.

History functions as noted above. It's used to interpret the past, explain the present and make educated guesses about the future.

MYTH serves a number of cultural functions. My humanities professor listed these as:

SMITE stories. This is what happens when you defy {insert appropriate deity here}. FYI: You won't get away with it.
REWARD stories. This what happens when you do what's "right." You'll be honored/blessed in the end.
RULES stories. This is what to do/not do, and [sometimes included] this is why.
TRICKSTER stories. These guys break the rules and/or try to get YOU to break the rules.
SACRIFICE stories. This is what nobility/redemption/unselfish behaviors look like.
ORIGIN Stories. This is why things are the way they are.*

ORIGIN stories [why bears don't have tails, why rainbows appear in the sky after it rains, why the moon has phases, etc] cover a LOT of ground. From Native Americans to Scientologists, origin stories offer a cultural reflection [of the group or people to which they belong] in particular because they are so versatile.

[The actual rules aren't myths, but they are very often based on the beliefs presented in the prevailing mythology. Thou shalt not sleep with thy neighbor's wife." <-------NOT versatile, but based in cultural mores of marriage, sex, property and moral/immoral behavior.]

ADAM AND EVE

For example, Adam and Eve [(right) painting by Dan Fergus] are mythological figures in Creation mythology for Judaism, Christianity and Islam [arguably three of the most influential religions in Western and Middle Eastern culture]. Ultimately, this origin story confronts two huge theological questions: If God "made us in his image," then why aren't we perfect? If God loves us so much, why does he let us suffer?

Turns out, God intended for us to lead a cushy life. Adam and Eve blew it for the rest of us. As descendants of these first humans, we inherited their sentence of "hard labor." Adam was cursed to scratch "sustainance" from the earth, and Eve was cursed with painful labor in childbirth.

[SEE really funny story at then end of this post!!**]

This origin story explains "why," from the moment we are born until the moment we die, human existence is a constant struggle. We are all doomed to suffer. [It's not our fault. We were "MADE THAT WAY."] As a bonus, the entire time we're on Earth, we're caught smack dab in the middle of a cosmic struggle between good and evil. ["Terrific."]

However, the story of Adam and Eve is versatile enough to address many other questions, concepts and themes: original sin, satan/the devil/the serpent, Paradise/Garden of Eden, dominion of mankind over the Earth, origin of the human race, angels, demons -- the list goes on and on.

This is the power of myth.

For our discussion of LOST, the most important aspects of mythology to remember are how it relates to History:

Mythology is MORE influential over historical events than historical events are influential over mythology.
Scholars spend years and YEARS verifying historical events as "fact." Mythology carries no such burden. Consequently, arguing mythology as "fact" is not always the best use of your time.
Mythology is less about "faith" than it is about "meaning" or "interpretation."
Mythology is about FUNCTION. Figuring out how peeps/cultures USE their mythology is the key to understanding both.
We can "outgrow" our mythology, but we can never escape its influence on us.

Finally, when we examine MYTH, [according to my humanities professor] we need to focus on "the prize." Once you scratch the surface, any and ALL myths answer one or more of the following questions:

Who am I?
Why am I here?/What am I supposed to do?
Why is this happening to me?
What does it mean to be "human?"

Scratch the surface [barely], and the story of Adam and Eve lands SQUARELY on #4.

THOU SHALT NOT "GET IT"

[Oh, yunh-hunh!] This story places humans in context with the rest of creation and the perceived creator/divine. Everything else was created by God's WORD ["Let there be light."], but humans were crafted by the hands of God [Adam from the earth; Eve from Adam's rib] and brought to life with God's "breath" [Kinda like DIVINE CPR].

[Painting (right), "Adam and Eve Expelled From The Garden" by Pavel Popov found at Voices From Russia website]

The path to human existence portrayed in this story is one that defines humans as NOT ANIMALS yet NOT DEITIES [gods or equal to God]. Humans are BOTH, but neither. [In some versions, Paradise/the Garden of Eden is HEAVEN, and Adam and Eve are sent to Earth, but they are never considered on EQUAL status with GOD, which is the definition of "divine."]

