FLASH OF LIFE

One of the mysteries of The End was the last flash of light when Christian opened the doors in the sideways church.

What was that flash of light supposed to represent?

We were told that the characters were "moving on." To what? Where? How? and Why?

A wild yet intriguing science article could shed some "light" on the ending.

Scientists at Northwestern University have found that human life begins in bright flash of light as a sperm meets an egg. This flash is caused by a sudden release of zinc when the egg is fertilized which causes light to be seen under the microscope.

The reports state that an explosion of tiny sparks erupts from the egg at the exact moment of conception.

Scientists had seen the phenomenon occur in other animals but it is the first time is has been also shown to happen in humans.

“To see the zinc radiate out in a burst from each human egg was breathtaking, ”

Professor Teresa Woodruff, Northwestern University said in a Telegraph (UK) article.

Researchers noticed that some of the eggs burn brighter than others, showing that they are more likely to produce a healthy baby.

 

One of the early issues in the series was the theme of the island stopping conception or babies being born. We were never told why the island with alleged "healing" powers (such as seen to Rose for cancer and Locke for paralysis) could abort a fetus. 

What could be the possible symbols for light? Light is energy in a pure form. Light is a positive influence. Light can be representative of god in many religious contexts. Light can represent life. It could represent a soul. And now science adds conception to the list of possible symbols for life.

When a egg is fertilized, the human DNA of two people merges to create a new life. 

Was the fact that both Claire and Sun birthed their children for the second time in the sideways world, a clue that the characters were precursors to conception? 

It is possible when the show writers grappled with their big question, what is life and death, that they masked the symbolism too tightly in reality.

Each of us carries the genetic material of our parents. That genetic material is code. Code that creates the complex biochemical factory called the human body. Code that is similar to that of a computer operating system. 

Many fans thought LOST was merely a computer video game with the characters being avatars of the players. But instead of looking at the show as an illusion of a video game, look at it as symbolic embodiment of the genetic material of each characters' parents. For example, Jack was not Jack a human being. Jack was the collective code of his father and mother's life, traits, predication, personality, faults, emotions and intelligence. Jack was a double helix compiling his parents data into his own data set just prior to "conception" with another double helix (specifically Kate's ancestry).

Other scientific studies indicate that many people are predisposed for disease, alcoholism, illness or athletic because of genetic disorders hard wired in a person's DNA. Each of the main characters traits and characteristics could represent a genetic pattern for that future human being.

The idea that the sideways church is merely a vessel for the fully developed sperm and egg DNA of ancestors reaching puberty (the waxing and waning of hormones) is an interesting concept. The last flash of bright light in the final episode could have marked the real beginning of the story.

MOVING ON

This is how LOST ends: with Christian opening the church doors to bring a wash of white light upon those characters sitting in the pews. This was the moment where they would be "moving on."

But look closely at the picture. Does it give us any final clues?

On the left side of the picture, we have the following characters from the front row back:

1. Locke, who is looking back
2. Sayid and Shannon off to the side by themselves, leaning forward but looking back
2. Bernard and Rose, looking forward
3. Juliet and Sawyer, looking back
4. Boone, looking back

On the right side of the picture, we have the following characters from front row back:

1. Jack and Kate, looking forward
2. Sun and Jin, looking back
2. Charlie, Aaron and Claire, looking forward
3. Desmond and Penny, looking back
4. Hurley and Libby, looking back

On the left side, 6 people are looking back towards the light.
On the right side, 6 people are looking back towards the light.
Does this represent that these people are content to embrace the after life?

On the left side, 2 people are looking forward away from the light.
On the right side, it appears 4 people are looking forward away from the light (Aaron is covered).
Does this represent that these people are not sure about moving on into the light?

The people looking back toward the light have some commonality.
Locke and Boone are sitting alone, far a part.
Sayid and Shannon are also sitting away from the main aisle, leaning forward which
may show uncertainty.
Juliet is full turn while Sawyer is half turned toward the light.
Sun, Jin, Hurley and Libby are sitting farther away from the main aisle, but looking back.
Desmond and Penny are fully turned toward the light.

But in front of them, Charlie and Claire are heads together looking forward.
Bernard and Rose are sitting up straight and stoic while staring ahead.
And Jack and Kate look forward with childish grins on their faces.

The left side of the picture contains more people that have less bonds with Jack than those on the right side of the picture. Those on the left have traits of being loners, self-reliant. The people on the right side had more important contact and interaction with Jack. The right side characters are fully paired off in couples; while the left side has two singles.

Jack was the last person we know of who realized that he was dead. Therefore, he was the last person in the church to accept that fact. Perhaps, he has yet to come to grips with it so he stares ahead contemplating the moment. He may have thought that the joke was on him all along.

Desmond was probably the first person in the sideways story arc to understand his own demise. This may be why he is turned toward the light. He understands where he is and he had nothing further to do accept it in order go on with Penny by his side.

Charlie and Claire's sideways awakening was always problematic because Aaron's "rebirth" leads to complicated real world questions or the possibility he was just a "prop," but their reunion was the longest in time because Charlie died on the island. So they may have also needed more time to reflect on the situation before turning to the light.

Bernard and Rose seem out of place. They are together, looking forward but in the last moments of the scene, they do not look happy. Perhaps Rose knew before anyone that the plane crash was symbolic passing to purgatory to judge everyone's character in death. While others around them embrace the idea of the after life, Bernard and Rose may be pensive because they knew that the island was also part of an after life construction - - - and the next stage of existence could be either Heaven or Hell.

We assumed a happy ending for the characters. But we are not sure what they were about to move on to (including the cryptic Christian who said he did not know.) But if we have one final look at Numbers, a repetitive theme throughout the series, we have 6 on the left looking back to the light, 6 on the right looking back to the light, and 6 people looking forward: 6-6-6.

BEST OF TIMES

Here is a new question. If Christian was correct in saying that the main characters in the church died well before and well after Jack, why did they all appear in the church as their "island" selves?

The metaphysical question is what is the physical appearance of the dead in purgatory.

It may not be a bothersome proposition because it was just a television show, and the actors aged only 6 years.  But the show did use other actors to play the main characters roles such as in childhood or as young adults. But TPTB chose to represent the dead LOST cast in the church at their island ages.

Can one infer that when one's soul goes to purgatory, its physical appearance is locked in place? This would seem to match the ancient Egyptian concept of mummification of the deceased body and organs for the reconstruction and rebirth of that person in the after life.

Now, Christian also said that the people in the church waiting for Jack were present because they shared the "most important" time in their lives. He did not say "the best" times. The idea of the shared experience of an airplane crash may be important, and the survival of the plane crash even more important, but there were some characters who should have lived full lives beyond the island crash.

For the church scene to make sense, it would seem that all the characters were "locked" in their physical place based upon the moment they went into island airspace. And in the purgatory world, Aaron becomes the problem child. It is hard to imagine that Aaron, who left the island with Kate and was with his grandmother when Claire was rescued, would not have lived a full life outside the island. But the ending church realm has Aaron being born - - - meaning that he was still a fetus when the sideways world was "created." It also creates the massive logic issue of how can a dead mother, Claire, give "birth" to her child in purgatory? (In some respects that pregnancy issue was at the heart of Ben's island research with Juliet, i.e. evidence that the Island could also have been a purgatory state.) Was Aaron really born on the island, or was that a fantasy?

For if Aaron's physical spirit was locked in as shown in the after life (as a fetus or new born), one would have to conclude that Aaron died in the plane crash or shortly after birth on the Island. Otherwise, it would have been more appropriate to have a grown Aaron with Claire in the church, or no Aaron at all.  The idea that Claire "needed" to have Aaron's birth to "awaken" in the after life to reconnect her feelings with Charlie seems to be an unnecessarily convoluted plot twist. It makes Aaron a mere prop for Claire to accept her own death. A death that may have been caused because of a traumatic child birth (which mirrors Ben's back story birth).

And if Aaron's "most important" life moment was being born on the island, that would mean Aaron had no other life . . . his soul represents only a fixed newborn whose life was measured in weeks not years. One cannot say that the best days of Aaron's life were on the island unless those were his "only" days.

