Carl Jung wrote, "Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart."
Today we live in a world of distraction. There is electronic noise all around us. We are immersed in the flashing glitter of technology. We are filled with escapist avenues to propel procrastination into an art form. But in the end, very few people are truly happy.
The disconnect may come from the fact that many people do not live their own lives. They are more concerned about what other people think of them then try to be the best person they want to be. It seems counter-intuitive to think not being the best person you want to be could hurt you in social and interpersonal relationships.
People can become trapped in their situation, whether it be work related, social, or emotional. Once a person falls into a pit of routine, it is very difficult to spend energy to get out of it. Humans find comfort in habits, even if they will lead to a self-destructive pattern. Suddenly, the years fly by. In an introspective moment, one could shake their head in disbelief. I thought one, two, three or four years ago, things would be different.
These lightning bolts of despair often occur on special days, such as a birthday. A birthday is the personal doomsday clock when people leave their 20s to face adulthood. Family, social, cultural and occupational headwinds will hit one hard in their early 30s which can result in the disconnect of a person's true feelings and their current situation.
Very few people have a vision of their future. Because it is clouded in the past. Mostly, past failures. People do not want to hurt themselves, physically or emotionally. They tend to isolate themselves from people or things that could potentially cause them pain, like a new relationship. But because there is comfort in isolation, there is no opportunity to find true happiness, such as a meaningful and loving new relationship. It is a Catch-22.
New year's resolutions normally command demands for self improvement. Usually, it is the physical traits such as diet, quit smoking, exercise more . . . . external things to make one appear better to the public. But rarely do people dig deeper into their own soul to map out a route to find their true happiness in life. So many people are stuck in a hamster wheel existence; around and around they go going nowhere.
Showing posts with label future. Show all posts
Showing posts with label future. Show all posts
Wednesday, January 11, 2017
Friday, October 28, 2016
Sunday, January 3, 2016
THE FUTURE WITHIN YOU
How many times in your adult life have you cursed
younger you? “Dammit, why didn’t you start working out
earlier?” Or, "What was I thinking before I started (this course of behavior)?"
Many bad habits occur because you and your future self aren’t very close. If you want to improve those habits, get closer with that future you.
As news site Vox explains, ongoing research into how the human brain
perceives long-term habits found that the more you view your future self
as you, the more likely you are to engage in better habits.
However, many of us actually view our future selves as strangers.
Literally. If you have poor long-term habits, your brain exhibits the
same activity when thinking about your future self as it does when it
thinks about a completely different person:Many bad habits occur because you and your future self aren’t very close. If you want to improve those habits, get closer with that future you.
Researchers have confirmed this with brain imaging. When people are in an fMRI scanner, their rostral anterior cingulate cortex brain region — which usually shows a high level of activity when people think about themselves — quiets down when people are told to think about themselves in 10 years. In fact, our brain activity when thinking about our future selves looks surprisingly similar to what happens when participants are asked to think about other people altogether.So, what’s the solution? Start by thinking about your self in the long-term, regardless of your habits. You don’t have to start with a savings plan or a workout regimen. Just start thinking about how you connect to your own future.
Anne Wilson, a psychologist at Wilfrid Laurier University, suggests using a time line. By drawing out current events in your life and connecting them to events in the near future (like deadlines, or events), she found that students were more likely to feel connected to their future selves, and thus make better decisions. However you choose to make the connection, though, the more you can think of your future self as the same person you are, the easier it will be to internally justify being helpful to them.
Thursday, September 17, 2015
THE PAST DIVINED FUTURE
Study the past to divine the future. --- Confucius
It is hard to argue against a master's pure thought.
Human beings do dwell on the past in order to divine or predict their future.
They do so in work: if I did X,Y, and Z then I should get that promotion.
They do so in relationships: if I did A,B, C with Lady One in the past but that did not work out, if I do X, Y, Z with Lady Two I will have a better relationship with her.
Sometimes, we get trapped in the past. When the "what if" scenarios begin to consume your thinking and reflecting time, you get caught up in the past which freezes the present to cause a fantasized future hope.
If you replace the "what if" with a more proactive, positive "what's next" attitude, then you are living in the present with a better outlook for the future.
This is best observed when people date and break up. Depending on how sudden or blindsided the break was, two things can happen. One, some can hide in the past (the good memories) to the point where they obsessive chase to get their former lover back in the future. Their future is a time loop of disillusion and rejection. Failure. Two, some can let go of the past to the point where they can move on to find a better friend and lover. Their future is moving forward into the future with confidence and new awareness based upon experience. Progress.
The perfect character study for this behavior pattern was John Locke.
Locke carried with him additional baggage from his childhood abandonment issues, and added more baggage with each failed relationship. His past haunted his present and clouded his future.
His obsession with his con man father, even after he conned him out of a kidney, destroyed the best relationship he ever had with another person, Helen.
In the real world, he found a woman who loved him for who he was, but since Locke had so much personal baggage unresolved in his mind (that he could not love himself enough to be loved), he effectively destroyed the best chance he had for happiness.
And even if one considers the sideways world as Locke's "fantasy" future to try to get Helen back after their final break up on the mainland (island time frame), that did not work out either since Locke ended the series alone in the church.
Human beings try to project future happiness upon themselves. But just fantasizing about it will not make it happen. Action speaks louder than words. Action also speaks more to obtaining a new future than just thinking about it.
Locke never tried to replace Helen in his life. And that was his down fall. His failing. His past ruining his future because once he realized that Helen was very good to him (and for him), it was too late. He could have went back into the dating pool to find a new Helen (learn from his past mistakes) but he was too afraid. He envisioned himself as some grand outback warrior, but that was pure fantasy clouding his judgment and detouring him from real, tangible goals.
And this trap is what makes people have lonely lives.
It is hard to argue against a master's pure thought.
Human beings do dwell on the past in order to divine or predict their future.
They do so in work: if I did X,Y, and Z then I should get that promotion.
They do so in relationships: if I did A,B, C with Lady One in the past but that did not work out, if I do X, Y, Z with Lady Two I will have a better relationship with her.
