THE CHILDREN

During the series, I had a long simmering question about the children on the island.

After the crash, there was Walt, who was a main character. He was "special." He had a troubled childhood. He was placed in the hands of a stranger, who was his natural father.

In the rear section, two children survived, Zach and Emma. But they were quickly kidnapped by the others (possibly with the help of Cindy who joined the Others).

During the Tailie story, those survivors were terrorized by the Others. During one trek in the jungle, while hiding in the brush, there was a shot of a group of Others passing by from the knee down - - - it looked like children (there was a teddy bear at the end). I thought at that point there may have been a second "group" of island natives, comprised of children like The Lord of the Flies who split off from the adults. This split could have been the reason why a) the adults could not conceive on the island because the renegade children's wish was to curse them; or b) why the Others kidnapped children.

Once Walt left the island, the story of the island children became a great mystery. What happened to them? Throughout the rest of the show, we don't see any children in the Others camp. Then, in a brief instance during MIB's clash at the Temple, we see Emma and Zach - - - but we also see a third child. It was very brief, but it registered as being out of the ordinary. Who was this other child?

Shaun Twiddy was the young actor playing this character. It is in the episode "Sundown," where Sayid returns to the Temple and publicly announces that Flocke has sent him with a message: that Jacob is dead so none of the Temple dwellers have to stay here anymore and that they are free. He says that Flocke (MIB/Smoke Monster) is leaving the Island forever and that those who want to go with him should join him before sundown and be saved, or stay and die. The ultimatum  seems to upset Cindy, Emma and Zach. Cindy leaves the Temple with Emma and Zach, but we do not see this third child.

Which begs several questions: who was this child? Why did he stay at the Temple to meet his death? Was his parents at the Temple? Or was he another kidnap victim? If so, why did not Cindy protect him like she did for Emma and Zach? And why was MIB so callous and indiscriminate in killing children?

Since this mystery child is still young, maybe around seven (7) years old, he came to the island after Ben's purge of Dharma. But only Jacob allowed people to come to the island (as his candidates). If the purge was the curse of the Others not being able to bear children, then this mystery child is not a native islander. He seems to be Middle Eastern. Could he have been a reincarnated child of Sayid's soul when he died in the Temple waters?

The one conclusion we are left is this mystery child more likely than not would have perished in the Temple massacre. It is another fact in the theme that ran through the entire series: the mistreatment of children.

GAME PLAY

If one looks at LOST purely as a video game, what would be the purpose and game play?

It would seem the characters would be avatars in an open world MMO.

It would also seem that the goal of the game could be a variation of "Follow the Leader."

And the game ended only after Jack became the Leader and when he ran out of life force and died.

So, even in that situation, what was the reward or level-up?  The end church could represent Jack's true followers. And when Christian opens the doorway, this could mean they all were going to the level game level as a team.  All the characters came to the island as individuals. The situations made it impossible to stay unattached or alone for very long. One had to make pacts, deals, friendships in order to stay in groups. There is power in numbers. There is strength in numbers.

The missions were all convoluted in logic, but they did serve the purpose of gaining leadership points and followers.

And what leadership role was everyone fighting for? Jacob's island guardianship seems to be the top prize. Jacob had a huge following of Others on the island and in the Temple. But MIB destroyed much of that following leaving only a hand full of beach survivors as candidates. When Jack accepted the island leadership role from Jacob, he still had to defeat MIB who was on the verge of completing its own coup. When Jack defeated MIB (with the help of Kate), that ended his quest. Jack won the game.

The game would then have been played from Jack's point of view. This was Jack's game journey that the viewers rode along, shotgun. It was Jack's struggles to be leader, to make life and death decisions, to make deals, break his word, lead missions, make mistakes, and then finally get enough followers to trust him fully that they would all be rewarded in the end.

This is probably one of the weaker theories in the LOST universe. Who would want to merely observe another person playing a video game? But in one sense, with so many people identifying and rooting for specific characters, viewers did have a vicarious in game action with their favorite characters.

STORY ELEMENTS AS SYMBOLS

If one looks at the core elements of the series as symbols, a theory using those symbols be created to make some sense of the ending.  The main elements of the LOST story were the island, Flight 815, rescue, time travel and death. Let us examine the symbolic meaning of each element.

Island symbolic meaning:

Psychological meaning of an island can be summarized as follows:

You may have a craving for solitude if you dream a desert island. You may be surrounded by too many problems and need to make a little space for yourself.  The sea often symbolizes the unconscious mind so your desire to remain on an island may suggest a wish to cling to the conscious ego instead of venturing into these unexplored parts of yourself.

The sea is also a mother symbol and can, according to Freudian psychology, symbolize your relations with your mother. If the island is engulfed by the sea this can represent the fear of being overwhelmed by too strong a mother-attachment or by unconscious forces that are out of your control.

Mystical or spiritual meaning of an island dream is that to dream about being marooned on an island is an augury of having many friends. Ancient dream oracles saw this as the opposite of separation, over self-dependence and isolation.

Airplane symbolic meaning:

Being an in airplane may show you rising above your troubles. It is a symbol of transcendence and may be a release for material difficulty. The sky is the symbol for expanded consciousness or higher self. An airplane dream expresses your desire for greater awareness or spiritual knowledge. An air journey may indicate a new departure in your life. Freudians believe the airplane is a phallic symbol for virtue. So one with lofty ambitions may want those to progress quickly. A dream of airplane crashing shows that you are over ambitious and have set your sights too high, materially or emotionally, and may have too much doubt to reach your set goals.

Mystics think airplanes indicate that money is on its way. If you are a pilot, you will succeed in a business venture. If the plane crashes, it will fail.

Rescue meaning:

Rescuing someone in the spiritual sense is saving someone who is less fortunate than we are, whether that is through compassion or otherwise. Spiritual rescue is a technique where the souls of the departed are turned towards the Light – direct knowledge – and helped to move on.

From a psychological or emotional perspective, when we have put others in danger, we are required to rescue them in dreams. We are then able to show a degree of nobility and courage that engenders a feel-good factor and allows us to have the capability to reach for the best within ourselves.  Dreams of rescue signifies sudden success in overcoming a previously sticky obstacle.

Time Travel symbolic meaning:

If you wake up with strong emotions then a dream will usually just be noting this new emotion. A dreamer was thinking about the past and it seems certain that his time machine represented their reminiscences as they travelled back in time to their own childhood.

Whispers meaning:

To dream that you hear a whisper, suggests that someone you know is not good.

To dream that you whisper, predicts that you are to act unfairly in the workplace.

To dream of a whisper, indicates that you are being a victim of fraud or conspiracy.

Dreams of death symbolize many different things.

If the dreamer died in a dream, the dreamer awoken quickly grasping for breath. They were shaken up and they needed to take a moment to get their bearings back. They needed to make sure they were still alive and had woken back up into waking reality. The images or feelings lingered through out the day and the dreamer felt a energetic weight containing space within their thoughts.

If a dreamer witnessed or was involved with the death of someone else the dreamer more often then not awoke feeling sad or upset with what just took place. The dream of death feels too real and the dreamer is left, upon waking, wondering if they were actually part of the murder. Witnessing death within in a dream is a slightly different feeling then being the murderer.

Dreams of dying, being dead, witnessing or killing someone else are intense dreams that are often sending an important message to you about you. It more often then not is referring to one of the following; an aspect you that is dying or needs to go, change needs to take place in some aspect in your life, jealousy or envy you may feel towards another person, or fears you may have surrounding death. Every once in a while a dreamer may have a premonition of death (either a loved one, someone they know, or their animal) but never take this as the first sign of a death dream (unless you have that knowing feeling surrounding the death dream).

If the death is you it may represent the death of an old way of thinking (or acting); or the death of an aspect of your Self that needed to die in order for you to move forward. It is suggested that rather then fearing the death that took place in your dream, embrace what was and let go of it. If you are having a hard time accepting the face that this aspect of you has died, create a special ceremony and honor what was. Light a candle and burn a piece of paper in which you have written this old way or aspect, let the paper light on fire until it no longer exists, say a blessings or prayer to what was. By letting go in waking life, as your unconscious was letting go in dream time, you are freeing up energy and space to invite in and embrace what is new.

Correlation to LOST.

When reading the above symbolic definitions of the core symbols of the show, we find key words used during the program. In the end, we were told that the main characters had to be awakened in order to move on. In the symbolism of dreams of death, that is what happens to a person. If the dreamer died in a dream, the dreamer awoken quickly grasping for breath. They were shaken up and they needed to take a moment to get their bearings back. It is suggested that rather then fearing the death that took place in your dream, embrace what was and let go of it in both waking and unconscious time in order to embrace something new. In the end, that "something new" was moving on in the after life.