Then again, the Ajira escapees would have lived a long lives after leaving the island. Kate, Sawyer and Claire would have aged before they died "long after" Jack. But again, their appearance in the sideways after life was that of the island time of the plane crash. Kate, Sawyer and Claire had life expectancies of forty years or more. They would have had the opportunity to change, meet new people, forge new relationships and put the island terror behind him. Kate could have reconnected with her husband, the Florida policeman. Claire could have reconnected with Aaron's father. Sawyer could have reconnected with the mother of his child. All those pre-flight bonds and relationships were present when they left the island for good. So, one would then have to assume that none of those mainland reunions ever took place. One could also assume that the Ajira people may have never made it back. Or one could assume no one ever left the island, per se.

The physical appearances of the characters in the sideways church and Christian's vague explanation creates more fundamental questions. The sideways plot premise does not seem to be consistent when one looks at the individual characters, especially post-island time. In fact, it leads us down the path to consider one explanation: that the sideways purgatory was also the island purgatory - - - the lost souls were locked in their spiritual and physical forms when Flight 815 crashed on the island.

But then again, the appearance of Christian in the church is also problematic. He was never on the island. He died in Australia. His body was never on the plane. He only had two connections: Jack and Claire. So if Jack's island friends "created" the sideways world as a purgatory holding pen for their souls until Jack accepted his own death, Christian's soul would not have been part of that collective experience (unless of course, they were all souls passing through the same after life gate and Christian, Eloise or some other guardian angel corralled them in place so they could "move on together.") Christian should not have been the master of ceremonies at the end.

It is hard to imagine that the island time was "the best times" for the main characters. That shared experience was so powerful that their souls would be linked forever. For a character like Locke, that seems counterproductive. The main characters abandoned him to die alone (or at the hands of Ben). Locke's soul would have had a better or stronger connection to meet up with his mother or even Helen in the after life. But he wound up with the 815 survivors in the after life, but sadly, he wound up alone without a soul mate. How cruel is that?

There is also an issue of why all the people in the church needed to be together in order to "move on." Was it some kind of reward for destroying MIB? Probably not, because Christian said the characters themselves created this diversion place. Recall, Jacob told Alpert that he could not resurrect the dead but he could grant some form of immortality. So it was probably not necessary to have the characters in the church to complete their journey. In fact, Rose and Bernard seem the most out of place. They specifically told them they did not want any more part of the island melodramas. They went off on their own to build their own cabin and live out their own lives without anyone else. When Rose and Bernard would have died,  one would have assumed they would have moved on together without the help of anyone else.

The problem with the "happy ending" to LOST is that when one begins to drill down through the smiles, it really cannot be considered a happy ending. There are too many inconsistencies and questions to say that the main characters needed each other in order to have true eternal happiness.

THE WAIT

"We've been waiting for you," Locke tells Jack as he enters the main church. This is the last line in the series. Jack then greets Desmond, Boone, Hurley, Sawyer and Kate.  Charlie, Claire, Aaron, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Shannon, Rose, Bernard, Juliet, Libby and Penny are in the pews. Christian is walking about away from this main group.

In an unexplained slight of hand, everyone in the church had been waiting for Jack to arrive. Or more likely, for Jack to "awaken" and realize that he was dead. Being dead apparently releases all the pent up anxiety, anger, daddy issues and emotional baggage piled up during one's life time. It turns one into a smiling pod person waiting for final instructions from his cult leader.

 We waited for six seasons to come to this scripted conclusion. Was it truthful to the series?

1. Everyone in the church had something in common.  TRUE. They were all dead.

2. Everyone in the church knew each other. FALSE. Penny only briefly met the O6 people on her boat. She never met Boone, Charlie, Locke, Shannon, Rose, Juliet, Libby, Sayid or Bernard. Christian only met Sawyer briefly in Sydney. Newborn Aaron does not know anyone in the church.

3. Everyone in the church had been to this church before. FALSE. Only the O6 people returning to the island, Jack, Kate, Hurley and Sayid had seen Eloise's church before the ending.

4. Everyone in the church had found their "soul mate."  FALSE. Locke is in the church alone with no special person (like his girlfriend Helen). Also, Boone is effectively alone in the church as Shannon was paired off with Sayid. Christian was also alone without Jack's mother.

5. Everyone in the church seems happy and content. TRUE. There were no facial signs of stress or discomfort on any of the participants. In fact, most had the goofy grins of being under ether.

6. Everyone in the church had the same moral foundation to move on into the after life. FALSE. Despite the various sins of the main characters (murder, arson, fraud, torture, adultery, theft, lying, etc.) there was no redemptive, sin cleansing moment before the church reunion. Newborn Aaron, for example, was not alive long enough to be evil or sin. It would seem that the pure act of dying erased any moral consequences for prior actions.

7. Everyone in the church needed each other in order to move on. TRUE, but with a caveat. That is the assumption, but Ben was given the choice to join them and he passed on Hurley's offer. Rose and Bernard lived out their lives on the island without the help of anyone in the church. One would think they would not "need" the group to move on to heaven. They could do so without anyone's help. It was apparently an option that everyone in the church decided was appropriate.

8. Jack's presence was needed in order for everyone to have closure in their lives. FALSE. When Christian said everyone present died well before and well after Jack, that must mean that people had a life beyond the island, and beyond the interaction with Jack. As we have surmised, the people who left the island (Kate, Miles, Claire, Sawyer) would have been young enough to have long lives in the States. They would have met new people and spent more years creating new, longer lasting bonds and relationships. If Jack was needed to close the last hole in their lives, it really is a sad commentary on their post-island lives.

9. When Christian opened the doors, the white light transported everyone to heaven. FALSE. We do not know what happened next. One assumption is that they went to heaven. Another assumption is that they time flashed back to the island (in a cruel game, a reboot without past memories to see if things would turn out differently). Or the characters could have been vaporized into nothingness, an atheist view of what happens in death without any religious meanings.

We all waited for the conclusion to the series. We waited for the answers to the big questions. But just analyzing the end of the series, the church scene, we still wonder what LOST was really all about. It may be summed up by this observation:

Laugh when you can, apologize when you should, and let go of what you can't change. Kiss slowly, play hard, forgive quickly, take chances, give everything and have no regrets. Life's too short to be anything but happy. — Unknown

CONTRA VIEW

In the previous post, we outlined an alleged show insider's statements on the meaning of the LOST series. We are not convinced that that person was an insider, but we published his or her theories and explanations. Now, we examine this fan theory:

“ It is the difference of opinion that makes horse races. ”
— Mark Twain

The counter-points:

1. "It was real."

That is one premise to the show. The other premise is that the characters were already dead and their survival journey was not on Earth but through the Underworld. There was never broadcast clear evidence.

 2. The Island's role was to balance good and evil.

The show being about “good and evil” may be the greatest myth of the show. Good people died. Evil people prospered. Bad behavior was rewarded. There was no morality in the story line or in The End. For example, Ben was never punished for his sins. He killed the entire Dharma collective in his purge. That open pit contained more than 40 bodies. He put Sayid into assassin mode during the O6 story arc. He kidnapped, tortured and lied to everyone he met. But in the end Ben alone got to decide his own fate. He chose to stay in his fantasy sideways world playing house with Rousseau and Alex (two people who died because of his decisions).

The island as a balance point between good and evil does not stand scrutiny either. There were more evil actions, pain, suffering, anguish, fear and death on the island than good moments. The concept of “free will” seems inconsequential. All the candidates were brought to the island against their will. They were trapped like lab rats in an experimental maze. Their actions had very limited effect or consequences to Jacob or MIB.

Also, the concept that the island was the sole mechanism to balance good and evil on Earth makes little sense. It would mean that the island emits some form of elemental wave of both good and evil into the world. It would mean that mankind’s concept of individual freedom and free will is a fiction. Man’s soul is being nourished by both good and evil spiritual energy.

If that is the case, then the island is a self perpetual machine. There would be no need for a “protector.”  And there is no evidence that the island was “out of balance” that either Jacob (good) or MIB (evil) had the upper hand.

3. The problem that had to be solved was the Man in Black.

The idea that the Island was the stage for Jacob’s plan to bring candidates to the Island to do the one thing he couldn’t do: kill his brother, the Man in Black. The fallacy to this argument is simple: Jacob’s brother was already dead. He was buried in the cave next to Crazy Mother.

MIB was the release of some supernatural demon, the smoke monster, caused when Jacob killed his brother (and his body somehow “uncorked” the island’s light cave to allow for smokey to roam the island, corrupt humans and cause time travel). There was nothing “super human” that actually ended MIB’s reign of island terror.

The problem that really needed to be solved is the inconsistent, tangental and mixed up story lines of the characters which was not tied to a solid science fiction mythology fact set.