Sometimes, we get trapped in the past. When the "what if" scenarios begin to consume your thinking and reflecting time, you get caught up in the past which freezes the present to cause a fantasized future hope.
If you replace the "what if" with a more proactive, positive "what's next" attitude, then you are living in the present with a better outlook for the future.
This is best observed when people date and break up. Depending on how sudden or blindsided the break was, two things can happen. One, some can hide in the past (the good memories) to the point where they obsessive chase to get their former lover back in the future. Their future is a time loop of disillusion and rejection. Failure. Two, some can let go of the past to the point where they can move on to find a better friend and lover. Their future is moving forward into the future with confidence and new awareness based upon experience. Progress.
The perfect character study for this behavior pattern was John Locke.
Locke carried with him additional baggage from his childhood abandonment issues, and added more baggage with each failed relationship. His past haunted his present and clouded his future.
His obsession with his con man father, even after he conned him out of a kidney, destroyed the best relationship he ever had with another person, Helen.
In the real world, he found a woman who loved him for who he was, but since Locke had so much personal baggage unresolved in his mind (that he could not love himself enough to be loved), he effectively destroyed the best chance he had for happiness.
And even if one considers the sideways world as Locke's "fantasy" future to try to get Helen back after their final break up on the mainland (island time frame), that did not work out either since Locke ended the series alone in the church.
Human beings try to project future happiness upon themselves. But just fantasizing about it will not make it happen. Action speaks louder than words. Action also speaks more to obtaining a new future than just thinking about it.
Locke never tried to replace Helen in his life. And that was his down fall. His failing. His past ruining his future because once he realized that Helen was very good to him (and for him), it was too late. He could have went back into the dating pool to find a new Helen (learn from his past mistakes) but he was too afraid. He envisioned himself as some grand outback warrior, but that was pure fantasy clouding his judgment and detouring him from real, tangible goals.
And this trap is what makes people have lonely lives.
Sunday, August 16, 2015
MONOCULTURE AND LIVING YOUR LIFE
Huffington Post article on 8 subconscious behaviors that keep people from living their lives they want to live:
Every generation has a "monoculture" of sorts, a governing pattern or system of beliefs that people unconsciously accept as "truth." It's easy to identify the monoculture of Germany in the 1930s, or America in 1776. It's clear what people at those times, in those places, accepted to be "good" and "true" even when in reality, that was certainly not always the case.
The objectivity required to see the effects of present monoculture is very difficult to maintain (once you have so deeply accepted an idea as 'truth' it doesn't register as 'cultural' or 'subjective' anymore) ... but it's crucial. So much of our inner turmoil is simply the result of conducting a life we don't inherently agree with, because we have accepted an inner narrative of "normal" and "ideal" without ever realizing.
The fundamentals of any given monoculture tend to surround how to live your best life, how to live a better life, and what's most worth living for (nation, religion, self, etc.) and there are a number of ways in which our current system has us shooting ourselves in the feet as we try to step forward. Simply, there are a few fundamentals on happiness, decision making, instinct following and peace finding that we don't seem to understand.
So here, eight of the daily behaviors and unconscious habits that are keeping you from the life you really want.
1. You believe that creating your best possible life is a matter of deciding what you want and then going after it, but in reality, you are psychologically incapable of being able to predict what will make you happy.
Your brain can only perceive what it has known, so when you choose what you want for the future, you're actually just re-creating a solution or an ideal of the past. Ironically, when said ideas don't come to fruition (things never look the way we think they will) you suffer, because you think you've failed, when really, you're most likely experiencing something better than you could have chosen for yourself at the time. (Moral of the story: Living in the moment isn't a lofty ideal reserved for the zen and enlightened, it's the only way to live a life that isn't infiltrated with illusions... it's the only thing your brain can actually comprehend.)
2. You extrapolate the present moment because you believe that success is somewhere you "arrive," so you are constantly trying to take a snapshot of your life and see if you can be happy yet.
You accidentally convince yourself that any given moment is your life, when in reality, it is a moment in your life. Because we're wired to believe that success is somewhere we get to - when goals are accomplished and things are completed - we're constantly measuring our present moments by how "finished" they are, how good the story sounds, how someone else would judge the summary. (If at any point you find yourself thinking: "is this all there is?" you're forgetting that everything is transitory. There is nowhere to "arrive" at. The only thing you're rushing toward is death. Accomplishing goals is not success. How much you learn and enjoy and expand in the process of doing them is.)
3. You assume that when it comes to following your "gut instincts," happiness is "good," and fear and pain is "bad."
When you consider doing something that you truly love and are invested in, you are going to feel an influx of fear and pain, mostly because it will involve being vulnerable. When it comes to making decisions, you have to know that bad feelings are not deterrents. They are indicators that you want to do something, but it scares you (which are the things most worth doing, if you ask me). Not wanting to do something would make you feel indifferent about it. Fear = interest.
4. You needlessly create problems and crises in your life because you're afraid of actually living it.
The pattern of unnecessarily creating crisis in your life is actually an avoidance technique. It distracts you from actually having to be vulnerable or held accountable or whatever it is you're afraid of. You're never upset for the reason you think you are: at the core of your desire to create a problem is simply the fear of being who you are, and living the life you want.
5. You think that to change your beliefs, you have to adopt a new line of thinking, rather than seek experiences that make that thinking self-evident.
A belief is what you know to be true because experience has made it evident to you. If you want to change your life, change your beliefs. If you want to change your beliefs, go out and have experiences that make them real to you. Not the opposite way around.
6. You think "problems" are road blocks to achieving what you want, when in reality, they are pathways.
If you haven't heard it before, Marcus Aurelius sums this up well: "The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." Ryan Holiday explains it even more gracefully: "The obstacle is the way."Simply, running into a "problem" forces you to take action to resolve it. That action leads you down the path you had ultimately intended to go anyway, as the only "problems" in your life ultimately come down to how you resist who you are and how your life naturally unfolds.
7. You think your past defines you, and worse, you think that it is an unchangeable reality, when really, your perception of it changes as you do.