The island both houses the fears of an individual clinging to stubborn conscious ego beliefs and the dream of having many friends to share the unexplored parts of oneself.

Flight 815 represented transcendence and a release for material difficulty. The sky is the symbol for expanded consciousness or higher self, a  desire for greater awareness or spiritual knowledge.

Time travel represented the characters flashing back to their childhoods, and gather those memories as the island events mirrored their faults during their lifetimes.

The whispers and mental issues doing their island time could show that their conscious defense mechanisms was trying to tell their subconscious dream state that the things around them were unreal, no good, a conspiracy of frauds in order for them to change - - - something the characters deep down did not want to do.

Finally, when one puts others in danger, it is important to summon the courage to rescue them. But that same courage is also important if the person in danger is one's self. Rescue allows a person to have the capability to reach for the best within themselves in order to conquer what is holding them back and to move on.

The island adventure was a subconscious attempt of lost souls to get rid characters of their regrets accumulated their lifetimes in order for them to accept their deaths, awaken in purgatory, and move on with those who helped them along in their dream journey to personal enlightenment. Whether the souls in purgatory dreamed their island time or were diverted to another spiritual world is immaterial. The whole series could be seen as a large subconscious dream created by spirits who needed to come to terms with deep open issues in their past lives.

STOP TRYING

There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no insurmountable barrier except our own inherent weakness of purpose. — Elbert Hubbard

Despite all of his hope and desire, O6 John Locke gave up. In the hotel room in LA, he decided to end his existence because he could not convince any of his fellow survivors to return to the island. He was a failure. There was nothing left for him to do.

Ghost Christian a/k/a MIB/Smokey told John when he was about to turn the FDW that he had to bring all the people back in order to save the island. The island was more precious to Locke than his friends. He felt a connection with it. He knew of its magic. He wanted to protect it. When he asked how he could do it, MIB replied that Locke would have to die.

The island put into Locke's head the solution: death. Death would solve Locke's problems. 

When Locke was at his wit's end in the hotel room, he had lost everything. Helen, his former girlfriend was dead. Abaddon, his driver-advisor, was gunned down in the street. Locke was once again a wheelchair bound loser. He had no purpose going forward if he could not complete his mission.

The irony is that Ben saved his life. Ben interrupted John's suicide. He comforted John and told him that he would help him. Everything would be alright. Locke believed him. And when discussing the next step, Locke told Ben he should go see Eloise because she would know what to do next. At that moment, jealous rage boiled up in Ben. Ben strangled Locke because the name of Eloise was his trigger flash point.

It makes sense that Ben was jealous of Locke if Eloise now trusted him. If Ben and Locke wanted to get back to the island to be its true leader, Ben would not want to be a second banana. No, suddenly pathetic Locke became a major obstacle in Ben's path back to the top. 

As another ironic plot twist, Ben's killing of Locke actually made Locke's mission a success. Locke's death suddenly moved Jack to drastically change his behavior. He took Locke's mission to bring everyone back. It drove him mad. And just as Jack was nearing the end of his rope, Ben intervened to manipulate everyone at the marina into just hearing out Eloise at the church. As a result, most of the O6 people met Eloise for the first time. But Ben was still brooding, because now Jack had taken Locke's place as a potential rival.

On the island, Ben only found some peace when he stop trying to be a leader. Even after he was found to be Jacob's killer, he was forgiven by one of Jacob's followers, Ilana.

Ilana, being the only remaining member of Jacob's followers, then led a new group composed of  Sun, Ben and Frank.  The newly-formed group decided that they should trek to the Temple but before they left they decided to bury the body of Locke. Later, they rescused Miles from the massacre. Ben was separated and attacked by the Smoke Monster. They rejoined at the beach with Jack, Richard and Hurley.  When Ilana found out that it was Ben who killed Jacob, she ordered him to dig his own grave. While he was doing so, MIB appeared to Ben and tried to get him to join his group. Ben ran into the jungle to escape Ilana, resulting in a standoff in which Ben apologized for killing Jacob, stating that he will go with "Locke" because no one else will have him. Ilana then accepted Ben into the group, thereby letting him leave. At this point, Ben became a follower. The burdens of leadership faded away.



That night, the group discussed their next move around a beach campfire. Ilana told them that Jacob had told her that Richard would know what to do. Richard denied this, and angrily walked into the jungle. After following him, Hurley helped him communicate with the ghost of his dead wife telling him that if the Man in Black leaves the Island, they will all go to hell.

If this was true, then Locke's purpose in dying was correct. They key for any island group to get to heaven, i.e. avoid hell, was to keep MIB on the island. It was a test. A test of wills. A test of friendship. A test of trust. A test of team work. A test of spirit. In Locke's own death, he gave others  the will power to carry on his mission to save the island (defeating MIB). It sounds like a simplistic video game final level conquest, but if dead souls true mission was to defeat the devil to release their sins (and the chains of being themselves trapped in the sideways purgatory) to move on to heaven.

Death was the solution for Jack as well. When he closed his eyes after defeating MIB, he had them opening in the sideways world.  His destiny of moving on in the after life was the same destiny of John Locke, except they did not know it until the very end.

JACK'S BACK

In our continuing discussion of the sideways world actually coming first in real after life time to that of the island world, how does this affect the central character of Jack?

In the sideways after life, Jack is still a brilliant surgeon who wants to fix every patient, including those who need "a miracle." Jack is divorced from a fellow doctor, Juliet. He lives with teenage but estranged son, David. It seems like the typical suburban LA family life.

He still has relationship issues to work out. He has problems with his father. He has mirrored those issues with his own son, David, by having his professional duties take precedence over family matters.

When Jack landed on the island, what issues did he have to work out? We must down play his alleged lack of leadership (to make the life and death decisions) because as a trauma surgeon, he led his teams through those decisions on a daily basis. The main focus of his attention beyond mere survival was finding a final connection with his dad because Ghost Christian haunted him. One could think that the island's series of tests was to put Jack into Christian's shoes, but that really is not the case.

In the island world, Jack has similar but more serious problems. Yes, he is divorced from Sarah but he has no children. She has quickly moved on to a new husband to start her family. Jack is angry about being alone and depressed; he turns to alcohol and drugs which ruins his professional standing and draws him close to suicide. Clearly, Jack is worst off in the island world than in the sideways world.

Are the island demons Jack's subconscious feelings that need to be conquered and tamed? They seem fairly tamed in the sideways world so there must be a different answer.

What Jack lacks in both worlds is a true soul mate. Someone has stubborn, argumentative and loyal that he is. But does the island world give him an opportunity to work out his relationship issues with women to the point where he finds bliss? This is debatable. We have various women thrown in Jack's romantic path, including Juliet, Kate, Achara, and Sarah. None of them ended well. Even after defeating MIB, Kate did not stay by mortally wounded Jack. No, Kate left with Sawyer to find the plane to leave the island and Jack behind. That was Kate's choice.

If the island was a proving ground for something missing in Jack's after life soul, what was it?

It is not as clear cut as Juliet and Sawyer's awakening and rekindling of their island romance.
It is less black and white of the polarization of Ben's relationships with Danielle in the island versus sideways worlds. 

Was it all the personal sacrifices Jack made on or to the Island that led him to a revelation about himself? No lesson was learned because Jack sacrificed himself like he sacrificed himself to save others in his real life. Jack's general personality did not change between worlds.

Was it as simple as finding out people do get "second chances" and things are not "fixed" in time or space? This would explain his rocky relationship with Kate, its on and off head butting on and off the island, to the non-contact with her until the very end at the church. Jack had no relationship with Kate in the sideways world but connected with her for the next level of the after life. Kate always said she'd have Jack's back. And in the final sense, she would take him back, this time forever.

But the one concern with Sideways Jack is his love and devotion to his son, David. But since we know the sideways world is inhabited by dead souls, who was David? Was he a figment of Jack and Juliet's imaginations? He does not fit into a piece to be worked out in the island realm. He does not figure into the finale either. Jack never asks Christian "where is David?" There is no rule against "moving on" with your children (Claire and Aaron; Christian with his two children). So David is an anomaly in the sideways time is first theory. If Jack's real desire was to a have a normal, stable family life with a wife and child, then that dream is never fulfilled. However, if Jack's dream was to be released from responsibility and commitment (themes of the island world), then death would be the only answer, i.e. the sideways world. Jack's meeting his dead father "in person" awoke him to the notion that his life was over. But at that moment, he did not know who was in the church except Kate.

