HUMAN EXPERIMENT

In all civilized societies, there are limits which set acceptable behavior.

In LOST, those social governors were stripped away once individuals reached the island. There were no rules. People either tried to hold on to the moral compass, or fell deep into the darkness of instinctive savagery.

In a land where there is no accountability or responsibility, how would a average human being operate?  LOST could be seen as a window into human behavior if all controls were turned off.

It is not a theory, but a new way to look at the show.

Early on, many of the passengers came to the conclusion that their past did not matter anymore. They could start fresh, a new, without the baggage of their past mistakes or daunting secrets. It is quite the gift to eliminate one's past and create your own new future.

So this may be the human experiment that MIB loathed for centuries. Human beings were brought to the island but they all wound up corrupting it. The Flight 815 arc was no different. Ben turned mass murderer with his purge of the Dharma folks. The survivors ambushed the Others at the beach camp. Widmore's people on the Hydra Island allegedly wiped out the people on board the Ajira plane.

It would seem that individuals who gain or seize power tend to allow it to consume their souls in the quest for more power.  That is the basic grease that spins the wheel of corruption.

If you would view the series as a space alien, could you actually analyze the data (the show and its events) in any way other than being a series of barbaric episodes with no social redeeming qualities?

Human beings have done bad things under the cause of being just (i.e. The Great Wars). But in the LOST island environment, there was never even a cause identified to justify the brutality that human beings inflicted upon each other. How did the brain washing of Karl in Room 23 have any greater good?

If the characters were symbolic lab rats wandering the island maze of missed opportunities, broken dreams, deep rooted fears, childhood fantasy and low moral self esteem, how did the human race do?

YOUTH

I read in a magazine that "the wonder of youth" is a prerequisite for all that is possible in life.

What are the main attributes of youth?

Learning. The absorption of knowledge of one's surroundings begins immediately after birth. The ability to begin to move around in one's environment is the next step. Then the acquisition of knowledge becomes standardized in each person's own culture. Trial and error is acceptable as a child.

Rebellion. Perhaps based on the lack of knowledge of how things really work, youth often rebels against the constraints of their parents or society norms. Many parents wait for their wild children to get their rebellious tendencies out of their system before they leave the nest.

Experimentation. Youth have less inhibitors when it comes to social norms, vices, alcohol, drugs, etc. Some scientifically inclined will just throw things together just to see what happens. Many times, they don't believe things cannot be done.

Dreamers. Youth more often than not have dreams about the paths they want their life to follow. A young child can dream to be a fireman or an astronaut. Through child's play, imagination is developed which later on can be formed into applied knowledge to solve problems.

Fear. Until a child grows up to see the world as it is, he or she can become trapped in the simplest of fears such as the dark, being left alone, etc. There is an emotional development to growing up and experiencing life which parallels the intellectual development in people.

A child can view the wide open world with wonder.

As people grow into adulthood, these attributes are reformed.
Learning becomes adult skill sets for one's employment or profession.
Rebellion becomes the desire to improve oneself's lot in life.
Experimentation gives way to standardized habits and behavior.
Dreams become more nostaglic as a daily routine becomes the norm.
Fear gives way to anxiety and emotional bouts triggered by certain stressful events, such as
marriage, a new job, a death in the family, an accident, or the birth of a child.

In some ways, the main characters in LOST held more true to the attributes of youth than the reformed ways of adulthood. This can reinforce the notion that the characters were actually children in the guise of "acting as adults" in a dream world.

AJIRA 316

The island hosted a second significant plane crash, Flight 316.

Flight 316 was piloted by Frank Lapidus, who based upon his background and mental state after Flight 815 crashed, would not have resumed being a commercial pilot. He was one of the few people to escape the island after being rescued by Penny's boat.

Flight 316 was a Boeing 737 from LA to Guam. Eloise Hawking told the O6 that this flight was their only way to return to the island. The plane crash landed on the Hydra Island in 2007, but not before Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid were teleported by a white light to the Island in 1977. Now, the four that went to 1977 were all contacted by Locke off-island in his quest to get everyone to go back to the island. The other person on board who had contact with Locke off-island was Ben, who did not time flash to 1977 (possibly because his child self was on the island at that time). Ben wound up facing the ghost of Locke (MIB as Flocke) with the survivors of the Ajira flight.

Fourteen days after this crash, Frank miraculously pilots the damaged plane off the island. Kate, Claire, Alpert, Sawyer and Miles were on board. We do not know what happened to them after take off, or whether they actually made it to land.

The significance of the number, 316, was not lost on fans.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16, which some scholars call "the Bible in a nutshell."

The theme of eternal life is central to many unified theories of LOST.

Who was the son?
Who were the believers?
How were the 815ers granted eternal life?

None of the characters expressed any devotion to Christianity. Clearly, none of them practiced devout religious beliefs while on the island.

The fact that the Ajira plane went through some sort of island barrier is a key. This barrier had to have some intelligence as it separated four passengers from the rest of the people on board. However, three people previously on the island, Sun, Frank and Ben were not transported to 1977. No one knows why (except for the writer's attempt to jack up the drama of Sun still being cut off from Jin.) The rest of the Ajira passengers would find their own demise as red shirts.

Besides returning the O6 to the island, what was the purpose of the plane? It was the last means of escape for a few lucky people. It some ways it was a dream vindication for Frank (and his pilot skills). And a vessel for Flocke to round up the remaining candidates so he could blow them up (the submarine became the best means of accomplishing that task).

There is still no clear explanation of why there was a time duality on the island when Ajira passed through one spacial location. Unless the island itself was not real in the conventional planetary sense of being a Pacific island mass. A distortion in the time axis would also suggest a distortion in the spacial axis in the space time continuum. The island was in another dimension. How it intersects with the Earth is still unclear, but if it was a spiritual world (as the whispers claimed), then it is like an onion skin that surrounds the planet with limited jumps between the worlds of the living and the worlds of the dead. 

So what did this flight represent? It was symbolic of the grief that the O6 had from leaving their fellow passengers behind on the island. It was the means to return. It was also a carrier of death, as the other passengers were killed on the Hydra island. It also was the means of escape, as it took off from the Hydra Island with several people on board.  Was their fate merely delayed? Or did they actually cheat death?

Many may believe that Ajira 316 was just another prop to build tension and drama in the last desperate hours of the show. That may be its only purpose. But one would hope for more.

LEVELS OF DEATH

There is still a nagging question about the sideways purgatory stinger. First, it came out of left field and led many viewers to question the first season plane crash as being unsurvivable. Second, it clearly stated that all the characters were in fact dead, but some died long before and others long after Jack did. But Jack realized his death in the church before we saw him actually "die" on the island. Third, the story telling vehicle of flashbacks, flash forwards and leaps in time create an uncertainty of WHEN the characters "died."

If death is the ending, when did the characters actually die?

It is not as simple answer.  For those who steadfastly believe that the characters survived the plane crash, then bear in mind in the scheme of LOST universe, the characters were "alive" in their own perception and interaction with people and objects in the sideways world. It was "real" to them, even though they did not realize it was not the Earth existence we know as life.

As such, there is no prohibition that this perception of a sideways "real" life could extend to the island world, or even to each character's flashback or background events.  In other words, LOST may have been a show about death from the very beginning.

I speculated long ago that deep within the background stories of the main characters, there were chilling life and death moments which we were led to believe each character survived. But what if they did not?

No one knows what happens after death. Many cultures believe a human soul must travel through inter-dimensional portals to find paradise. Some religions believe a soul is judged in hell or the various levels of the underworld before it is cleansed or purged of its sins to be worthy for heaven.

The LOST universe could be a construction of various levels or stages of the after life. If during childhood, the main characters were killed by the accidents or traumatic events in their lives, then those child souls could have been given an opportunity to perceive or "live" a new life in a sideways world like existence. Those could be contained in the recent or adult flashbacks; illusions and dreams of children coming to "life." Once those souls ran their course in their first after life level, they were rounded up and boarded Flight 815 for the next level of spiritual attainment, the island. With themes like sacrifice, trust, redemption and judgment, the island is the ideal place for a religious component or a place where lost souls could get rid of regrets or selfish desires in order to move on to the next level of spiritual existence.