In ALL the universe, humans are SPECIAL, but it's not FREE WILL that separates us from the animals. God made us the boss of them, but animals can choose as much as we can. They can even choose to EAT US.
In this story, KNOWLEDGE is what makes us SPECIAL. Specifically, the KNOWLEDGE of NUDITY.

NO SHOES, NO SHIRT, NO SERVICE

Don't take my word for it. Ya'll can look it up HERE. [All quotes from the Old Testament of Christian Bible, New International Version (NIV)]

BEFORE the apple incident: [GEN 2:25, NIV]

The man and his wife were both naked and felt no shame.

Apple Incident: [Gen 3:1-6, NIV]

Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’"

“You will not surely die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

AFTER the apple incident: [GEN 3:7-13, NIV]

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

[Painting (right), "The Expulsion of Adam and Eve From Paradise" (reproduction) by Benjamin West found at 1st-Art-Gallery]

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. But the LORD God called to the man, “Where are you?” ["WHERE ARE YOU?!!" -- Jack in "White Rabbit"]

He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”

And He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”

The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”

Then the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

AFTERMATH of Apple Incident: [GEN 3:21-24, NIV]

The LORD God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them. And the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

So the LORD God banished him from the Garden of Eden to work the ground from which he had been taken. After he drove the man out, he placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life.

The full implications of this myth and its cultural influence are FAR beyond the scope of this blog. However, it's important for our discussion to note how Adam and Eve change once they've eaten the apple.

If you eat, you'll "surely die."

In a way, the Serpent is right. They didn't "surely die." [KJV says "But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." Gen 2:17] So does that mean God was deceiving them?
Well, not if you assume that they WOULD have lived forever if they hadn't eaten the apple.
HOWEVER, God makes a point of muttering to himself: Now man has become LIKE US -- knowing good and evil. We MUST not ALLOW him to eat from the OTHER tree, the Tree of Life, and LIVE FOREVER.
If that's true, then when the Serpent cons Eve into eating the fruit, he DOESN'T necessarily LIE to her. He tells her, You won't "surely die." God knows if you eat that fruit, you'll be like God. [Implied: God forbade you to eat the fruit to keep you from becoming like him.]
God even admits it when he makes a point of muttering to himself: Now man has become like us -- KNOWING good and evil.
Question: Do the death references here ALL mean PHYSICAL DEATH?
I mean, isn't one of the BIG tenants of Christianity that part of you can NEVER die? Your soul/spirit? Does that mean they were free from physical death until they ate the apple? ["What's 'dead?'" "Something you'll never have to worry about."]

Having the "knowledge of good and evil."

[Collage (right) "Adam and Eve" by BBMukherjee found at National Gallery of Modern Art.]

For whatever reason, God didn't want Adam and Eve to have knowledge of good and evil. He's not happy about their disobedience, and he punishes them accordingly, but God specifically tosses them out of Eden [and sets a guard at the gate] because of the knowledge thing. Now that they have it, it's too risky for them to stay cuz of the OTHER tree.
As soon as Adam and Eve have the knowledge of good and evil, their EYES are OPENED [DING DING DING, people!!], and they are ASHAMED of their nudity. This means BEFORE their eyes were opened, THEIR EYES WERE CLOSED.
Their state of NUDITY hasn't changed, only their PERSPECTIVE of the nudity.
Amy's question: How does NOT knowing good and evil prevent Adam's and Eve's awareness of their nudity?
Even bigger question: WHY does God create man and woman WITHOUT this knowledge of good and evil in the first place?
Is "living forever" contingent on NOT having your "eyes opened?"

[MUCH trickier than it first appears, yes?]

My point is not to solve the "mystery" of creation. My point is that this story is not a simple, straightforward narrative. It has many, many LAYERS of meaning, and it's a GOOD thing to dig into these layers.

So, what is the FUNCTION of this origin story? Does it answer any of our 4 questions? Sure it does!

What does it mean to be "human?"

Humans are like GOD because we have the "knowledge of good and evil." This differentiates us from ANIMALS, who DON'T have this knowledge.
We are aware of our own mortality. We see the "big picture."
Despite this larger perspective, we are still bound by "the rules" of our physical bodies -- physical needs, instincts and birth/death.