What did the people in the church give Jack during his island time that he failed to find in the sideways world? Friendship.

Friendship is the emotions or conduct of friends; a state of mutual trust and support.

The island proving ground did give Jack the opportunity, in a non-medical setting like a hospital, to learn to trust and support other people. To seek judgment, opinions, and options from other people. To argue, make decisions, and make mistakes.  And through all those arguments, decisions, mistakes and events, people did not turn their backs to him. Jack learned how to make lasting friendships. And in many respects, it was a mutual experiment for characters like Locke and Boone. The bonds of friendship is what Jack's soul was missing in its real life.

WORK TO BE DONE

Why did Ben, of all people, have the sole right to choose to stay in the sideways world after Hurley invited him to join the group in the church?

As set forth in the previous post on Sawyer and Juliet, if the sideways afterlife actually came first, and the island world was merely a testing ground for lost souls to fix their moral, emotional or other issues, then many of the sideways choices make some sense.

In the sideways world, Ben is a meek high school teacher. He has no cloud. He has no chance of promotion. He is like his fellow teachers seemingly in the dead end job with little personal gratification. He is also a trapped caretaker for his ill father who lives with him. As a result of this caregiving, Ben has no social life. It depresses him. But here, he accepts his fate.

But if he the opportunity, he would be a different, more assertion - - - aggressive personality. He received that gift when his soul wound up on the island. The island allowed his deepest, darkest and repressed emotions to surface and take hold.

In the sideways world, any repressed bitterness for his lot in life to take care of his ill father was taken out by Island Ben created the grand purge which included killing his father. The death of his father would release him from his duty to him.

In the sideways world, any strong, inherit shyness, introverted or anti-social tendencies were turned inside-out by Island Ben becoming a strong, aggressive leader of the Others. The power made him believe in himself. He could manipulate and control people like a puppeteer. He would always get what he wanted - - - something he would never attempt in his real life.

So we have Island Ben being the exact opposite of after life Ben. So why didn't Ben, knowing his island past, go with Hurley into the church in order to move on? He said he still had "work" to do.

We believe that work was somehow making amends or a connection with Danielle and Alex.

But why would he want Danielle and Alex to remember Island Ben? Ben did not have a loving relationship with Danielle like Sawyer had with Juliet, to be rekindled in the after life. No, Ben was a ruthless kidnapper of Danielle's child. Ben sought to capture and kill Danielle. Ben's decisions eventually led to both Danielle's and Alex's deaths on the island. These are not happy memories for either Danielle or Alex. Once they realize what sideways Ben was to them on the island world, one would have to assume that Danielle and Alex would be repulsed by Ben.

So why would Ben stay in the sideways world? Is it because he could do no better?
Or does Ben get a "second" island proving ground with Danielle and Alex? This time to get it "right." (I don't think that would be a sequel that anyone would watch.)

If the island was a training ground for Ben to learn to be more assertive, more independent, more open to social settings like romance and dating, we get a hint of that in the sideways arc when after Desmond runs him over, he gets the sympathy and respect of both Alex and Danielle, including a dinner invitation. But his change in the sideways world cannot erase the bad things he did on the island. And this is why it is difficult to reconcile Ben's sideways end game to that of Juliet's with Sawyer. Juliet found her soul mate on the island. Ben tortured his alleged soul mate on the island.

Unless there is some magical love potion that is made of an egomaniac losing one's hubris like Ben's fall from power in the island realm, it is hard to imagine that awakening Danielle is going to cause Ben anything but more pain. And maybe that is the punishment that Ben has chosen upon himself. To live out his purgatory existence with the deep dark secret of his island torments in order not to be cast off into the darkness, or become a whisper trapped on the island.

IT WORKED

"It worked."

Juliet said that after the Incident where the bomb or EM energy pocket imploded the Hatch during its construction in the flash time of 1977.

Many assumed that she meant that whatever happened brought them back to the present time period. But in reality, how could a severely injured Juliet, trapped under rubble, know she had time skipped to the present?

In the last big scene, there is a clue:

[Flash sideways - Sawyer is walking down the hospital corridor. He stops Jack has he passes by.]

SAWYER: Hey, you know where I could get some grub around here?

JACK: Uhh... the cafeteria's closed, but there's a vending machine down the hallway.

SAWYER: Thanks, doc.

JACK: Yeah, no problem.

[Sawyer looks on as Jack walks away, pausing for a moment. At the vending machine he flattens out his dollar bill and inserts it into the machine. He presses the buttons for an Apollo bar (G23), but it gets stuck in the machine.]

SAWYER: Oh, come on...
[He shakes the machine but the bar doesn't budge.]

SAWYER: Unbelievable.
[He attempts to reach inside the machine to grab the bar. A woman approaches.]

JULIET: Can I help you?

SAWYER: It's okay... I'm a... I'm a cop.

JULIET: Mmmm. Maybe you should read the machine its rights?

SAWYER: [laughing] That's funny.

JULIET: Mmmm... Can I tell you a secret?

SAWYER: Please.

JULIET: If you unplug it, and then you plug it back in again... the candy just drops right down.

SAWYER: Is that right?

JULIET: Yes, and it's technically legal.

SAWYER: Oh... give that a shot...
[He unplugs the machine and all the lights in the room go off.]

SAWYER: Oops...
[Juliet laughs, grabs the bar from the machine and gives it to Sawyer.]

JULIET: It worked. 

[Sawyer grabs the candy, but as his hand touches Juliet's, they both begin to see flashes of their time together on the Island. They jump back in surprise.]

JULIET: Oh...

SAWYER: Whoa... did you feel that?

JULIET: We should get coffee some time.

SAWYER: I'd love to but the machine ate my dollar, I only got one left.

JULIET: We can go dutch.

[As she says that last line we see her on the Island, they flash to her dying in Sawyer's arms as she says the same line. Juliet holds Sawyer's hand and they begin to experience more flashes of their 1970's DHARMA life; Sawyer holding up a daisy, them hugging, spooning in bed, more hugging and kissing, Sawyer holding Juliet from falling in The Incident, Juliet falling.]

SAWYER: Juliet? Juliet it's--it's me. Ju--

[They embrace and Juliet begins to sob.]

We have to ask ourselves "What worked?"

Juliet's plan to help a stranger game a vending machine worked as Sawyer got his candy bar. But was her phrase "It worked," coupled with a touch the "magic spell" that unlocked their repressed memories of their island life? We still don't understand why the characters in the sideways purgatory after death cannot remember their island past. Or when they do remember the trials, tribulations and good memories of the island they get all euphoric.

But if we take a different perspective on Juliet's "It worked" in the hospital, we may get a different understanding of the sideways world.

Island Juliet could have been remembering how she and Sawyer found happiness in the after life when she said "it worked." Her mind flashed to the hospital vending lounge. She understood her place in the universe. She knew everything would be okay in the end.

This again puts the sideways world earlier in real time than the island world. Considering the time itself was a nebulous concept throughout the series, this is a possible connection between the two worlds. It may hint that one needs to know in the island realm that things will be okay in the sideways afterlife in order to actually die in the island world. It may sound strange, but Christian's explanation of the sideways world (something the main characters created themselves) was actually referencing the characters creating the sideways world to work out their purgatory problems in order to move on. The purgatory characters were using their dreams, fears and fantasies to escape to the island (and not escape from it as shown in the pilot episode) to work out the issues that kept in purgatory.

Perhaps, Juliet was stuck in purgatory because she could not move on in her past relationship with her ex-husband. Her inability to give up her feelings for her ex-husband in Florida mirrored her loneliness in the sideways existence with her cordial but distant relationship with Jack. It was only throwing her subconscious spirit into the island world could she work through her personal demons of clinging emotional behavior to find a new love of her life. She just happened to stumble upon another desperate spirit in Sawyer who also had learn to let down his guard to overcome his commitment issues. They became soul mates because their after life souls found each other in the spiritual proving ground called the island.

LOST WORLDS

“ Every man carries with him the world in which he must live. ”
— F. Marion Crawford 


A world is a place defined as a person's life and activities outside one's self.

Jack's world that he created was that of being a driven medical doctor in order to feed the need for his father's approval.

Kate's world that she created was that of a rebel in order to lash out at her parents for their secrets.

Locke's world that he created was one of forced acceptance equality and balance with others that he lacked in growing up without parents or siblings.

Sawyer's world that he created was one of darkness and revenge in order to fill the void when his parents were killed.

Hurley's world that he created was one of fantasy in order to avoid dealing with the issues of his father's abandonment and consequential depression and self-esteem issues.

Sayid's world that he created was that of a brilliant soldier to cope with the issues of growing up as the child who would do the dirty work for his father and siblings.