It is probably hard to imagine that the characters who boarded Flight 815 in Sydney were already dead. But it does make sense in reference to the season finale in the church. The characters died at different times in different places and they could not move on without finding each other. The whole series then did not have to follow Earth bound concepts of linear time, physics, time or any form of relativity because it was not of this planet.

Now, the show's creators and writers would dismiss this theory as nonsense because they continue to be adamant that the characters did not die in the plane crash. Again, it may be parsing words, but if they were already "dead" before the plane crash, then it would be true that they would not die in the conventional sense in the plane crash on the island.

For example, Locke's "miracle birth" aftermath was actually the beginning of his soul's first life in the after life. It would have been highly improbable that a premature baby injured in a car collision in rural America in the 1950s would have survived the trauma with limited medical technology. This theory is bolstered by the fact that an immortal, Richard Alpert, visited him in the hospital.

Jacob was then not recruiting human beings but lost souls who were given a second chance to live a normal (abet fantasy) life.

It would also explain why Michael, after he left the island, could not kill himself. Mr. Friendly told him that the island was not through with him; he had work to do. A supernatural place was affecting Michael's suicide attempts; therefore, off-island was also a realm of supernatural actions. They could be classified as one in the same. If the island was a place of death then so to would be the off-island.

And then there is the Aaron problem. How could he be "born" twice? He was "born" just as the series ended in the sideways purgatory where everyone present was already dead (but just not aware of it). Aaron was so born earlier on the island. How could that be when the island did not or could not allow births of babies (if the island is hell or the after life that makes sense: who can bring new human life in the after life that is made up solely of souls). So this gets the trace back to Claire and her auto accident which severely injured and ultimately killed her mother. It could have also killed herself and her baby, leading the moments after the accident her first stage in the after life. Since Aaron was never born, he was always a spirit in the show who would manifest himself when Claire needed him.

This levels of death theory tries to unify the various aspects of a disjointed story line under one single premise: death.

THE TOLL

A new clue opens this discussion of the big premise.

"We Sin Toll."

It is an anagram.  TPTB loved to put anagram Easter eggs throughout the series.

We can all agree that Flight 815 was the biggest piece of the puzzle. It was of critical importance because those 324 people on board were either destined, kidnapped, trapped or caught by the island.

There were great pushes and pulls to get the main characters on that flight. Sun was supposed to leave Jin at the airport to flee her marriage, but relented at the end. Hurley rushed through the terminal and barely got on board. Sayid was not supposed to be on the flight at all, but he made a last minute change to stay a day to bury a friend that he had betrayed. It was more than just coincidence that the passenger manifest turned into cherry picking candidates for Jacob's lighthouse.

Jacob said that he had spied his candidates from the island. He knew about them. He had gone to see them. He touched them. He found each of them to have a common trait: a miserable life like his own. That is why he brought them to the island. 

The question is whether Jacob manipulated each candidate or gave them the free will option to follow him. It would seem that Jacob had power over them and supernatural powers to get them to the island.

In Greek mythology,  Charon or Kharon is the ferryman of  Hades who carries the souls of the newly deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron  that divided the world of the living from the world of the dead. A coin to pay for passage was sometimes placed in or on the mouth of a dead person. Some authors say that those who could not pay the fee, or those whose bodies were left unburied, had to wander the shores for one hundred years (which may explain the island "whispers," trapped spirits who cannot move on.)

It is possible that Jacob was Charon, the ferryman who directed souls toward their after life journey.

Which brings us back to the new anagram. 

There was always a question on where Jack was seated on the plane. There was confusion of whether it was Seat 23 A, 23 B or just before the crash, 23 C.  In the plane scenes, there was no one seated next to Jack. However, during the eulogy at the memorial service for the dead passengers (Claire using the passenger manifest),  Harold Wollstein was named as the person who was seated in 23 C.

We never saw Wollstein, in person or his body in the wreckage.  However, the anagram for "Wollstein" is "We Sin Toll."

Was he, or better yet, Seat 23 C, the trigger for the ferry ride to the after life? In a plane load of sinners, was Jack marked to be the "toll" for everyone who "survived" the crash to begin their journey through the levels of the underworld to arrive in their sideways after life? In order for anyone associated with Jack to have a chance for a happy ending in heaven, Jack had to sacrifice himself on their behalf. Is that why Jack was last to awaken? Is that why Jack had no other life after MIB's defeat (like we presume Sawyer, Claire, Kate, Miles and Frank did after they left the island)?

If you believe in the big premise that the passengers died in the plane crash, but "lived" on in the underworld called the island, then Jack's "destiny" to become the island guardian and to save his friends souls would all be tied back to Jack being on Flight 815, and in the seat of from which "the devil" (as Jacob was called by MIB) extracted his toll.

EXPECTATIONS

Expectations are a difficult thing to manage for a series showrunner. Fans may get ahead of the writer's curve. It also depends on the "set-up" of the series itself - - - the massive build up of story line, cliffhangers and hints at massive plot twists.

We were aware that there were great expectations for LOST's final season. There was even more expectations for the finale, which the producers wrangled more air time to finish their story. The finale pretty much split the fan base.

Last weekend, the television expectation game went into a global frenzy with the Doctor Who 50th Anniversary Special. For any television series to last six seasons is unique, but to last 50 years (with some interrupted periods) is improbable. The British series has survived the decades since the first airing by a clever concept of replacing the main character with new actors (an alien regeneration).

Science fiction has always been a niche market. But its fan base tends to be more loyal and rabid. The Doctor Who premise is actually quite simple. It is the story of a Time Lord, a man who can manipulate both time and space, to travel the universe to fight foes and observe historical events. The premise of this series was clear. It stated its story rules early on in the series. Fans accepted the notion that a blue box was bigger on the inside; that alien technology was more advanced than Earth's; and that one man with almost infinite knowledge can stop global invasions or disasters. Fans are not caught up in the how or why the Doctor can manipulate time, space, elements, or physical objects such as locks with a sonic screwdriver. Just as with Star Trek, the in-story concepts such as warp drive are taken as the explanation for impossible physics of the series, so the story can move forward with the characters not being bogged down with explaining the world around them.

The foundational elements of a science fiction show are critical to its viability and credibility. The canon on how the show's universe works is as important as the characters interacting inside that universe.

Which gets us back to two points on LOST.

First, as the series unfolded, it is hard to imagine that it could have kept going for decades with new incarnations as Star Trek or Doctor Who. We don't know what the LOST universe is; or what or where the island is located (Charlie's first insightful question from the pilot episode).

Second, the series could not be rebooted without answering all the unanswered and conflicting questions from the original series. This is something the creators have adamantly decided not to do.

Reviews of the Doctor Who special have been quite positive, as it seemed to pack various elements of fan service into existing story line canon. A few fans still question what the special's reveals means to the future of the show, but their expectations were met by the episode.

GREAT EXPECTATIONS

If you don't expect too much from me, you might not be let down.

The Gin Blossoms.
The final season brought great expectations.

There was a coming war, people were time shifting, minds were time skipping, people had died, survivors had returned to save their friends, the smoke monster still terrorized the island inhabitants, and Ben was still a mad man.

Good times.

There was a large spectrum of expectations:

1. Some fans expected that the time travel would be explained.
2. Some fans expected that the island would be explained.
3. Some fans expected that there be an actual "war" on the island.
4. Some fans expected the Others and the survivors would have their final conflict.
5. Some fans expected a clear resolution between Widmore and Ben.
6. Some fans expected all the tangent story lines would be wrapped together in one neat package "wow" moment.
7. Some fans expected their favorite character(s) would get a happy ending.
8. Some fans expected that the smoke monster would be explained.
9. Some fans expected the temple, hieroglyphs, Dharma and the Others would be explained fully.
10. Some fans expected a monumental plot twist to climax the main characters journey to the end.

Fans received bits and pieces of those expectations. Season 6 did take on many strange and wild tangents such as the unclear sideways world stories and the deep background flash backs like with Richard Alpert.  

But for those fans who wished just for a happy ending, they were the only ones truly rewarded by the final episode. The characters found a home, even though the script was not a home run.

PERCEPTION

"Perception is reality."

It is a common phrase.