Because experience is always multi-dimensional, there are a variety of memories, experiences, feelings, "gists" you can choose to recall... and what you choose is indicative of your present state of mind. So many people get caught up in allowing the past to define them, or haunt them, simply because they have not evolved to the place of seeing how the past did not prevent them from achieving the life they want... it facilitated it (see: the obstacle is the way). This doesn't mean to disregard or gloss over painful or traumatic events, but simply to be able to recall them with acceptance and to be able to place them in the storyline of your personal evolution.
8. You try to change other people, situations and things (or you just complain/get upset about them) when anger = self-recognition.
Most negative emotional reactions are you identifying a disassociated aspect of yourself. Your "shadow selves" are the parts of you that, at some point, you were conditioned to believe were "not okay," so you suppressed them and have done everything in your power not to acknowledge them. You don't actually dislike these parts of yourself, though, you absolutely love them. So when you see somebody else displaying one of these traits, it absolutely infuriates you, not because you inherently dislike it, but because you have to fight your desire to fully integrate it into your whole consciousness. The things you love about others are the things you love about yourself. The things you hate about others are the things you cannot see in yourself.
Every generation has a "monoculture" of sorts, a governing pattern or system of beliefs that people unconsciously accept as "truth." It's easy to identify the monoculture of Germany in the 1930s, or America in 1776. It's clear what people at those times, in those places, accepted to be "good" and "true" even when in reality, that was certainly not always the case.
The objectivity required to see the effects of present monoculture is very difficult to maintain (once you have so deeply accepted an idea as 'truth' it doesn't register as 'cultural' or 'subjective' anymore) ... but it's crucial. So much of our inner turmoil is simply the result of conducting a life we don't inherently agree with, because we have accepted an inner narrative of "normal" and "ideal" without ever realizing.
The fundamentals of any given monoculture tend to surround how to live your best life, how to live a better life, and what's most worth living for (nation, religion, self, etc.) and there are a number of ways in which our current system has us shooting ourselves in the feet as we try to step forward. Simply, there are a few fundamentals on happiness, decision making, instinct following and peace finding that we don't seem to understand.
So here, eight of the daily behaviors and unconscious habits that are keeping you from the life you really want.
1. You believe that creating your best possible life is a matter of deciding what you want and then going after it, but in reality, you are psychologically incapable of being able to predict what will make you happy.
Your brain can only perceive what it has known, so when you choose what you want for the future, you're actually just re-creating a solution or an ideal of the past. Ironically, when said ideas don't come to fruition (things never look the way we think they will) you suffer, because you think you've failed, when really, you're most likely experiencing something better than you could have chosen for yourself at the time. (Moral of the story: Living in the moment isn't a lofty ideal reserved for the zen and enlightened, it's the only way to live a life that isn't infiltrated with illusions... it's the only thing your brain can actually comprehend.)
2. You extrapolate the present moment because you believe that success is somewhere you "arrive," so you are constantly trying to take a snapshot of your life and see if you can be happy yet.
You accidentally convince yourself that any given moment is your life, when in reality, it is a moment in your life. Because we're wired to believe that success is somewhere we get to - when goals are accomplished and things are completed - we're constantly measuring our present moments by how "finished" they are, how good the story sounds, how someone else would judge the summary. (If at any point you find yourself thinking: "is this all there is?" you're forgetting that everything is transitory. There is nowhere to "arrive" at. The only thing you're rushing toward is death. Accomplishing goals is not success. How much you learn and enjoy and expand in the process of doing them is.)
3. You assume that when it comes to following your "gut instincts," happiness is "good," and fear and pain is "bad."
When you consider doing something that you truly love and are invested in, you are going to feel an influx of fear and pain, mostly because it will involve being vulnerable. When it comes to making decisions, you have to know that bad feelings are not deterrents. They are indicators that you want to do something, but it scares you (which are the things most worth doing, if you ask me). Not wanting to do something would make you feel indifferent about it. Fear = interest.
4. You needlessly create problems and crises in your life because you're afraid of actually living it.
The pattern of unnecessarily creating crisis in your life is actually an avoidance technique. It distracts you from actually having to be vulnerable or held accountable or whatever it is you're afraid of. You're never upset for the reason you think you are: at the core of your desire to create a problem is simply the fear of being who you are, and living the life you want.
5. You think that to change your beliefs, you have to adopt a new line of thinking, rather than seek experiences that make that thinking self-evident.
A belief is what you know to be true because experience has made it evident to you. If you want to change your life, change your beliefs. If you want to change your beliefs, go out and have experiences that make them real to you. Not the opposite way around.
6. You think "problems" are road blocks to achieving what you want, when in reality, they are pathways.
If you haven't heard it before, Marcus Aurelius sums this up well: "The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way." Ryan Holiday explains it even more gracefully: "The obstacle is the way."Simply, running into a "problem" forces you to take action to resolve it. That action leads you down the path you had ultimately intended to go anyway, as the only "problems" in your life ultimately come down to how you resist who you are and how your life naturally unfolds.
7. You think your past defines you, and worse, you think that it is an unchangeable reality, when really, your perception of it changes as you do.
Because experience is always multi-dimensional, there are a variety of memories, experiences, feelings, "gists" you can choose to recall... and what you choose is indicative of your present state of mind. So many people get caught up in allowing the past to define them, or haunt them, simply because they have not evolved to the place of seeing how the past did not prevent them from achieving the life they want... it facilitated it (see: the obstacle is the way). This doesn't mean to disregard or gloss over painful or traumatic events, but simply to be able to recall them with acceptance and to be able to place them in the storyline of your personal evolution.
8. You try to change other people, situations and things (or you just complain/get upset about them) when anger = self-recognition.
Most negative emotional reactions are you identifying a disassociated aspect of yourself. Your "shadow selves" are the parts of you that, at some point, you were conditioned to believe were "not okay," so you suppressed them and have done everything in your power not to acknowledge them. You don't actually dislike these parts of yourself, though, you absolutely love them. So when you see somebody else displaying one of these traits, it absolutely infuriates you, not because you inherently dislike it, but because you have to fight your desire to fully integrate it into your whole consciousness. The things you love about others are the things you love about yourself. The things you hate about others are the things you cannot see in yourself.