Charlie's world that he created was the dreams of a rock star in order to overcome the isolation from his family who moved on to create their own new families.

Rose's world that she created was one of faith and acceptance in order to deal with her terminal cancer.

Bernard's world that he created was that of curing Rose in order to be with her in order to deal with her terminal cancer which goes back to curing his bachelor loneliness.

Sun's world that she created was one of a rebellious child in order to seek independence from the customs and burdens placed upon her by her father.

Jin's world that he created was one of great expectations and wealth by leaving his village to go to the big city to find fame and fortune in order to end his cycle of poverty and shame.

Desmond's world that he created was that of the tortured soul who gets rewarded with his dream life with his lover in order to offset his fears of commitment and failure as a man.

If you look at all the character's worlds, they all intersect in the Island events. Their desires intertwine in the story lines, each helping the other toward their fantasy or dream goal that created their own separate worlds. It is the collection of the worlds that each character created on their own that fuses the premise of the island as the engine for their journeys to find resolution of the thing(s) they were trying to deal with from their childhoods. The world of LOST was made up the worlds of the characters colliding with other. In the primal mode of survival, no one notices that each has deep scars from their childhoods that their dream worlds were to heal. But no one can heal themselves. They need new friends, new families, new relationships and new ideas in order sort one's problems out to find a lasting resolution.

MOVING ON

This is how LOST ends: with Christian opening the church doors to bring a wash of white light upon those characters sitting in the pews. This was the moment where they would be "moving on."

But look closely at the picture. Does it give us any final clues?

On the left side of the picture, we have the following characters from the front row back:

1. Locke, who is looking back
2. Sayid and Shannon off to the side by themselves, leaning forward but looking back
2. Bernard and Rose, looking forward
3. Juliet and Sawyer, looking back
4. Boone, looking back

On the right side of the picture, we have the following characters from front row back:

1. Jack and Kate, looking forward
2. Sun and Jin, looking back
2. Charlie, Aaron and Claire, looking forward
3. Desmond and Penny, looking back
4. Hurley and Libby, looking back

On the left side, 6 people are looking back towards the light.
On the right side, 6 people are looking back towards the light.
Does this represent that these people are content to embrace the after life?

On the left side, 2 people are looking forward away from the light.
On the right side, it appears 4 people are looking forward away from the light (Aaron is covered).
Does this represent that these people are not sure about moving on into the light?

The people looking back toward the light have some commonality.
Locke and Boone are sitting alone, far a part.
Sayid and Shannon are also sitting away from the main aisle, leaning forward which
may show uncertainty.
Juliet is full turn while Sawyer is half turned toward the light.
Sun, Jin, Hurley and Libby are sitting farther away from the main aisle, but looking back.
Desmond and Penny are fully turned toward the light.

But in front of them, Charlie and Claire are heads together looking forward.
Bernard and Rose are sitting up straight and stoic while staring ahead.
And Jack and Kate look forward with childish grins on their faces.

The left side of the picture contains more people that have less bonds with Jack than those on the right side of the picture. Those on the left have traits of being loners, self-reliant. The people on the right side had more important contact and interaction with Jack. The right side characters are fully paired off in couples; while the left side has two singles.

Jack was the last person we know of who realized that he was dead. Therefore, he was the last person in the church to accept that fact. Perhaps, he has yet to come to grips with it so he stares ahead contemplating the moment. He may have thought that the joke was on him all along.

Desmond was probably the first person in the sideways story arc to understand his own demise. This may be why he is turned toward the light. He understands where he is and he had nothing further to do accept it in order go on with Penny by his side.

Charlie and Claire's sideways awakening was always problematic because Aaron's "rebirth" leads to complicated real world questions or the possibility he was just a "prop," but their reunion was the longest in time because Charlie died on the island. So they may have also needed more time to reflect on the situation before turning to the light.

Bernard and Rose seem out of place. They are together, looking forward but in the last moments of the scene, they do not look happy. Perhaps Rose knew before anyone that the plane crash was symbolic passing to purgatory to judge everyone's character in death. While others around them embrace the idea of the after life, Bernard and Rose may be pensive because they knew that the island was also part of an after life construction - - - and the next stage of existence could be either Heaven or Hell.

We assumed a happy ending for the characters. But we are not sure what they were about to move on to (including the cryptic Christian who said he did not know.) But if we have one final look at Numbers, a repetitive theme throughout the series, we have 6 on the left looking back to the light, 6 on the right looking back to the light, and 6 people looking forward: 6-6-6.

THE SECOND ACT

“I once thought that there were no second acts in American lives, but there was certainly to be a second act to New York's boom days,” - - - F. Scott Fitzgerald 

The Second Act in anything is not a guarantee.

In the series, the First Act was clear: the elements of surviving a plane crash with no hope of rescue. How would average people cope with extraordinary circumstances? It was like the survivors were thrown back to primitive mankind - - - little technology, hostile environment, dangerous beings surrounding them at night.

The Second Act was more tenuous: "we gotta go back" was Jack's scream to Kate. The idea that the O6 would want to "go back" to the island after they had been rescued defies basic human instincts of self-preservation. There was no real reason to go back. The people they "left behind" were mostly still strangers in a strange land. They had only known each other for a few months. For Jack, he had a life to actually go back to: his mother and his medical practice. Kate had a personal mission: to raise Aaron for Claire. Sayid had lesser bonds with the people left behind on the island. He actually received his dream when he was rescued: Nadia and a new life. Hurley had the least need to go back. He had a family and enough wealth never to work again. 

When Nadia was "killed" by Jacob's agency, one would have thought that Sayid's pain would be with him forever. If it was truly real, he would have wound upon reunited with Nadia in the sideways church. But he did not. Once he lost Nadia, he would still have no reason to go back to the island because there was no one there he cared about to save. 

Hurley's guilt about The Lie the O6 told was enough to get him back into his "comfort zone," being committed to the mental institution and away from the preying public. His best island friend, Charlie, was already dead. His potential girlfriend, Libby, was also dead. There was nothing to pull Hurley back to the island. 

Kate had even less motivation to go back. She "beat" the multiple charges against her. She was accepted as Aaron's mother. She had enough money to live quietly in peace. She never had to run away from any problems. This is what she dreamed about when she was in custody. The idea that she had to go back to the island to "save" Claire was irrational since to the eyes of the O6 survivors, when the island disappeared, everyone on it was dead.

The idea that a few mental jabs, some coaxing language and heart string pulls by Jacob or Widmore would get people who had no reason to go back to the island onto the Ajira plane is perplexing; so much so it calls into doubt whether the O6 story arc was actually real or as the boat in the harbor stated, an Illusion.

The Island's Second Act was more confusion. The time skip by "some" of the Ajira passengers made no physical or logical sense. We were already shown the "longing" by Sun to the loss of Jin, but she saw him blow up on the freighter. There was no evidence that Jin was alive. There was no reason for Sun to leave her baby and go off on a crazy scheme told by a known liar, Ben. 

If the whole purpose of the O6 was to reclaim something lost when they left the island, none of the O6 really got what they were searching for except Kate, who allegedly reunited Claire with Aaron after the Ajira plane took off the Hydra Island runway. Jack did not come back to the island for anyone or anything. He came back to die, something he could have accomplished without returning to the island. Hurley came back for nothing. His island actions saved no one. In fact, the returning O6 folk were merely pin balls going back and forth between camps as followers in the convoluted tale of Jacob and MIB. Only Kate and Jack fought MIB in the end. And Sawyer showed up only to escort Kate to the Ajira plane while Jack wandered back to his martyrdom. But even Kate's mission to find Claire was one of an accident. She did not know Claire would be brooding near the runway.  So Kate really stumbled to her goal of getting Claire off the island. 

So if the first act was all about Jack trying to keep the survivors from killing each other and the second act's only success was Kate getting Claire home, what bearing does that have on the End?

If the Second Act was the pivotal climax to resolve the LOST story, then the LOST story was really only about Kate. That may be hard to swallow that the story was all conceived by Kate as a dreamweaver.  But since Kate was the only person to get her wish upon returning to the island - - - she is the Dorothy in this Oz. And if we try to look objectively at the sideways church reunion, it was Kate's wish fulfilled that Claire would be reunited with Aaron. And the undertone is that Kate true feelings toward Jack would make him be with her forever. She did so by giving Jack a room filled of people who acknowledged his leadership and friendship. She took away romantic rivals by putting Sawyer and Juliet together. Kate's real Second Act was finding peace in the after life.