Perception is the the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through the senses: the normal limits to human perception. It is the state of being or process of becoming aware of something in such a way, such as the perception of pain. It is  a way of regarding, understanding, or interpreting something through a mental impressions It also means having intuitive understanding and insight.
In science, it is the neurophysiological processes, including memory, by which an organism becomes aware of and interprets external stimuli.

The word itself comes from Old Middle English for  "seize, understand."

Reality is the world or the state of things as they actually exist, as opposed to an idealistic or notional idea of them. It is a thing that is actually experienced or seen, esp. when this is grim or problematic. Reality is a thing that exists in fact, having previously only existed in one's mind such as the paperless office may yet become a reality. It can also mean the quality of being lifelike or resembling an original. It is also the state or quality of having existence or substance such as death has no reality to young people.

In Philosophy, reality is an existence that is absolute, self-sufficient, or objective, and not subject to human decisions or conventions.


So, how a person sees, hears, or becomes aware of the world around him is his reality.

This is the foundation for the LOST mythology. Viewers has to use their own perception of the images and events on the screen to filter through their own experience and understanding to interpret the show for personal meaning and insight. This is why it is difficult to change a LOST viewer's mind on how they reacted or felt about the show. In a show about light and dark, there were no black and white answers.

Whether the island was actually a Pacific Island, or vegetation atop of alien tortoise, or a space ship, or a time vortex, or another dimension, it cannot set in stone.

Whether the characters were actually who they said they were is also open to debate. Were the characters "real" lives in the sideways world, and they dreamed of island adventures, or was it the other way around? Was Sawyer always a police officer who dreamed of being the bad guy? Was Hurley always a lottery millionaire or was he just a chicken fry cook who dreamed of being a millionaire?

LOST writers did not set down a set of story principles as authority;  incontrovertibly truths. As a result, we are left with any perception as reality.

JOURNEY

Struggling and suffering are the essence of a life worth living. If you're not pushing yourself beyond the comfort zone, if you're not demanding more from yourself - expanding and learning as you go - you're choosing a numb existence. You're denying yourself an extraordinary trip. — Dean Karnazes

Perhaps the series was merely a journey for otherwise dull, boring, lonely people. The common trait of the main characters was unhappiness. They were all in a rut; their futures looked bleak; and they have relationship issues.

If the island was a proving ground for a life worth living, then it was probably a successful intervention.

Putting a collection of diverse people into a savage, unknown, mysterious and dangerous island with no chance of rescue is going beyond the comfort zone of all the characters.

In order to survive, each character had to go beyond their routine. They had to demand more from their inner self - - - change or adapt to the new circumstances. They had to make decisions and not loiter on their past routines. They had to learn to live together, to trust each other, and to value the security that various levels of friendship would provide. It was the personal expansion of each character that was the most noticeable aspect of the show.

For example, Hurley was a shy, self-doubting individual who never wanted to take risks for fear of failure. He had mental issues and blamed himself for bad things happening to other people. He was most comfortable hiding away in a mental institution, away from the normal stresses and anxieties of daily life.

Jack was a brilliant spinal surgeon, but he led a tortured monk-like existence outside of work. His relationship with his father was an anchor around his neck. He could not handle relationships with women; his marriage fell apart due to his own illogical behavior.

Sawyer was a charming but devious con artist. His noble cause to find his parents killer turned him into the same person that he hated as a child. As a drifter, he kept no lasting personal relationships. He was a loner, and that caused him to be bitter - - - to lash out at others because the only person he could trust was himself.

Kate was also a loner. She was popular, a tom boy who learned early that she could manipulate men to do what she wanted them to do for her. But she was troubled; she did not understand the big picture. She had no direction or big dreams. She lashed out for her mother's attention, but she was shocked when her mother turned on her. Kate's survival mechanism was to run, escape and hide from her problems.

Sayid was brought up in a stable family, but the war changed him into a dark soldier. He was recruited and trained as a torturer, who turned on his childhood friends. He would become a loner by his own actions, fearful that he would revert to being a killer. As such, he had no close friends. He kept to himself because his instincts made him believe only in himself and to distrust others.

From each viewer's own observations of the characters, the amount of change in their personality is apparent. If the show was all about character development, then the main characters did have to cope with the insane circumstances thrown at them, to trust themselves and others, in order to fully experience life at its best and at its worst.

A FORD IN YOUR FUTURE

For the most extremely disappointed fans of LOST, they believe the entire series was one literary con-job on their entertainment viewing. There was no pay-off in the end after years of major promises. It was like waking up the next morning to find that your life savings had just purchased a quarter share of the Brooklyn Bridge.

So if LOST was representative of a long con, then the show's poster boy would be Sawyer. Of all of the main characters, Sawyer was the one who stayed most true to himself. He was the ultimate survivor because he looked out only for himself. And in the end, he got what he wanted from the island - - -  rescue and in the after life  - - -  Juliet. And he was never punished for his crimes or sins. 

James Ford was a mid-section survivor on Flight 815.  He had the charm of a Southern accent, but selfishness, machismo, and folksy use of oft-abrasive nicknames belied his sophisticated and tender sides as an avid reader and a caring lover—elements of his personality that started to become more apparent as he spent more time on the Island.

On the Island, Sawyer used his skills as a confidence man to accomplish various ends. He hoarded material possessions to leverage power, leading to his involvement in several dangerous missions. His acts of rebellion led him to, at various times, become the most hated survivor on the island, though he still formed an intimate  bond with Kate

Sawyer later developed romantic relationship with Juliet and his jealousy sparked a rivalry with Jack. He did not want to lead the survivors after Jack and Kate were captured, but Hurley convinced him he was the leader by default. He failed at it after giving it a try.

In an early attempt at rescue, Sawyer left the Island along with Jin, Michael and Walt on Michael's raft but was forced to return when Walt was kidnapped by the Others and the raft was blown up. He vowed his revenge against the men in that boat. Sawyer washed up on shore and met up with the previously unknown tail section survivors of Flight 815.

He used various cons to  gain control of all the guns and a position of power over the other survivors. He also used his hoarding skills to make people beg and feel uncomfortable around him. He would rather be alone than the center of attention. He was later captured by the Others,  as a result of Michael's betrayal. While with the Others, Sawyer and Kate were used as leverage to convince Jack to perform surgery on  Ben until he and Kate eventually escaped with the help of Jack.  During the time spent on Hydra Island and through the remainder of season three, Sawyer started an on-again, off-again relationship with Kate. Sawyer was asked by Locke to kill a man, Anthony Cooper, who was revealed to be the real "Sawyer" who Ford believed was the reason why his parents were killed. Locke could not kill his own father, so Locke trapped Ford in the Black Rock with Cooper knowing that if Cooper revealed his true self, Ford would kill him. Locke's plan worked, and he took Cooper's body back to the Others camp to be installed as the new leader, effectively dethroning an angry Ben. 

Sawyer would change alliances as the often as the direction of the wind. After Jack called Widmore's freighter for rescue, Sawyer joined Locke and a small number of survivors who thought Jack was wrong. They left for the shelter of the barracks. There, the freighter soldiers came and killed Alex, and blew up Claire's house. Sawyer rescued Claire from the rubble, but lost contact with her when she met Christian in the jungle.

When the survivors left the freighter  in the helicopter, when the fuel tank was hit and weight needed to be shed, Sawyer jumped for shore after he kissed Kate goodbye (also whispering her to tell his daughter he's sorry). This signaled the end of his romantic relationship with Kate. 

When he was on the island, he was part of a small group of survivors underwent time shifts as a result of Ben moving the Island. He led the small group until a final time shift, where they were stuck in 1974. Sawyer joined the DHARMA Initiative and eventually became their head of security. He began a relationship with Juliet, who knew the Dharma ways, and continued to live in the 1970s for three years until Jack, Kate and Hurley time flipped back to the Island following the crash of Ajira plane.

Sawyer joined the Man in Black upon meeting him, not out of loyalty but as a means of personal survival, although he ultimately betrayed MIB while boarding Widmore's submarine to escape the Island. The Man in Black however, had conned Sawyer into stealing the sub so that he could kill the remaining candidates with a bomb. After the explosion, Sawyer was knocked unconscious and brought ashore by Jack. While Jack was preventing the Island from being destroyed, Sawyer managed to escape on the plane with Kate, Claire, Frank, Richard and Miles. 