The problem could be that Jacob was conned into being the external jailor for the devil. The only way he could “move on” was to have MIB destroyed by someone not from his world. But that would negate the concept that the island was “real” on Earth, and the characters were on Earth battling for their lives.

4. Dharma was brought to the Island to kill MIB

The idea that Dharma was brought there by Jacob as part of his plan to kill the MIB also has huge flaws. We never saw any indication that the scientists were actually studying the smoke monster. In fact, all evidence points to Dharma being deathly afraid of the smoke monster by creating sonic barriers around the barracks.

5. Ben was a pawn of MIB and not a servant of Jacob.

The theory that MIB was aware of the Dharma plan to kill him so it sabotaged the plan by “corrupting” Ben is also speculative. There is nothing in the story lines to show that MIB corrupted any individual to the dark side. All the characters came to the island with a fully developed individual belief and moral compass. The island events did not alter their basic instincts, personality traits or motivations. In most cases, the events reinforced those elements.

In Ben’s case, he was influenced by Alpert, who was tied directly to Jacob as his liaison to his candidates. There was never a direct offer of power, wealth or immortality given to Ben by either Jacob, Alpert or MIB. Ben himself was manipulated by his emotional strings being played like a violin by MIB when Ben confronted Jacob for the first time in the Tawaret statue. It led to Ben treacherously stabbing Jacob and MIB burning his body.

6. The one variable was free will.

The theme of “free will” is common in the series, but if is nebulous concept in practical terms. The characters had the free will to make decisions, but the deck was already stacked against them. Their decisions had no bearing on the resolution of the Jacob-MIB conflict. They did not have the “freedom” to leave the island. The candidates were all marked, kidnapped and captured on the island.

The key question posed is fate vs. free will.  Fate presupposed a predetermined set of personal events to one conclusion. The universe will course correct you to the final point. This concept excludes free will if it is already predetermined what your destiny will be in the end. There is no science in a universe that predetermines the final outcome. There is also no faith to change the outcome by prayer to a higher being if the universe is one of pure destiny.

7. Jack's role and destiny was defined by the first episode.

It is acknowledged by TPTB that originally, Jack was going to be killed off early in Season 1 to increase the dramatic effect and horror of the island. The show was going to focus on Kate as the leader. But many fans were emotionally drawn to the Jack character, so TPTB kept Jack as the focus. So it is incorrect to state that Jack’s role was defined from the pilot episode to the end scene.

In addition, Jack never “saved” anyone in the church.  Jack never saved Locke. In fact, Jack’s total disgust and disregard of Locke and his position led to Locke’s demise. Jack never saved Kate from her running away from her problems or commitments. Jack never saved Sawyer from his lying and conning ways. Jack never brought Bernard and Rose back together; they found each other when the Tailies were reunited with the beach camp.

8. The sideways world represents a humanistic religious philosophy.

The sideways world is not a mix in of theology and metaphysics. Even if the show's creators were proposing is that we’re all linked to certain people during our lives (“soul mates”), the writer’s explanation of the sideways world literal nonsense. The people in the church made up a vast and complex fantasy world because they shared  “the most important moments of their lives?”  The explanation is that subconsciously, everyone created the “sideways” world where they exist in purgatory until they are “awakened” and find one another.

Well, how can one create a subconscious purgatory existence without first being dead. As I have theorized for years, if one takes the ancient Egyptian beliefs of the after life, a person’s spirit is separated into a ba and ka, who separately journey through the after life, to be reunited and reborn in either paradise or darkness. The characters only met each other within their journey to the purgatory sideways world by banding together their lost soul in their underworld events after their deaths on Earth. This clearer explanation defeats point number one, that everything was “real.”

9. The spiritual premise of the show was throughout the series.

If the LOST story is a spiritual take on various religious doctrines, then there are problems with that explanation. If one could not “move on” without making amends for their sins, like Ben, then the church members never atoned for any of their transgressions. Murder, fraud, lies, adultery, kidnapping, stealing, and deceptions were never judged and the characters never punished for their deeds. In fact, the series had no moral compass at all. People who did bad things actually got rewarded with control, power or wealth.

And the statement that all the main characters were “supposed” to be together on the plane seems disconnected. There were other people on the plane. They were all basically strangers except for family members traveling together. Unless this is a take on Albert Brook’s concept of passage into the after life (Defending Your Life), where individuals dream of their own means of their demise (plane crash, etc.)

10. Each new island mystery was a piece of a larger plot mosaic for each viewer.

The idea that everything stated on the show one was puzzle piece in a giant mosaic is a fine goal, but it would appear that the box was missing thousands of pieces because there is no complete, unified theory to LOST that everyone can agree on. There are still more unsolved mysteries than solid answers. If a writer’s job is to create series of plot mysteries, it is the expectation that the writer will reveal the answers to those mysteries by the end. The ending in the sideways church did not definitively answer anything. It caused more questions to be raised by the fans.

11. Season 6 sideways world was to contrast the island events.
Season 6 was the most messed up season of the series. Some fans lamented that it appeared that TPTB were creating wild tangents so characters could have a new “show reel” for future auditions. The creation of a sideways world (purgatory) made no sense in resolving any of the island characters main personal issues. The purgatory sideways world did not judge, punish or redeem any of the island characters.

 12. Those who made it to the sideways world were linked by mutual destiny.

Further, the link to the main plane survivors is tenuous at best. They were not the most important people in their lives.  Example, Juliet. The most important person in her life was her sister. She had devoted her work so her sister could conceive. She also was in love with a colleague who was killed by a bus. On the island, her only strong connection was Goodwin. She was in the church only because of the unexplained time travel arc and her hook up with sheriff Sawyer. Penny had no connection with the church goers except through the small window of the O6 rescue. She had stronger ties with her father (Widmore) than any islander. Desmond also did not have a deep connection with the 815 survivors. He had one brief encounter with Jack while running stadium steps. How that became the most important person in his life (since Jack is alleged the most important character in the series) is a stretch.

How all the characters were “supposed” to be on the plane pre-supposes that there is a grand finite plan for the entire universe and in inhabitants. The main characters had no connection with each other. They had families. They had friends before boarding Flight 815. But all of the back stories are erased to irrelevancy by the statement that the characters were eternally linked from the very beginning to move on in the afterlife together.

If the one lesson was supposed to be “live together or die alone,” the series failed to make that point in the end. In life, everyone dies alone. Each person’s human spirit is unique. The sideways world takes a mirrored or opposite view of that statement. In the sideways world, it is “die together or live alone (in the afterlife).” I don’t think that is a philosophy that would hold much water with American viewers.

13. Ben could not move on with the Flight 815 survivors.

In the final scene, Ben “could have moved on” with Hurley, but Ben chose to stay. So it is a specious argument to say Ben could not move on because he had no connected with his own group that has yet to awaken to their island time. The people who Ben would connect with would HATE him! He murdered his own father. He kidnapped Rousseau’s daughter. He got Alex killed by Widmore’s men.
Unless you take the tact that all the pain, suffering and blood shed by Ben was all “make believe” like kids playing combat on the school yard, there is no way that group of people would state that knowing Ben was the “most important” thing in their lives.

14. The reason Ben was excluded from the Church scene was because it was written with the pilot episode.

The idea that all the church characters were linked from the first episode is also false.  Juliet, Desmond, Ben and Penny were not season 1 characters so the statement that the church scene was written with the pilot does not hold water. Ben was only signed for a three show arc. But his performance and fan reaction made TPTB keep him on as a regular. Further, each person in the church had long standing links with their pre-island friends and family members. The prime example of this deep pre-existing bond was Juliet and her sister. That bond was unbreakable. But in the end, Juliet’s sister was not part of Juliet’s after life.

15. LOST was an important show that dealt with big themes.

LOST may have dealt with big themes, but had big problems in meshing those themes into a rational overall premise. It was chunky and vague in giving us a clear explanation of the writer’s viewpoint on  faith, the afterlife, spiritual questions, and sci-fi elements of the show. The biggest problem with the ending to LOST is that it did not explain itself and what TPTB wanted to show us about ourselves. Instead, it jumped off a writer’s crutch cliff to the perceived happy ending with the reunion in the purgatory church. That turn led many to wonder out loud what about the time travel? What about the island? What about electromagnetic energy? How was everything interconnected? Who knew what and when? And was the conflict with Jacob and MIB even relevant to the conclusion? 

