DYING TO WAKE UP

In Dying to Wake Up, Dr. Rajiv Parti, the Chief of Anesthesiology at the Bakersfield Heart Hospital in California, writes in his new book that an experience from "the Divine" changed him forever. 

Following this experience Parti gave away his mansion, quit his career, and opened a wellness clinic.
Parti claims to provide "rare details of heaven, hell, the afterlife, and angels." According to Parti, during his near-death experience he encountered "archangels" and his deceased father who showed him "through the tortures of hell."

Parti purports that to this day he still converses with angels and "spreads their wisdom to the living."
While there have been many books published by people that have experienced something similar to Parti, the book genre isn't without its critics.

Neurologist Oliver Sacks, author of the book, Hallucinations,  wrote these "life-altering religious experiences" are "hallucinations," and that "whether revelatory or banal, are not of supernatural origin; they are part of the normal range of human consciousness and experience."

What strikes me from this summary account of Parti's experience is that mirrors the basic premise of LOST.  Jack was guided through the tortures of the island hell by his deceased father, Christian. And once Jack survived his initial island test in the underworld, he gave up everything to return to save his friends.

The title invokes another theme of the show, "waking up."  In the after life, the characters had to "wake up" to the realization that they were dead. So what was their experiences prior to that revelation? 

Could each of the characters be going through separate near death experiences that funnel into this island hell gateway? As we speculated in the past, each of the main characters had a back story element where they could have died in real life. 

The idea of Jack's deceased father shepherding him through the stages of death, preparing him for the after life, is an appealing notion. It reinforces major religious symbolism. It also reinforces the bonds of friendship can cross barriers, including death.

HEAVEN AND HELL

One of the interpretive themes of LOST was heaven and hell. Some fans felt that the main characters were in hell, symbolized the by the island and its various monsters, sinners and punishments. Others thought that the characters found their heaven in the sideways world, which ran concurrently in the Season 6 series - - - but if you look at Alpert's back story, it had been running for eternity.

The concept of duality - - - two different planes of existence - - - is also a reoccurring theme. Many scientists believe in the time-space continuum contains multiverses, where each action creates a new and slightly different universe based upon those probable effects of an action.

But there is a simple way of looking at the LOST's split story personality.

From a spiritual perspective, each living person has two states: an awaken state and a sleeping state. When you are awake, you are living and experiencing the good and bad of real life. Over time, daily routines like work and family become grinds. The repetitive nature of living is a drain upon one's creative, adventurous curiosities. In order to fulfill that need, people tend to have deeper, more complex dreams when they sleep. Sleep is a person's way of repairing and re-energizing their body. But it can also be a needed fantasy diversion to a person's "perfect world."

In fact, people sometimes can get "lost" in their dreams. They may not be able to tell what is real and what is fantasy. The illusions in dreams become delusions in real life. And this creates personality disorders and mental mistakes, deep problems at work or with family. A prime example could be Locke, who drifted fantasy games into his real life to the point where he gave up his normal existence to join a commune in the hope of finding a "family"

It can be said that when people are awake in their boring, rotten, habitual work world, they are living in hell. For most of us, we cannot change the relentlessness of this existence. We are trapped by circumstance and obligation.

But when we totally get away from the daily routine, our dreams can appear to be heavenly. Our fantasies make us the star of our own movie. We can be the hero, the lover, the protector, the superhero, the leader, the greatest person in the world.

LOST's island world could be considered the collision of both the heaven and hell aspects of a person's existence. It contains fragmented bits of both worlds which cannot exist together. The show rarely showed anyone sleeping - - - insomnia was rampant. It could be a clue that the characters were trapped in a limbo between being awake and being asleep - - - a place ruled by their nightmares.

WHAT NUMBERS REPRESENT

What do Numbers represent?

A number is an arithmetical value, expressed by a word, symbol, or figure, representing a particular quantity and used in counting and making calculations and for showing order in a series or for identification. It is also a quantity or amount; such as several, in a group, company or order (such as a magazine issue to indicate a position in a series).

In the LOST mythology, the Numbers were the glue that bound many clues.

We really first learn of the power of the Numbers by Hurley hearing them while he was at the mental institution. The Numbers were supposed to have been heard by a patient, who said they were cursed. But despite the warning, Hurley used the Numbers on a lottery ticket. So, the Numbers were at first, lucky. But as Hurley started to embrace his new wealth and fame, the winning lottery ticket became his own curse (with family members being hurt, people dying, etc.)

We also found out that the Numbers were broadcast possibly as an island location beacon to the DHARMA group.  Why the numbers were important to DHARMA has led to speculation that the main purpose of island research was to re-set the Valenzetti Equation, a large doomsday-predicting formula on the demise of mankind.

We also found the Numbers stamped on the Hatch cover. This apparent serial number freaks Hurley out as a bad omen. In some respects, that was true.  The Hatch discovery led to Desmond and the internal workings of DHARMA, and more mysteries and clues (such as the blast door map). Desmond was a lost soul also imprisoned on the island to do unexplained work for an alleged higher purpose.  (One new theory is that the Hatch and electromagnetic fields were being operated by human souls in order to regulate the gateways between life, death, heaven and hell. The operators were not told of their role, least they could interfere and destroy the natural world.)

Finally, the Numbers are the code in which needed to be placed into a computer control every 108 minutes or bad things would happen (an electromagnetic build up would create a lockdown, a purple flash, release of energy, to dangerous explosion-implosion events). Why human beings had to enter the code to regulate the release of an alleged energy build up is unclear, but may take homage to the soldiers who man defense missile silos - - - who have to manually enter launch codes in order to fire destructive nuclear warheads. The idea is that these men and women have the final say on their own fate; and as a check against a computer malfunction.

So the Numbers represented good luck, bad luck, a key, a curse, and tie that bound many different elements of the story together.  But in the end, TPTB merely said that the Numbers were a red herring, with no real significance to the main story. That reveal was one of the major disappointments to serious fans.

HOW TO GET HOME

One of the themes of LOST was the character's desire to "get home."

There are many expressions about home.

Home is where you live.
Home is where you sleep.
Home is the shelter where you keep your possessions.
Home is where the heart is.

But in broader context, home is connected with the promised land in many cultures.

This supposes that our life on earth is a transitory event. That on the path of life, our mortality is nothing more than a way station to the next form of existence.

Many religions have concepts of heaven or paradise for "good" people after they die on Earth. It is a comforting notion on what happens after we pass on, and for those we leave behind.

Many ancient cultures believed that man was created from the stars, and upon death returns to the stars.

But there is no clear explanation for how this transition happens.

There are views of the brimstone of hell for sinners, and near-death experiences where people began walking to the "bright light," but since no one has been revived from the after life, we really don't know what happens next. It is a matter of faith over science.

So it is open to interpretation and imagination of how one travels back to the stars, or paradise.