In the sideways world,  Sawyer was an edgy police detective rather than a crook. Eventually, he was reunited with his lover Juliet at the hospital while investigating Jin's shooting. They moved on together with their friends at the church.

So Sawyer was one of the few characters that got all he wished for: rescue from the island; no ramifications from his past criminal behavior; and an after life reunion with Juliet who was taken from him by Jack's dumb plan to set off an atomic bomb to stop the time shifts.

CONCEPT OF TIME

In our modern society, we see time in seconds, minutes, hours, days, months and years. It is linear. There is a beginning, middle toward the end. But throughout history, there have been cultures who viewed time differently.

The ancient Mayans believed in three different time periods, and took great significance when they time lines crossed paths. The first was cosmic time, charting the constellations, stars, sun and moon to create highly accurate predictions of future solar events. The second was a biologic time, the gestation period for human reproduction (9 months). The third was the seasonal clock which forecast the planting and harvest seasons in relation to the light and darkness of each sun and lunar cycle.

One of the issues with LOST itself was how the series dealt with basic elements of time.

The passage of time was a recurring theme in the series.  Characters traveled in time coming and leaving the island, and skipped randomly through time over a series of episodes. Time also serves as a general recurring theme, with frequent references to time and appearances of clocks and watches.The show's format was also a non-linear narrative. LOST consistently played with time by presenting events out of their chronological order. Initially, action alternated between current events on the island and pre-crash flashbacks. Later episodes featured extended flashbacks and and flashbacks to on-island events. Later, the series featured flash-forwards and physical physical time travel occurred in Season 5.  Then there was the concept of mental time flashes which Desmond had of future events. Then, the action alternated between on-island events and events from the characters' after life which we called the sideways world. 

Within the series, time was explained as a river stream, following not in a straight line, but meandering about (so there is a possibility of circling back in a specific time line). Time was also explained as a loop; that certain events would come back around again (such as the survivors re-living events in their past in the island present.) But what most viewers believe is that we live in a linear time existence: we are born, we live X number of years, then we die. LOST never explained how this common concept of time was true or false in the LOST universe.

There is a common expression that "you only have one life to live."  It is a speech that each individual must live his or her own life to the fullest, because there are no "do-overs."  But in the LOST story, there appeared to be several instances of characters being able to "do over" their past mistakes, or change their regrettable existence. Now, this is clouded by the intervention of a sideways after life world which may or may not contain the island time as a subset of an alternative reality.

So the concept of time cannot give us a definitive clue of how the LOST universe was constructed or how it operated in relation to the flashback events.

PYRAMIDS

The science community will always have debates about ancient history. One of the most diverse debate is how various ancient cultures from around the world created the same type of massive structures when they had no contact with each other.

Science researchers have found massive pyramid structures in Egypt, central China, Mexico and South America. Some archaeologists believe that these ancient people found that stepping back stones to form a pyramid would be the easiest way to make a large structure because its base is wider at the bottom. However, others point out that the same people did not make pyramid shaped houses, granaries or other basic structures (went more to a box form of walls.)

Then there is a debate about what the pyramids purpose was to those ancient civilizations. Most believe that these towering structures were used as astronomical observatories to align important cosmic events such as the solstice or equinox to the planting or harvesting cycles of the land. Many believe that these structures served as the centerpiece of community rituals, including religious ceremonies. Other historians believe that some of these structures were made to show the power and authority of the king against his own people and other tribal rivals. Pyramids were symbols of power, wealth, control and status.

In Egypt, the consensus is that the pyramids were used as tombs for the kings. However, no modern science expedition found any Pharoah remains inside the pyramid itself; the temple and burial complex usually was found around the main pyramid structure.

The pyramids are tied to ritual beliefs. Apparently the Pharaoh believed, like any commoner among his people, that every living body was inhabited by a double, or ka, which need not die with the breath; and that the ka would survive all the more completely if the flesh were preserved against hunger, violence and decay.

The pyramids of Egypt, by its height, its form and its position, sought stability as a means to traverse death; and except for its square corners it took the natural form that any homogeneous group of solids would take if allowed to fall unimpeded to the earth. The symbolic nature of the pyramid pointing to the sky, or aligned with the constellations, are clues to the ancient philosophies.

But most science teams cannot understand how these massive structures were built. Even today, with modern machinery and crane technologies, it would be very difficult for the 2013 construction crews to build a pyramid with such precision and in the time frame that the ancients completed their work. So the speculation is that the ancients had help or technology that we cannot comprehend. Pyramids are a lasting mystery hidden in plain site.

In LOST, we go into the walled temple structure with two outside court yards. We are taken into the magical pool inside the temple, where there are columns of Egyptian hieroglyphs which appear to be prayers to the underworld gods. But it is interesting to note, we never see an actual pyramid on the island. What happened to it? Or why was it not built?  The people brought to the island once built the massive Taweret statue that was destroyed with the Black Rock hurricane ship wreck.

If the pyramids were the "space ships" for the spiritual soul to go to the underworld or heavens, then that could explain why there was no pyramid on the island: it was not needed. The island was the destination. Except, that does not explain why modern men who did not share ancient Egyptian beliefs, would have this island was their destination, alive or dead.

RANDOM QUESTIONS

I sat down at a blank computer screen and began to type LOST questions as they came to mind.

The results:

Who were the Others?
Maybe candidates, but not all listed in lighthouse.
Who was Widmore? An Other
Who was Eloise? An Other.
Who was Ben? Son of a  Dharma janitor.
What was Dharma? A research organization.
Why was Dharma allowed on the island? Unknown.
Who was Jacob? Island guardian
What is an island guardian? Unknown.
What does he protect? the light source.
What is the light source? It is life, death and rebirth.
What is it made of? Unknown.
How does the light source work? Unknown
What is the smoke monster? Unknown
How is the smoke monster used? as a security system
Why does the smoke monster attack people? Unknown
Is the smoke monster controlled by someone? Unknown
Who is Desmond? a lost sailor
Why was he chosen? Unknown
Why did Desmond have to push buttons every 108 minutes? Unknown
How did Desmond stop the counter? he used the fail safe key.
What did the fail safe key do? Explode then implode the station.
How did Desmond survive the explosion? Unknown.
Why was Desmond found wandering the jungle naked? Unknown
What was the virus? Unknown
What were its symptoms? Unknown, but may attack pregnant women.
Why did pregnant women die on the island? Unknown.
Who built the Temple? Unknown
What was the Temple used for? Worship, presumably to Jacob.
What was special about the temple waters? Unknown, but brought Sayid back from the dead.
Why did Sayid come back from the dead but other people did not? Unknown
Why did the smoke monster need dead Locke’s body? Unknown
How did time travel work on the island? Unknown
What was the FDW connected to? Unknown
Why did people who turned the FDW turn up in Tunisia? Unknown.
How did the people create a sideways purgatory? Unknown
When did the people create a sideways purgatory? Unknown
Why did people live complex lives in the sideways purgatory? Unknown
What was the island? Unknown
How did it move through time and space? Unknown
What was the purpose of the island? Unknown.
Who built or created the island? Unknown
How did Alpert become immortal? Jacob gave him a gift.
How did Jacob give Alpert immortality? Unknown.
If Jacob was immortal, how did he die? Stabbed by Ben, burned by Flocke.
If Flocke was the smoke monster, how did he die? Shot by Kate, kicked off cliff by Jack.
If Jacob and Flocke were immortal beings, did they really die? Unknown.
Why was Aaron born twice? Unknown
What came first: the island or sideways world? Unknown, but most assume the island world.
Who was the man (or woman) behind the curtain? Unknown, but some suspect Jacob or Eloise.
Why did the island heal some people and let other people die? Unknown.

A KEY

How immortal beings such as Jacob or the smoke monster (MIB/Flocke) could have become moral (an apparent requirement in order to "leave" the island existence) is unknown.

But here is a new theory I thought may explain it. It merges a couple of given facts such as the Numbers and Jacob's authority over the island.

MIB was locked on the island's time and space. It could not escape. Jacob was the island guardian, which also could be called a jailor. Jailor's have the keys to the prisoner's cells. Jacob could be considered a jailor to MIB.