Humans are like ANIMALS because we are tied to the needs of our physical bodies. This differentiates us from GOD.
Despite this, our likeness to God is permanent. It is our HUMANESS. We can't just "turn it off" and "go back to the way we were before." We can't EVER put down our "humaness" and hang out on the Earth like the animals do.
Animals know they can die, but they are not aware of their mortality. [This is a fancy way of saying they don't fret about the fact that they can't escape physical death.]
Animals are SLAVES to their INSTINCTS. ["The ability to make decisions based on something other than instinct is what separates us from [BOARS]" -- Locke to Charlie in "The Moth"]

[Painting (right) "Adam and Eve" by Bela Klimkovics, found at Truthbook.com]

This story ALSO portrays the "origins" of HUMAN "SUFFERING":

Our physical bodies are why we suffer because we can't remove/ignore/think our way out of our physical needs or the knowledge that we can NOT avoid physical death. [Physical death is our DESTINY.]
Our HUMANESS is why we suffer because it does not allow us to "forget" we are physical beings. Our "humaness" precludes our "innocence." We are still "slaves" to our instincts.

: "May all that have life be delivered from suffering." Gautama Buddha

The story of Adam and Eve explores the IRONY of HUMAN EXISTENCE: We are "more" than animals. We KNOW we are "more" than animals. This knowledge does not make us happy because we KNOW we are doomed to struggle/suffer/die.

[SUFFERING?! HELLO!! Can you say: Buddhism? Namaste, my lovely LOST readers!! Chakra Wheel found at "Buddhism and the Conquest of Suffering."]

Coupla things to notice about Eden [Just for kicks, let's drop back into the King James Version, KJV, of Genesis]:

NO CHILDREN.
No hunting, killing or eating of animals.
No death.
God is not a permanent resident.
This is a CONSTRUCTED WORLD. ["And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed." Gen 2:8 KJV]
You can't get back in once you've left [because there's a guard at the gate with a "flaming sword"].
The "bad guy" is not an INTRUDER. [The serpent, the SNAKE, is part of God's original creation --"Now the serpent was more subtil [sic] than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made." KJV Gensis 3:1]

Things to notice about Adam and Eve:

Adam was made from the earth [He was a GOLLUM!!]. After God breathed the "breath of life" into Adam, Adam became a "living soul" ["And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Gen 2:7 KJV]
Eve was made "from" Adam. ["I came from my mother, and you came from ME." Mother to Kid in Black in "Across the Sea"] ["And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Gen 2:21-25 KJV]
Even though they are separate identities, Adam and Eve are two HALVES of the SAME WHOLE. ["We are already together." Isabella to Richard in "Ab Aeterno"]

WE'VE GOT WORK TO DO

In my last post, we discussed how the cohesive image that results from completing a picture puzzle is the puzzle's "answer." This ONE image was THERE ALL ALONG. It just wasn't discernible BECAUSE it was divided into so many pieces [almost like it was SHATTERED]. When we start matching pieces, sorting them, we are able to see how they fit together. As we fit pieces together, the final image slowly emerges.

Like it or not, Team LOST has given US an assignment: Solve this puzzle.
To solve the puzzle, we have to put all the "pieces" together.
Before we even think about putting ANY pieces together, we need to identify and sort them.

Here's the kicker: Identifying and sorting the pieces of LOST IS THE RIDDLE. ["This story is not a simple, straightforward narrative."]

GET [TO] THE POINT?

So, Amy, where's this "Sneaky Trick" you claim Team LOST is using? [you might ask.]

[Oh! I'm so glad you asked!]

In our last discussion, we identified four "types" of puzzle pieces -- elements of the LOST story that must be properly identified before we'll be able to see how they fit together.

The story of our LOSTIES.
The history of the ISLAND.
The MYTHOLOGY of the ISLAND.
WHO WANTS WHAT.

I just played a trick on you. [Did you see it?]

On a sliding scale of which elements of the LOST story are the MOST obvious [the LEAST confusing] and which elements are the LEAST obvious [the MOST frickin' confusing], this list is BACKWARDS.

Most obvious: WHO WANTS WHAT
Second most obvious: The MYTHOLOGY of the ISLAND
Third most obvious: The HISTORY of the island
Least obvious: The STORY of our LOSTIES

: Run, Eloise! Run!