The problem with raising big themes even in a television show is that the writers need to deliver big explanations by the show’s conclusion.  If you pare away every element of the LOST saga to just see what was truly necessary for the reunion in the sideways church, it would come down to this: everyone died on the island. Even if the show revealed that Jacob was a reaper bringing dead people to the island to find some form of redemption or friendship, the vast majority would accept that premise and still enjoy the show (and understand the church conclusion). But the writers never dealt with the big themes in such a way to adequately conclude the show.


The previous post does not stand up well to cross examination. If the show's writers' idea was let the viewers draw their own conclusion episode after episode, character event after character event, then writers were not writing a narrative but tossing scenes against the wall to see what would stick in the hearts or minds of the fans. The bottom line that the show is "what each viewer thinks it is" is a white wash. If the writers' had a grand, unified metaphysical explanation to all the show's mysteries, then why not just come out and tell us by the end of Season 6?

A COMMON THREAD

Christian tries to explain to Jack why his son is dead and there is a church full of his island friends waiting for him.

Christian states that the sideways world was place "they all made together" to find one another. He also said it was because the most important part of Jack's life was the time he spent with these people, and that's why they are all here; no one lives life alone. He needed them, and they needed him; to remember, and to let go.

And this is the climax to the entire series:

As he enters the church, Jack is welcomed by Locke, who kindly tells him, "We've been waiting for you." He then greets Desmond, Boone, Hurley, Sawyer and Kate. He is joined by Charlie, Claire, Aaron, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Shannon, Rose, Bernard, Juliet, Libby and Penny.  After the group has shared embraces and celebrated their reunion, they sit down in the church pews. Christian begins to walk to the back of the church through the middle aisle, and pauses briefly by Jack to put his hand on his shoulder.  Christian approaches the back, opens the doors of the church and glowing white light from beyond the doors washes over all present. Jack exchanges a smile with Kate, and then looks ahead as they are engulfed by the light. 

But why were those people "the most important part of Jack's life?"

It is a given that "no one lives life alone." Every person has a mother and a father so by nature's own rules no one is born alone. In civilized societies, such as Western culture, the community looks after its own. So when Christian tells Jack that these people are important because they were with him during a small aspect of his life, there were other people who were at one time more important to him, such as his ex-wife Sarah or his hospital OR teams. 

But then the final reason is that they needed each other "to remember and to let go."

It is contradictory to create a vivid and complex fantasy sideways world based on your collective past memories of the people you met on the island in order to "remember" them in same fantasy world. The unexplained amnesia of the dead souls is a troubling aspect of the conclusion.

The daunting task is who created the sideways world in the first place. The key is the apparent  ability to re-live your life to change something or someone. We were told that only Jacob could bring people to the fantasy island. They were "touched" by him. But were they truly candidates or did they serve a different purpose?

By looking at the final scene in the church at the End, none of the characters candidacies had any impact on why they wound up together. There has to be a better explanation than just surviving a plane crash.

The idea that Locke, Desmond, Boone, Hurley, Sawyer, Kate, Charlie, Claire, Aaron, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Shannon, Rose, Bernard, Juliet, Libby and Penny were the most important people in Jack's life seems suspect. That conclusion can easily be dismissed by one person, his mother. Jack had a good relationship with her. Why wasn't she as important as Christian in the End?

Or what about the mysterious Thai woman, Achara? Jack had a wild, intense and more fulfilling  relationship with her than with Kate.

Jack really has nothing in common with all of the church members in the end.  The only common thread interlaced in their past is the island.

Jack did not bring Locke, Desmond, Boone, Hurley, Sawyer, Kate,  Charlie, Claire, Aaron, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Shannon, Rose, Bernard, Juliet, Libby and Penny together. Who did? Jacob.

It looks like Jacob represents our Clarence, the angel, in this version of It's A Wonderful Life. Except, this is a mirror image of that story, where James Stewart's life is not the idyllic banker with a loving family but the unshaven, hard drinking man who had no one. In that story, an angel gave the main character an opportunity to see what his little world would have been like if he had never been born. It was a lesson that every man has an affect on his fellow man in unseen but deep ways. In LOST, it is sort of the opposite.

Jack knew he made an impact on other people's lives on a daily basis. He was a surgeon. He knew when his patients had a successful operation and recovery. It was Jack's personal life that took a back seat to his profession.

Jack only had one conversation with those church members prior to Flight 815. It was with Desmond while running stairs at the stadium. Desmond was having his own relationship issues with Penny. It was one of those doctor heal thyself moments. And Dez left with his catch phrase, "see you in another life." The island was that "other" life.

So why do these people in the church need each other in order to move on in the after life? Jack found Locke to a fool, Sawyer to be an obstacle and Boone to be an annoyance. He found Hurley, Claire, Sun and Aaron to be patients more than friends. Kate was his enigma. He never really knew Desmond, Jin, Libby, Penny or Shannon. Rose and Bernard mostly kept to themselves. He found Sayid to a be useful resource in persuading other people to follow him. But nothing in the island stories would sear an everlasting friendship to Jack.

And why would these people want to spend the rest of eternity with Jack? Locke is alone. He has no love of his life present to share this moment (where is Helen?) Boone is also alone, the third wheel in the Sayid-Shannon fortnight romance. Penny has no connection to any of these people. Desmond spent most of his time trying to get away from all of these people. One would have thought that Desmond, Penny and their child would move on together outside this group. The same is true for Christian. Why is he here but not his wife? He never knew anyone in the room except Jack. They are all strangers to him.

And what exactly did Locke, Desmond, Boone, Hurley, Sawyer, Kate,  Charlie, Claire, Aaron, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Shannon, Rose, Bernard, Juliet, Libby and Penny do to "save" Jack's soul?

The only common denominator among this group is that they are all dead. When and how they all died is open to subjective debate. They all could have died in the crash, they all could have died after the crash, or they all could have died prior to Flight 815 (as Jacob was truly a soul collector bring them to the island to begin their after life journeys).

Or worse, Locke, Desmond, Boone, Hurley, Sawyer, Kate,  Charlie, Claire, Aaron, Jin, Sun, Sayid, Shannon, Rose, Bernard, Juliet, Libby and Penny were merely props created by Jacob, his guardian angel,  to help Jack accept his ultimate fear: being unable to save himself from his own mortality.  If true, then it was a cruel con to convince Jack to let go of his earthly ties in order for his fearful soul to move on.

Maybe we caught a glimpse of that realization at the very end. At the church reunion, Jack seems to be out of it. Sitting in the front pew, Jack is in a trance, looking straight ahead. He does not look at Kate when the last moment arrives when Christian opens the church doors. Jack is still in shock as the white light engulfs the church. We do not know what happens next: do they go to heaven, or have another time skip back to the island or does everyone get incinerated by the light?

All we know for sure is that everyone we knew from the island are dead and gone. 

LAMP POST PHASES

In the last post, we reviewed the strong connection of the same church in the island time frame with the conclusion of the series in the sideways church. One could conclude that both places are the same church. The open question is if the churches are the same in time, place, dimension; real or imaginary or a combination of real and fantasy.

If we try to align the time lines of the series into three connected components, the above chart is useful. The Lamp Post station under Eloise's church in Los Angeles has information from the military in the 1950s. It must have been created by a military-industrial (Dharma) initiative to relocate or "find" the island. And once it was found, the Others purged Dharma severing the connection to the island. But that connection was re-established by the Widmores (Eloise and Charles) after they were banished from the island. This Lamp Post station had to remain in operation in order to "find" the moving island after each FDW turn; we know that Ben had used the FDW before and wound up in the North African desert. The key characters associated with the original Lamp Post are Eloise, Faraday (who we believe is the clever man who created the pendulum device to find the island), Dharma scientists, Widmore (the money man) and probably Ben because he knew of all the Dharma stations.

The key elements of the Lamp Post were knowledge, power and manipulation. The unspoken realm of the island and its powers were contained in the files and curator of this station. All those factors had to be used "to find" the island, which meant "finding the light."

Once the island is "located," it can be controlled by outside forces. In theory. That is what we were led to believe by the alleged conflict between the native Hostiles (Others) and Dharma, then Widmore and the Others. It seems like the same tragic play being performed over and over again, but with new cast members. During the series, the key island power players were Jacob, MIB, Jack (as the survivors de facto leader), Ben and the Others. To sort these connections back to the Lamp Post, we know that Eloise and Widmore were proto-Others, and the Others were the chosen people to maintain human security on the island. We believe that the only reason the mysterious Others arrived on "their" island was because of Jacob. But again, Jacob and his brother (MIB) were also brought to the island. The unanswered question is whether the Others go back further to the builders of the temples, etc.