The concept of the soul is a means of explanation. It is the spiritual vessel that can transcend time and space; to recreate your body in a different dimension to live on.

This journey may be as important as the destination. That is another strong theme in the series. The journey of the main characters to get to the sideways church.

The whole LOST saga could be placed in the after life journey of the characters. They needed to suffer physical and mental pain in order to figure out what was truly important. It was not a moral redemption but a personal manifestation of releasing one's own emotional demons in order to see the world around them in a new light. They need to get beyond the material aspects of life because they are immaterial in the after life. They need to get deep personal bonds with other souls in order to share the burden of getting to the doors of paradise.

If this is the true purpose of LOST, then the sideways season makes a little more sense.

LEFTOVERS

The new television series The Leftovers had a morbid advertising display of the show at San Diego Comic Con. It showed realistic mannequins representing the missing 2 percent of the population who suddenly vanished in a Rapture type event. The show deals with the after math of the event, with a focus on the people left behind.

Since there is a LOST connection to this show, and one very old Hollywood adage is that "nothing is new in Hollywood," can we apply a rapture premise to LOST?

Yes, we can.

The Rapture is the religious belief that followers will be transported to heaven upon the Second Coming of Christ. In certain viewpoints, the Second Coming will be a purge of all evil on Earth. And only true believers will be saved from the rath.

First, Flight 815 suddenly disappeared for no apparent reason. People off the island believed that the plane crashed with no survivors, but on the island we were shown that was not true. The "survivors" were saved by the island.

This leads to the first point of contention. Was the electromagnetic discharge from the Swan because Desmond did not push the button down Flight 815, or was it Jacob's magical powers that delivered his candidates to the island? Science v. Faith. A major theme in the series.

This leads to a second point of contention. Was Jacob good or evil? Jacob appeared to be a benevolent leader who had many island followers. However, it was his intervention through Richard Alpert that sowed the seed for young Ben to "purge" the Dharma community in an act of mass murder. Further, Jacob's own game of finding candidates and bringing them to the island is a form of kidnapping that usually lead to their deaths. Good v. Evil. Another major theme of the series.

Second, Flight 815 safely landed in the sideways LAX. People on this plane found nothing had changed in their "lives" so they went on with the business. However, this sideways world was completely different than the island flash back stories.

This leads to a third point of contention. Which world was actually the "real" world? Since viewers first saw the island and the flashbacks, they assume those images are from the real character world. But if the survivors had been "teleported" to a different realm, than that reality is not their true past lives. But apparently at the same time, all of the passengers landed in the sideways world (which we would learn is the afterlife.) The intellectual paradox is how can one be both dead and alive at the same time?

This leads to a fourth point of contention: time. LOST was a series that used time like flour in a bakery; a commodity and utility to make different things happen despite WTF? reasoning. Is time linear as science and human experience shows? Or is time a circular motion like several ancient cultures who believe time follows the cycles of nature? Since the writers did not fashion set rules for time in their stories, we are left to drift in the quicksand of poor plot execution.

This leads to a fifth point of contention. Which came first, the flashbacks or the sideways reality? This is really a classic which came first puzzle, the chicken or the egg? Because the sideways character lives were so different than the flashbacks (Sawyer is a cop not a con man; Jack was married to Juliet and not Sarah; Jack had a son and not childless; Desmond was a successful businessman not a tramp loser; Hurley was a respected community leader and not a timid cursed crazy person; etc.) If you believe the flashbacks were the characters true past life experiences, then the sideways afterlife events are merely a dream, a fantasy until it is shattered by remembering the past. If you believe that the sideways world was the true (and at times boring aspects) of the characters real past lives, then the island events are taken either as a dream-fantasy or the characters going through Hell. It is not a simple answer because of one very troublesome point: in both realms, Aaron and Sun's child were born. If the children were born in the actual real life time line of the island, then they could not be born in the afterlife since they were already having their own Earth lives to lead. If the children were the heavenly reward for their parents to experience joy in heaven, then the island time frame births were a mere illusion, a deception or a trick by the devil.

Third, if the Flight 815 survivors were "snatched" from their lives by a god-like force, what was the purpose for their rapture event?  Some of the characters seemed to be good people (Rose, Bernard, Jack), some had done some terrible things (Kate, Sawyer, Sayid) and some had crazy mental problems (Hurley, Claire). We were told that only Jacob could bring people to the island, to be its next guardian. But that reason has been hollow without substance. Why would an island need protection if its life force creates life, death and rebirth? One smoke monster sentry guard could take care of any intruders. So this island mystery, quasi-religious "savior" theme really makes little sense in the context of asking why the island needed people.

This leads to a sixth point of contention. If the main characters were taken to the island, or even the sideways realm, to be "judged" for their lives sins, did that actually happen? The sideways world was more Happy Days than Hellboy. Certainly Jack's sideways life of being married to Juliet and having a son is not extreme punishment for his past issues disobeying his father. And the people who "died" on the island did not find any true redemption. And the ones who escaped, did not leave as changed individuals.

This leads to a seventh point. Was LOST's main concern like throwing a bunch of cats and dogs into one closed room just to see what would happen? The randomness of the characters, the forced missions, and faux dangers coupled with lies and manipulations does not seem to fit a classic tale of a journey by a character from his past, through trials that changes him or her, to a moment where his wish or dream is fulfilled in a meaningful way. It seems like all the character backstories and island stories seemed to intersect like a pile of leftovers after a big Sunday buffet.

Could LOST's mythology be cloaked in a rapture theme premise? Maybe. But it does not fit into normal views of such a major event. If the LOST characters were the people "left behind" and had to struggle to get to their heaven, the events leading up their their ultimate deaths are too inconsistent to determine whether that truly was the case.

ANCIENT CONCEPTS

Many ancient cultures had elaborate burial rituals, with some of the concepts unclear to modern archaeologists.

In ancient Egypt, there were burial manuals, Book of the Dead, which were supposed to help the deceased in his or her passage through the underworld in order to have their souls reunite with their body in paradise.

The scarab beetle was a significant symbol in that culture. It is known to roll large balls of dung and depositing them in deep burrows. The female beetle would lay its eggs inside the ball. When hatched, the larvae would consume the ball as a food source. When consumed, the young beetles would emerge from the burrow. At that time, the ancients believed they were "born."

The ancient Egyptians worshipped the beetles as "Khepera," associated with the creator god, Atum. Khepera was thought to use its antenna to symbolically push the setting sun along the sky, which was directly related to the passage from night (the underworld) to the day (rebirth).

Scarab amulets were often placed over the heart of the mummified deceased. These heart scarabs were supposed to be weighed against "the feather of truth" during the underworld's final judgment ritual. Many were inscribed with magic spells. At that ritual, a person's heart, if heavy with sin, would be weighed against a feather. If one's heart weighed less than a feather, the soul could move on to paradise. If not, the soul was damned to eternal nothingness.

