SEX

"I believe that sex is one of the most beautiful, natural, wholesome things that money can buy." - - - Steve Martin.

Sex was an element in LOST but it was not truly associated with love.

Kate and Sawyer's affairs were more animal lust than true, deep passion. It was the spark of danger between people running away from their problems.

Kate and Jack's romance was more a convenience (in order to keep Aaron in LA) than a deep bond of attraction, friendship, trust and mutual respect. They may have loved each other but they were not in love with each other. 

Kate used sex as a manipulation of men to do what she needed to do to maintain her freedom.

Sawyer used sex as a means of conveying trust to one of his con artist victims.

Jack appeared to have a cold distance to sex and romance, perhaps because of the chill between his parents while he grew up. He was passionate with Sarah, his first wife, not because of her but because he promised her a miracle. She was more a trophy of his success than a real life partner. Sarah quickly understood this through Jack's jealousy of his father so she divorced Jack.

Sun quickly felt that sex with Jin was more a marital obligation than true love. Her feeling for her husband quickly changed when Jin began to change into the mirror image of her business oriented father. 

Claire and Shannon used sex as a means of finding comfort and support from men. They chose interloper boyfriends than real permanent bonds. Both paid the price for looking for an easy path to acceptance. 

Then there were a large group of sexless loners including Hurley, Daniel and Charlie. They were looking for a special woman, but could not overcome their own insecurities until they reached the island. But events took their potential lovers away from them until the reunion in the after life.

Many fans believed the only true love story in the series was the relationship between Desmond and Penny. The star-crossed lovers went back and forth; questioning their own feelings and self-worth; longing for each other when Widmore put himself between them. Then, the long search to be reunited after Desmond was lost at seas. When they were reunited, they pledged themselves to each other. Their sexual union brought forth a true family, which Desmond vowed to protect from Widmore. And it was Desmond's love for Penny that broke the barriers in the sideways world so every major character could remember their closest island bonds. It was that break that caused humanity to prevail in the sideways world.

ANIMALS

There were various animals on LOST.

Only one had an official name: Vincent, Walt's dog.

Vincent was an alleged survivor of the plane crash hold. He was found wandering the jungle. He was also last seen coming to Jack when he passed on in the bamboo grove.

Some have thought that Vincent could have been a representation of the White Smoke Monster. Vincent was always near the action, especially running off into the jungle "just" before something bad happens or "leads" the people on a chase that helps them find something important. As a dog, people on the island would not see him as a threat. He is the perfect spy. Perfect cover. He could have been Jacob incognito.

The dog has long been considered a liaison between the physical and non-physical dimensions. Ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Celtic and beyond have all prescribed the dog as a sacred guardian of the Otherworlds - those realms outside our daily/mundane experience. If you hear of dogs being symbols of death - this is the connection: Dogs are the guardians of ephemeral domains, and can even serve as spirit guides in non-physical journeys. 

As we learned in the End of the series, the sideways world was a place of death, a purgatory limbo of the character souls waiting to be awakened. LIkewise, the island realm could have been real, semi-real or another underworld of the dead (Hell).

The second most significant animal on the series dealt with birds. Fans named the squawking bird that taunted Hurley the "Hurley Bird"  because it apparently called out his name. When he asked his friends whether they heard it, they made fun of him. Many fans thought that bird was a warning to Hurley to be careful. Others thought that it was just another clue that Hurley was seeing things, like Dave, as in being crazy.

Many people view birds as a symbol of freedom (such as the American Eagle symbol), or even as symbols of the future. Their ability to soar high into the sky and their proximity with the sky makes them desirable for humans who cannot fly without substitute wings. From time immemorial, mankind has considered birds to be signs of eternal life. Many stories and folklore suggest that birds were taken as signs of renewed life, often as a transition between life and death.

Hurley's ability to see and talk to the dead may be part of the Hurley Bird experience. The bird could represent the transition phase from being alive to being dead. In the Middle East and Asia birds are symbols of immortality. In East Indian mythology, all birds represent a "departed soul" and in Christian art, birds are often depicted as saved souls.

The crane is a symbol of long life and immortality. The eagle represents power, resurrection and generosity. The falcon signifies, "A Light that Shines in the Darkness". The nightengale suggests love and longing. The owl is often associated with death and darkness; but it also can bring wisdom, insight and virtue. The peacock heralds in springtime, birth, new growth, longevity, and love. And the tiny sparrow, represents the love of God for even the "least" among us. The Hurley Bird best fits the sparrow symbolism.