The importance of Jacob's numbering system should not be underestimated. It went through the entire series. It was the ultimate clue. Yes, it represented the candidates, but it had to represent more than that because there were more than one hundred prior candidates who did not achieve what either Jacob or MIB desired: escape. One would hope that the candidate numbers would have more meaning than just being numbers.

The numbered candidates could symbolically represent parts of a lock's tumblers, the pieces of metal that move when the proper key is inserted to open the mechanism. Now, if Jacob numbers his candidates, it is either Jacob or the island automatically sets the island's "locking mechanism." The island itself was described as a Magic Box. Magic Boxes would need to be secured from devious people. When the candidates arrive at the island, it is their destiny to "open" the lock in order for Jacob and/or MIB to escape.

The random order of the candidates selection to become island keys came from Jacob scouting them as children, then coming to them with his touch (marking them as elements of the island key). Once they arrived on the island, the game was to determine the order of the candidates in order to unlock the island. It would seem neither Jacob or MIB could control the order of the key, because they were frustrated by the lack of results over the centuries of people being brought to the island.

The only logical progression for the key cuts would be the order of when each candidate died. We know the order from the beginning: Locke (which could be considered a clue for this theory), then Sayid (even after reanimation), Jin, Jack, then most likely Sawyer (if the Ajira plane did not have enough fuel to get home) and then Hurley (who would have become immortal when he accepted the island guardianship).

One might realize a flaw in the theory which is that Jacob and MIB "died" (i.e. escaped) before Hurley would have died. But they could have been trapped like Michael as a whisper, a spirit attached to the island, until Hurley died which would release all the lost and trapped souls into the after life.

LOGIC PUZZLE

If the series climax was really about the Jacob-MIB struggle, we must examine the evidence of that alleged struggle:

1. Crazy Mother stole Jacob and his brother from their real mother just after child birth on the island.

2. Crazy Mother set down a rule that Jacob and his brother could not harm each other, ever.

3. Crazy Mother forbade them from making contact with the other people on the island (which were the remaining crew from the Roman ship that wrecked on the island with Jacob's mother on board).

4.  Jacob's brother went to go live and work with the Romans. He decided that he wanted to leave the island and thought he found a way by digging pits to tap into the island's energy source.

5. Crazy Mother visited Jacob's brother and confronted him on his plans. Jacob's brother refused her demands to return to her camp.

6. Crazy Mother, a middle aged woman, destroyed the entire Roman camp, much in the way we would observe the smoke monster do to the barracks.

7. Jacob's brother was enraged by Crazy Mother's actions, so he confronted her and killed her with a knife.

8. Jacob vowed revenge on his brother, and did so by hurting him near the light cave stream. His bleeding body was washed into the "Heart of the Island" and a smoke monster rushed out - - - and Jacob would later find his brother's dead body in the jungle.

9. Jacob buried Crazy Mother and his brother in a cave ("Adam and Eve").

10. The smoke monster took the form of Jacob's brother (The Man in Black or MIB), but he could shape shift into many forms, including dead individuals.

11. The MIB smoke monster continued to follow Crazy Mother's rules that it could not harm or kill Jacob, so the smoke monster sought out other people to stab Jacob ( like Alpert and Ben). Albert was thwarted because he allowed Jacob to speak to him; Ben had a conversation with Jacob but somehow his stab wound was allegedly fatal.

12. Jacob apparently continued to follow the rule, trying to get other people to kill MIB, including Sayid, but his attempt was thwarted when he allowed MIB to speak to him.

13. Once Jacob was "dead," MIB took the form of John Locke (Flocke) and then tried to recruit people to kill Jacob's remaining candidates.

14. Once Jacob was "dead," the smoke monster convinced Desmond to "deactivate" the heart of the island (by uncorking it) which would free MIB and destroy the island.

15. Jack, who assumed the guardian role, returned to the heart of the island to rescue Desmond and to re-cork the island to stop its destruction.

16. When Jack replaced the stone in the light cave, MIB allegedly became a mortal human being, who would die at the hands of Jack and Kate.

So what were the magical rules that the two "brothers" had to play by?

It would appear that the stone cork in the light cave magically tethered MIB to the island. The cork also kept the island from destroying itself.  This means that MIB/smoke monster was a prisoner on the island. That would also mean that Jacob, who could go off the island to recruit candidates, was not so trapped by the island cork. Logic would then assume that Jacob was not a smoke monster. However, we saw Jacob take other forms, such as his child self, before and after his death at the hands of Ben, just like a smoke monster. We also know that Jacob was immortal, living for centuries without aging.

When the cork was removed, the island began to destroy itself and allowed MIB to break the invisible chains. At this point, MIB was still a smoke monster. It was only after Jack re-corked the island did MIB actually became human (he could bleed). So the sole mechanism to give MIB human mortality would have been the removal then replacement of the stone cork in the light cave.

However, MIB continued to try to kill Jacob's candidates. So, it may have been another rule that if there was a island guardian (a jailor), even though the stone cork was removed, MIB still could not leave the island. But MIB had no rule against killing the candidates - - - he apparently did so with the Others, Dharma and some of the 815 survivors. (Some may say he may have only manipulated people to kill each other off.) Besides, Jacob broke the rule when he killed his brother so that pact was gone. (And probably true because Jacob hid in sacred places that the smoke monster could not get into such as the cabin protected by ash ring or the Tawawet statue.)

When did Jacob become immortal? It seems his immortality was granted to him when Crazy Mother gave him the island guardianship. And if immortality is part of the powers vested in the island guardian, then why did Jack die? Because he transferred his power to Hurley. But then, why did Hurley die?

That would mean that Hurley's death meant that he had to transfer the island guardianship to another person. But that begs the question. If the prisoner, the smoke monster was dead, why would there be a need for a guardian anymore? Unless, of course, there were other imprisoned smoke monsters on the island. And if there was no further reason to guard the island, why would anyone be left on it? Would not Hurley want to get the Others back to their families and their real homes?

The Jacob-MIB conflict still does not make clear, logical sense. If the smoke monster could not enter the light cave and tip over the stone cork to set itself free, then Jacob, being tired of his guardianship duties, could have just quit and left the smoke monster alone on the island. Since we were told only Jacob could bring people to the island, the smoke monster would be forever trapped on the island.

The puzzle pieces to Jacob still don't quite fit together. Was he a man or a smoke monster? Was he immortal or a magician? Was he truly killed or did he turn into a smoke monster trapped on the island as a result of his death?

WINNING HAND?

The most televised poker tournament on Earth finished this November. The World Series of Poker in Las Vegas draws more than 6,000 poker players for the dream of a $8.3 million first prize and the title of the world's greatest poker player.

In Texas Hold Em, it is a game where a player drawing the best cards may not win the hand. There is an art to bluffing, betting and folding in this high stakes, high pressure event. It feeds the classic American story of the underdog going from rags to riches.

At the island's story line conclusion, this is the hand that the viewers were dealt:

The Ace, the most powerful card, has to be the smoke monster. It could change shape. It was immortal. It could kill without hesitation. It could not be killed (conventionally).

The King turned out to be Hurley, since he was the island guardian (and the one who allegedly make up any rules he wanted to).

The Queen was Kate, the last female figure left at the climax of the series. She is the one who allegedly made the fatal shot to take down Flocke (which supposedly allowed the Ajira plane to leave the island with several people on board).

The Jack was Jack because a) Jack is the name of the card, and b) a Jack is not as powerful as a queen or king, but a valuable soldier in battle. One can sacrifice a jack if one has a king or queen left.

The Joker is a wild card, and Sawyer was the wild card in the end. He could have gone evil with Flocke. He could have gone good with Jack. But Sawyer only went for Sawyer - - - all he was concerned about was "getting off this damn rock." He did not help either Jack or Kate in defeating Flocke, but he did agree to "take" Kate off the island (which really wasn't a promise to a dying friend but a tag along okay).

Were these the characters you thought would be the end players when the series ended on the island?

COMPASS BEARING

The fixation with The Numbers came down to names attached to bearing points on Jacob's light house compass. It was within the light house where Jacob used the looking glass to spy upon his candidates throughout their lives, especially their childhoods.

One could imagine that Jacob as a magician would give sad children one last adventure before going on to the after life; a Willy Wonka of the Spiritual World.

But we never got a charitable sense from Jacob or how he operated. He seemed very detached and solemn.