The Egyptians took things that they saw in nature, used them as symbols to connect with their gods, in order to bridge the gap between this world and their god's paradise after death.

The concept of mummification is another key aspect of the burial rites. Just as with the scarab beetle, a body is encased and then buried in the ground. It was that procedure that would lead to a metamorphosis from an Earthly body to change into a spiritual one that could move on in the after life. Again, the ancients saw in nature a caterpillar spin a cocoon to seemingly die in a airless pouch, only to later emerge as a "new" being, a butterfly. This is what the Egyptians thought was going to happen to them after death: that their body would be transformed into a new being - - - the five aspects of the human soul reuniting with a new body in heaven.

We dwell on Egyptian mythology because LOST itself dwelled on Egyptian mythology a lot. This was an intentional choice by the creators and writers of the series to have hieroglyphs in the temple which contained passages from the Book of the Dead. One has to assume that so much time and effort in the background words and symbols was important to understand the series as a whole.

Whether the Island's main characters were going through an underworld journey or symbolically going through a metamorphosis of their soul, mind or personality, it really does not matter in this discussion. What the Island was trying to accomplish was to give each person an opportunity to have an introspective ritual for which that person could realize a fundamental change so that they could be "reborn" and live a better life (now or in the future). For some, the future was death itself. Others, it was the opportunity to live a better, more meaningful life, off the island.

Whether the LOST writers pulled off this complex symbolism to actual character development is debatable because of the conflicting narratives used throughout the series. But seen through the eyes of an ancient Egyptian priest, LOST does contain many ancient life and death concepts.

NICE PARTY BUT

Spoilers.

In Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, the Grim Reaper visits a lovely little dinner party to inform the guests that unfortunately they're dead. After refusing wine and poking a man in the eye, he leads them to heaven, where there is, of course, a nice musical number.

The same could be true for LOST.

Instead of a dinner party, the guests are passengers on a plane.

And instead of a direct flight to heaven, the guests are given one last adventure on a mysterious island.

Instead of the Grim Reaper, it is Christian who gets to spoil the adventurers surreality.

Jacob is the reaper because he was the only one who could bring or allow people to the island.
Christian was an island smoke monster vision in order to get Jack to play "island adventure" with his new "friends."

It is a nice children's theme birthday bash, the island adventure. Part laser tag, part follow the leader, part pin the blame on the donkey . . . good stuff.

Such a light and whimsical idea of the island as an after life carnival attraction run by Jacob, and immortal who tries to give lost children one last ride of their lives, presents a more sympathetic view of the roller coaster island events.

If the producers and writers now claim they were trying to present Big Questions like the meaning of life . . . . why skirt the issue? Python embraced it and poked the viewer in the eye with the absurdity of a cocktail hour purgatory.

So why can't LOST be perceived the same way?

IT WAS HEAVEN

Hold on to your seat belt and oxygen masks.

All the passengers and crew of Flight 815 died in the plane crash.

But that is alright.

Because everything we saw thereafter was the main characters' version of heaven.

The adventure, the romance, the fights, and more importantly, a way that they each wanted to end their own lives - - - on their own terms, in their own way.

When the TPTB weasel their explanation that the ending was about the big life and death question, but don't answer it, then we must our own profound conclusions.

Even poor Locke, in the bitter end in a seedy hotel room, distraught that he could not accomplish his mission, took his own life (abet, at the hands of crazy Ben) which caused the other O6 members to rethink their views on Locke's words . . .  allowing them to return to the island to save their friends. Locke was told he had to die in order to save the island (and his friends). To die to save something more important than one's self is a heroic gesture. Locke's measly life had no heroic elements. If this was his "second chance" at death, then he went out nearly on his own terms - - - a personal sacrifice to help those trapped on the island.

The same is true with Jack. He really did not have to die in the bamboo grove. But that is how he saw himself being the hero, the way "to fix" the island trap that snared his fellow survivors. This is the way Jack saw himself - - - dying as a leader to save his followers. Something his father told him he did not have the stomach to do in real life.

As goofy as the scene played out, Jin wanted to die with Sun in the sinking submarine. He realized dispute all their troubles, he could not live without her. He would sacrifice himself to stay with her so they could be together, forever, in the after life. And in some respects, Sun wanted the same thing. She left her child to go back to the island to find Jin, not knowing if he was alive or dead.

The main characters used some supernatural time space displacement between this world and the next, to change fate and tragedy into their own means of living their mortal coil - - -  finding a little personal happiness in the midst of disaster (which for most, included their off-island, preflight lives.)

There is not to say there are multiple worlds within a single perceived world. Many astrophysics theorists believe that there are multiple universes slightly out of phase with our current visual one. Some theorists also believe in a causal multiverse, where every person's decision opens a new tangential universe time line.

The plane crash event could have split the main characters human time line into several tangential realities: a spiritual universe and a dream universe. In the end, the universes intersect to form a new, third reality. 

CONSCIENCE

People who have a religion should be glad, for not everyone has the gift of believing in heavenly things. You don't necessarily even have to be afraid of punishment after death; purgatory, hell, and heaven are things that a lot of people can't accept, but still a religion, it doesn't matter which, keeps a person on the right path. It isn't the fear of God but the upholding of one's own honor and conscience. How noble and good everyone could be if, every evening before falling asleep, they were to recall to their minds the events of the whole day and consider exactly what has been good and bad. Then, without realizing it you try to improve yourself at the start of each new day; of course, you achieve quite a lot in the course of time. Anyone can do this, it costs nothing and is certainly very helpful. Whoever doesn't know it must learn and find by experience that: "A quiet conscience makes one strong!" — Anne Frank

A productive use of dreams to review one's day to judge whether you have been good or bad as a matter of honor and conscience.

Viewers dwelled on science and culture to explain LOST's events.

Perhaps, we should dwell more on honor and conscience to explain things.

Conscience is an inner feeling or voice viewed as acting as a guide to the rightness or wrongness of one's behavior, i.e. he had a guilty conscience about his desires.

It's meaning is from Middle English (also in the sense ‘inner thoughts or knowledge’): via Old French from Latin conscientia, from conscient- ‘being privy to,’ from the verb conscire, from con- ‘with’ + scire ‘know.’

Were the actions of the characters driven by their "inner voices" which guided them subconsciously?
If there were no conscious intent, then these characters could not be judged for their intentional actions, whether right or wrong. It would erase any religious context to the show.

Or course, psychopaths have no belief that their cruel actions are wrong. In fact, they may have convinced themselves that there actions, including murder, are justified for a greater purpose.

We never really saw any of the characters "sleep on" a major decision, then the next day change course and do the exact opposite. Most of the actors were pretty stubborn in their opinions and beliefs. In fact, critics often quipped that the characters failed to think things through before taking action.

The concept that the island was a dream factory to have the characters re-live their past actions, to judge themselves for themselves, then learn from their experiences is interesting, but flawed.

