A COMMON THREAD

Christian tries to explain to Jack why his son is dead and there is a church full of his island friends waiting for him.

Christian states that the sideways world was place "they all made together" to find one another. He also said it was because the most important part of Jack's life was the time he spent with these people, and that's why they are all here; no one lives life alone. He needed them, and they needed him; to remember, and to let go.

And this is the climax to the entire series:

As he enters the church, Jack is welcomed by Locke, who kindly tells him, "We've been waiting for you." He then greets Desmond, Boone, Hurley, Sawyer and Kate. He is joined by Charlie, Claire, Aaron, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Shannon, Rose, Bernard, Juliet, Libby and Penny.  After the group has shared embraces and celebrated their reunion, they sit down in the church pews. Christian begins to walk to the back of the church through the middle aisle, and pauses briefly by Jack to put his hand on his shoulder.  Christian approaches the back, opens the doors of the church and glowing white light from beyond the doors washes over all present. Jack exchanges a smile with Kate, and then looks ahead as they are engulfed by the light. 

But why were those people "the most important part of Jack's life?"

It is a given that "no one lives life alone." Every person has a mother and a father so by nature's own rules no one is born alone. In civilized societies, such as Western culture, the community looks after its own. So when Christian tells Jack that these people are important because they were with him during a small aspect of his life, there were other people who were at one time more important to him, such as his ex-wife Sarah or his hospital OR teams. 

But then the final reason is that they needed each other "to remember and to let go."

It is contradictory to create a vivid and complex fantasy sideways world based on your collective past memories of the people you met on the island in order to "remember" them in same fantasy world. The unexplained amnesia of the dead souls is a troubling aspect of the conclusion.

The daunting task is who created the sideways world in the first place. The key is the apparent  ability to re-live your life to change something or someone. We were told that only Jacob could bring people to the fantasy island. They were "touched" by him. But were they truly candidates or did they serve a different purpose?

By looking at the final scene in the church at the End, none of the characters candidacies had any impact on why they wound up together. There has to be a better explanation than just surviving a plane crash.

The idea that Locke, Desmond, Boone, Hurley, Sawyer, Kate, Charlie, Claire, Aaron, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Shannon, Rose, Bernard, Juliet, Libby and Penny were the most important people in Jack's life seems suspect. That conclusion can easily be dismissed by one person, his mother. Jack had a good relationship with her. Why wasn't she as important as Christian in the End?

Or what about the mysterious Thai woman, Achara? Jack had a wild, intense and more fulfilling  relationship with her than with Kate.

Jack really has nothing in common with all of the church members in the end.  The only common thread interlaced in their past is the island.

Jack did not bring Locke, Desmond, Boone, Hurley, Sawyer, Kate,  Charlie, Claire, Aaron, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Shannon, Rose, Bernard, Juliet, Libby and Penny together. Who did? Jacob.

It looks like Jacob represents our Clarence, the angel, in this version of It's A Wonderful Life. Except, this is a mirror image of that story, where James Stewart's life is not the idyllic banker with a loving family but the unshaven, hard drinking man who had no one. In that story, an angel gave the main character an opportunity to see what his little world would have been like if he had never been born. It was a lesson that every man has an affect on his fellow man in unseen but deep ways. In LOST, it is sort of the opposite.

Jack knew he made an impact on other people's lives on a daily basis. He was a surgeon. He knew when his patients had a successful operation and recovery. It was Jack's personal life that took a back seat to his profession.

Jack only had one conversation with those church members prior to Flight 815. It was with Desmond while running stairs at the stadium. Desmond was having his own relationship issues with Penny. It was one of those doctor heal thyself moments. And Dez left with his catch phrase, "see you in another life." The island was that "other" life.

So why do these people in the church need each other in order to move on in the after life? Jack found Locke to a fool, Sawyer to be an obstacle and Boone to be an annoyance. He found Hurley, Claire, Sun and Aaron to be patients more than friends. Kate was his enigma. He never really knew Desmond, Jin, Libby, Penny or Shannon. Rose and Bernard mostly kept to themselves. He found Sayid to a be useful resource in persuading other people to follow him. But nothing in the island stories would sear an everlasting friendship to Jack.

And why would these people want to spend the rest of eternity with Jack? Locke is alone. He has no love of his life present to share this moment (where is Helen?) Boone is also alone, the third wheel in the Sayid-Shannon fortnight romance. Penny has no connection to any of these people. Desmond spent most of his time trying to get away from all of these people. One would have thought that Desmond, Penny and their child would move on together outside this group. The same is true for Christian. Why is he here but not his wife? He never knew anyone in the room except Jack. They are all strangers to him.

And what exactly did Locke, Desmond, Boone, Hurley, Sawyer, Kate,  Charlie, Claire, Aaron, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Shannon, Rose, Bernard, Juliet, Libby and Penny do to "save" Jack's soul?

The only common denominator among this group is that they are all dead. When and how they all died is open to subjective debate. They all could have died in the crash, they all could have died after the crash, or they all could have died prior to Flight 815 (as Jacob was truly a soul collector bring them to the island to begin their after life journeys).

Or worse, Locke, Desmond, Boone, Hurley, Sawyer, Kate,  Charlie, Claire, Aaron, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Shannon, Rose, Bernard, Juliet, Libby and Penny were merely props created by Jacob, his guardian angel,  to help Jack accept his ultimate fear: being unable to save himself from his own mortality.  If true, then it was a cruel con to convince Jack to let go of his earthly ties in order for his fearful soul to move on.

Maybe we caught a glimpse of that realization at the very end. At the church reunion, Jack seems to be out of it. Sitting in the front pew, Jack is in a trance, looking straight ahead. He does not look at Kate when the last moment arrives when Christian opens the church doors. Jack is still in shock as the white light engulfs the church. We do not know what happens next: do they go to heaven, or have another time skip back to the island or does everyone get incinerated by the light?

All we know for sure is that everyone we knew from the island are dead and gone.