At times, cast members have mentioned discussions with fans about theories. Jorge Garcia once mentioned that one fan thought that as Flight 815 passed through the island's electromagnetic field, everything was cloned, and the show was all about their clones. There is really nothing to dispute that fan's theory ("the photo copier effect") or prove it.
But there has to be some logical construct to at least get a detailed understanding of the show's diverse pathways. As with the above graphic I stumbled across on the web, at each critical moment there is at least two clear choices.
The vast majority of people believe that the characters did board an airplane in Sydney. (There are several theories that state the contrary; that the entire show is the dream state of character(s)). Once the plane went over the island, at the same time of the electromagnetic burst, something happened.
We were led to believe that the plane broke up at cruising altitude. We saw the tail section break away from the main fuselage. We saw the wreckage on the beach, and the injured passengers. The plane crashed on a tropical island. There were some survivors. That is one conclusion.
However, later on in the series, Flight 815 makes a routine landing in LA. We would later find out that this "sideways" world was "created" by the characters as a means of getting back together. In this sideways world, everyone is dead.
We have two simultaneous parallel story tracks.
What is the reason for the sideways place? Everyone on board had in his or her own mind the expectation and dream to land in Los Angeles and to continue on with their lives. Whatever happened to Flight 815, it charged those memories and dreams to create the sideways universe. A "waking dream" is an involuntary dream while a person is awake. The dream state is that person's present reality. This must have been impressed upon each of their souls as a result of the plane crash.
But if in fact the sideways world was created at the time of the plane breaking up and crashing, all the characters in the sideways world were dead. That leads to one of two possibilities: everyone on the island was killed in the plane crash, or the characters survived in another supernatural place.
How can a person be in "two" places at once? Just as one can space off and daydream during a business meeting, that person is actually in two places at once. He or she may be hearing the business discussion around the table, but part of their mind is off at a distant place or memory. This lends some support to a possible dream state happening to the characters.
Then the question becomes can a dead person dream?
If the sideways world was the daydream of the characters, their last living moments impressed in the electromagnetic neurons of their brains, it could have been carry forwarded into the next level of existence.
This gets us to the final piece of the story. Characters in the sideways world were not aware of their true existence until they were "awakened" to the island memories. What were the island memories? In an endorphin charged fear of dying in a plane crash as the plane broke a part, it was the will to live. The island world was the will to remain alive - - - a dream scape by dead souls who did not want to realize or accept their fate. The characters continued to chase "life" on the island.
What was the one thing that could shock a sideways soul into remembering happened to him or her? To awaken or sever the island dream of life to recognize that you were killed in a plane crash. Jack was shocked by the notion that he was dead when he met his father in the sideways church, but he quickly accepted it and was at peace.
Just as the sideways world in the afterlife seemed "real" to those who had not been awakened, so to would have been an island dream world that would seem just as real.
TPTB continually state that the characters were alive. But they don't say when they died. They don't explain how the sideways world was created but acknowledge everyone is dead. They created this two place story. We are just trying to make sense of it.
If the island people thought they were alive, does that mean they were not in purgatory? No, if one considers a dream state not an after life realm.
If the sideways people thought they were alive, does that mean they were not dead? No.
One definition of being "alive" is (of a feeling or quality) continuing in existence, as in keeping hope alive. If one has the severe emotional will to "cheat" death by keeping one's memories alive in a supernatural time and place, then the show expands the normal concept of being alive to another plane of existence. TPTB claim that the ending was all about answering the meaning of life and what happens after you die. If we take them at their word, so be it.
But both the island and sideways story lines need a clear nexus in order to make sense. Since the creative forces behind the series do not or cannot fully explain their own story (and hide behind their clever mysteries), we are left to investigate all the possibilities to reach some consistent probabilities.
This Dream State theory weaves together the simultaneous parallel yet supernatural time periods with the major clue of the dead "awakening" in the after life.