STAIRWAY

Try to imagine what it took to get to The End.

Then try to figure out why it took that path.

Trying to work backwards from memory of the key deaths that allowed the main characters to move forward, I found an analogy to the Stairway to Heaven.

It seems that each step needed a death, a sacrifice, a closure.

We don't know why some 815 passengers died while others survived the crash. We don't know why the Tail Section survivors were killed off to leave just Bernard alive. We don't know why Daniel was killed off by the time skip nose bleeds (considering he was never on the island before and had a "constant" in his own theory). It did not stop the time quirks on the island. We don't know why Charlie killed himself (he had an opportunity to open the station door and leave with Desmond). We don't know if Juliet accomplished anything tangible when she died after she was recovered from the site debris. Ben got his revenge by killing Widmore, but that did not stop or appease MIB. Sayid took the submarine bomb down the hallway (and created a more dangerous situation by not closing any blast doors to minimize the impact of the blast). Sun's entrapment was improbable and staged, as was their farewell which did not take into account their child on the mainland. We don't know if immortals like Jacob or shape shifting smoke monsters like MIB can ever really "die."  But it seems all those deadly steps led to Jack collapsing in the bamboo thicket to die. The place where his island adventure began ended in the same place.

Now, a few people could conclude that Jack never left the bamboo thicket. He was thrown to the ground and laid there, semi-conscious from his injuries. He could have imagined the entire series in his head. Jack, the hero, in his own mind, "fixes" things in a plane load of broken people. It seems more plausible than the apparent random death steps to get the souls to the sideways church.

REVIEW THE END

It is still hard to reconcile Season 6 with the previous 5 season.

The sideways parallel story arc was such a diversion that the island events really did not matter.

Renew, release, let go. Yesterday's gone. There's nothing you can do to bring it back. You can't "should've" done something. You can only DO something. Renew yourself. Release that attachment. Today is a new day! — Steve Maraboli

The above life-coach speech is about as close as we can come to trying to figure out what the heck was so important about the sideways purgatory.

Was the island a place where the main characters went to get "renewed?" All of them had personal issues, secrets and personal angst about their lives. None of the characters went to Australia on "vacation," as their were missions to accomplish like Bernard trying to find a Hail Mary cancer cure for Rose, or Boone rescuing Shannon from another bad boyfriend. People get away from it all to relax, re-think their life goals, and recharge their mental batteries. It is supposed to release the build up stress, confusion and anger that dwells inside us all.  But a plane crash and dangerous island is no Club Med.

Was the island a place where the main characters went to "release" something? Initially, they all wanted to go home, be rescued. Then it was a means of survival as a group. But slowly, some like Locke, decided that the island was their new "home" and they did not want to leave. To abandon one's old life for the uncertainty of an island existence is not very logical. It merely shifts the stress, anger and angst from the old life to the new one.

Was the island a place where the main characters went to "let go" of their personal baggage? Apparently not, since Jack was still haunted by the ghost of dead father. He only "resolved" his father issues in the sideways church scene with a simple hug. It was in the sideways world where light bulbs went off in character's heads - - -  to let go of something, to "awaken" to their own mortality.

So the lesson is not clear. How did the island adventures prepare the main characters to accept and acknowledge their own deaths? There was no simple revelation in the sideways fantasy world to show that significant change. In fact, one could argue that the harmony of the sideways world was much better on the main characters egos and mental stability than the island time.  If the sideways world was a more calm and orderly place, was that their true heaven?

When we review the ending of the series, there is no clear message. There is no life-coach takeaway speech. It is just a gathering of people. People who were connected before Flight 815 but in the sideways world not connected at all. What is disturbing in the ending is that none of the characters were upset, shocked or nervous about the fact that their blissful sideways lives were allegedly fake. Considering the complex sideways world was the world which would have happened if the crash did not happen, we assume that all the sideways people lived out this life for many, many years before awakening at the church. All the connections those souls made in the sideways world had no value - - - such as Jack to his son, David. Why was not David at the church with his dad?

It was a matter of convenience not to address these clear concerns. And this is what still bothers many fans of the show. When Season 6 took a U-turn to create the sideways world, the writers needed to clearly explain why they needed to do so in order to wrap up the island adventure. Instead, the island time is completely separate. The sideways story is also completely separate. One did not need the other to exist to tell the story. And once this sideways arc was introduced, should have been a way to better integrate its meaning into the island story arc than fabricating a happy ending.

In researching the post-Season 6 theories, I found one commentator's viewpoint of the series as it reached its halfway point:

LOST is actually a TV show with a simple storyline that becomes increasingly absurdly complex, like a Rube Goldberg machine. The purpose is to suck viewers in with a mysterious plot by never giving away a sensible storyline.

So this is not theory, but a criticism of the show.

Despite the shows allusions to philosophers and religions, LOST actually has the intellectual content of a sitcom, and its success is the result of expensive special effects, competent acting, and well paid writers.

It would be a fallacy to actually have a logical theory or truth to the show, because this is not the point of the show, rather the point is for viewers to trying to find the plot, which is half of the entertainment, but the actual "truth" behind LOST is meaningless.

Perhaps the actual truth is guarded so well because it does not exist because it is so empty.

Think about the episodes. Although the show tries to move fast to avoid it, the fact is, if anyone was trapped in a place with mysterious goings on occurring all the time, the one question people would ask the most is WHY. Why is there a monster, why are we here, why are the others kidnapping us? Unfortunately the question WHY almost never turns up. Instead, in an unrealistic way, characters appear constantly driven in the episodes to respond to various emergencies and events without much thought, as if they have no agency or ability to decide for themselves. Any intelligent person who experienced the island like the characters on the show would observe that it appeared that their actions were futile, because it appeared something else has power over them (the monster, "hallucinations", "sailing in circles") and then would stop performing because they more or less realize their actions are useless, and instead start asking questions such as WHY and refusing to cooperate.

This becomes increasingly absurd as the third season progresses, because now the main characters are in direct contact with the others. A few WHY questions from the characters, "Why are you here, why do you want us, etc," would be the obvious logical thing to say, but this never seems to come up. This is because the premise is so thin that the plot could not withstand any satisfactory answers to a WHY question, and these questions are always avoided.

 It is still a valid criticism of the show. Even Jacob's answer to why he chose his candidates was a hollow throwaway line. And Jacob never stated why the island needed to be protected in the first place. Or how to defeat the smoke monster/MIB. Or why, as an immortal being, he washes his hands of everything. Or why does Ben, of all people, deserve a second chance. Or why most of the people in the sideways church had none of their family members present to help them along in the after life.


Many fans were looking for "how" things were related in the series story lines, but "why" things happened is just as important. Both were not addressed in the end.

WORK OUT

If you ever have worked in a shipping/receiving department for a factory or warehouse, you know that it can be quite a tedious job. It is repetitive. It does not challenge workers on an intellectual level. You process boxes, sort them, post them, and ship them out. Hour after hour; day after day; week after week, etc.

