PAGANS

It has occurred to me that the Others, the wandering band of Island natives (or "Hostiles" as Dharma called them), seem to run around the ruins, the statue and the temple, but do not appear to be an openly religious. They appear to be followers, but followers of what? Or whom?

A pagan holds religious beliefs that are not considered to be mainstream. I guess ancient Egyptian after life rituals would count as a form of neopaganism in today's society.

The only "ceremonies" we have witnessed among the Others has been Cooper tied to the column in the ruins. In this camp ground, Ben tried to coax Locke into killing Cooper. Locke could not come to grips with that command, and the on-looking Others who thought Locke as "special" seemed to be gravely disappointed that he was unable to kill his father. It was never clear why a special person needs to kill his father in order to assume the leadership role of the Others. Ben clearly did so by orchestrating the purge and gassing his own father in the van. It could be an ancient acceptable method of throne succession, except in this situation Cooper had no contact with the Others and clearly not in any leadership role.

The second ceremony we have seen is at the temple spring, where dying Sayid was drown, then suddenly returned to life on his own. The ceremony itself was a timed event that supposedly would heal human wounds. But since the spring was off-color, something went wrong. Dogen, who appears to be in charge of the temple, but does not act like a standard priest, claims that Sayid had been infected by a darkness that would consume his heart. But instead of "re-killing" Sayid, Dogen asks Jack to poison Sayid. Again, if human sacrifice is a part of this Other philosophy, one would think the ceremony would be controlled by the high priest and not delegated to outsider, even a candidate like Jack.

A "candidate" can also mean a person who is regarded as suitable for or likely to receive a particular fate, treatment or position. Most assume the "candidates" are leadership replacements for Jacob as Island protector. But a candidate can also be one marked for a particular fate (good or bad, life or death) or treatment (death, zombie, sacrifice). Fate implies a pre-destined outcome, but Jacob, Dogen and the Others appear to have great respect for the individual concept of "free will" and voluntary personal decisions. However, we have seen the art of manipulation of free will into fate by the likes of Jacob, MIB and Ben, who got people to do things they wanted them to do under the illusion of free choice.

The only religious artifact of note in personal lives of the Dharma folks was the ankh necklace, worn by Paul, which is an Egyptian symbol for life. The original Tawaret statue held two ankhs. Also, the guitar case housed the same symbol, broken in half to reveal Jacob's apparent final list of candidates. But for all the overlap of the symbol for life, both the Others and Dharma were quick to fire weapons and kill strangers than to preserve human lives.

And maybe that is one of the problems with the Island as a spiritual entity. The inhabitants have no true belief system. They do not realize that they are lost without a religious foundation.