Once on the island, the key factors for anyone who arrived on it were adventure, life-death danger, and friendships. As Jacob told his remaining candidates around the campfire near the end of Season 6, he chose them because they all were lonely, miserable people in meaningless lives just like himself. We only half of Jacob's story: his mother was murdered by the island guardian and kidnapped into becoming the next island protector. But we know of nothing of Jacob's father. Was he a Roman? Was he a Roman god? If these island adventures were mere sorting tools for this continuous play to find the lead characters for the next production, then Jack and Ben (who had more knowledge than anyone left on the island) were the key characters to move the island to its final curtain.

But what was the purpose of the island? Was it to create life and death situations, put people into danger, to forge strong bonds, to create lasting friendships in lonely people's lives? If so, then the island was a massive set to create the sideways fantasy world. The characters memories, activities, viewpoints, actions and reactions were the building blocks for an after life portal.

Throughout the series, many viewers commented that the island appeared to them to contain some form of portal to another time-space dimension (whether it was a wormhole, riff in the fabric of space between parallel universes, or a stargate). Despite all the inconsistencies and flaws of the island story lines, one has to consider that the result appears to be the creation of a purgatory alternative world.

The key elements of the sideways world were fantasy, awakening and self-realization of death. During the series, many viewers believed that the inconsistent story line arcs and conflicting sci-fi explanation of events were only understood if we were not viewing reality but some form of dream state.

There is a split among the key players in the sideways world. Christian and Jack are the final players in the church. Everyone present is "waiting" for Jack to awaken so they can begin, continue or end their journey in the after life. We are led to believe that this Christian is Jack's real father - - - but in all island events the vision of Christian was an illusion created by the smoke monster to trick or manipulate Jack. Those tricks and manipulations led to Jack becoming the next island protector, replacing Jacob (and in some respects freeing MIB from the chains of the island).

The other important group is comprised of the Others of Eloise and Widmore, and Desmond who acts as the bridge between the two potentially conflicting groups. In the sideways world, Eloise continues to know everything about their situation and their pasts. She is the one who is manipulating her in-the-dark husband, Widmore, to keep Desmond "busy" in global meetings, deals, etc. and away from Penny and Daniel. The reason to keep Desmond away from the family is that Eloise knows that if Daniel awakens, he will "leave" her forever. This paranoid devotion has a Bates Motel feel to it. Nonetheless, Desmond is the good soldier and does Widmore's chores until one of them, dealing with a mental rock star Charlie, begins the investigation and discovery of the reality of the sideways world.

Why Desmond would want or "need" to awaken the other Flight 815 island folk is unclear. He really never had a strong group connection with them. He may have felt "guilty" for causing Charlie's death, but Charlie would have died (and did in fact die on numerous occasions) without Desmond's interventions. The only thing Desmond cared about was Penny, so once he "found" her, they could have moved on by themselves. Penny had no connection with any of the Flight 815 people. The only reason Desmond would have remained in the sideways church was that he found true friendship or brotherhood with these lost island souls.

But in the end, it was Eloise who really got what she wanted: her sideways family of Widmore and Daniel at her beck and call. She could maintain her complete fantasy life as long as Widmore and Daniel remained in the dark about their past life. It would seem a long and tortuous con by Eloise to round up, trick people to get lost on an magical island, and to first "die" without realizing their plight, then round them up in the after life to set them off on their way without disturbing her relationship with her son, Daniel.

One has to try to match up the churches to find the common connection to try to unravel the unspoken dimension of the lost story arcs.  The churches had no religious significance or symbolism in the actual scripts; but the setting does form the basis to trace the elements and motivations of the characters tied to them. The church was the key element that allowed the transition or transformation of the characters lives into the after life.

THE LAMP POST

One of the few settings that bridged both the island time line and the sideways realm was the church which Eloise told Jack, Sun and Desmond was The Lamp Post, a former Dharma station that contained a pendulum swinging over a global map as an island tracker.  In the fantasy sideways world, the church was created to bring together the 815 island survivors to begin, continue, or move on in the after life. So the church is a key element in trying to figure out what happened to the characters.

 This is the Lamp Post church that part of the O6 visit in order to find a way to get back to the island.

 

This is the same church but in the sideway world at the end of the series.

First, why was this station called the Lamp Post?

By basic definition, a "lamp" is a noun for a device for giving light, either one consisting of an electric bulb together with its holder and shade or cover, or one burning gas or a liquid fuel and consisting of a wick or mantle and a glass shade, for example,  a table lamp.

It also can mean an electrical device producing ultraviolet, infrared, or other radiation, used for therapeutic purposes.
An alternative definition is that of a literary source of spiritual or intellectual inspiration.


The word comes from the Greek, for "torch."  In American lexicon, "passing the torch" is a phrase that imparts the transfer or transformation of some person, business, event to another person. It is the bridge between the past and the future marked by an event in the present.

The basic definition of the noun "post" is  a long, sturdy piece of timber or metal set upright in the ground and used to support something or as a marker.

Alternative uses of the word post include (as with obj. and complement) to  publish the name of (a member of the armed forces) as missing or dead.


It is derived from the Latin for "beam."

If one puts the root for the Lamp Post it could mean "light beam." It is the same church in The End where the characters leave in the white light. So could the Lamp Post church be both the door and exit to the after life?

On a side note, the word "Post" can have a clue or reference to Wiley Hardeman Post (1898-1935), a U.S. aviator.  He was the first man to fly solo around the world 1933, accomplishing this in 7 days, 18 hours, and 49 minutes. He was flying near Point Barrow, Alaska, with Will Rogers as his passenger when their plane crashed and they were both killed. Desmond was trying to win a solo race across the Pacific. And Flight 815 was a famous plane crash within the context of the series.

We were told that the church station was created by Dharma (and possibly with the help of Daniel Faraday.)  The station appears to have been built upon the intelligence gathered by the U.S. Army in 1954, since Jack sees a photograph of the island taken by the military in the pendulum room.

The Lamp Post station was run by Eloise Hawking. She is the one character who appears to know "everything" about the strange events and the island properties, but keeps everyone in the dark about its true nature and purpose.

We know that the only people who visited the Lamp Post church were Eloise, Ben, Jack, Sun and Desmond.

How did they “create” a church in the sideways world that only a few of them saw?

It gets back to the Christian conundrum : everyone created the sideways fantasy, but how and when when none of them remembered their past?

Well, only one person knew about the past: Eloise. She was overly protective of it. She warned Desmond not to wake the others. She feared that if Daniel remembered his island past, he would leave her forever.  So Eloise knew about the church, its purpose, and the concept of awakening which she warned Desmond not to do.

Desmond is the only other person at the church who was awakened in time to create
the place. But his real role was gathering all the souls at the concert so they could finally awaken. Once awakened, they were directed to go to the church, but we are not clear by whom. If we believe it was Desmond, then we can also believe that he was still be manipulated by Eloise to round up the people who could take her son away, and get them out of her current "life."

The sideways arc only took approximately 14 days in sideways time. So logically, it was created on the 14th day before Jack died on the island.

Going back to island time, the sideways world had to have been  “created” at the same time as Ajira Airways Flight 316 experiences a flash of light 10 hours after take off (in the middle of the night in on a Friday in late 2007)  during which Jack, Kate, Hurley, and Sayid vanish and the remainder of the passengers and the plane time shift to daytime in December 2007.  Some speculate that is the similar to the time shift phenomena in "The Constant" that Sayid noted after flying from the Island through severe turbulence to the Kahana with Frank Lapidus and Desmond. He noted they arrived in the middle of the day after taking off at dusk but traveling only a mere 40 nautical miles. The pilot, Frank Lapidus, maneuvers the plane around the suddenly looming Island to emergency land on Hydra Island's runway. It is interesting to note that Frank is a key player in both those airborne "flash" experiences. Was Frank a mere drunken background character with severe guilt, or was he more of a guardian angel able to get people "where they needed to be" (a theme of Eloise throughout the series).

The church is a key clue in trying to understand the significance of the sideways conclusion. It must be symbolic of life and death, the core of all human existence. It must be the means to get from life to the after life since that is where the characters end their journeys. The church could be the elusive portal of unique energy properties (now the white light) which could mirror the green Life Force found in the island cave (which represented life, death, and rebirth).

The church is one of the biggest clues to who was really controlling the LOST characters. Eloise was the only character who understood both the island and sideways realms. She was the one who created and maintained the church, in both worlds.