Saturday, May 16, 2015
THE FUTURE PAST
"Computers will overtake humans with AI at some within the next 100
years. When that happens, we need to make sure the computers have goals
aligned with ours." - - - Steven Hawking.
Hawking is one of the great scientific minds of our generation. But he is one of a growing number of scientists who are cautioning humanity on the technology trend and future dependence on artificial intelligence. He is also a true believer in the law of unintended consequences.
Currently, industry has focused in on "mechanical" artificial intelligence programs, those computers which run machinery instead of trained human workers. The idea that computer controlled machines can do more delicate or detailed work than the human eye is debatable, but the potential cost saving of robotic assembly has been proven.
There are the Terminator fearists that believe that advanced AI systems will find their own "consciousness" and turn on their human masters. The Borg in Star Trek could be considered a flawed computer code turning humans into machines. It is probably the dependence on technology that is most worrisome to scientists because it signals the dawn of "less human intelligence" in the general public.
Think of it this way: if computers are going to do the work for you, solve your problems from making a pot of coffee in the morning to building an entire smartphone in less than an hour, then humans won't have to think about doing any physical work. Humans mental capacity to apply knowledge into a tangible thing (such as making a smartphone) will atrophy. With everything given to us, there would nothing we would give to society. Such were the grotesque human sloths in the movie WALL*E.
One of the better examples of this kind of cause and bad effect is LOST's smoke monster. Since the island could flash between time periods (we only saw it flash to the past, and then back to the present) it is possible that the smoke monster was some form of future technology that got transported to the island. Since it was advanced technology from the distant future, it would be viewed as a mystery, supernatural or magic (as would you handing your smartphone to an 1880s merchant).
There is an analogy that our current technological dreams can manifest in our future technological nightmares.
How would the world be different if Nazi Germany perfected the nuclear bomb prior to the end of World War II? Would half the world now be speaking German?
How would the world be different if the Roman crusades in the Middle East had armored tank divisions against horse drawn Calvary of the Muslims?
How would the world react if a spacecraft landed in Washington D.C. and astronauts from the Mars colony said they have come home after 100 years in space?
One has to put context in the present. But in order to do so, one relies upon the past for experience but also the expectation of the future. As one could say, "the present is the future past."
One cannot readily untangle the twisted time threads in LOST's story lines. The jumps made little sense. The resulting paradoxes never explained or corrected. One cannot say that elements of an unknown future controlled the events on the island. Or that past civilizations were allowed to fully develop in the island cocoon to greater technological advances they we could imagine.
Hawking is one of the great scientific minds of our generation. But he is one of a growing number of scientists who are cautioning humanity on the technology trend and future dependence on artificial intelligence. He is also a true believer in the law of unintended consequences.
Currently, industry has focused in on "mechanical" artificial intelligence programs, those computers which run machinery instead of trained human workers. The idea that computer controlled machines can do more delicate or detailed work than the human eye is debatable, but the potential cost saving of robotic assembly has been proven.
There are the Terminator fearists that believe that advanced AI systems will find their own "consciousness" and turn on their human masters. The Borg in Star Trek could be considered a flawed computer code turning humans into machines. It is probably the dependence on technology that is most worrisome to scientists because it signals the dawn of "less human intelligence" in the general public.
Think of it this way: if computers are going to do the work for you, solve your problems from making a pot of coffee in the morning to building an entire smartphone in less than an hour, then humans won't have to think about doing any physical work. Humans mental capacity to apply knowledge into a tangible thing (such as making a smartphone) will atrophy. With everything given to us, there would nothing we would give to society. Such were the grotesque human sloths in the movie WALL*E.
One of the better examples of this kind of cause and bad effect is LOST's smoke monster. Since the island could flash between time periods (we only saw it flash to the past, and then back to the present) it is possible that the smoke monster was some form of future technology that got transported to the island. Since it was advanced technology from the distant future, it would be viewed as a mystery, supernatural or magic (as would you handing your smartphone to an 1880s merchant).
There is an analogy that our current technological dreams can manifest in our future technological nightmares.
How would the world be different if Nazi Germany perfected the nuclear bomb prior to the end of World War II? Would half the world now be speaking German?
How would the world be different if the Roman crusades in the Middle East had armored tank divisions against horse drawn Calvary of the Muslims?
How would the world react if a spacecraft landed in Washington D.C. and astronauts from the Mars colony said they have come home after 100 years in space?
One has to put context in the present. But in order to do so, one relies upon the past for experience but also the expectation of the future. As one could say, "the present is the future past."
One cannot readily untangle the twisted time threads in LOST's story lines. The jumps made little sense. The resulting paradoxes never explained or corrected. One cannot say that elements of an unknown future controlled the events on the island. Or that past civilizations were allowed to fully develop in the island cocoon to greater technological advances they we could imagine.
Friday, December 12, 2014
THE FUTURE
It is a rare opportunity to see one's future and not act on it in the present.
In LOST, many of the main characters had a unique opportunity during the time flashes. When the crew was trapped in 1977 Dharmaville, they knew what their futures held for them . . . nothing really good on the island. Only one person seized the opportunity based on his future: Sawyer.
Sawyer took advantage of his future knowledge (being a prisoner of Ben's group) to leverage a position of power within the group (since he did not know whether he would ever return to his real time). He forged his position with his relationship with Juliet, which was non-existent in the real island time line. In fact, Juliet is the exact opposite of a person Sawyer would normally have gone after.
One suspects that this 30 year diversion was so strong a personal bond that Sawyer kept it in his heart until he died (and was reunited with Juliet in the sideways world). But if the characters were bouncing back and forth between time periods, both in the past and future, could Sawyer have actually known about Juliet's fate with the Incident/Jughead? "It worked," she said during the EM implosion - - - was that the final bond to her soulmate, James?
But then, it is fairly sad that Sawyer left the island and presumably lived a long life without Juliet AND a long life without another true companion. Sawyer would have been the type of man who needed company - - - both physical and mental challenges. (Which is why Kate, also a survivor, would have been his better match after leaving the island for the final time.)