If you need another puzzle metaphor, think of the story of our LOSTIES as their journey through a rat maze. When Jack opens his eye, our losties are at the START of the maze. When Jack closes his eye, are losties are at THE END of the maze.

The PATH of our losties is what we're trying to pinpoint here -- not their final destination. And guess what? Working a maze BACKWARDS is the quickest and easiest way to find "the path."

If we are to pick out the ONE story of LOST, the PRESENT for our LOSTIES (WHAT HAPPENS), we need to figure out WHAT HAPPENED BEFORE our losties arrived in this world -- what HAPPENED on the island and how it RELATES to our LOSTIES' adventures.

The #1 trick Team LOST has pulled on us [and it is FRICKIN' BRILLIANT, btw] is the way they have INTEGRATED the MYTHOLOGY of the island with the HISTORY of the island.

Until we separate/pull out the MYTHOLOGY of the island and apply what we learn to past events, characters and their behaviors [what they WANT], we'll NEVER solve the riddle. If we can't solve the riddle, we'll NEVER solve the puzzle.

As of right now, EVERYTHING WE'VE SEEN on LOST is out of CONTEXT.
_________________________________________________________________________________
Q & A
Q: Okay, now I have LOTS of questions!!

Yay! I love questions!

Q: How do you know there's a "mythology" of the island?

Simplest answer: Darton told me so.

Consider Darlton’s Commentary on “Across the Sea” [FULL transcript at Lostpedia]:

Damon Lindelof: . . .when we were working on that episode, “House of the Rising Sun,” we knew that Adam and Eve were going to be mythological figures that were entirely responsible for Oceanic 815 crashing on the island. So that when Locke called them as Adam and Eve, he’d be referring to — these characters are personally responsible for us being here in some way.

Carlton Cuse: . . .And what we really wanted to do was, basically, we felt that this was the final mythological origin story that we were gonna do on the show. And we saw this very clearly as a companion piece to "Ab Aeterno," which was earlier in the season.

Q: But how do you know they mean mythology like you mean mythology? How do you know they don't mean religion?

Religion and mythology are defined by cultural function. Christianity, for example, is not the religion of Creation. Christianity is the religion of Christians. The story of Adam and Eve explains how human beings came to existence on Earth [origin story] according to Christianity. Even when Christians "believe" the Adam and Eve story is Historical Fact [as fundamentalist Christians do], the FUNCTION of the story remains the same.

According to the Orientation video for the Hydra Station ["The New Man In Charge"], the Dharma Initative was kidnapping, drugging and "interrogating" "hostiles" [against their will, btw, that's important] "to better understand the hostiles’ way of life, their origins and particularly their worship of an island deity they refer to as “Jacob.”

The worship of a deity falls under "RELIGION." The origin stories for most religions fall under "mythology." The DI were [or so they claim] investigating the "hostiles" religious beliefs by learning more about their mythology.

Q: So Jacob is mythology?

The story that explains Jacob's origin as a deity for the hostiles is mythology.

Q: You're saying Jacob was never "real." How can that be when we've seen him on the island?

NO-no-no! I'm not saying Jacob was never "real." This gets very complicated very quickly, so we'll save the bulk of it for our next post [which is gonna be a GOOD one!], but the historical fact of Jacob's existence on and involvement with the "real" island [the one in the PAST] is not precluded by his designation as a deity by "The Others."

MANY mythological figures are based on "real" humans that have physically walked the Earth. Stories of Jesus, Muhammad and Siddhartha [The Buddha] are the center of Christianity, Islam and Buddhism, respectively. Historians believe a "real" Ulysses, Achilles, Hector, Heracles (aka Hercules) participated in the Trojan War. Vlad the Impaler, aka Count Dracula of vampire mythology, was a "real" guy. St. Patrick of Ireland has his own mythology, too.

Some of these peeps can be verified as "historical fact," and some can't. Remember, when it comes to mythology, verification of stories/mythological figures as historical fact/figures is NOT NECESSARY. It's IRRELEVANT. These stories FUNCTION as mythology. That's what matters.