CHARACTER OF ELOISE

If there was ever a title of the most mysterious woman on Lost, Eloise Hawking would probably take the crown. Even though she did not appear until Season 3, her presence and manipulations are fully interconnected in the character story arcs to conclude that she was an important pivot point to the entire series.

As I have indicated in previous posts (check the archive keyword under Eloise), Eloise Hawking has an unexplained puppet master role.

We know very little about her except she knows a lot about everyone.

We know she was a young woman on the island in the 1950s. During a time flash, she meets Daniel in a time skip. We know that in 1977 she was at odds with Charles Widmore over leadership of the Others. It would seem that the strong personalities of Eloise and Charles pushed Alpert's role into the background. It is during that time skip that she kills her own son, Daniel, in the episode, The Variable. As Daniel fell, he realized that he had been shot by Eloise, and whispered to her that she had "known it the whole time." Confused, she asked him who he was, and he revealed that he was her son, leaving her standing over him, shocked.

We can assume that as an Other, Eloise was fully informed about the Island's properties and the need for its protection. She also knew about its power. And it seems that she did not shy away from gaining power and control over other people. We must conclude that the 1977 time skip had a profound affect on Eloise and her relationship with her son. She forced him into advanced science including electromagnetism and theories of space time.

We know that Daniel Faraday was her son (by blood with Charles Widmore). We do not know why Daniel's surname is not Widmore (could it be Eloise's maiden name?) But we do know that Widmore was banished from the island because he had an off-island affair which led to the birth of Daniel's half sister, Penny Milton, who herself must have kept her mother's maiden name. It is an unusual convex of names: Faraday, a scientist renown for electromagnetic studies, and Milton, whose great work Paradise Lost about the story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton's purpose, stated in Book I, is to "justify the ways of God to men" is one of the main themes of the entire series.

In the sideways world (after life), Eloise is in complete control of her situation. She is married to a rich man (Widmore), and has a dolting musical son, Daniel. She has Widmore keeping Desmond occupied with global business meetings. In The End, Eloise met Desmond once again during the concert, aware that he had awakened several people to their former lives. She believed that if her son Daniel remembered his life, he would be able to finally move on, possibly departing from her. At Eloise's request, Desmond agreed not to awaken Daniel.

It is then have the full revelation that Eloise Hawking is the woman behind the LOST curtain.

She is the mastermind behind getting the 815ers “back” to the Island. She is the person who pushed her son, Daniel, into the complex physics of time travel. She convinced Widmore, her ex-husband, to fund the research and expedition back to the Island. She cajoled people to get back to the island to “save the world” or to complete their destiny. Was Jack’s destiny to replace her insane son’s plan to blow up the Swan station before the Incident (which, in theory would have killed Eloise before giving birth to him) in order to re-boot the time line of events where Daniel does not die by Eloise’s hand in 1977? It seems quite convoluted and complex.

Daniel’s Rube Goldberg trap explanation of how is is going to change the future by blowing up the past with members of the future at the event in the past fails to consider Ben’s terse statement “dead is dead” on the island. Daniel believes he can “fix things” and save Charlotte by stopping the Swan incident (massive EM release which would later be contained by the Hatch) by blowing up the pocket of energy with a hydrogen bomb. A bomb that would destroy the island and kill everyone on it - - - including himself, his mother and all the people who should have been on Flight 815. If the characters were truly “time traveling” in space time, they would only have one “life.”  If they are killed in 1977, would they be erased from the future itself? Or is this plan really the ultimate “course correction” of the paradox of time travelers meeting their parents and changing events that had already happened?

The real method to stop the release of energy that downed Flight 815 is found in the fact that Eloise pushed Desmond to the Island, “to save (her) world” meaning that she found a patsy in Desmond to push the button. If he had done his job, Flight 815 would have never crashed; the freighter would have never been launched to the Island; Daniel would have never been time shifted by the FDW, and she would have never killed him in 1977.

So which came first? Eloise’s plan or Daniel’s plan?

There was always a question of whether Eloise’s killing of her time traveling son, Daniel, on the Island in 1977, caused the Island to kill all pregnant women. It is also unclear as to the paternity of both Daniel and Penny. Was Penny a secondary dream to replace Daniel in Eloise’s own mental visions of her future? Was the imprisonment of Desmond on the Island the mental visions of Eloise to “save (her) world” i.e. Daniel from the fate of death at her own hands?

There is another aspect to consider: Lost in Reverse. Sideways is a purgatory wait station. The Island is the hell to test souls fears, sins through relationships, quests, tests, judgment or redemption. The flashbacks are not true memories, but the dream feedstock of the characters main fears and nightmares, because those mental conditions are repeated in Island events to see if the character can change, come to grip with those issues, in order to “move on.” Christian tells Jack that everything that has happened to him was “real.” But reality is a moving target concept. One can dream themselves into sweat filled horror which seems absolutely real. A psychopath can have “real illusions” and act them out in real life, like stabbing an individual who he thinks is a werewolf or zombie. The sideways world was “created” by Jack’s friends in order to wait for Jack’s death. How can you “interconnect” the minds, thoughts, memories and personality of a dozen people to create a whole new world. It sounds like a game platform. It sounds like an MMO. It sounds - - - like a crazy construct.  We know the sideways world is not real, but it had to be created by the memories or dreams of the characters, which differ from their flashback stories. An alternative dream world was created for Jack to return to the group who shared Island based adventures and breakthroughs like group therapy.

Or it could be a layered effect of interlocking Time. The ancient Mayans had three interlocking calendars to keep Time. One was a 9 month “human” cycle. One was the 12 month “harvest” cycle. One was the “cosmic” cycle. High priests could interlock all three calendars to predict future star events or predict the meaning of births.

Lost could represent a layered of “after time” calendars. A character may be “living” in several different “realities” which may or may not overlap. More likely, one parallel life feeds off the memories of an alternative past “after time” cycle. Take Eloise as the prime example of this theory:

Those layered clocks on human consciousness can overlap. It could explain Desmond’s mind flashes to future events. It could explain how Eloise knows the future, and knows how the after life gears of time work. It is why Eloise was so upset that Desmond was "awakening" other Island people in the sideways world. Eloise feared that Daniel would wake up - - - realize what his mother did to him in alternative time lines - - -  and leave her forever.

The critical points in the End can be summarized as follows:

At the Sideways benefit concert, Eloise Widmore joins Desmond, saying that she thought she made it clear that Desmond should stop what he's been doing. Desmond says she did, but that he ignored her. She asks, "And once they know, what then?" and Desmond answers, "Then, we're leaving." With concern she asks if they are going to take her son. Desmond assures her, "Not with me, no."

Jack arrives at the concert after it has ended. Kate is there and he says he is looking for his son. He recognizes Kate and asks where he remembers her from. She tells him that she stole his pen on Oceanic 815. Jack is confused, he says "and that's how I know you?" Kate says that is not how he knows her. She goes up to him and takes his face in her hands telling him how much she has missed him. Jack flashes, seeing images of himself and Kate on the Island, but still resists. She tells him that if he comes with her he will understand.

She takes him to the church, the place Jack was going to have his father’s funeral. This is the same church that the O6 got their instructions from Eloise on how to "return to the Island." It would appear that the church is a nexus point between the sideways and island realms.

When sideways Kate says they are waiting for him “once he is ready.” Jack asks, “ready for what?” Kate responds, “to leave.”

At the sideways reunion with his dead father, Jack comes to the realization that he is dead. Everyone is dead. Christian explains to Jack that they aren't leaving; they're moving on. Jack asks where to, and his father tells him, "Let's go find out."


Once these Island visitors, including Desmond, leave the sideways existence, Eloise's long plan to safeguard her son from "remembering" or "leaving her" comes to her happy ending. It would appear that Eloise would have her son for all eternity so long as he does not remember his non-sideways past. The one element that could have dislodged those hidden memories was Desmond, who is now engulfed in the white light from the church.

If one objectively looks at the dynamic of the End as the solution of Six Seasons of LOST mysteries, only one key plot point was revealed and resolved: Eloise's demands to Desmond to stop what he was doing so Daniel would not be taken away from her. This puts Eloise in the position of the one person who had a major controlling influence on all the other main characters. She was the one pulling all the strings. She was the one that was truly manipulating the characters to reach not their goals, but her one objective: to be with her son in the sideways after life.