A compass is an instrument containing a magnetized pointer that shows the direction of magnetic north and bearings from it. The use of the compass for navigation at sea was reported from China c. 1100, western Europe 1187, Arabia c. 1220, and Scandinavia c. 1300, although it probably dates from much earlier. Since the early 20th century the magnetic compass has been superseded by the gyrocompass as primary equipment for ships and aircraft.

A bearing  has several different meanings:

1 [ in sing. ] a person's way of standing or moving or the way one behaves or conducts oneself;
2 relation or relevance;
3 the level to which something bad can be tolerated;
4 a part of a machine that bears friction, esp. between a rotating part and its housing;
5 Architecture a structural part that supports weight, such as a wall that supports a beam;
6 the direction or position of something, or the direction of movement, relative to a fixed point. It is typically measured in degrees, usually with magnetic north as zero: the Point is on a bearing of 015°.

There are 360 bearing points on the compass which means that there could be only 360 maximum candidates. From lostpedia's records, there appear to be 220 empty bearing points (with no names). 360 minus 220 equals 140 candidates on the island after Flight 815 crash landed.

Under what iteration were the 815 candidates?

We know that Jacob allegedly brought numerous candidates to the island. We assume centuries past based upon the relics and architectural features of a temple and hieroglyphs. Jacob himself was a shipwrecked Roman from at least 400 AD (based upon his travelers' dress). So, under Jacob's reign, he lasted approximately 1600 years as island guardian.

If the Numbers influence the way humans were captured for the island rituals of Jacob, let us suppose it followed the pattern:

1st group was 4
2nd group was 8
3rd group was 15
4th group was 16
5th group was 23
6th group 42.

At the end of the 6th group, a total of 108 candidates would have arrived on the island.
Which means the 815 manifest list came ashore in either the 9th (135 candidates) or 10th visitor group (151).

We can go back in time to try to figure out who the groups were:
Last group: 815ers
Next to last: Danielle's science boat
Prior to that: Dharma
Prior to that: U.S. Military
Prior to that: The Others
Prior to that: Jacob's boat
Prior to that: Crazy Mom's arrival (?)

So we have been shown at least 7 of the 9/10 groups who came to the island. One group that made an impression was the ancient Egyptians and another group could have been the ancient Greeks (based on Jacob's tapestry).

So throughout time, there were many candidates summoned to the island. Many more creative, scientifically inclined, stronger or spiritual than Jack. So why did Jack become the key to unlock the cycle of island visitors from the greatest civilizations known to mankind? Despite all the attention to detail, lists, candidate names, etc., was Jack's emergence just a random event that changed the course of island history?

In the story, there were three bearing references. Ben told Michael to use bearing 325 to leave the island waters to salvation. Daniel told Frank to use the bearing of 305 to find the island. And finally, Jacob told Hurley to move the lighthouse mirrors to 108 degrees (which was the sum of the 815 candidates). The rescue or salvation number would then appear to be the sum of the current candidate group. It would also imply that in order to reach salvation, the new leader must draw strength or the will from his other candidates in order to succeed.

If that is the formula Jack had to complete, then did it work? What strength did Jack gain from Locke, Sayid, Sawyer, Hurley, or Jin? In his depressed mountain man state, Jack admitted to himself that Locke was right; he had to return to the island - - - but we don't know if it was the drugs or a true revelation inside Jack (since once Jack returned he turned into a complacent worker bee). Jack may have admired Sayid's cold blooded skills to make life and death decisions without hesitation. Jack may have admired how easily Hurley made friends with his fellow castaways.  Jack had a true rival in Sawyer, but Jack never seemed to inherit any of Sawyer's good or bad traits. And Jack was never close to Jin to have a strong relationship. So the concept that all the candidates had to empower one candidate to victory seems to have slim to no evidence of support. By the time Jack took command of the island, Sayid and Jin were dead, Hurley was a scared wreck, and Sawyer was fleeing the island as fast as he could. The "live together or die alone" mantra seems to be a nullity.

Jack, as Number 23, would point almost due north. North is the direction where all bearings come from. It is the natural point in the sky for astronomy and observation of the heavens. The brightest star is called The North Star. Was Jack's death the focal point to show the other candidates and 815 passengers the way not off the island, but the way to the sideways after life world?

THE CASE FOR KATE

It is hard for many viewers to like Kate. She was in the middle of most things, but never a critical factor in any outcome. She lived a miserable life. And, on the island, she found company with other miserable souls who had personal issues that ground them to a halt. Misery loves company. That is the Kate Austen story.

We saw a feisty young tomboy manipulate her young male friends into criminal activity and trouble. We saw her twist logic to justify what she wanted to do. She learned that her real father was the abusive step dad, Wayne. She decided to make things right in her own mind by taking out an insurance policy and blowing up the house and her biological father. (Never mind the subsequent factual farce of the story line of Kate's legal issues). Even on the run, she got her "boyfriend" to "rob" a bank just to get back a toy airplane from a safety deposit box. Once she got what she wanted, she killed him. Every time she was on the verge of happiness, she panicked and fled (such as her marriage to the Florida police officer, who apparently never Googled her background check before his vows).

So we have the foundation of this character summarized as follows:

1. Extroverted but aggressive child with anti-social tendencies.
2. Lashing out at parents for lack of attention or authoritative structure in her daily life.
3. Ability to use charm, guile and flirtation to get her way with weaker minded men.
4. Inherit ability to think on the run when in trouble.
5. Extremely lucky at times to accomplish her Houdini like escapes from the law.
6. The cold blooded killer instinct to eliminate unwanted things in her life.

Kate was clearly a troubled young woman. In her background, we don't have any strong evidence that she made lasting or close friends. She may have been the center of attention at school, but she was too hot to handle by her classmates. Her mother worked extra jobs to make ends meet so Kate was without maternal moral guidance. She had a free range childhood, mostly out on her own testing the boundaries of community standards.

She did not seem the type to want the spotlight of fame or fortune. She may have found Iowa boring, but even as the O6 media celebrity, she shied away from the cameras to become a suburban mother hermit. So, it was out of character for Kate to turn her moral attitude back to do an 180 degree turn to return to the island (but some remark that this was Kate's way of ending her responsibility for caring for Aaron.) Going back to the island was either a thrill ride escape plan or a death wish.

If the island was a place for redemption, then Kate would have been a leading candidate for change. She was an arsonist, murderer, liar, cheater, bank robber, adulterer, and selfish. The closest characters she gravitated towards on the island were Sawyer, a like minded criminal, and Jack, who had deep seeded personal self-esteem and father issues. In their own ways, both Sawyer and Jack led miserable lives even though they were successful in their professions. Kate was successful in nothing.

On the island, she had an intimate relationship with Sawyer, which may or may not have been a means of lashing out against Jack. Her relationship with Sawyer would sour and cool off. Off the island, she had an intimate relationship with Jack, which may or may not have been a means of lashing back against Sawyer who left her on the helicopter during the rescue. Her relationship with Jack would also turn sour and cool off, even upon the return to the island.

She became even more miserable on her island (1977 flash return) when she found that Sawyer had "moved on" with Juliet in Dharma bliss. With Dharma, Kate was a lowly nobody. She was frustrated that Jack gave in and gave up - - - no more leadership, no more wild plans or adventures, no more excitement. So if Kate wanted to get an island adrenaline rush, Jack was not going to be her partner in crime.

So even if Kate was plotting in her twisted logic mind that returning to the island was a means of punishing Jack and taking back Sawyer into her arms, she terribly miscalculated both her wiles and Sawyer's true feelings. Sawyer was suddenly happy being a normal guy with a normal job with a stable home life. He was stale plain vanilla, which must have startled Kate. When Jack went church mouse janitor on her, she was effectively left to be miserable alone.

If LOST was the examination of the loneliness in human lives, then what is the turning point that make true change happen? At the moment of resolution, with the defeat of Flocke, Kate had a choice on the cliffside - - - stay with wounded Jack or escape the island with Sawyer. She chose the latter under the guise that she "needed" to get Claire home to Aaron (but at that moment she did not know where Claire was or even if she was still alive.) Based on the objective evidence, the decision Kate made was to leave Jack behind and go back with Sawyer (to catch him on the emotional rebound so to speak). It speaks to her devious nature and her self-preservation mode against taking on the burden of responsibility for another person (in this case bleeding Jack). It was selfish of her to leave the island without him, especially if Jack was indeed her "soul mate."