So what if this concept is overlaid onto the LOST story?

What if Jacob and his brother (some reports thought he was to be called "Saul") are merely shipping/receiving workers but instead of handling parcels they handle "bad souls?"

There was a constant stream of "visitors" that come to the island. From what we have learned, most of the visitors came to the island for some "special" purpose, but MIB said they lost their way and "corrupted" the system. What system?

If the characters coming to the island were lost souls seeking redemption, the island is the sorting facility to determine whether they should be accepted and move on to heaven or be rejected and destroyed by the island.

The concept would simplify the story lines.

The main characters all came to the island with troubled pasts, infidelities, sins, crimes and personal issues. If the island was to test their inner resolve to see if they could be reclaimed by a higher entity (god), then the taskmasters would be Jacob and MIB.

Jacob and MIB would be devilish minions working in the after life. Their job was to determine whether a person's soul had enough qualities to be saved. In order to make that determination, Jacob and MIB put those souls through a series of tests which mirrored their prior back stories to determine whether those dead souls could change. Change would be the key to salvation.

But after thousands of years, Jacob and MIB got bored with routine soul searching and devised a more elaborate system. Some of it involved cult worship; some of it involved horror and power struggles. Instead of change for salvation, the motivation to release souls to the after life plane was to see if the mere human souls could outsmart, outwit and outplay their superiors (which is very Survivor like). Those who played the game very poorly turned into whispers (trapped spirits). Those who played the game so-so turned into the Others, fodder for the next group of souls. Those who actually defeated Jacob and MIB got their release to the other side.

STOP TRYING

There is no failure except in no longer trying. There is no defeat except from within, no insurmountable barrier except our own inherent weakness of purpose. — Elbert Hubbard

Despite all of his hope and desire, O6 John Locke gave up. In the hotel room in LA, he decided to end his existence because he could not convince any of his fellow survivors to return to the island. He was a failure. There was nothing left for him to do.

Ghost Christian a/k/a MIB/Smokey told John when he was about to turn the FDW that he had to bring all the people back in order to save the island. The island was more precious to Locke than his friends. He felt a connection with it. He knew of its magic. He wanted to protect it. When he asked how he could do it, MIB replied that Locke would have to die.

The island put into Locke's head the solution: death. Death would solve Locke's problems. 

When Locke was at his wit's end in the hotel room, he had lost everything. Helen, his former girlfriend was dead. Abaddon, his driver-advisor, was gunned down in the street. Locke was once again a wheelchair bound loser. He had no purpose going forward if he could not complete his mission.

The irony is that Ben saved his life. Ben interrupted John's suicide. He comforted John and told him that he would help him. Everything would be alright. Locke believed him. And when discussing the next step, Locke told Ben he should go see Eloise because she would know what to do next. At that moment, jealous rage boiled up in Ben. Ben strangled Locke because the name of Eloise was his trigger flash point.

It makes sense that Ben was jealous of Locke if Eloise now trusted him. If Ben and Locke wanted to get back to the island to be its true leader, Ben would not want to be a second banana. No, suddenly pathetic Locke became a major obstacle in Ben's path back to the top. 

As another ironic plot twist, Ben's killing of Locke actually made Locke's mission a success. Locke's death suddenly moved Jack to drastically change his behavior. He took Locke's mission to bring everyone back. It drove him mad. And just as Jack was nearing the end of his rope, Ben intervened to manipulate everyone at the marina into just hearing out Eloise at the church. As a result, most of the O6 people met Eloise for the first time. But Ben was still brooding, because now Jack had taken Locke's place as a potential rival.

On the island, Ben only found some peace when he stop trying to be a leader. Even after he was found to be Jacob's killer, he was forgiven by one of Jacob's followers, Ilana.

Ilana, being the only remaining member of Jacob's followers, then led a new group composed of  Sun, Ben and Frank.  The newly-formed group decided that they should trek to the Temple but before they left they decided to bury the body of Locke. Later, they rescused Miles from the massacre. Ben was separated and attacked by the Smoke Monster. They rejoined at the beach with Jack, Richard and Hurley.  When Ilana found out that it was Ben who killed Jacob, she ordered him to dig his own grave. While he was doing so, MIB appeared to Ben and tried to get him to join his group. Ben ran into the jungle to escape Ilana, resulting in a standoff in which Ben apologized for killing Jacob, stating that he will go with "Locke" because no one else will have him. Ilana then accepted Ben into the group, thereby letting him leave. At this point, Ben became a follower. The burdens of leadership faded away.



That night, the group discussed their next move around a beach campfire. Ilana told them that Jacob had told her that Richard would know what to do. Richard denied this, and angrily walked into the jungle. After following him, Hurley helped him communicate with the ghost of his dead wife telling him that if the Man in Black leaves the Island, they will all go to hell.

If this was true, then Locke's purpose in dying was correct. They key for any island group to get to heaven, i.e. avoid hell, was to keep MIB on the island. It was a test. A test of wills. A test of friendship. A test of trust. A test of team work. A test of spirit. In Locke's own death, he gave others  the will power to carry on his mission to save the island (defeating MIB). It sounds like a simplistic video game final level conquest, but if dead souls true mission was to defeat the devil to release their sins (and the chains of being themselves trapped in the sideways purgatory) to move on to heaven.

Death was the solution for Jack as well. When he closed his eyes after defeating MIB, he had them opening in the sideways world.  His destiny of moving on in the after life was the same destiny of John Locke, except they did not know it until the very end.

JACOB'S LADDER

There is a biblical story called Jacob's Ladder. It gives a symbolic representation of the steps pious humans have in order to get to heaven.

The description of Jacob's ladder appears in the Book of Genesis:

Jacob left Beersheba, and went toward Haran. He came to the place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones of the place, he put it under his head and lay down in that place to sleep. And he dreamed, and behold, there was a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it! And behold, the Lord stood above it [or "beside him"] and said, "I am the Lord, the God of Abraham your father and the God of Issac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and to your descendants; and your descendants shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south; and by you and your descendants shall all the families of the earth bless themselves. Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will not leave you until I have done that of which I have spoken to you." Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the Lord is in this place; and I did not know it." And he was afraid, and said, "This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.

There are various interpretations of this story in various religions.

Jewish commentaries offer several interpretations of Jacob's ladder. Some scholars believe the ladder signified the exiles which the Jewish people would suffer before the coming of the Messiah. First the angel representing the 70-year exile of Babylonia climbed "up" 70 rungs, and then fell "down." Then the angel representing the exile of Persia went up a number of steps, and fell, as did the angel representing the exile of Greece. Only the fourth angel, which represented the final exile of Rome by the guardian angel (Esau), kept climbing higher and higher into the clouds. Jacob feared that his children would never be free of Esau's domination, but God assured him that at the End of Days, Edom too would come falling down.