Eloise Hawking is the only character that had "full knowledge" of the Island events and the Sideways world consequences. It is quite the simple but straight forward explanation lacking in the convoluted plot twists of the series that everything could truly be explained through the actions, manipulations and motivations of Eloise. The only issue truly resolved in the End was that Eloise did not "lose" her son, Daniel, to the 815ers who were "moving on" into the light at the conclusion of church meeting.

Now some may complain that the show was really all about Jack. But did Jack finally resolve his father issues in the End? No. Did other characters resolve their issues? Sayid and Nadia: the opposite happened. Locke, who was abused in the island world, left without anyone. Michael did not get over his issues with Walt, so he is apparently left with the guilt of an island ghost. The island events were themed by significant "daddy issue" subplots. But in the mirror realm of the sideways world, there is only one clear "mommy issue" plot: Eloise and Daniel.

The simple bridge between the Island and the Sideways world was a simple, personal, introspective "awakening." In the End, the only thing the 815ers did was realize that they were dead and accepting their deaths. Knowing that someone would attempt to "awaken" Daniel (most likely Desmond since Daniel considered him his metaphysical "constant"), Eloise attempted to keep that knowledge from all the characters in the Island realm.

As previously posted, the story premise has to be the Island and Sideways worlds are spiritual planes of existence. After death, one has a reincarnated new life. And in this new life, you may not realize that your human existence is gone because everything seems so "real." Using the concepts of the split between the ba and ka from ancient Egyptian mythology, Eloise could craft or control two separate spiritual planes to stop the characters' ba and ka from reuniting ("awakening") and moving on to a different plane of existence in the after life.

Eloise's role in both realms could be considered the puppet master, a gatekeeper of souls, the wizard behind the curtain, the high priestess of death. Only she knew knew the awakening rule. She confused the lost souls into believing that they were still alive. They were told that their survival depended upon running through a maze of dangerous missions. The Island was really a place that Eloise created to contain any person who could lead Daniel to his awakening in the Sideways realm. Eloise was motivated by the fear that she would lose her son forever.

Eloise was close to Brother Campbell. She used that relationship to get Desmond into a monastery so he could be locked away from Penny, a connection to Daniel. But that plan was ruined when Penny came to pick up wine at the same time Desmond was being kicked out for ill behavior. Eloise used Widmore to continually throw a wrench into Desmond's relationship with Penny. She used Libby to get Desmond the boat that he thought he could use to win a sailing race to "prove" to Widmore he was worthy of Penny.

After Sarah's surgery, and after promising her a "miracle," Jack takes a jog in a stadium. He notices Desmond who is jogging up the staircase next to him. Jack races to catch up to him but rolls his ankle and falls. Desmond comes to Jack's aid. After Desmond asks why Jack was "running like the devil was chasing him," he discusses Sarah's procedure and how he made a promise he couldn't keep. Desmond wonders out loud whether he actually did save her, but Jack tells him it would be a miracle. Desmond also leaves with the foreshadowing quip, "See you in another life."

Desmond takes Libby's boat, but then becomes shipwrecked on the Island. He is put to work pressing the Numbers in order "to save the world." Eloise tells him that his fate is to press the Numbers. But in reality, Eloise sole purpose is to imprison Desmond so he stays out of the life of Penny which could cause the sideways Desmond to awaken and take Daniel to the next level of the after life. That Desmond was told that his sole destiny is to stay in the Hatch "to save the world" (which really meant save Eloise's fantasy world) and forget any notion of being with Penny was the biggest con of the entire series.  For three years, Desmond accepts that role. It is only after he begins to be aware that he is "being conned" by Kelvin, that he fails in pressing the buttons. In that moment, he is aware that he can leave the island and return to Penny. But what stops him? The sudden arrival of new characters, the Others and the 815 survivors, who again, occupy Desmond with obstacles on leaving the Island (and returning to Penny).

It is an elaborate "con" that Eloise attempts to maintain; the only problem is that Desmond and the other characters retain their personalities and "free will" to make choices. The critical choice for Desmond was to use the fail safe key to "die." Even with that sacrifice in his mind, Desmond really did not want to "die," but get back to Penny. The island realm does not "kill" spirits such as Desmond. They continue to live until they accept their death in the real world.

The events then lead Desmond to Penny in the Island world. In order to stop the bridge from forming, Desmond is still "pursued" by Widmore in an alleged attempt to keep Desmond and Penny a part. But Eloise knows where Dez is. She allows him the fantasy of a life with Penny and his "son" in order for him to keep the illusion of living forefront in his mind. By doing so, she risks flashes of the other realm and concepts of death to overwhelm Desmond so that he could awaken and spoil the critical balance Eloise is trying to maintain in the Sideways world.

In the Sideways world, Eloise is queen of the land. She has a doting son, totally under her control. She has got the wealth, status and privilege of society. Charles Widmore is a corralled provider of all her needs, including keeping SW Desmond in check as Widmore's respected, trusted number two man (which is the mirror opposite of Island Desmond whose focus was trying to get the respect and trust of evil Widmore.) She has to keep Penny away from Desmond in the Sideways world. It is too dangerous if they have a relationship in both planes. That is why Widmore has Desmond putting out corporate fires all over the world. It is unintended consequences that lead to Desmond to be in LA at the same time Charlie meets Daniel for the benefit concert.

Look at the constant from both ends of the spectrum: the flashbacks (pre 815) and the sideways world - - - Eloise. In Desmond's back story, she was the one who told Desmond about "course correction" that people cannot change what will occur to them. She also told Desmond that he should not be with Penny. Fans knew that Eloise had special powers and knowledge beyond normal comprehension. In the sideways world, Eloise scolds Desmond not to contact Penny. Why? Because she knows that if Desmond is awakened to his past purgatory cycle with Penny, he would awaken the others, including her son, Daniel and Widmore, which could lead to Daniel leaving her. The whole Eloise story arc could be considered as an after life guardian over-protecting her son for her own selfish purposes (maybe penance for killing him on the island during a time flash.)

If you believe that the show was all about lost souls from the very beginning, LOST makes more sense and all of the blatant inconsistencies, dead end story lines, continuity errors, and open ended questions fade away. Dharma, Jacob, the Smoke Monster, time travel and all the other prop story lines were all mere fantasy tools and props from the characters own imaginations and narcissistic view of themselves of how they thought their lives would be if they were not "dead." In the after life, their collective memories were used to create situations, interact with strangers, overcome adversity and personal fears, with the goal of individual enlightenment.

Eloise's master plan was to stop Daniel from remembering his past. She did everything in her power to make sure that Daniel's after life was a narrow, non-scientific focus that centered around herself. And in the end, Eloise's plan worked: Daniel did not go away with the other Lost characters. So, Eloise was the only character who truly got all she wanted in the end.

BACKTRACKING THE END

In "The End," Jack had planned to hold the funeral services for his father in Eloise's church. After Desmond helped many characters to remember their lives on the Island, they all met at the the sideways church. In a chapel filled with symbols of major religions, Jack found his father's empty coffin, just as he did on the Island. He then met his father, who helped him to understand the nature of his reality: Jack, Christian, and all of the people in the church had either died before Jack or a long time after him, but they and their lives were all real.

Now they were ready to "move on" and discover what was next. Jack entered the nave of the church, where he found Kate, Sawyer, Juliet, Hugo, Libby, Desmond, Penny, Jin, Sun, Claire, Charlie, Aaron, Sayid, Shannon, Boone, Rose, Bernard, and Locke. After they all had greeted each other warmly, they sat in the pews. Christian walked to the back of the church and opened the doors, revealing a bright light which filled the church as everyone smiled and we assume "moved on."

Who arranged this after life meeting? It appears that Christian was the master of ceremonies since everyone was waiting for Jack to arrive. Arrive in the sense of "awakening" memories of the Island. It was Christian who told Jack the muddy answer to the series great mysteries:

1. People in the church died before or long after Jack.
2. But "they" and "their lives" were "all real." Meaning that the sideways world realm was also real as well as the Island world.
3. That "they" created the sideways world as a place to wait for his arrival.
4. That there was no "time" in the sideways realm, but merely "now."
5. And once together, they all could "move on."
6. The church guests were the most important people in their lives.