Which is why many viewers were troubled by the fact that Kate wound up with Jack in the end. They had no sideways world connection - - - no relationship - - - no strong emotional bond. Any lingering memory of Kate by Jack would have been her leaving him to die (which could not command either respect or love).

In the Season 5 episode "Follow the Leader," the time skipping O6 are captured by the Eloise led Others. Jack reveals to Kate that he means to reset their lives, having the plane never crash and avoiding all the misery that's happened since. Kate adamantly states that it was not all misery, but does not elaborate. He responds that enough of it was.When Daniel is killed, Jack takes up his plan to reset the island. Jack tells Kate that he wants to erase their past because he can't let her go. That admission seems to go against all the character traits of Jack; how can he still pine for her when he left her knowing her heart was given to someone else?

If we view the entire series merely from the perspective (or eyes) of Kate, we see despite all the tangents, continuity errors, bizarre premises and story line dead ends, Kate winds up happy if not content with Jack. She winds up in the afterlife setting a free person, never captured, never convicted, never jailed, never burdened with raising another's child, never accepting responsibility or accountability for her actions. Everything just falls into place: like a perfect dream.

So that could be the case that the series was really Kate's dream. She got away with everything and still got her reward in the end.

THE JOURNEY

Some believe LOST was merely a journey by the various characters through the pitfalls of danger and friendship which led to a lasting impression to reunited in the afterlife.

Others believe that LOST symbolized the ancient religious journeys through the afterlife.

Thoth, the Ibis headed humanoid, was the guardian of the souls on their journey through the afterlife. Other cultures around the globe used bird-men to symbolize the passage from life on Earth to new life in the stars. Ancient cultures believed that the Earth had been visited by star children who gave them knowledge and spiritual rituals to guide them.

In both ancient Egypt and China, leaders of those civilizations were entombed with a massive amount of supplies and other people, such as wives, consorts, guards, soldiers, and servants. The reason was simple: the leaders needed to have people around his soul to help navigate the after life to find paradise. So they were buried with their closest staff members, along with food, weapons and important writings. They left behind cult priests who would pray for their leader's safe passage and appease the gods during his journey.

The statement "live together or die alone" is a modern take on this ancient ritual. In order to move along in the afterlife, a person needs to have "friends" to help him make it to the end. That is why most cultures revere their ancestors, whom they hope to meet in the afterlife to help them get to heaven.

LOST was never heavy on overt religious symbolism. Religion rituals and symbols may be an explanation of what the writers were trying to hide in the plain sight as their vision of what was really happening to the characters. They kept on saying the it was the journey that was the most important thing of the show. That could mean the wild ride of plot twists given the viewer, or the slow progression of angst, loss and perseverance that the characters had to show in order to move on with their lives.

THE GAP

There are a few elements that most people can agree upon: the island was a magical place; it was a spiritual place; it was not of this world. The implication of those facts is that somehow (such as Thoth's magic) the main characters were diverted, taken, kidnapped or sent though time, space, or realms.

This chart explains the possibilities. In our normal life existence, a human soul would live her or his life out in a normal fashion, ending in some sort of purgatory afterlife as taught by most of the major religions. But in LOST, the normal life continuum was interrupted by the "plane crash."  The passengers on Flight 815 were diverted to a magical island in a different realm of existence.  The FDW chamber held hieroglyphs which stated there were various "Earth gates." This chamber could have been a two way teleportation device.

Why were the characters diverted into the island realm? There are a few reasons: to train for their eventual journey through the after life; to kill boredom of the gods (throughout the pantheon of Greek myths the gods came down to Earth to mess with humanity); or to experiment on human souls to determine if they were worthy of a greater purpose.

But once a person got to the island, there were only four choices. One could go back through the diversion portal back to the normal Earth time line. One could stay (or be trapped) on the island in human or spirit form. One could "die" on the island and one's soul could go through a nexus gate to the afterlife. Or, as some of the characters did (but we don't know how), they opened a new gate to create their own sideways purgatory (a purgatory within purgatory). The various realm gates appear to intersect in the afterlife, to be sorted by the White Light.

The big Gap in the flow chart of where the characters were during the series is the island itself. Many fans thought the island was connected by a wormhole which would explain the shifts in time and space. Others believed that the island was a fore-hell for lost souls to begin to sort out their acceptance of their fate of being dead. Others thought that characters were trapped in mental delusions so strong that their conscious thought they were transported to different realms.

If we go with the proposition that what happened was "real," then the passengers on Flight 815 were diverted from normal Pacific air space through an electromagnetic energy field and deposited on the island. This island looks and feels like a tropical island, but it contains supernatural elements and immortal beings so it cannot be of "our Earth."  The characters are still "alive," but must try to live in a spiritual or a world in a different universe. In order to get back to Earth, they must escape the pull of the island's power source or use it to re-open the diversion portal. Only a handful of people ever made it back to their Earth time line. The rest either went directly to the afterlife or diverted themselves to the sideways world to wait for their friends to "awaken."

The concept of awakening leads to the concept of magic: being under a spell. Illusionists can put audience members into deep sleep, hypnotize them, make them do weird things, then snap them back to reality. Did the island and/or Jacob serve the role as magician? Or was the real guardian of the souls of Jack's friends Christian? He died before the other characters so he may have been in an afterlife position to direct or re-direct his son to the promise land (as inferred by the church ending).

In any event, the characters were clearly "detoured" from their normal life's path by and through the island. The question remains about how they got from gap to gap in the time-space-reality spectrum.

THOTH

If the island had name, it would have been Thoth.

Thoth was an ancient Egyptian god-like being who was said to have represented knowledge, science, magic and guidance of souls through the passage in the underworld.

He was often depicted as a half-man, half Ibis. He often helped Ra, the Sun God, through his nightly passage through the underworld. The image of a winged god of knowledge is also found in other cultures, including ancient religions of Hindu, Taoism, and Buddhism.

Thoth's roles in Egyptian mythology were both numerous and varied. First, Thoth served as a mediating power, especially between the forces of good and evil, making sure neither had a decisive victory over the other. This aspect was particularly relevant in his arbitration of the conflict between  Set and Horus.  Likewise, Thoth's mediation role was also evident in his netherworldly alter ego A'an, the god of equilibrium, who monitored the posthumous judgment of deceased mortals and recorded the results in a celestial ledger.

Thoth was also understood to serve as the scribe of the gods, and was credited with the invention of writing and alphabets. As a result, he was also acknowledged as the progenitor of all works of science, religion, philosophy and magic. In the Hellenistic period, the Greeks further declared him the inventor of astronomy, astrology, numerology, mathematics, geometry, surveying, medicine, botany,  theology, civilized government, the alphabet, reading, writing, and oratory.  The Greeks further claimed he was the true author of every work of every branch of knowledge, human and divine.

Thoth was also characterized as a creator deity: the self-begotten and self-produced One. In this context, he was understood to be the master of both physical and moral law, both of which corresponded to the proper understanding and application of Ma'at.  As such, he was credited with making the calculations for the establishment of the heavens, stars, Earth, and everything in them, and to direct the motions of the heavenly bodies.

In this particular context of the Egyptian pantheon, Thoth's this-worldly and other-worldly power was almost unlimited, rivaling both Ra and Osiris.  

Thoth was also prominent in the Osiris myth, being of great aid to Isis. After Isis gathered together the pieces of Osiris' dismembered body, he gave her the words to resurrect him so she could be impregnated and bring forth Horus, named for his uncle. When Horus was slain, Thoth gave the formula to resurrect him as well.

Mythological accounts also assign him credit for the creation of the 365 day calendar. According to this tale, the sky goddess  Nut was cursed with barrenness by Shu, who declared that she would be unable to conceive during any of the months of the year. Coming to her aid, Thoth, the crafty god, discovered a loophole—since the lunar calendar year was only 360 days long, the addition of days that were not contained in any given month would circumvent the hex. Thus, Thoth gambled with Khonsu, the moon, for 1/72nd of its light (five days) and won. During these five days, the goddess conceived and gave birth to Osiris, Set, Isis, Nepthys, and (in some versions) Kheru-ur (Horus the Elder, Face of Heaven). For his exploits, Thoth was acknowledged as "Lord of Time."

