LIFE

The age old question is "when does life begin?"

Politically, this question has been hijacked in the abortion debate (which itself was a very early, fleeting theory that the childlike behavior of the main characters showed that they were not really adults but kids projecting themselves as adults in a fantasy world - - - one created because these characters were actually souls of aborted babies who never had a chance to live a life.)

But this is not a post about family planning (if anything, LOST was the anti-family planning show with unplanned pregnancies, abusive parents, foster care, etc.)  

What is life?

 Life is defined as the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death; living things and their activity.

A person's life is existence; either of the two states of a person's existence separated by death (as in Christianity and some other religious traditions) or any of a number of successive existences in which a soul is held to be reincarnated (as in Hinduism and some other religious traditions).

As LOST was not a religious show, more a secular mash-up of Western and Eastern philosophies with a heavy dose of ancient Egyptian death rituals, we should avoid defining life as merely a religious context.

At the base level of all life is this simple formula which I have developed over the years:

The purpose of life is to gather, store and consume energy.

All organisms, plants, animals, humans fit into this simple formula. How each life form goes about gathering its energy needs and resources are the variables in life.

Higher life forms like mankind think about the basic needs in more complex ways. To distinguish themselves from dumb animals, man has created his own mythology about creation, life and death. It was to explain the unexplainable. It was to comfort those against the impending losses (since everyone is born with a death sentence.) It was to create a greater purpose and foster hope for an unlimited future. 

The fundamental purpose of life to pass on one's own life to the next generation. That is the cycle of renewal that most people understand and can fully grasp. It is the belief structure upon death that separates the believers from the non-believers.

Some may think that our existence on Earth is merely an embryonic state in which, like a larva turns into a butterfly (releasing a soul) upon the death stage to the after life. Others believe that man is just a chemical factory of complex neurons that returns to its inert, organic state to be renewed by other organisms. 

LOST is more hopeful than that. At least the main characters found a way to another level of existence in the sideways world. Even if it was purely a dreamlike fantasy after death, where a person's own memories fuel an everlasting loop of dreams, that is still better than chemical decomposition theory.

But what is missing is clear: life still needs to be lived. Lived to the fullest. The LOST characters were anchored in misery by their own regrets and failures. They failed to use their own mistakes, failures and faults to become better human beings. Being better people would have made them happier, fulfilled and loved. They would not be bitter loners just waiting for the end. They would have cherished their moments with their loved ones so as not to care about the end.

Life was described as a bowl of cherries, which sometimes contains the pits. It is navigating around the pits that makes life worthwhile.