Another interpretation of the ladder keys into the fact that the angels first "ascended" and then "descended." This explains that Jacob, as a holy man, was always accompanied by angels. When he reached the border of the future land of Israel, the angels who were assigned to the Holy Land went back up to Heaven and the angels assigned to other lands came down to meet Jacob. When Jacob returned to Canaan he was greeted by the angels who were assigned to the Holy Land.

Another view is that the place at which Jacob stopped for the night was in reality the future home of the Temple in Jerusalem. The ladder therefore signifies the "bridge" between Heaven and earth, as prayers and sacrifices offered in the Holy Temple soldered a connection between God and the Jewish people.

The philosopher Philo Judaeus had an allegorical interpretation of the ladder. He gave four interpretations, which are not mutually exclusive:

• The angels represent souls descending to and ascending from bodies (some consider this to be Philo's clearest reference to the doctrine of reincarnation).
• In the second interpretation the ladder is the human soul and the angels are God's logoi, pulling the soul up in distress and descending in compassion.
• In the third view the dream depicts the ups and downs of the life of the "practiser" (of virtue vs. sin).
• Finally the angels represent the continually changing affairs of men.

In Christianity, the theme of a ladder to heaven is often used by the early church leaders as the "ladder of ascent to God" In the third century AD, leaders explained that there are two ladders in the life of a Christian, the ascetic ladder that the soul climbs on the earth, by way of—and resulting in—an increase in virtue, and the soul's travel after death, climbing up the heavens towards the light of God.

In Islam, Jacob is revered as a father figure and a prophet.  Muslim scholars drew a parallel with Jacob's vision of the ladder and Muhammad's event of the Mi'raj. The ladder of Jacob was interpreted by Muslims to be one of the many symbols of God, and many saw Jacob's ladder as representing in its form the essence of Islam, which emphasizes following the "straight path." The significance of the ladder in the Islamic mystic perspective that the ladder is the created Universe. Jacob dreamed and saw the ladder stretching from Heaven to earth, with Angels going up and down upon it; and it is also the "straight path", for indeed the way of religion is none other than the way of creation itself retraced from its end back to its Beginning.

Angels have been best described as messengers to human beings. There were numerous messengers in the series counseling, mentoring and helping the main characters get back to or survive the island. People like Naomi, Abbadon, and Eloise intervened in the characters lives and gave them information to help or direct them back to the island. Some turned into messengers of Jacob as a result of their stay on the island (Alpert and Dogen). One theory is that Jacob was the guardian angel for his "candidates."

The Island as a nexus point between realms is consistent with the symbolism of Jacob's ladder. The idea that the ladder represents both the beginning and end, with angels going back and forth through time to guide souls up the steps, is consistent with the time skips of the Island. At times, a person needs to take two steps back (learn something) in order to move one step forward (toward redemption or knowledge or peace).

The Island could also be a representation of a temple, where lost souls are sorting out by the angels, who give each person opportunities to move up the ladder toward heaven. Some, like Michael, miss their opportunity when he kills Libby and Ana Lucia to cover up his betrayal. Others, like Jack, have to juggle at times the competing interests of his fellow castaways like Solomon.

It is clear that the Island was some kind of "bridge" that allowed the main characters to forge a sideways world finish line to their ascent into the after life. But there is no consistency from a moral perspective of who was allowed the grace of God to arrive at the sideways church to "move on." Most of the people in the church had ethical and moral faults that were never forgiven. The writers large white wash of the past comes from a narcissistic perspective: once a person acknowledged his or her own death in the sideways world,  their sins were magically erased so they could finish the climb to heaven. Or, as a few have mentioned, that the sideways purgatory was just that; the white light may not have been salvation but the doorway to punishment for their unforgiven sins.

In order to get to paradise, a soul must retrace its path from the end back to the beginning. This concept is similar to the ancient Egyptian beliefs that upon death, the soul divides and takes many dangerous journeys in order to be reincarnated in the after life. On the Island, the main characters did retrace their lives (some events or decisions mirrored past events). People did have second or third chances to change their lives. Some took advantage of that opportunity; some failed to revert to their dark pasts. The retracing of the characters lives through the island trials (steps of the ladder) could be the hidden mystery of the series. Jacob's role was not one of the devil or judge, but as a spotter on the ladder each candidate sought to climb.

REBOOT: EPISODES 117-121

POSTING NOTE: The G4 reruns of LOST have concluded in this final story arc. More analysis will come in the future as we ponder the immediate reaction to the finale.
LOST REBOOT 
Recap: Episodes 117-120/21 (Days ????- - ????)

On the beach Sayid explains to Jack that Widmore attacked their group with mortars and that Locke had saved Jack. He says that the rest of Flocke’s army have scattered into the jungle, so that it is now just Locke, Sayid, and Jack.  Flocke arrives and announces that Jack's friends have been seized by Widmore and that he now wants to rescue them. Jack asks why Widmore would capture them and Locke replies sarcastically that he would ask but he doesn't think Widmore will talk to him. He suggests they break them out, run for the plane and be off the Island before Widmore knows what is happening. Jack says that they are not his people and that he is not leaving the Island. Locke hopes Jack will change his mind but in the meantime he needs Jack to get his friends to trust him. Locke reinforces that Jack can trust him by pointing out that although he could kill Jack and his friends at any time without impediment, he hasn't and has instead saved Jack's life and now he wants to save Jack's friends too.

On their trek to the plane, Kate asks Jack whether he is coming with them now and Jack tells her that he will help them get on the plane but will not join them because he is "not meant to go".  Sayid arrives and says they need to go because Locke is waiting. Locke strides up to the plane, unfazed by Widmore's guards as they shoot at him. He breaks one guard's neck and shoots the other and takes the dead man's digital wristwatch. He goes into the plane and examines exposed wiring leading to a pack of C4 explosives. The survivors arrive and find the dead men. Locke emerges from the plane and admits that he killed them but that Widmore knew he would kill them otherwise he wouldn't have removed his "little fences."  He explains that Widmore wants them all together in a confined space so that he can kill them all, showing them the C4 he found. Locke says their new plan is to leave via the submarine because they can't be sure the plane does not have more booby traps. Hurley tries to remind everyone that Alpert said Flocke is not meant to leave the Island, but Sawyer cuts him off, pointing out that Alpert is not here. Sawyer then thanks Flocke for twice saving them and says that he was wrong about him. Locke says that the submarine will be heavily defended and that they will need everyone. Jack reiterates he will help, but he is not going to leave with them. As they leave, Claire apologizes to Flocke who says he understands. Sawyer whispers to Jack that he doesn't trust “Locke” one bit and asks Jack to make sure Flocke doesn't get on the sub.