TRAGIC RESOLUTIONS

The tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. — Benjamin Mays

From a point blank, black or white, yes or no answer - - - - did the main characters attain what they were seeking when their LOST saga began?

JACK. His sole goal or mission when LOST started was to bring his father "home" for his funeral. 

In a roundabout way, Jack did have his father's funeral in O6 story arc and "another one" in the sideways world conclusion. It seems redundant that Jack "experiences" two funerals for his father, but we get the sense of no resolution within Jack.

KATE. Her sole goal or mission when LOST started was to get away from Marshal Mars and her criminal charges including murder.

In a sense, Kate got her wish when the marshal died with her secret, but she could not run away from it forever as in the O6 story arc, she was put on (a legally dubious) trial and received no punishment from her crimes. She re-lived her runaway nature in the sideways world when Flight 815 landed in LA. 

LOCKE. His sole goal was to become independent, to take charge of his own life (beyond his disabilities). 

As terrible as it sounds, Locke was crippled more by his mental fixation of abandonment and betrayal by his parents than his paralysis. The island gave him his miracle of being able to walk, and then his opportunity to become the man he never was . . . but the mental baggage of his own personality would doom him over and over again. He would get a second "miracle" in the sideways world by allowing Jack to do surgery, but we now know that was a meaningless fictional device to jump start the final reunion.

SAWYER. His sole goal in life was to avenge his parents death by killing Anthony Cooper. 

Sawyer was granted the opportunity to kill Cooper when Locke's "wish" was granted by the island's "magic box." In order to become the island leader, Locke needed to kill his father in order to become worthy (whether symbolic or real ritual is unclear). Locke could not do the deed, but he got Sawyer into the same locked room with Cooper knowing that Sawyer's rage would get the better of him. In the sideways world, Sawyer did not get any revenge on Cooper, who was a feeble old man being taken care of by Locke and Helen.

SAYID. His sole goal was to change his dark evil torturer past in order to find happiness with Nadia.

In all respects, Sayid failed in his goals. He really had nothing in common with the other main characters. The closest person to him from a purely mental background was Ben. Both had embraced the dark side of the force. But with all the pining for Nadia, including the O6 story arc, Sayid winds up as a reincarnated dark minion and with Shannon in the sideways reunion.

HURLEY.  His mission was to find the source of his problems, The Numbers, which he believed cursed his life by bringing him pain of people dying, people taking advantage of him (like his father in his return).

Hurley's blessing of winning the lottery added more mental pressure on his low self-esteem.  He could not see anyone liking him for himself because of the fame and money. At the most basic level, Hurley failed in his mission to find out what the Numbers truly meant. Even when his secret got out on the island, most people did not believe him. In the O6 story arc, Hurley was more comfortable voluntarily committing himself in a mental institution than dealing with the real world. And that fantasy escape seems to have transfixed his final resolution by ending up with Libby, a person he only "knew" for a few weeks on the island (and never had a first date until the sideways world.)

ROSE and BERNARD. To be together, until death do part.

Bernard wanted to find a miracle to cure Rose's cancer so he could spend more time with her. Rose was stoic and resolute that her cancer could not be cured so she only wanted to live out her life in peace with her husband. The island did give them that peace after they decided to get away from all the beach politics, leadership issues and dangerous battles with strangers like the Others or Widmore's men. It is interesting to note that they did not have to be "awakened" in the sideways world. One aspect of Rose's early introduction after the crash was that she knew her cancer was gone. Many assumed the island's healing powers, but a few of us thought that Rose knew then and there her cancer was gone because she was dead. Everything was going to be alright because she accepted her fate. 

JIN and SUN. Their confusion over their relationship was in part fueled by each individual's desire to run away (Jin from his poor fisherman past; and Sun from her domineering father). The open ended question was whether they had the personal resolve to run away from their past together.

Only in death on the island, did Jin and Sun truly sealed their bond (even though Jin's failure to take into consideration of their young child is a troublesome issue). They could never live "happily ever after" except in the fantasy sideways world.

CHARLIE. His pre-flight goal was to "get the band back together," but in some ways Charlie was looking for family to fill his drug induced void in his life.

Charlie never reached his goals. His overture was rejected by his brother, who suddenly had a nice family life in Australia. It was seeing that family life, and the rejection by his brother, that made Charlie "dream" of such life for himself. But he never got a chance to realize the full extent of any such relationship on the island, or really in the sideways church as he was engulfed by white light shortly after Aaron's "re-birth."

MICHAEL. His sole mission was to get his son, Walt, back into his life. 

Michael never succeeded in his goal. Walt was a stranger. Walt had issues on why his father let him go as a baby. Walt was also dealing with the death of his mother, and abandonment by his stepfather. Michael's desire to protect and save Walt from the island dangers clouded Michael's judgment so much that he turned into a killer and betrayer of his fellow survivors. As a result of his actions, Walt became bitter and estranged from his father. Michael, so despondent over his personal failures, tried to commit suicide on multiple occasions. In the end, he is literally a lost soul trapped in the spirit world of the island.

A summary of the main characters and their pre-crash goals being met:

YES: Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Rose & Bernard,

NO:  Locke, Sayid, Hurley, Jin & Sun, Charlie, Michael

There is no consistent story pattern from reviewing this simple pre-crash question. It is hard to pinpoint one critical pre-crash issue that was buried in the gut of each character. Maybe all the characters were looking for a way to say they were sorry to a parent. It also seems that the sideways world main unresolved issues were transfixed just before the plane crash (which gives some credence to the parallel purgatory theories). Maybe 40% of the characters attained some form of closure in their pre-island personal issues. But that means more of them did not.

UNWANTED CHILDREN

One of the issues I had with LOST is how it treated children like Aaron, Emma and Zach. At times, the portrayal of children were mere props. This includes Walt, who was supposed to be a major character into the series until a large growth spurt wrote him out of the series.

But as adults, we did not view the series through the eyes of a child. How one reacts to an entertainment show is based upon one's own life experiences. That is why writers try to use universal themes and events to give commonality to the characters so we can glean familiar traits and conflicts to be resolved in the story.

The show could be viewed now as a series of unwanted children stories.

Locke was probably the earliest example. He was the consequence of a smooth talking con man taking advantage of a naive country girl. After his miraculous birth, his mother refused to hold him. Locke was abandoned by his parents within minutes of being born. That scar was burned deep into Locke. He called his mother "crazy." He did not fit into his foster homes. He had no relationship with his father, until he came back into his life to steal a kidney.  No wonder Locke rebelled against his own nature and authority. He wanted to be in charge of his own life. He wanted to find a normal home life. It is telling that at an early age Locke transposed his feelings into artwork which included a dangerous smoke monster.

Kate also had bad childhood issues. She was raised by an army officer father, Sam Austen, and her mother. But Kate felt deeply betrayed when she found out that the man who raised her was not her "real" father. And once that secret was out, her "real" father  - - - an abusive drunk - - - came back to the house, Kate lashed out. She felt abandoned by the man he thought was her father. She felt abandoned by her mother who took more time and effort to please Wayne than maintain her relationship with Kate. As such, Kate began to act up in order to regain her mother's attention.  As a child,  a store clerk caught Kate and her friend, Tom, stealing a lunchbox from a small convenience store. Jacob intervened and paid for the lunchbox, tapping her nose, and telling her to "be good." Later,  Kate and Tom recorded a message and put it and a toy airplane and a baseball into the lunchbox and buried it under a tree as a time capsule. It is telling that Kate transposed her feelings into becoming a trouble maker to get attention. One way to do so was to runaway from home. Make her mother miss her. The toy airplane became of symbol of Kate's desire to runaway from her parents.

 Jack had different childhood issues. He was raised by an upper middle class professional couple. His father was a brilliant but boastful surgeon. He was never around when Jack was growing up. And when he talked to Jack, it was usually to correct him or knock him down a peg. Jack felt isolated from his parents. And as an only child, he had the desire to succeed in order to re-gain the perceived lost affection from his parents. So he tried very hard to match his father's accomplishments. And when he succeeded and began a successful surgeon, his father did not change. He was still critical of his son. The lack of respect was crippling to Jack's ego.

James Ford a/k/a Sawyer had a traumatic childhood that scarred his psyche. He carried with him the story of how a con man came into his rural town and seduced his mother and stole all his family's money.  He said that the man, Anthony Cooper or "Sawyer," claimed that he loved his mother and promised to take her out of Alabama. Sawyer realized that her mother had betrayed his father. His mother chose a stranger over the family. Sawyer's father found out and became a deranged person.  He shot his wife then turned the gun on himself, while young James hid under the bed and watched. At the funeral, James began a letter to the con man, vowing to find him one day and kill him. Jacob  gave him a pen when his dried out, and he finished the letter, though he promised his uncle that he would not complete it.  In his bitterness and the traumatic emotional scar of a broken family, Sawyer's quest for revenge turned him into the man he hated since he was a boy.