All of Thoth's powers dovetail nicely into the various aspects of the elements of the island.  

Throughout the series, the conflicts between the forces of good and evil resulted with neither having a decisive victory over the other. The ideas of lists and missions and judgments follow Thoth's monitoring of  the posthumous judgment of deceased mortals on ledgers. The island was filled with themes of science, religion, philosophy and magic. It would appear that the island had certain unbroken "rules," as stated in the Jacob-MIB conflict which may represent Thoth's mastery of both physical and moral law. In his myths, there are great stories about being a guardian in the underworld and healer of infertility. Infertility and guardianship of the island were two prominent themes in the series. Also, Sayid's resurrection from the dead in the Temple waters was surrounded by columns of ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs which were probably the formula for the ceremony and magic.

The island would best be described as Thoth or his domain. It is apparent that there may have been an unseen entity behind the curtain beyond Jacob or MIB.  With all his powers, Thoth seems to fit the bill as being the man behind such a supernatural curtain.

CLIFFHANGER OF THE ISLAND

To tide fans over from season to season, LOST used the time tested serial cliffhanger to keep fan interest. Did these cliffhangers have anything in common besides holding the drama for six months or longer?

At the end of the first season, the big mystery was the distress signal, which Sayid said has been repeating for more than 16 years. The distress call was made by Danielle after her shipwrecked science crew was wiped out by the smoke monster. It allegedly took out all the radio frequencies surrounding the island (which was false based upon Dharma's and the Others communications stations). The idea that a distress call was uniterrupted was to dash the hope of the survivors for the one thing they still were clinging onto: rescue.

At the end of the second season, Locke found a mysterious hatch cover in the jungle. He believed that it contained all the answers to the mysteries. His quest to open the hatch would later lead to tragedies. The hatch was created by another science team who came to the island to conduct experiments. One of the aspects of the hatch cover and its operation was The Numbers. The Numbers continued to pop up throughout various aspects of the story lines. We were led  to believe that the key to solving LOST was in The Numbers. We would later find out that the numbers represented, if anything, candidates to replace the mysterious Jacob.

At the end of the third season, we had another element of the island show itself: The Others. Just as the survivors hoped was dashed when the first raft was burned by Walt, the second raft set sail for rescue. But before it got too far, it was intercepted by another boat of bearded men who kidnapped Walt, shot Sawyer, and destroyed the raft. The Others were the "native" inhabitants of the island, but we really do not know that for sure. The Others were supposed to be the headbutting rivals to the survivors' camp, but by the end they were mostly red shirt victims as were most of the 815 survivors.

At the end of the fourth season, we had the plot twist of the "flash forward," a peak into the future of the series with Jack screaming like a mountain man to Kate that they "had to go back" to the island. This shocking reveal meant that at least two survivors made it off the island. How?! We would later learn that a ill-fated Widmore assault team from a freighter would give the O6 an opportunity to leave the island via helicopter, to be rescued by Penny's boat, but not after several character sacrifices (Michael and Charlie dying, and Sawyer jumping from the helicopter). The whole O6 side story really did not amount to anything substantial and it was very forced to bring the characters back to the main action of the island. If you left a dangerous place run by a mad man (Ben), who in their right mind would want to go back? The people left behind were fellow survivors, but they could all be dead now. There was no reason for the O6 to return to the island.

At the end of season five, we have Juliet banging a rock on an atomic bomb casing yelling that it needs to explode. Many fans believe she detonated the device, but that did not happen. The incident was a massive electromagnetic discharge from the island itself (much like Desmond's fail safe key) which caused another implosion and realignment of island time. Juliet was a secondary character who was kidnapped by Ben to come to the island to fix the fertility issue of the island women. She wanted to leave but could not. She tried to manipulate men into doing her bidding, but was rarely successful. During the time skip to Dharma 1970s, she wound up undercover with Sawyer for three island years until the O6 returned to re-set the island. Juliet survived the implosion only to die in the arms of Sawyer in the beginning of the final season. Did her death actually matter in setting up the final season? No. Sawyer vowed revenge against Jack, but they never came to angry blows.

And the end of the lineal time of the series, we see Christian open the church doors and a white light engulfs everyone in the pews. This is supposed to represent the characters "moving on" in the after life, but we are left to imagine where they were going. Which in some respects is ironic, because we still really don't know where the characters have been.

So what were the key elements of the cliffhangers? An island that traps people, a hatch that controls mysterious energy force which may shroud the island from the world, the Others who don't want anyone to leave the island, the need of the island to have anyone who has escaped to return, that numerous deaths and sacrifices were needed on the island, and that in the end the island is given over to Hurley and Ben. They appears to be a need for the island to have a person "in charge." A normal island is merely a mountaintop of extruded volcanic rock that spears above the ocean water line. But this island is more, it appears aware.

A theme running through the various groups that landed on the island was that they were scientists: the Romans, the Egyptians, the Dharma group, Danielle's crew and various members of the 815 passenger list were highly educated professionals. So it seemed that the island needed "science" in order to do something it could not do on its own. And that may be the biggest cliffhanger of all: what did the island want?

CLIFFHANGERS

A cliffhanger is a story telling device which stops the story at a precarious, dangerous or surprising stop until the next chapter or episode is revealed to answer or explain the prior plot point.

LOST contained numerous cliffhangers, some from episode to episode, some from season to season.

In examining the end-of-season cliffhangers, and the promise of their resolution, reveals the following:

Season 1: The opening of The Hatch and the attack on the raft which strange people kidnapped Walt.

Season 2: Jack, Kate and Sawyer are taken by the Others; Locke lets the Hatch timer run out to a system failure (which aftermath is in doubt); and a listening post tells Penny it has found the island.

Season 3: Jack's flashbacks are revealed at the airport to be flash forwards, that Kate and Jack will escape the island.

Season 4: The island moves and the man in the coffin is revealed as Locke (but not how he died).

Season 5: Juliet is trapped in the construction pit, left to pound on rock on the atomic bomb.

Season 6: The cast gathers in the sideways church to be engulfed by a white light.

We would learn that the Hatch was a Dharma science station, that had to be manned by a person who needed to input The Numbers (for some unknown reason). We would learn that a group of native inhabitants called The Others were behind Walt's kidnapping and the sinking of the raft. The Others claim to be "the good guys" but state that the island is their domain.

We would learn that Jack, Kate and Sawyer were captured by the Others so their leader, Ben, could manipulate them to apparently serve the goals of a mysterious person named Jacob. Jack was needed to perform spinal surgery on Ben. Sawyer was needed to be conned by Ben to quell any rebellious notions that the survivors would have in the future, Kate was used as the romantic pawn to keep both Jack and Sawyer in line.

We would see that if the Hatch timer went to zero, an alarm would signal, and hieroglyphs would appear that said "He Escapes Place of Death," and there would be a massive surge of magnetic energy that would rattle the entire island.

We would learn that Penny had hired men to listen for the island so she could find its location. We were left wondering why people could not find the island.

We saw the sudden plot inversion to the flash forward with Jack and Kate at the airport. We saw an upset Jack losing his nerve. When Kate left, saying "he is waiting," we did not know who she was talking about (Sawyer, Ben or some other person). The question was how did they get off the island, and what happened to them.

We learned that several 815 survivors got on board the helicopter from Widmore's freighter just before it blew up. But running low on fuel, Frank attempted to return to the island when it suddenly vanished without barely an ocean ripple, stunning everyone on board.

In another flash forward mystery from that season, the man inside the coffin was revealed to be Locke, but we did not know how he died until it was revealed that Ben killed him.

We would learn that Juliet "survived" the construction site implosion (meaning that the atomic bomb did not detonate), but she mumbled that "it worked" (but we don't know what that means). She is embraced by a time skipping partner, Sawyer, who holds her when she dies. He vows revenge against Jack for his foolish plan that led to Juliet's death.

In the end, we see the smiling faces of the main characters engulfed by a white light as Christian opens the church doors, but we don't know what that means or where the characters are "moving on" to.

The answers to the cliffhangers were mere isolated facts, little puzzle pieces, which did not connect together to form a clear picture to solve the biggest mysteries of the series.