Jack asks Jin for his pack to treat Kate's wound, only to find Locke has put the plane's C4 in his bag and rigged a bomb, using the watch he stole from the slain guard as a timer. The timer is counting down from 3:54. Jack realizes what is going on and tells them all that they have done exactly what Locke wanted.  Jack demands that they surface and tells Sawyer that Flocke intended all along to be left behind at the dock. Frank informs them that the captain says it will take five minutes to surface.
The timer nears 3:20. Sayid explains how to disarm the bomb but he has some doubt whether it will work. Sawyer is about to pull the wires but Jack stops him, saying that nothing is going to happen; the bomb won't detonate if they leave it alone. He explains that they have done exactly what Locke wanted: just as Locke had said of Widmore, "He wanted to get us all in the same place at the same time. A nice enclosed space where we had no hope of getting out of." He explains that Locke has been saying he can't leave the Island without them but what is really the case is that he can't leave the Island unless they are all dead. Jack surmises that Locke cannot kill them directly and is trying to get them to kill each other by pulling the wires from the C4.

Jack asks Sawyer why Flocke would use a timer and not just throw the bomb into the sub. He pleads that they will be okay, they just have to trust him. Sawyer says he's sorry and quickly pulls the wires out. The timer stops at 1:31 and nothing happens at first. Then the timer restarts and races down. Sayid says “Listen carefully. There is a well on the main island half a mile south from the camp we just left. Desmond’s inside it. Locke wants him dead which means you are going to need him, do you understand me?” Jack asks why Sayid is telling him this. Sayid hurriedly says "Because it's going to be you, Jack." He picks up the C4 and runs down the passageway. The bomb explodes in his hands, killing him.

Jack swims to the beach with Sawyer, who coughs up some water. Hurley and Kate stumble down the beach to meet them. Kate asks about Jin and Sun but Jack shakes his head. Hurley and Kate sob while Jack walks away to the sea and cries bitterly.

Flocke, still at the pier, tells Claire that the submarine has sunk. Claire is shocked that they are all dead but Flocke says that not all of them are dead. He takes his pack and rifle and Claire asks where he is going. He replies, "To finish what I started."

In a flashback of the Jacob origin story, a woman raises the black playing piece she is run through from behind by the Man in Black's daggar. With tears in his eyes the Man in Black addresses her as "Mother" and asks why she wouldn't let him leave. As she dies she says: "Because I love you... Thank you."

Jacob returns and sees what his brother has done and attacks him as he did as a thirteen year old. He drags his brother through the jungle. The Man in Black reminds him that Jacob cannot kill him. Jacob replies that he has no intention of killing him. He brings him to the glowing cave and throws him down the stream towards the mouth of the cave. The Man in Black hits his head on a rock and goes limp, then is sucked into the source. Moments later the Smoke Monster bursts from the cave and disappears into the jungle. Jacob washes himself at a stream and sees his brother's broken body draped over branches nearby. (The inference is that the Smoke Monster killed MIB).  He hugs him tearfully. Jacob carries his body back home and finds the two jewels and places them in a pouch. He lays Crazy Mother and the Man in Black's bodies side by side with the pouch at Mother's hand.
On the beach, Jack gives first aid to Kate’s shoulder wound. Kate is pale and emotional. As Jack stitches, she reflects on Ji Yeon, crying that Jin never met his own daughter. She and Jack concede bitterly that Flocke must be killed.  Kate leans on Sawyer's shoulder as a deep sadness consumes them all. At Jack's urging, they set off to find Desmond. Jack acknowledges that if Locke wants Desmond then "we are going to need him."

As they hike, a miserable Sawyer wonders why Flocke didn't just kill Desmond. Jack suggests maybe it was one of his 'rules'. Sawyer suggests that he himself was responsible for the deaths on the sub, because he attempted to defuse the bomb against Jack's advice. Jack insists that “Flocke” killed them. Just behind them, Hurley notices the young Jacob standing by an ancient hut. The boy suddenly appears in front of Hurley and demands Ilana’s ash pouch. As Hurley asks what he wants them for, the boy snatches them and runs off. Hurley chases him and comes across adult Jacob seated by a fire. Jacob tells Hurley that the ashes are in the fire and that when the fire goes out, he will not be seen again, adding "We are very close to the end."

As night falls, Hurley leads Kate, Sawyer and Jack to Jacob's fire. Jacob greets them by their first names. Hurley is surprised that they can all see Jacob. Kate asks Jacob whether he is the one who wrote the names on the wall, and whether it is their candidacy that ultimately led to their deaths. She also demands to know that Sun, Jin, and Sayid didn't die for nothing. Jacob says he will tell the group what they died for and why he chose them. He adds that by the time the fire is out one of them will have to take his place as protector of the Island.

Jacob explains that a very long time ago he made a mistake, and as a result there is a good chance that everyone is going to die. (This is an inference to killing his brother and/or unleashing the smoke monster).  He acknowledges that he is responsible for the current state of the Man in Black. The Monster has been trying to kill him and that when it succeeded, someone would have to replace him: that is why he brought them all to the Island. Challenged by Sawyer, Jacob explains that he didn't drag anyone out of a happy existence but that they were all flawed. He says that he chose them because they were all like him - all alone, all looking for something that they couldn't find. He says he chose them because they needed the Island as much as the Island needed them. (Misery loves company). Jacob tells Kate her name was crossed off because she became a mother, but that she is not disqualified. He explains that the task for the candidate is to protect the light at the center of the Island.

Jacob says that they must do what he couldn't do: kill “him.” Jack asks whether that is even possible and Jacob says that he hopes so because Flocke is certainly going to try to kill them. Jacob offers the remaining candidates a choice of who will take his place - Jack accepts, acknowledging that he is on the island for this very purpose. Jacob asks Jack to affirm this decision, and is pleased when he does.
Jacob takes Jack to the creek. As the others watch from a distance, Jacob tells Jack where to find the light at “the heart of the island,” explaining that while Jack has never seen the light before, he will be able to find it now that he has been chosen to protect it. Jacob asks Jack for his tin cup, which he fills with water, recites an incantation, and solemnly offers the cup to Jack. Before he drinks, Jack asks about the duration of the job he is about to accept. Jacob tells him he must do it "As long as you can." Jack drinks. Jacob embraces him and says “Now you are like me.”

At the Barracks, Smokey attacks Richard. Afterward, Ben shows Flocke where Widmore and Zoe hiding.  Smokey tells him to wait outside, but Ben says he wants to see this.

When he turns the light on in the hidden room, Ben says "Sorry Charles." Locke asks who Zoe is and as she starts to reply Widmore tells her not to talk or say anything. Flocke reacts by slashing Zoe's throat. He says that as Widmore told her not to talk to him that made her pointless. Flocke tells Widmore that to motivate him to tell him what he wants to know, the first thing he will do when he is off the Island is to kill Widmore’s daughter, Penny, the love of Desmond’s life. He gives his word that he won't kill her if Widmore talks to him. Widmore says he brought Desmond back because of his unique resistance to electromagnetism and that he was a measure of last resort. Widmore tells Flocke he won't say anything more in front of Ben. Flocke asks him to whisper in his ear. As he whispers Ben shoots Widmore dead with a pistol. Ben says "he doesn't get to save his daughter."