The other aviary connection to LOST was with Walt. Walt had a special mental attribute which could cause birds to crash or kill themselves. In Australia, he caused a bird to crash during a fit. Outside Room 23, many dead birds were found after Walt's session. 

In some cultures, a bird is a symbol of betrayal. In Walt's case, his anger at his situation of being abandoned by his father and losing his mother could have set off his ESP abilities to lash out at inferior creatures.

Then there was the polar bear. A bear often symbolizes contradictions.

Indeed, the bear is a  symbol of motherhood and child protection in Native American cultures. Of course a wild bear is potentially explosive so that territorial nature invokes representation o sovereignty, courage and themes of a warrior spirit such as bravery.

In Scandinavian legend the bear was an aspect of the god Odin, and Berserkers were known to wear bearskins to enhance their ferocity in battle. Such vicious looking warriors were insured a victory. 

In Greek cult following of Artemis. a god huntress,  her maiden devotees would don bear dressings as a symbol of hunting prowess and power. 

Ancient  Celtic lore indicates the bear is grounded in a heroic aspect, we also see it connected to the godess Berne who is associated with lunar movements.

 

Bear meanings associated with the moon continue in Pueblo Indian lore in which the bear is connected to underground temples. Here the bear is said to oversee the movements of the night, and lives in time with the tribe's cycles with the moon.

In fact, many ancient peoples understood the connection of the moon and the bear because of the bear's hibernation patterns. But more importantly, our nature-savvy ancestors recognized the dual nature of the bear.

The nature-based mindset followed the "sleeping" (hibernating) and "waking" nature of the bear and assigned specific meaning to each of these phases of the bear's life. In the LOST ending, the characters must come out of a personal hibernation to "awaken" in the after life.

 

These animals appear to represent the spiritual aspects of the series storylines and theories that surround the show as being one of a journey or passage to the after life.

VINCENT

In reference to the importance of Vincent in the final story line:

Cats are mostly associated with the royals in Egypt, but dogs do have an important place in that society, as hunting dogs, shepards, guard dogs and pets.

Dogs were reflected in their gods, including Anubis, who is shown with the head of a jackal. A jackal is a desert wild canine, a bottom feeder who would dig up graves. They used those observations to symbolize a dog's role in the after life.

Anubis was not a god of the dead, in the sense that he was the ruler of the underworld, he was the god who supervised the embalming and burial of the deceased and who guided the dead to the underworld. The symbol of the "dog" seems to have been associated with the notion of "guiding."

Wepwawet, another canine god, is often represented on the bough of a boat, leading the way. The name Wepwawet means "the one who opens the ways," I think this may describe Vincent when Ghost Christian told Vincent to wake up Jack after the original plane crash.

Once in the underworld, Anubis, assisted by the god Thoth, supervises the weighing of the heart of the deceased. Only when the deceased's heart was found to be in balance with all that was as it should be, Maat, was he introduced to Osiris.

Anubis was also the guardian of the necropolis or cemetery. He was also described as the "lord of the cave", where "cave" refers to the tomb.

BIRDS, BEES & ADAM AND EVE

One of the mysterious current under blog posting re-examination is the mystery of Adam and Eve, found in the caves during Season 1. Kate found the first skeleton on a ledge inside the cave. Jack said they had to be there for at least 50 years. One was a man and one was a woman. Inside a pocket, he found two stones, one black one white.

If you look at Adam and Eve it looks like they have been mummified. And we know the Egyptians were the world's mummy burial rites advocates. This scene predates our view of the island underworld and the Temple, with the Egyptian references.

Recall, that Kate and Jack found the cave dwellers as a result of a bee attack. Which lead to the following research:

According to one Egyptian myth, honey bees were the tears of the sun god Ra. Their religious significance extended to an association with the goddess Neith, whose temple was known as "the house of the bee." Honey was regarded as a symbol of resurrection and also thought to give protection against evil spirits.

Ancient Egyptians also thought the bee a symbol of wisdom, regeneration, and obedience.

The Egyptians kept bees for their honey and wax. They were kept in woven wicker hives that had been covered in clay. Not only was the honey used for food and as offerings to the gods, but it was also used by the Egyptians to create makeup, medicine (it has an antibacterial effect), boat building, mummification and as a binding agent in some paints.

The ancient priests used to chisel out shelves in caves to bury the dead. Ledges were used to bury them. Based on the circumstantial evidence, one could easily state that the cave was the burial chamber for an ancient Egyptian couple.