It could be argued that Sayid was the one character who understood best what the flash back in time meant to changing the future. It was Sayid who met Young Ben before he turned into the monster dictator. So Sayid took it upon himself to shoot Ben in the chest, presumably killing him. By killing Ben, Sayid thought that the terrorism of the real island time would be extinguished . . . but in all time travel lore, altering the past could have great repercussions on the future. For example, Young Ben was still naive child. But he may have found his true love in Annie or another girl, made childhood island friends, or even left the island for college and a more normal life. He may not have become the Ben who wanted to control the island.
It is more likely that Sayid's gunshot of Ben altered the course of history to actually create Evil Ben. Since the dying child was taken to the Temple by Alpert, who said he would be altered forever by the spring (as we saw in Sayid himself, an evil reincarnation). Sayid's actions in the past may have actually doomed Ben to the island maniac future, including the mass murder of the Dharma group.
In LOST, many of the main characters had a unique opportunity during the time flashes. When the crew was trapped in 1977 Dharmaville, they knew what their futures held for them . . . nothing really good on the island. Only one person seized the opportunity based on his future: Sawyer.
Sawyer took advantage of his future knowledge (being a prisoner of Ben's group) to leverage a position of power within the group (since he did not know whether he would ever return to his real time). He forged his position with his relationship with Juliet, which was non-existent in the real island time line. In fact, Juliet is the exact opposite of a person Sawyer would normally have gone after.
One suspects that this 30 year diversion was so strong a personal bond that Sawyer kept it in his heart until he died (and was reunited with Juliet in the sideways world). But if the characters were bouncing back and forth between time periods, both in the past and future, could Sawyer have actually known about Juliet's fate with the Incident/Jughead? "It worked," she said during the EM implosion - - - was that the final bond to her soulmate, James?
But then, it is fairly sad that Sawyer left the island and presumably lived a long life without Juliet AND a long life without another true companion. Sawyer would have been the type of man who needed company - - - both physical and mental challenges. (Which is why Kate, also a survivor, would have been his better match after leaving the island for the final time.)
It could be argued that Sayid was the one character who understood best what the flash back in time meant to changing the future. It was Sayid who met Young Ben before he turned into the monster dictator. So Sayid took it upon himself to shoot Ben in the chest, presumably killing him. By killing Ben, Sayid thought that the terrorism of the real island time would be extinguished . . . but in all time travel lore, altering the past could have great repercussions on the future. For example, Young Ben was still naive child. But he may have found his true love in Annie or another girl, made childhood island friends, or even left the island for college and a more normal life. He may not have become the Ben who wanted to control the island.
It is more likely that Sayid's gunshot of Ben altered the course of history to actually create Evil Ben. Since the dying child was taken to the Temple by Alpert, who said he would be altered forever by the spring (as we saw in Sayid himself, an evil reincarnation). Sayid's actions in the past may have actually doomed Ben to the island maniac future, including the mass murder of the Dharma group.
Friday, March 14, 2014
LOCK STEP TO FATE
Expecting
life to treat you well because you are a good person is like expecting
an angry bull not to charge because you are a vegetarian.
— Shari R. Barr
Many of the characters could have considered having a trying childhood or a "hard life."
But very few understood their predicament in order to change their future.
The classic example of this was John Locke.
Things he could not control:
1. Abandoned by father
2. Crazy mother giving him up to foster homes
3. Being bounced from foster parent to foster parent.
Things he could control:
1. Doing well in school, especially in math and science.
2. His attitude towards making friends.
3. His temper.
4. How he handled his relationships.
5. Making obtainable goals.
In LOST, Locke was more resigned to his fate than making things better through his own determination. Fate is the development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power. Locke believed that his fate decided his course for him, from his parental abandoment to subsequent serious injury as a cruel twist of fate.
Yet, the only fate common to everyone is the inescapable death of a person. In Locke's case, it could have been many deaths. A little part of him died when he was old enough to realize that his parents did not want him. A little part of him died when he met his crazy mother who must have put the impression that he was "special" in his mind (a mild that may have become self-delusional). A little part of him died when he put unattainable goals in the early stages of his high school years. He wanted to be a popular jock and not a nerdy science kid. He fell into the trap of popularity as being more important than lifetime skills. He desperately wanted to be liked by other people; but he came off cold and distant. The result was that he turned inward, in his own shell. He abandoned what other people told him, and fell into a personal rut of meaningless jobs and spurts of self-discovery which always ended badly.
Locke was lost from an early age. He never got to the point of accepting his lot in life to make an assertive change in direction. If the supernatural situation which he fell into, the plane crash and the island, was a second chance to change his behavioral anchors, Locke failed at the task. Initially, he was assertive but then was spurned. People liked Jack better than him. It was high school all over again. He had important skills that were diminished by Jack's better skills. This is why Locke resigned himself to accept things that would happen to him. He believed in fate, that his life was predetermined to be bad.
And it was. He was bitter. He was naive. He was trusting. He was bad at decision making. His analytical skills led to the mistake with the Hatch lockdown. He could not convince people to his way of thinking. He allowed other people to control him or use him like a pawn. Even in death, he was a puppet called Flocke.
There was once a line that said "don't confuse coincidence with fate." In Locke's case, he did. Even in the fantasy world after death, for no apparent reason he could not move on with Helen, who was his partner in that world. Why? He destroyed his personal relationship with her off-island by being obsessed with his father's betrayal. In the sideways world, it was the exact opposite. His father was an invalid. He was with Helen. Was that all pure fantasy? He had no bonds to keep Helen in the sideways world church? If not, why did he accept that loneliness when Ben chose to keep working on his relationship issues. Or did it really matter at all? The dream is not reality. It only makes sense if one erases the sideways story lines. Locke's fate was to die alone, over and over again.
Many of the characters could have considered having a trying childhood or a "hard life."
But very few understood their predicament in order to change their future.
The classic example of this was John Locke.
Things he could not control:
1. Abandoned by father
2. Crazy mother giving him up to foster homes
3. Being bounced from foster parent to foster parent.
Things he could control:
1. Doing well in school, especially in math and science.
2. His attitude towards making friends.
3. His temper.
4. How he handled his relationships.
5. Making obtainable goals.
In LOST, Locke was more resigned to his fate than making things better through his own determination. Fate is the development of events beyond a person's control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power. Locke believed that his fate decided his course for him, from his parental abandoment to subsequent serious injury as a cruel twist of fate.