And when do we ever "see" Jacob? Not until the Season 5 premiere, right? Mock Locke chides "The Others" about how they have followed Jacob for years without ever seeing him. [Guess what? They STILL don't see him when they get to the statue.] Richard and Ben both have existential crises over their "faith" in Jacob.

Question to ask yourself is: how does the story of Jacob function? What does it do?

Q: But we've seen Jacob on the island. He was there thousands of years ago. That makes him part of the history of the island no matter what the "hostiles" believed about him.

Nope. There's NO PROOF WHATSOEVER that events in "Across the Sea" OR in "Ab Aeterno" actually took place hundreds or thousands of years ago.

I repeat: NONE. If Darlton themselves specifically tell us a billion times that "Across the Sea" is a "MYTHOLOGICAL DOWNLOAD," there's a reason. We're gonna break down "Across the Sea" soon, but for now, I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend you READ the transcript of the COMMENTARY for "Across the Sea" [you can find the FULL transcript HERE on LOSTPEDIA], and while you're reading, keep your eye out for terms like "origin," "why," "mythology" and "beliefs."

: Before in "Ab Aeterno"

After you've read the commentary, ask yourself:

If Adam and Eve (the skeletons) are Jacob's Mother and MIB/Brother, then is MIB ALIVE or DEAD when Jack and Kate find their bodies in Season 1?
If Mother is the "bad guy" and Jacob and MIB are her "victims" [which the commentary makes VERY CLEAR, btw], then what did she want?
What CHANGES about Jacob -- on the ISLAND -- after "Across the Sea?" How is he DIFFERENT than he was BEFORE?
What happens to Jacob at the conclusion of our LOSTIES' story? Where does he "go?"

Q: So what about all the religious imagery? Is that just meaningless, too?

NOTHING on LOST is meaningless. Mythology is, in fact, the OPPOSITE of "meaningless."

As for the religious imagery, think back to how the island world is created -- with MEMORIES, right? From a DATABASE of MEMORIES and KNOWLEDGE included in those memories. Obviously included in this database is an extensive knowledge of many different religions, cultural anthropology, psychology and philosophy (just to name a few). Exactly whose memories, I don't know.

Since these memories are used to build this world, it means each element of this world was created a certain way for a REASON. They can't be "meaningless."

: After in "What They Died For"

Q: Let's say you're right. How can we tell the difference between what's mythology and what's history?

Ahhhh, excellent! This is the BEST question!

Here's what Amy's working with so far:

Anything Darlton refer to as "mythology" is suspect [obviously].
Anything related to Jacob is suspect.
Anything related to peeps who DON'T AGE is suspect.

["Suspect," btw, means "should not be taken at face value."]

Anything related to peeps "born on this island" is suspect.

For NEXT TIME: Any time peeps, "The Others" or otherwise, are in "costume" (wearing clothes like Jacob wears in "Across the Sea"), PAY ATTENTION. Ask yourself, what do these costumes HIDE?

Thanks for stopping by!

REFERENCES:

NOTES:

: Pele's Hair

*My favorite myths are those that explain the weirder things in the natural world.

In Hawai'i, the primary mythological figure is Pele [pronounced peh-leh], the goddess of fire and volcanoes [and she is a badass!]. Sometimes when a volcano erupts, thin streams of lava shoot really high into the air [kinda like when you stick your thumb on the end of a water hose]. The higher they go, the thinner they become. When they hit high enough, they cool really quickly and turn into these very weird lookin' threads of volcanic glass that float in bunches and land all over the place.

If you ever get the chance, ask a geologist what it's called.

They'll say, "That? That's Pele's hair."

**Okay. I have to tell this story because it is so VERY funny. When I was twelve, we trekked to my grandmother's house to visit my cousin and her new baby. One night, I overheard my grandmother and my great-Aunt Opal [God rest their souls] chatting about my cousin and her "just-hurry-up-and-get-them-married" wedding 6 months prior.

Although she was not pleased with how it happened, my grandmother said she held no grudge. She said grandbabies were a blessing no matter how they came to be. Aunt Opal joked: if only "young people" knew how miserable labor was, they would "be more careful."

Grandma: If only Eve hadn't eaten that apple -- maybe we'd've gotten to skip that part.
Aunt Opal: Or maybe it just hurts to push a bowling ball out of your ass.

[HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!]