Hurley also had abandonment issues. He was close with his mother and father. Everything seemed to be great. He was helping his dad rebuild a car, when suddenly one day, he left. All he gave him was a candy bar. That candy bar became a crutch to stay off depression. Hurley gained weight, became introverted, and began to fantasize about a better things. Hurley became a loner. As a result, he never thought that he would amount to much. He would go from dead end job to dead end job. Even his closest friend would take off and leave him alone.  He blamed his loneliness on the fact that it must have been his fault that his father left the family. He had to be punished for breaking up the family. And when he suddenly found wealth and the family was reunited, Hurley was ashamed by the superficial love shown by the people around him. He felt that the money was a curse, but he really believed deep down that he was the one that was cursed so that bad things would happen to people close to him.

In these examples, we find small children trying to deal with serious adult issues: abandonment, betrayal, harsh criticism to belittlement, traumatic emotional scars and cursed loneliness. And in these early years, the characters made certain choices that appear to haunt them for the rest of their lives. Locke pushing hard to find a family but as a result pushes away the good people. Kate only knows how to run away from her problems rather than directly dealing with them. Jack gives up all aspects of his life to make sure his father would one day be proud of Jack's accomplishments. Hurley learns to blame himself for the troubles of the people around him. At some early point in time, each of the main characters felt that someone they cared about did not want them.

It is a universal fact that babies and young children cling and bond to their parents. They need the close attachment for nourishment and safety. They get upset if they think a parent is abandoning them ("don't leave me alone!") or not paying attention. They cannot care for themselves. It is the care and affection they receive as a young child which molds how they will grow up.  Kate felt this deep pain of her childhood scars coming to the forefront when she took Aaron home to be raised by her. This was the same lie which she lived in her own childhood. Kate beat herself up so much that her solution was again to run away from the responsibility of caring for Aaron to find Claire in a apparent suicide mission to get back to the island. Kate abandoned Aaron much like her step-father abandoned her.  Kate knew that her actions would cause Aaron deep pain later in life. But her own history repeated itself when she left Aaron.

We saw the main characters as adults with childlike issues. And perhaps, that is how the main characters saw themselves. The characters had similar traits of being sentimental, emotional, bitter and feeling unwanted by their parents. Where do unwanted children wind up? An orphanage.

One small pebble of doubt in a young child's mind can snow ball into a huge emotional problem as an adult. How does a young child perceive his or her being put in an orphanage? A prison to punish them for something they did wrong to break up their family? A place where useless people are thrown away? 

The seeds of the entire LOST island story could have been established in the imaginations of the orphans who dreamed of what their lives would become if they could control them. Each of the children could bring an element to their group storybook tale of woe to the schoolyard: Locke the dangerous island monster; Kate the airplane to run away from their problems; Hurley the curse of crashing the plane; Sawyer the lies that turn matters into life and death actions; and Jack trying to prove that he is worthy of a parent's praise.

What if the basis of LOST is the group imagination of orphans acting out their psychological issues in their own Wizard of Oz fantasy play time. Children have vivid imaginations. They can recreate battles in the back yard; Star Wars space fights in the basement with paper towel tubes as light sabers; they can dream of tropical paradises; they can create monsters in the closet or boogie men under the bed; they can transform themselves into doctors, pilots, hunters, assassins, soldiers, beauty queens, witches and kings, and  all with the lack of moral right or wrong since to them it is all mere "play."

As normal adults, we have forgotten more childhood memories than we realize. It may be the clutter of the modern day multitasking, but at some time in the future the mental clouds will part and those forgotten memories will resurface like they happened just yesterday. An example of this is in elderly patients with various forms of dementia: they may not know the names of their family members, but they can tell vivid stories from the childhood. How or why people suddenly "awaken" or focus in on lost childhood memories is unknown. But that same mystery is apparent in the sideways world when the characters have to remember in order to move on. In LOST, it may have been to remember the fantasy stories of abandoned orphans in order to obtain peace of mind.

NURSING A CONCEPT

It is hard to imagine, but the story lines of LOST contained more than 35 "nurses."  In battlefield medical tents, nurses were called "angels of mercy." They have the difficult job of treating people in difficult to life threatening situations.

There are some interesting patterns with some of them.

Locke's nurse at St. Thomas Hospital where he donated a kidney to Anthony Cooper later showed up as his nurse at St. Sebastian Hospital with Jack. It is odd that a nurse would change hospitals. It would seem that this nurse was "assigned" to follow Locke, to watch over him.

A nurse worked at the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute in which Hurley and Libby were institutionalized as patients. When Hurley came back (after being released) to visit Leonard, the nurse would not allow Hurley to see him, as he didn't know Leonard's last name. Eventually Hurley was let in by Dr. Curtis.  This nurse must have been hired after Hurley left because she did not know him. The odd part is that Hurley was good with names, so he would have remembered Leonard's last name.

But the more mysterious nurse was Susie Lazenby, a nurse from a prior episode, "Dave."  She was the nurse who gave medications in the day room to both Hurley and Libby. Was there something important to keep both Hurley and Libby "drugged" to the point where they would not remember each other?

Ayesha was a nurse at the local Tunisian infirmary to which a severely injured Locke was brought to after he turned the FDW.  She was on duty when three men entered carrying Locke. A doctor shouted out loud for her twice while he was treating Locke, but she was unresponsive until another nurse pointed out to her that the doctor was in hurry. When she finally responded to the doctor, Matthew Abaddon  was watching from behind a curtain where she was standing. Abbadon was Locke's orderly after he was paralyzed by Cooper's betrayal. Ayesha was the last person Locke seemed to recognize before losing consciousness.

Debra was a DHARMA nurse who assisted Juliet while operating and caring for a young Ben who was shot by Sayid during the time flash period. She worked with Juliet and later informed Juliet that Kate was there to donate blood for Ben because she was a universal donor.

In the End, Nurse Jean assisted Jack with patient Locke at St. Sebastian Hospital when Locke awakened. Jean's name was said on screen by Jack making her the final named character ever to be introduced on LOST.

In the theme of Life and Death, nurses as angels can be powerful symbols. Or they can be sinister agents for powerful forces. For example, in Locke's story his life "ends" when he is thrown 8 stories from a window. As part of his miraculous rehab, an orderly called Abbadon (which is a reference to the devil) imparts wisdom and hope to Locke to continue with his rehab. Abbadon, who is working for Widmore, returns to help Locke gather up the O6 survivors to return to the island. But not after being present when Locke is treated after his time flash. Abbadon and the nurses around him clearly were pushing, guiding and advising Locke on important decisions that Locke had to make in order to survive.

I also think nurse Susie Lazenby was carrying on exterior motives by being the one medicating both Hurley and Libby. She could have been an operative to keep Hurley or Libby from remembering their past or their future (see prior post about the sideways world being first in actual time).  Who would suspect a nurse who has an oath to help patients, actually dispensing drugs to keep souls in the state of darkness, despair, illusion or depression? It is the perfect cover to control, manipulate and brain wash patients.

Perhaps young Ben learned these manipulation techniques when he was shot by Sayid. Kate took on the role of being an angel of mercy by donating blood to save Ben's life. Juliet, knowing what Ben would become in the future, decided that her own personal feelings and desire to kill the monster called Ben in 2004 had no place in 1977. It was one of those ethical puzzles with no clear answer.

If one thinks the series was an dreamy after life state where the characters had to sort through various ethical, moral, immoral and judgmental decisions, the nurses weaved into the stories could be the good messengers to the dark forces trying to manipulate lost souls. And it was the various choices, changes of direction and final decisions in the maze of series events led the main characters to the sideways church reunion, all with some contact to a nurse sometime during the series.

CHICKEN OR THE EGG

It is the most basic childhood paradox: which came first, the chicken or the egg?

It is self-contradictory. One needs a mature chicken to create an egg. But one needs a fertile egg to create a chicken. It is an impossible question.

Likewise, the dilemma in LOST is an apparent paradox: which came first, the island time periods or the sideways realm?

It seems simple if one looks at time in a lineal progression. The sideways world is where all the characters arrived as dead souls. So, logically, the sideways world is the end point in time. However, the last shots of the series is Jack apparently still alive, but dying, on the island after the sideways church light engulfs them.