Yet, the only fate common to everyone is the inescapable death of a person. In Locke's case, it could have been many deaths. A little part of him died when he was old enough to realize that his parents did not want him. A little part of him died when he met his crazy mother who must have put the impression that he was "special" in his mind (a mild that may have become self-delusional). A little part of him died when he put unattainable goals in the early stages of his high school years. He wanted to be a popular jock and not a nerdy science kid. He fell into the trap of popularity as being more important than lifetime skills. He desperately wanted to be liked by other people; but he came off cold and distant. The result was that he turned inward, in his own shell. He abandoned what other people told him, and fell into a personal rut of meaningless jobs and spurts of self-discovery which always ended badly.
Locke was lost from an early age. He never got to the point of accepting his lot in life to make an assertive change in direction. If the supernatural situation which he fell into, the plane crash and the island, was a second chance to change his behavioral anchors, Locke failed at the task. Initially, he was assertive but then was spurned. People liked Jack better than him. It was high school all over again. He had important skills that were diminished by Jack's better skills. This is why Locke resigned himself to accept things that would happen to him. He believed in fate, that his life was predetermined to be bad.
And it was. He was bitter. He was naive. He was trusting. He was bad at decision making. His analytical skills led to the mistake with the Hatch lockdown. He could not convince people to his way of thinking. He allowed other people to control him or use him like a pawn. Even in death, he was a puppet called Flocke.
There was once a line that said "don't confuse coincidence with fate." In Locke's case, he did. Even in the fantasy world after death, for no apparent reason he could not move on with Helen, who was his partner in that world. Why? He destroyed his personal relationship with her off-island by being obsessed with his father's betrayal. In the sideways world, it was the exact opposite. His father was an invalid. He was with Helen. Was that all pure fantasy? He had no bonds to keep Helen in the sideways world church? If not, why did he accept that loneliness when Ben chose to keep working on his relationship issues. Or did it really matter at all? The dream is not reality. It only makes sense if one erases the sideways story lines. Locke's fate was to die alone, over and over again.
Friday, September 13, 2013
THE FUTURE
The best way to predict the future is to create it.
— Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee
After the pilot episode, the story engine was simple. There were only two things that needed to be accomplished by the 815 passengers: survival and rescue.
Survival was complicated because there were a diverse group of passengers, each with their own secrets and faults, who would not work well together. They had landed in a mysterious place which made no perceptive sense (the smoke monster's roars and polar bears).
Rescue was only on the mind of a few people (Michael and Jin). The rest first believed that they would be rescued in a few days. But once a week had past, Jack realized that no one was coming to rescue them. He had to bring together those whose hopes of rescue were dashed with those who who more concerned with their own survival.
LOST had two conclusions set up at the end of the pilot. The 815 people would either live or die on the island. The 815 people would either be rescued or live out their lives on the island as castaways.
How did those primarily conclusions work out?
Plenty of people lived and died on the island. A few people got rescued (a couple even twice) but we would learn that the island was a trap, a snow globe, an extraordinary place where the island visitors were pawns in a vague, ancient game between two supernatural powers.
No was was retrieved from the island without deep scars. No one was truly "saved" from the dangers of the island confines. The reason is that the story engine took a sudden series ending U-turn into a parallel universe axis which had little bearing on the original crash and survival story most people thought was the premise for the show.
If one tries to connect these diverse realities, one notion is that all the island events somehow influenced the sideways world in such a fashion to create "the happy ending." But the sideways world did not involve the 815 passengers having to suffer through the crash, the island tortures, the hardships or even the emotional turmoil of life and death struggles with opponents. The sideways world was for the most part a plain vanilla, milquetoast, nice alternative reality. The question is then how or why did the sideways dream/fantasy world come into existence?
Was it the creation from the dreams and life's promises of the passengers in the three minutes from the time the plane broke a part to the passengers falling to the sea and ground? Was it created as everyone's life "flashed before their mind" in the moments before almost certain death? Christian said the sideways reality was created by everyone. It had no past, present or future; it was just "now." It was a Polaroid moment in fixed time or collective memory. When Christian said the people in the sideways church all were dead, and that some died before and after Jack, he did not put an actual time frame on that statement. It could have been seconds to minutes - - - or the feeling of an eternity when you are the highest anxiety levels when your mind knows that you are going to die when the plane hits the ground.
In those final moments before impact, the sideways world had to be created by some supernatural force. As the actors and many critics found, the writers resolution that turned to a "spiritual ending" reinforces the idea that the main characters perished on the island. But before the characters perished, they dreamed of their dreamed of what their lives would have been - - - what could have been - - - as a means of coming to terms with their peril.
The plane crash was the crossover point between human existence and the spiritual world. There is no other logical conclusion to make common sense of the relationship between the island and the sideways world. In some ways it is Wizard of Oz in reverse. Instead of human Dorothy being swept away into a fantasy world, it was the passengers souls being trapped on a real island unable to cope with their own deaths . . . so they continued to live on as if they were "alive." For some, this was a chance to live their dreamed futures. For others, it was a chance to become something better than they were before the crash; soul searching so to speak.
This concept does not go over well with a majority of original LOST viewers. They still believe what the TPTB stated in the first year that the show was not about purgatory. But in a show filled with character lies, half-truths, emotional manipulations and confidence games, TPTB had a biased, vested interest to keep the series going as long as possible; to keep the viewers in the dark with mysteries as long as possible.
The sideways world dream reality (the second chance for the dead passengers) makes sense from its own internal construction. If we believe in the backstories of the 815 passengers during the island time, then the sideways world does not fit into that past. For example, in the sideways world Jack was not married to Sarah but to Juliet. Jack was divorced, but in the sideways world he has a son named David. In the island time, Juliet is unmarried. Her lover was killed by a strange bus accident. As a result, she was whisked away to the island - - - and away from the most important person in her life, her sister (who does not appear in the sideways story line).
