DREAMWEAVERS

“ Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true. ” - - - Leon J. Suenens

 If there was one Dream Master, for which the entire series was inside his/her head, who would it be?

First, there are several types of dreams. There are day dreams, where a person loses track of his/her conscious self in a real world/public setting. They go into sleep mode like a computer does; ready to wake up when some outside force interrupts their escape from reality.

Second, there are traditional REM sleep. Researchers have concluded that REM sleep is an important aspect of human health. Some believe that the brain needs to reconfigure the day's events into memory pathways so a person can problem solve in the future. Others believe that a human body needs to rest in order for its organs, tissues, blood supply and nerve endings can regenerate from a long and stressful daytime of activities. In order for the body to rest, the brain must "trick" the subject into having dreams (adventures and thoughts) so the rest of the body can heal.

Third, there are night terrors or nightmares. These are spawn from the subconscious fears every person has from their instinctive distrust of the darkness or wild animals, to interpersonal relationship problems caused by the social, moral or cultural pressures of daily life.

The entire LOST saga could fit into any one of those categories: escapism, rest or nightmares.

Candidates for the LOST dreamer:  

1. Libby. When we saw her in the day room of the mental hospital, she was in a "blank stare" like she had zipped out on her meds. She seemed unaware of her surroundings, yet, she was staring at Hurley (who would later not recognize her on the island.)  This non-recognition is the building block for the thesis that Libby's escape from reality in a mental institution created the various "coincidental" characters that invariably got caught up on the island: Desmond and the boat; Jack as a hospital doctor she saw in passing; Locke, whose crazy mother was institutionalized  in the same facility; to even criminal psychological evaluations on people like Kate, Sawyer or Cooper. The main characters could have been composites of the people who would live and work at the mental hospital. They could have been the personality traps she wanted to release, such as motherhood (Claire), freedom (Kate), moral strength (Rose), intelligence (Juliet), leadership (Ana Lucia), or beauty (Shannon).

2. Sayid. He was the one who needed the most "rest," as his life was a turmoil. From a young child, he was dealt a rough hand. He had to step up to do the dirty deeds. He was trained to kill. It went beyond his religious beliefs, but he continued to do what he was told. He became a torturer, which led to mind torturing him. So when he went to sleep, he dreamed of a more idyllic paradise away from the war torn nation of Iraq. He would be the center of a noble journey to find his true love, happiness, acceptance and friendship with everyone in the world. But which each happy segment of island life, his memories of his real life would take over in violence, mistrust and self doubt. He tried to run away to protect the others in his dream world, but he could not - - - he would return to hurt them and himself over and over again. In a dream state, the mind can play simulator and go over problems to find different end games. In Sayid's case, the end to ease his pain would be death - - - which played out in several different ways in the island dream world (plane crash, being shot, tortured, and blown up by a bomb on the submarine.) To him, LOST was a series of stories on how he could possibly fit into a different world from his own.

3. Hurley. He was the one most open about his fears and concerns. He understood and accepted his weak mental state. He blamed himself for causing others pain. He acknowledged that he was "crazy," but that could have been a misdirection to deal with his constant nightmares. Hurley was a bundle of self doubt, lack of self-esteem, introverted neurosis, shyness, lack of social skills, and the inability to find acceptance in himself. He was a follower, not a leader. He was a wallflower, not a lover. He was person in the crowd, instead of the center of attention. As a result, he consumed the various aspect of escapism culture: television shows, comic books, movies. It was those aspects that fueled the improbable and disturbing island adventures that were Hurley's own night terrors. Hurley lacked the focus, will power and applied reasoning to follow through on things; that is why he was comfortable as a low wage fry cook. In the same way, that is why the LOST stories were a jumbled mess of half baked or incontinent conclusions because that is the way Hurley's real life was - - - a random smattering of thoughts and ideas that could mesh well brainstorming comic book hero plot lines that never would amount to any logical conclusion. Hurley felt hopeless in his real life situation. He had a single mother who pushed him from the nest but he resisted. He felt abandoned by his father. He believed he had no future. These thoughts would amplify his nightmares as these were real burdensome issues. He could only find happiness with people as "mixed up" as he was, his imaginary characters who we would come to know as the LOST cast.