The evidence that the sideways world was created later is Christian's statement that the sideways purgatory was created by everyone present so they could be together in the after life since they shared the most important moments of their lives together. Besides the simple unanswered question of how can mortal humans create a supernatural mirror Earth in the after life, when exactly did the characters "create" the sideways realm?

The main characters had tenuous connections before boarding Flight 815. One could argue that the only event which was the "most important' shared aspect of their collective lives was the plane crash. It has been reported by passengers in plane crashes that time seems to slow down. They claim their lives flash before their eyes. A plane that breaks up at 35,000 feet has about three minutes to fall back down to the ground. The sideways world could have been "created" by the panic, fear and anxiety during that three minute fall.

Or, the collective fear, panic, and personal retrospective (each person's own life flashbacks) could have "created" the island story line prior to everyone being killed in the crash when the plane sections hit the island.

But Christian's church explanation to Jack has a serious flaw. Members of the reunion did not share the most important elements of their lives together. For example, Penny had no island connections.
Further, those who were aware and present of the sideways realm (Eloise, Keamy, Nadia, and even Juliet) were not present when Flight 815 crashed on the island. Another problem is Ben. Why would he have created the sideways world when he was the nemesis of all the people in the church?

A further complication is that sideways people ran around in their new realm oblivious to "the most important" aspect of their lives being suppressed in their memories. How is that logically possible?  If one creates an after life way station while alive, why would you "forget it" after you died until some event in the after life triggers your repressed memory? There are too many puzzle pieces which do not fit this explanation.

Then the last issue with the sideways awakening is that Ben got to "choose" to stay in purgatory world created by the people in the church? Why would the sideways realm continue on if its sole creation was to keep lost souls occupied in a game like logic loop until they all died and wanted to move on to heaven?  The concept that other souls, some awakened like Ben and Eloise, can continue to live a fantasy life in this purgatory world means that Christian's explanation cannot be correct: other people created the sideways world in order for it to continue on after the LOST characters left the church in the finale.

As such, we can conclude that the sideways realm was created well before Christian stated that Jack's friends "made it" for their reunion. That makes sense because Eloise seemed to be aware of both realms (the island world and the sideways world) without being awakened to a difference between them.

LOST itself was edited out of order to create a sense of drama, and a cloud of confusion. It is easy to take things out of context when there is no rational context when they are compared normal human common sense.

Which brings us back to the question: which came first, the island time period or the sideways realm?

It would seem that the sideways world was created first. But then, things get murky. One would assume that the flashbacks were the characters true lives, but there were some aspects which made no sense. Example, Faraday was born in early 1978, but he was killed on the island in July, 1977. In 2004, Faraday became highly emotional when learning of the news of the Flight 815 crash except he would not have any real connection to the 815 folks for months to come. These are clues that the island and flashbacks may not be in order.

It is possible that a plausible explanation of Faraday's memory issues and mental time skips is that he was already in the sideways world - - - and that the island realm was drawing upon his past life as means of giving him a second chance to work through issues he had before his death. Or, the island realm was giving him symbolic clues to what really happened to him in his real life. In the harshest sense, if Faraday's could have imagined his entire flashback "life" as a dream because he was killed (aborted) by his mother, Eloise, six months before he would have been born. This is why Eloise is so protective of Faraday in the purgatory after life - - - and that she does not want him to remember what she did to him (killed him before he was born). Eloise's guilt is the strong force to keep Faraday in the dark in the sideways after life.

In some respects, Aaron would also fit this pattern of denial. Claire was pregnant and in a serious car accident which mortally injured her mother. Claire was also pregnant in the sideways after life. One could make the connection that Aaron and Claire never survived the auto accident. The 815 passage to America was Claire's final dream to give her baby some sort of "real" life (but in an after life fantasy world.)

The sideways world was created by the dark memories of dead people to keep the truth hidden from themselves and others for as long as possible. It is a selfish diversion. In order to protect the sideways dream world, souls were separated from their conscious and subconscious (like ancient Egyptian death rituals) to allow spirits to go back into a re-created past (which is a present fantasy world) in order create an amnesia state in the souls living in the sideways world. 

So it does not matter which came first, the chicken or the egg because the organic nature of reproduction and rebirth is trumped by the spiritual.

SELF CHARACTERIZATION

You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. 
 — A.A. Milne

One of the quiet or nearly hidden theme of the show was how each main character viewed themselves.

Jack's alleged personality flaw was the lack of leadership skills (the life or death decision making process) instilled in his mind by his aloof father. But that characterization is not seen in any of Jack's background story. From the earliest moments, he stood to a school yard bully for his friend (and paid the price.) He was a emergency room trauma surgeon. He had to make quick decisions, bark out orders, and deal with life or death issues every day. He had to keep his emotions in check. The one critical aspect of his professional practice was that he always gave his patients hope because he could not accept the fact he could not fix everything.

Jack's character was supposed to die early in the series. His death was supposed to "shock" the viewers to the gravity of the island survival. Kate was going to be the focal point character for the series. It is hard to imagine now that Kate would have carried the series. Jack's personality and demographic appeal kept him on the series (the pilot was killed instead.) By Jack staying in the series, it gave the writers the opportunity to "save" injured people, or allow them to die while Jack struggled to cope with their deaths (i.e. Boone). 

Kate was never a leader. She was always a runner. She would get into trouble. Her solution was run away, not be accountable or responsible. She was the anti-leader. She was not even a good follower. She was a loner. Loners with serious baggage are quite independent. Kate probably enjoyed her rebel persona.

Sawyer was Kate's kindred soul. He also had serious baggage, including murder, in common with Kate. He was a loner who enjoyed playing with weaker individuals. He was not about gaining power but rigging situations for his own personal benefit. He did not want or need followers or friends. Sawyer learned the con man trade in order to get into the world of Anthony Cooper, the man who destroyed his family and his life. Sawyer thought of himself as a avenger, the only person who could exact closure to his own personal pain.

On the other hand, Locke aggressively sought out friendship and purpose. His parental abandonment left a big hole in his life. He wanted to be wanted; he needed to be needed. Locke turned his back on what he was good at (school, science) to try to be something he was not (a jock). As a result, no one accepted him. He tried too hard to fit in, including joining a commune. But he was so naive, he did not understand that he was constantly used as a pawn in other people's games. 

When Locke arrived on the island, he had another opportunity to change his persona. He acted like he was the great outback hunter. He could provide food, shelter and guidance to the survivors. It was hard for him to accept that the beach camp gravitated toward the doctor over his skill set. This drive to be accepted by his peers led Locke to become another pawn in the Island's game.

Then you have a character like Sayid who actually knew who he was: a dark soul soldier. He knew he was brave. He knew his was deadly. He hated himself that he could lie, torture or kill his opponents without guilt or shame. He had the experience to be stronger, smarter and more clever than anyone around him. He should have been a natural born leader, but he allowed himself to follow orders instead of commanding center stage. In some ways, he was anti-Locke, who wanted to give the Braveheart speech and lead the survivors in battle.  Sayid was more comfortable doing his solo missions because he never wanted to be responsible for the safety of another person.

Braver. Stronger. Smarter.
Which characters found themselves outside their personal comfort zones during the Island time?

Jack was braver in dealing with human conditions he could not control on the Island. The physical aspects of finding water, keeping people on point, going on missions made him physically stronger. But the added responsibility did not make him any smarter, because he continued to misjudge people and their motivations.

Kate was slightly braver when she went on missions for the sake of a group goal. But she continued to be distant with interpersonal relationships unless it gave her leverage. She was always a tom boy on the run so the island events did not make her physically stronger. She really was not that dependent on the group for survival. Her island time did give her more chances to charm the men around her. She was always street smart and could see through people like Sawyer.

Sawyer became braver when he gunned down a polar bear on the group's first mission to find rescue. He volunteered for a near suicide mission to go off on Michael's raft. It seemed that the Island kept throwing him into dangerous situations where he had to physically fight back. So he became physically stronger, but mentally weaker. He got conned by other people around him, including Ben.  But for the time travel tangent with Juliet in Dharmaville, Sawyer would have wound up as an egotistical manipulator like Ben.

Locke never fit in. He appeared braver after the crash, but the group did not accept his bravery (some feared it). He appeared stronger like a survivalist after the crash, but his emotions got the better of him. Emotions that clouded his judgment. Locke fixated on things as the answer to his own problems (and therefore, the answer to everyone else's problems). When he was wrong, it made him more bitter. And the more bitter he got, the weaker people perceived him. He was not very smart because people easily made him the fool. Locke's island tenure mirrored his miserable pre-crash life.