There are major story inconsistencies in the sideways story arc based on just those factors alone. One could say that the sideways world was "the truth," and the island and its backstories were the dream alternative of the sideways souls living out a trite existence in purgatory. In the sideways world, Ben is a meek teacher. But in the island realm, he is a ruthless, powerful leader (something he dreamed about in his confrontation with his principal). In the sideways world, Locke is a crippled substitute teacher. But in the island realm, he is the outback survivalist leader. In fact, in the sideways world all of the characters seem to be good people. In the island realm, their inner demons are unleashed.
So how could sideways souls kept in a suburbanite purgatory story loop be transported to the island? Their Flight 815 landed safely in LA. How could their current memories be overridden by the harsh trauma of the island events when they could not remember them in the first place?
Another answer follows the ancient Egyptian belief that upon death, a person's spiritual existence is split into various components to journey into the after life planes. The ba and ka are separated and have to travel a part until a point where they are reunited in paradise or destroyed at the moment of judgment. This parallel religious belief does mirror the possible parallel after life story lines of LOST. The evidence of this possibility was clearly represented in the temple, statue and hieroglyphs shown throughout the series.
The bottom line is that dead souls, at some point, dreamed of a better existence for themselves. They dreamed of a better future, one lost during their real life time. They were able in a supernatural world to live parts of their lost dreams as a means of coming to terms of their own individual deaths. It was only when they came to terms with their death (and the regrets of their lives) did they awaken to a higher spiritual plane.
After the pilot episode, the story engine was simple. There were only two things that needed to be accomplished by the 815 passengers: survival and rescue.
Survival was complicated because there were a diverse group of passengers, each with their own secrets and faults, who would not work well together. They had landed in a mysterious place which made no perceptive sense (the smoke monster's roars and polar bears).
Rescue was only on the mind of a few people (Michael and Jin). The rest first believed that they would be rescued in a few days. But once a week had past, Jack realized that no one was coming to rescue them. He had to bring together those whose hopes of rescue were dashed with those who who more concerned with their own survival.
LOST had two conclusions set up at the end of the pilot. The 815 people would either live or die on the island. The 815 people would either be rescued or live out their lives on the island as castaways.
How did those primarily conclusions work out?
Plenty of people lived and died on the island. A few people got rescued (a couple even twice) but we would learn that the island was a trap, a snow globe, an extraordinary place where the island visitors were pawns in a vague, ancient game between two supernatural powers.
No was was retrieved from the island without deep scars. No one was truly "saved" from the dangers of the island confines. The reason is that the story engine took a sudden series ending U-turn into a parallel universe axis which had little bearing on the original crash and survival story most people thought was the premise for the show.
If one tries to connect these diverse realities, one notion is that all the island events somehow influenced the sideways world in such a fashion to create "the happy ending." But the sideways world did not involve the 815 passengers having to suffer through the crash, the island tortures, the hardships or even the emotional turmoil of life and death struggles with opponents. The sideways world was for the most part a plain vanilla, milquetoast, nice alternative reality. The question is then how or why did the sideways dream/fantasy world come into existence?
Was it the creation from the dreams and life's promises of the passengers in the three minutes from the time the plane broke a part to the passengers falling to the sea and ground? Was it created as everyone's life "flashed before their mind" in the moments before almost certain death? Christian said the sideways reality was created by everyone. It had no past, present or future; it was just "now." It was a Polaroid moment in fixed time or collective memory. When Christian said the people in the sideways church all were dead, and that some died before and after Jack, he did not put an actual time frame on that statement. It could have been seconds to minutes - - - or the feeling of an eternity when you are the highest anxiety levels when your mind knows that you are going to die when the plane hits the ground.
In those final moments before impact, the sideways world had to be created by some supernatural force. As the actors and many critics found, the writers resolution that turned to a "spiritual ending" reinforces the idea that the main characters perished on the island. But before the characters perished, they dreamed of their dreamed of what their lives would have been - - - what could have been - - - as a means of coming to terms with their peril.
The plane crash was the crossover point between human existence and the spiritual world. There is no other logical conclusion to make common sense of the relationship between the island and the sideways world. In some ways it is Wizard of Oz in reverse. Instead of human Dorothy being swept away into a fantasy world, it was the passengers souls being trapped on a real island unable to cope with their own deaths . . . so they continued to live on as if they were "alive." For some, this was a chance to live their dreamed futures. For others, it was a chance to become something better than they were before the crash; soul searching so to speak.
This concept does not go over well with a majority of original LOST viewers. They still believe what the TPTB stated in the first year that the show was not about purgatory. But in a show filled with character lies, half-truths, emotional manipulations and confidence games, TPTB had a biased, vested interest to keep the series going as long as possible; to keep the viewers in the dark with mysteries as long as possible.
The sideways world dream reality (the second chance for the dead passengers) makes sense from its own internal construction. If we believe in the backstories of the 815 passengers during the island time, then the sideways world does not fit into that past. For example, in the sideways world Jack was not married to Sarah but to Juliet. Jack was divorced, but in the sideways world he has a son named David. In the island time, Juliet is unmarried. Her lover was killed by a strange bus accident. As a result, she was whisked away to the island - - - and away from the most important person in her life, her sister (who does not appear in the sideways story line).
There are major story inconsistencies in the sideways story arc based on just those factors alone. One could say that the sideways world was "the truth," and the island and its backstories were the dream alternative of the sideways souls living out a trite existence in purgatory. In the sideways world, Ben is a meek teacher. But in the island realm, he is a ruthless, powerful leader (something he dreamed about in his confrontation with his principal). In the sideways world, Locke is a crippled substitute teacher. But in the island realm, he is the outback survivalist leader. In fact, in the sideways world all of the characters seem to be good people. In the island realm, their inner demons are unleashed.
So how could sideways souls kept in a suburbanite purgatory story loop be transported to the island? Their Flight 815 landed safely in LA. How could their current memories be overridden by the harsh trauma of the island events when they could not remember them in the first place?