This does not explain if the characters created the sideways world (as a holding room in the after life) would not remember the Island/real world prior to their own deaths. If the sideways world had no function of time, then there was no need for a complex alternative reality of Jack married to Juliet, having a child, healing Locke, etc. The souls would merely need to be in sleep mode until they all arrived at the church. And this is where the Answer falls a part; if everything we saw was "real," then it was all by series definition, "unreal." If the dream/fantasy experiences the characters created in the sideways world are "real," then the same could be said of the Island experiences. Which leads to a big sinkhole question: if both realities are real, then how did the 20 characters in the church find themselves, bind themselves together, to journey to the after life?

And to be perfectly honest, not all the characters got along on the Island. Example, Rose and Bernard were fed up with the lot and went off on their own. Locke and Jack never saw eye to eye. Sayid turned into an evil zombie. Jack and Sawyer were at odds most of the time.

Also, there were no deep, strong, global character connections prior to Flight 815 crash on the Island with the 20 friends in the church finale:

Christian: Jack's father
Jack: knew Christian; chance meeting with Desmond at stadium
Kate: knew no one prior to the 815 flight
Sawyer: knew no one prior to the 815 flight
Juliet: knew no one prior to the 815 crash
Hugo: may have known Libby at the mental hospital
Libby: may have known Hugo at the mental hospital
Desmond: knew Penny; chance meeting with Jack at stadium
Penny: knew only Desmond
Jin: married to Sun
Sun: married to Jin
Claire: was pregnant with Aaron
Charlie: knew no one prior to 815 flight
Aaron: knew no one prior to being born on Island
Sayid: knew no one prior to the 815 flight
Shannon: knew brother Boone
Boone: knew sister Shannon
Rose : married to Bernard
Bernard: married to Rose
Locke: knew no one prior to the 815 flight; but maybe aware of Hugo working at box plant.

Besides limited family relationships, there were no strong friendships or bonds between the entire group of characters and each other prior to the 815 flight. But we are told by TPTB that it was all about this group in the end.

The conclusion was not about the plane crash, the Island, the smoke monster, the hatch, DHARMA, the Others, Widmore or the freighter, Rousseau's science team, rescue or return, time travel, Jacob, or MIB. We were told that it was about the 20 people in the church who had the greatest impact on each other during their collective lives.

For those who loved the LOST ending, this character "feel good" reunion was enough. The statement that the show "was all about the characters" is only true to a certain point. A story teller needs to move the characters through events in order to reveal truths to the audience.

Now, for some who don't want to acknowledge the issues with Season 6 and the End, they claim that the brilliance of the series is that the creators left the questions unanswered so the viewers themselves could fill in their own blanks. That is a cop-out. One does not buy a mystery novel to read and then find the final two chapters missing. No, critics say there should have been a viable explanation at the conclusion of the series. Why were those 20 people in the church so important to each other to the exclusion of their other family members or pre-flight friends?

A year after the finale, the LOST phenomena has all but passed into the footnotes of television history. Some consider it one of the top ten shows of all time. Others ponder the great first seasons as a missed opportunity for greatness in the disappointing end. A few truly believe that the series should have concluded at the end of LOST's fifth season - - - with a real cliffhanger instead of a headscratcher.

THE CHURCH

It took a long time to make an obvious connection. It may put to rest what LOST was all about (or that TPTB just stumbled upon a coincidence that makes pure sense.)

The church. In "The End," Christian specifically told Jack that "this place" was created by all his friends so they could find each again in the afterlife. Christian also told Jack that this special place "they all created" was real, and the things that happened to him was also "real." Everyone takes away from this finale sideways twist that the Lost Souls met up in a form of purgatory, or an anteroom world prior to making the final journey to heaven.

Except, we forgot about the church! Eloise Hawking operated the Lamp Post out of the same sideways world church! As lostpedia describes it "Jack meets Christian in the back of Eloise's Church in Los Angeles. Together, the two join the rest of their friends in journeying on to the white light."

If the church was a sideways world creation by the departed, then one could rationally deduct that the church in the O6, off-island story line (the Lamp Post) was also a sideways world creation, too. And that makes perfect sense, as the nonsensical, inaccurate, hard to believe events in the sideways world (Jin & Sun English awakening) mirror the inaccurate, hard to believe events in the O6 world (Kate's trial errors). None of those events were really "real" in the sense of the character's original life times.

If the location of the church is sideways world in the afterlife, then the characters themselves who interacted in the off-island world were also in the afterlife. And if the O6 left the island to the off-island afterlife, and they did not "die" on the island, then it is logical to assume that the O6 were already dead on the island. Whether they died in the crash or before the boarding of Flight 815, the show takes on reincarnating "course correction" theme that Eloise Hawking talked about with Desmond. People may physically die in their real life, but just don't "die;" they go through a series of spiritual tests of character and redemption in order to move on. (There is strong evidence against certain characters never having a clear redemptive moment in the End; the Sayid story line for example, where he continued to kill because he was a born killer.)

If the church in the sideways story arc is in the afterlife, and the same church is present in the O6 off-island story line, that means that the O6 story arc was also set in the after life. In fact, the odd unnatural abilities of the characters in the off-island world is shown to be purgatory: example, Michael's inability to "kill" himself in NYC because "the island" won't let him. The island is the after life community of lost souls. When Michael's ghost appears to Hurley on the island, he says he is a spirit trapped on the island. In other words, Michael is trapped on the island because he has yet to get to the next level of redemption. It also makes more sense that Hurley and Miles can "speak" to dead people or see ghosts because they are also dead. The island represents the collective subconscious memories of lost souls in the after life seeking some sort of second chance to set the mistakes of their lives in perspective.

One of the quiet underlying themes of the show was "knowledge was power." In this situation, it appears that various levels of knowledge of the character's own demise, and the reluctant "acceptance" of it, is the key to "awakening" in the end.

The sense that the character's memories created the sideways afterlife world is also apparent in the island world, too. Hurley was reading a comic that featured a polar bear - - - and one turned up on the mysterious island. As a child, Locke drew a smoke monster - - - and one turned up on the mysterious island. It was the collective imaginations of the characters that created the Lost Worlds. It would also explain Ben's "magic box" comment when Locke's father, Anthony Cooper, suddenly showed up on the island, claiming he was dead from a car crash.

Look at the constant from both ends of the spectrum: the flashbacks (pre 815) and the sideways world - - - Eloise. In Desmond's back story, she was the one who told Desmond about "course correction" that people cannot change what will occur to them. She also told Desmond that he should not be with Penny. Fans knew that Eloise had special powers and knowledge beyond normal comprehension. In the sideways world, Eloise scolds Desmond not to contact Penny. Why? Because she knows that if Desmond is awakened to his past purgatory cycle with Penny, he would awaken the others, including her son, Daniel and Widmore, which could lead to Daniel leaving her. The whole Eloise story arc could be considered as an after life guardian over-protecting her son for her own selfish purposes (maybe penance for killing him on the island during a time flash.)

It would also give some insight on the inconsistent, paradoxical confusion of the concept of Time during the show. If we parse the show into its main parts (pre 815 flashbacks, 815 crash/ island events, the O6 off island, and the sideways), then the concept that these are all "acts in a death play" makes some sense. A course analogy: each main part is a deal in a poker game; the players (characters) have to deal with the hand they are dealt (missions, events, beatings, etc), and if you go "all in" on a matter and lose, you "die" and have to sit out for the next "deal." Even in Vegas, people shift around from table to table, trying to get a new dealer, or meet some new people. This may be why there were so many undercurrent connections between the passengers before 815 crashed on the island. However, there is a conscious barrier between the hands (cycles) that is only broken upon final "awakening." We may have only seen four or five of these after life "re-sets" or deck shuffles during the show, but not in chronological order.

If you believe that the show was all about lost souls from the very beginning, LOST makes more sense and all of the blatant inconsistencies, dead end story lines, continuity errors, and open ended questions fade away. Dharma, Jacob, the Smoke Monster, time travel and all the other prop story lines were all mere fantasy tools and props from the characters own imaginations and narcissistic view of themselves of how they thought their lives would be if they were not "dead." In the afterlife, their collective memories were used to create situations, interact with strangers, overcome adversity and personal fears, with the goal of individual enlightenment.

The sideways world was created by Jack's friends in the afterlife.
The world they created was "real" in the afterlife.
Eloise's church was in the sideways world.
Jack's friends first went to Eloise's church in the O6 story arc.
That means Jack and the O6 were in Eloise's church in the afterlife.
The O6 arc and the island events were on in the same world.
That means if the O6 were in the afterlife after leaving the island, they could be dead on the island (in the island after life).
This place was Death. What the characters died for was the chance to meet other lost souls in the afterlife for a chance to move on together instead of dying alone.