Sayid's time on the island was also a non-change. Sayid was always a brave soldier, always able to do the group's "dirty work." He was stronger than anyone around him. He was military smart in tactics, weapons, killing and gathering  intelligence. As such, Sayid was viewed by those in power as tool to be used to secure or maintain power. First, Sayid worked for Jack taking the dangerous missions in the jungle. Then he worked for Ben as an asssassin. Finally, he worked for MIB on the island. Once Sayid was killed and reincarnated in the temple, Zombie Sayid finally realized that he was an empty shell. He was no longer independent, but a pawn who did not think much of himself.

Clearly, all the main characters went through a lot of trials and torment on the Island. But did they really change that much? Did a light bulb go off and suddenly make them smarter? Did a dormant trait hidden deep inside them awaken to make them stronger? Did their fits of bravery more heavily rely on basic instincts over courage? It may be subjective to answer those questions. It depends upon how you viewed each character's life before and after their Island time periods. But it is interesting to note that none of the main characters came to the self realization that they truly changed as the series closed. Kate continued to run away. Sawyer was self-motivated to get off the island. Locke and Sayid died in meaningless ways. And Jack never came to grip with his emotional demons. No one came out and said that they had an epiphany; that they were a changed person.

LOSING ONE'S MIND

The Associated Press reported a very strange story about a man who woke up in a hotel with no memory of his past life, but actually living a new one.

Four months ago a man was found unconscious in a California desert motel who awoke with no memory of his past and speaking only Swedish. The Florida man called himself Johan Ek.
 He was found with a duffel bag of exercise clothes, a backpack and tennis rackets. He also carried four forms of identification — a passport, a California identification card, a veteran's medical card and a Social Security card — all of which identified him as Michael Boatwright.

Doctors diagnosed Boatwright with "Transient Global Amnesia," a condition triggered by physical or emotional trauma that can last for several months. The rare mental disorder is characterized by memory loss, "sudden and unplanned travel," and possible adoption of a new identity. He does not recall his family or his past life.

The AP story also references an incident last year, when a North Dakota college student went missing for nearly a week before turning up in Arizona. She also had a bout of amnesia and didn't know who she was. Her mother said she has had recurring amnesia since suffering a head injury years ago. It is unexpected when it happens to her daughter.

This story is every "LOST" like in that a person's mental condition can suddenly change so that person adopts a new, complex identity with no memories of their real past. 

Could this be the explanation of the sideways world?

It has always been problematic that the main characters in the sideways world could not remember their island time. It was more complicated by the fact that the island time relationships allegedly "created" the sideways world so the lost souls could meet each other in the after life. If one believes the island time was a different level of purgatory and the main characters were already dead, then there is some supernatural basis for memory loss. But if one believes the main characters were alive on the island, then how can their memories be altered or suppressed so completely in the sideways world (only to be awakened by a sudden, emotional event that triggers memory recall). Was it only necessary for the island survivors to have a connection with each other to forge bonds that would create their pre-island past in the sideways dream state? In a roundabout way, each member in the church (except Christian) had an island "constant" present in the pews which somehow allowed all of them to become reunited in the after life.

But the alternative is that sideways is not what it seems. The sideways world may just be an amnesia induced alternative reality or psychosis dream of the island characters who were so traumatized by the crash and being hunted by the Others, MIB and Jacob. This explanation would basically state that most of Season 6 was immaterial because the sideways story arcs were irrelevant to the reality of the Island and its inhabitants. No one every reunited in the sideways world - - - that was Jack's final thoughts or wishes. But that does not mean it came true.

JACOB'S LADDER

There is a biblical story called Jacob's Ladder. It gives a symbolic representation of the steps pious humans have in order to get to heaven.

The description of Jacob's ladder appears in the Book of Genesis:

Jacob left Beersheba, and went toward Haran. He came to the place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it [or "beside him"] and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Issac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you." Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it." And he was afraid, and said, "This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

There are various interpretations of this story in various religions.

Jewish commentaries offer several interpretations of Jacob's ladder. Some scholars believe the ladder signified the exiles which the Jewish people would suffer before the coming of the Messiah. First the angel representing the 70-year exile of Babylonia climbed "up" 70 rungs, and then fell "down." Then the angel representing the exile of Persia went up a number of steps, and fell, as did the angel representing the exile of Greece. Only the fourth angel, which represented the final exile of Rome by the guardian angel (Esau), kept climbing higher and higher into the clouds. Jacob feared that his children would never be free of Esau's domination, but God assured him that at the End of Days, Edom too would come falling down.

Another interpretation of the ladder keys into the fact that the angels first "ascended" and then "descended." This explains that Jacob, as a holy man, was always accompanied by angels. When he reached the border of the future land of Israel, the angels who were assigned to the Holy Land went back up to Heaven and the angels assigned to other lands came down to meet Jacob. When Jacob returned to Canaan he was greeted by the angels who were assigned to the Holy Land.

Another view is that the place at which Jacob stopped for the night was in reality the future home of the Temple in Jerusalem. The ladder therefore signifies the "bridge" between Heaven and earth, as prayers and sacrifices offered in the Holy Temple soldered a connection between God and the Jewish people.

The philosopher Philo Judaeus had an allegorical interpretation of the ladder. He gave four interpretations, which are not mutually exclusive:

• The angels represent souls descending to and ascending from bodies (some consider this to be Philo's clearest reference to the doctrine of reincarnation).
• In the second interpretation the ladder is the human soul and the angels are God's logoi, pulling the soul up in distress and descending in compassion.
• In the third view the dream depicts the ups and downs of the life of the "practiser" (of virtue vs. sin).
• Finally the angels represent the continually changing affairs of men.

In Christianity, the theme of a ladder to heaven is often used by the early church leaders as the "ladder of ascent to God" In the third century AD, leaders explained that there are two ladders in the life of a Christian, the ascetic ladder that the soul climbs on the earth, by way of—and resulting in—an increase in virtue, and the soul's travel after death, climbing up the heavens towards the light of God.

In Islam, Jacob is revered as a father figure and a prophet.  Muslim scholars drew a parallel with Jacob's vision of the ladder and Muhammad's event of the Mi'raj. The ladder of Jacob was interpreted by Muslims to be one of the many symbols of God, and many saw Jacob's ladder as representing in its form the essence of Islam, which emphasizes following the "straight path." The significance of the ladder in the Islamic mystic perspective that the ladder is the created Universe. Jacob dreamed and saw the ladder stretching from Heaven to earth, with Angels going up and down upon it; and it is also the "straight path", for indeed the way of religion is none other than the way of creation itself retraced from its end back to its Beginning.

Angels have been best described as messengers to human beings. There were numerous messengers in the series counseling, mentoring and helping the main characters get back to or survive the island. People like Naomi, Abbadon, and Eloise intervened in the characters lives and gave them information to help or direct them back to the island. Some turned into messengers of Jacob as a result of their stay on the island (Alpert and Dogen). One theory is that Jacob was the guardian angel for his "candidates."

The Island as a nexus point between realms is consistent with the symbolism of Jacob's ladder. The idea that the ladder represents both the beginning and end, with angels going back and forth through time to guide souls up the steps, is consistent with the time skips of the Island. At times, a person needs to take two steps back (learn something) in order to move one step forward (toward redemption or knowledge or peace).

The Island could also be a representation of a temple, where lost souls are sorting out by the angels, who give each person opportunities to move up the ladder toward heaven. Some, like Michael, miss their opportunity when he kills Libby and Ana Lucia to cover up his betrayal. Others, like Jack, have to juggle at times the competing interests of his fellow castaways like Solomon.

It is clear that the Island was some kind of "bridge" that allowed the main characters to forge a sideways world finish line to their ascent into the after life. But there is no consistency from a moral perspective of who was allowed the grace of God to arrive at the sideways church to "move on." Most of the people in the church had ethical and moral faults that were never forgiven. The writers large white wash of the past comes from a narcissistic perspective: once a person acknowledged his or her own death in the sideways world,  their sins were magically erased so they could finish the climb to heaven. Or, as a few have mentioned, that the sideways purgatory was just that; the white light may not have been salvation but the doorway to punishment for their unforgiven sins.

In order to get to paradise, a soul must retrace its path from the end back to the beginning. This concept is similar to the ancient Egyptian beliefs that upon death, the soul divides and takes many dangerous journeys in order to be reincarnated in the after life. On the Island, the main characters did retrace their lives (some events or decisions mirrored past events). People did have second or third chances to change their lives. Some took advantage of that opportunity; some failed to revert to their dark pasts. The retracing of the characters lives through the island trials (steps of the ladder) could be the hidden mystery of the series. Jacob's role was not one of the devil or judge, but as a spotter on the ladder each candidate sought to climb.