Another answer follows the ancient Egyptian belief that upon death, a person's spiritual existence is split into various components to journey into the after life planes. The ba and ka are separated and have to travel a part until a point where they are reunited in paradise or destroyed at the moment of judgment. This parallel religious belief does mirror the possible parallel after life story lines of LOST. The evidence of this possibility was clearly represented in the temple, statue and hieroglyphs shown throughout the series.
The bottom line is that dead souls, at some point, dreamed of a better existence for themselves. They dreamed of a better future, one lost during their real life time. They were able in a supernatural world to live parts of their lost dreams as a means of coming to terms of their own individual deaths. It was only when they came to terms with their death (and the regrets of their lives) did they awaken to a higher spiritual plane.
Monday, August 12, 2013
THE FUTURE
There are only four more episodes of the sci-fi comedy Futurama left. This show did not take itself too seriously because it was a comedy. It had distinct characters. It also had core science fiction world standards that did not change from series to series. The show itself was canceled several times, but brought back to life on cable. In some respects, it was the little show that could. The future is coming to an end.
In relation to Futurama, LOST probably would have not made it if it started this year. There are plenty of science fiction, vampires, monsters and end of the world shows on television, but none of them have the cult following to get a canceled show back on the air. LOST started out with a high note because of the pilot episode - - - plane crash survivors on a mysterious island with monsters and a polar bear. Network television was a lull (just before its fragmentary viewership declines of today).
Around Season 4-5, I always thought that the rabid fan base would have had at least one person take the show and re-edit it into chronological order. Put all the flashbacks into place to see if the story structure made any clearer sense. Even today, there are fans who make Star Trek fan episodes. I thought one college student or underemployed person(s) would put LOST in a final fan show reel. But to my knowledge, no one ever did that.
It would have been more complicated by the insertion of the flash sideways story arc. That would have to be a separate, independent story.
But in the chronology of events, it seems that the sideways world as being the show's conclusion point was in the island's chronological future. The sideways characters were waiting for their characters to remember their island experiences in order to move on through purgatory. The sideways world was first shown in Season 6 so many assume that it was created at the end of Season 5 (when Juliet said "it worked.") Her passing into the after life at that moment helped create a non-traumatized fantasy world we called the sideways existence.
That would be one explanation. The other is that the sideways world was created first. Lost souls in the after life were given a chance to find new relationships and strong bonds needed to pass through their after life journey. The island was merely a test of departed souls a kin to traveling through the Egyptian underworld for judgment.
So, the options are that the survivors were alive on the island, but as people died they went to purgatory to create the sideways realm, waiting for their friends to join them (but somehow not remembering the island experiences at all). Or, the sideways world was created first by greater beings who sorted the lost souls into groups and put them on a spiritual island to allow them to learn, live and grow.
The latter seems to make more sense since all the characters "awakened" in the sideways world. There is no evidence that their physical forms left the sideways existence to the island. There is no parallel universe explanation for their feelings, thoughts or experiences from the island realm. The apparent end game of the series is to find a group of people close to you (the church reunion) so you can move on in the after life. The lost souls' future was molded by their pasts. Their pasts were recreated on the island so they could work through their personal issues. It was when they remembered the bad times as well as the good, did the souls reawaken in the sideways world. The island was a dream scape compared to the sideways world.
But then again, we have no clue what the real future of the characters was going to be after Christian opened the church doors. Would their memories get erased again? Would they be transported to heaven or hell? Would they go to another spiritual plane of existence to continue to work on their personal problems?
They would not have gone back to the island like Groundhog Day. In the sideways world, when the plane did not crash, we saw a glimpse of the island under water. It was gone. It's purpose complete.
In relation to Futurama, LOST probably would have not made it if it started this year. There are plenty of science fiction, vampires, monsters and end of the world shows on television, but none of them have the cult following to get a canceled show back on the air. LOST started out with a high note because of the pilot episode - - - plane crash survivors on a mysterious island with monsters and a polar bear. Network television was a lull (just before its fragmentary viewership declines of today).
Around Season 4-5, I always thought that the rabid fan base would have had at least one person take the show and re-edit it into chronological order. Put all the flashbacks into place to see if the story structure made any clearer sense. Even today, there are fans who make Star Trek fan episodes. I thought one college student or underemployed person(s) would put LOST in a final fan show reel. But to my knowledge, no one ever did that.
It would have been more complicated by the insertion of the flash sideways story arc. That would have to be a separate, independent story.
But in the chronology of events, it seems that the sideways world as being the show's conclusion point was in the island's chronological future. The sideways characters were waiting for their characters to remember their island experiences in order to move on through purgatory. The sideways world was first shown in Season 6 so many assume that it was created at the end of Season 5 (when Juliet said "it worked.") Her passing into the after life at that moment helped create a non-traumatized fantasy world we called the sideways existence.
That would be one explanation. The other is that the sideways world was created first. Lost souls in the after life were given a chance to find new relationships and strong bonds needed to pass through their after life journey. The island was merely a test of departed souls a kin to traveling through the Egyptian underworld for judgment.
So, the options are that the survivors were alive on the island, but as people died they went to purgatory to create the sideways realm, waiting for their friends to join them (but somehow not remembering the island experiences at all). Or, the sideways world was created first by greater beings who sorted the lost souls into groups and put them on a spiritual island to allow them to learn, live and grow.
The latter seems to make more sense since all the characters "awakened" in the sideways world. There is no evidence that their physical forms left the sideways existence to the island. There is no parallel universe explanation for their feelings, thoughts or experiences from the island realm. The apparent end game of the series is to find a group of people close to you (the church reunion) so you can move on in the after life. The lost souls' future was molded by their pasts. Their pasts were recreated on the island so they could work through their personal issues. It was when they remembered the bad times as well as the good, did the souls reawaken in the sideways world. The island was a dream scape compared to the sideways world.
But then again, we have no clue what the real future of the characters was going to be after Christian opened the church doors. Would their memories get erased again? Would they be transported to heaven or hell? Would they go to another spiritual plane of existence to continue to work on their personal problems?
They would not have gone back to the island like Groundhog Day. In the sideways world, when the plane did not crash, we saw a glimpse of the island under water. It was gone. It's purpose complete.
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