Flocke says that Ben never ceases to amaze him, but Widmore had already told him what he needed to know. Ben then asks whether there are some "other people to kill." Flocke gives a gloating look. Flocke tells Ben that he said Desmond was a fail safe; that if he killed the "beloved candidates" he was one final way for Jacob to be sure that he would never leave this place. Ben asks why Locke is happy that Desmond is still free. Flocke says that when he finds Desmond he will get him to do the one thing he could never do himself: "Destroy the Island."

Sawyer meets up with Jack, Kate and Hurley and tells them Flocke plans to destroy the island and how important it is to find Desmond before Flocke and Ben do. Jack tells him it doesn't matter who finds Desmond because they are all going to the same place anyway. Sawyer asks what happens then. Jack answers, "And then it ends."

Flocke's group and Jack's group meet. Kate reacts by snatching Sawyer's gun and shooting at Flocke, but to no effect. Flocke tells her “to save her bullets.” He walks up to Jack and says: "So it's you", adding that he's somewhat surprised that Jacob chose Jack, as he is sort of the obvious choice. Jack corrects him and says he wasn't chosen, but that he volunteered. Locke assumes Jack is going to try and stop him but Jack admits that he can't and will instead go with him. Flocke then thinks Jack doesn't understand what he plans to do, but Jack is clear that he certainly does, that he's going to the light, the place Jack has sworn to protect, where he thinks he's going to destroy the island. Jack says Flocke won't destroy the island. Instead, Jack will kill him, and how he plans to do that is a surprise.
As they hike towards the Source, Sawyer asks Jack how he is going to kill Flocke. Jack simply answers, "Desmond", but that he's not yet sure exactly how it's going to work. He's sure Jacob brought him back not as bait but as a weapon. When the group reaches the bamboo forest near the Source, Locke draws his knife and says it should just be him, Jack, and Desmond from here on.

Once at the cave of the Source, Locke ties a rope to a tree while Jack ties the other end around Desmond.  Desmond tells Jack that this - killing Locke and destroying the Island - doesn't matter because once he goes into the cave, he'll go to another place where they can be with the ones they love, where they never have to see the island again, and where a happier version of Jack exists. (Desmond is flashing to the after life purgatory of the sideways world, meaning he knows he is already dead on the island.)  After saying that maybe there's a way he could bring Jack there too, Jack says that he found there are no shortcuts or do-overs; that  “what ever happened, happened” and that all of this matters. The three men enter the cave.

Jack and Locke enter the cave and begin to lower Desmond into the brilliant abyss. The Man in Black remembers John Locke's memories of Jack and he, looking at Desmond down in a hole in the ground, lightheartedly commented on their bickering on whether or not to push the button. Jack cuts him short. "You're not John Locke; you disrespect his memory by wearing his face, but you're nothing like him." Jack insists that John was right about almost everything, and wished he got to tell him this when he was still alive. Flocke says John wasn't right about anything and that when the Island drops into the ocean and Jack drops with it, then he will realize this. Jack suggests they just watch and see who turns out to be right, and the two look down the waterfall now that Desmond has reached the bottom.

He finds the Source, a glowing pool, filled by a small waterfall, with an elongated stone with ancient markings engraved on it at its center. He enters the water as electromagnetic energy emanates from the source. Desmond is clearly in pain, and his nose bleeds. Jack and Locke hear his screams. Desmond reaches the center stone and lifts it, like removing a giant stopper in the center of the pool. The stream from the waterfall stops, the electromagnetic force recedes, the light goes out, the pool dries up and there is a red hot glow emitting from the center. Desmond screams "No!" Flocke says to a very worried Jack: "It looks like you were wrong." Flocke says goodbye and leaves as earthquakes begin to wrack the Island.

Jack chases Flocke out of the cave in a fit of fury, punching him in the mouth and jumping on him when he falls. Flocke bleeds from the mouth. Jack sees the blood and says, "It looks like you were wrong too." Jack's hands move towards Locke's throat as they struggle. Flocke finds a rock and hits Jack over the head with it, and gets up and runs off as Jack becomes unconscious.

Flocke stands on the cliff above the cliff side cave, looking at Desmond’s boat anchored a short distance offshore. Before he can make it to the boat, Jack catches up to him. Flocke turns around and the two face each other for the final showdown. Locke draws his knife and they run at each other across the uneven ground.  Jack leaps at Locke and they fight as the storm rages and cliffs disintegrate.

Flocke drops his knife, but during the struggle he picks it up and inflicts a fatal wound under Jack's rib cage. As he tries to finish him off, Flocke tells Jack that "he died for nothing." Just then, Kate shoots him from behind; she "saved him a bullet." Jack struggles to his feet, but another quake shakes the Island and Flocke says Jack is "too late" just before the rumbling stops. Jack kicks him off the cliff to the rocks below, and the evil Man in Black, the Smoke Monster, is apparently dead.
Ben tells the group that Frank and the rest are leaving, and if they are going to catch up they had better get to the boat and sail to Hydra island quickly. Jack says that whatever Desmond turned off, he needs to turn it back on again. But he says that if people are going to leave they need to get on that plane.  Kate tells him that he doesn't need to do this, but Jack is adamant that he does. Jack wishes Sawyer good luck.

Ben passes Sawyer the walkie saying that if the Island is going down then he is going down with it. Hugo refuses to climb the rickety wooden ladders and tells Jack that he is with him. Kate and Jack share a tearful goodbye - they have a final kiss and declare their love for each other. The island continues to shake uncontrollably. Sawyer calls Frank, who tells them he is going to leave while there is still ground to leave on. Sawyer and Kate jump off the cliffs and into the sea. They swim out to the Elizabeth.

Hurley helps Jack as they return with Ben to the Source. Jack tells them he is going down alone and makes it clear that he knows he will not survive. Jack explains to an overwrought Hurley that this is what is supposed to happen. Jack tells Hugo that it is he who the Island needs, that his job was to fix the source but after that it should be Hugo. Jack tells Hugo that he believes in him. Hugo agrees, but only till Jack returns. Ben finds an Oceanic bottle and Jack fills it from a leftover pool of water from the previously active stream and gives it to Hurley. After Hurley drinks, Jack tells him, “ Now you are like me."

Jack finds Desmond and carries him back to the rope. Desmond wants to return the plug but Jack tells him he has done enough and he needs to go home to be with his wife and son. Desmond asks Jack what will happen to him. Jack says that he'll see him in another life, "Brother.”
Jack finds the cork and drops it into the Source. Jack lies exhausted in the empty pool but a trickle of water starts flowing and then the light starts to return. Hugo and Ben haul on the rope and find Desmond on the end of it. Below, Jack sobs with relief as he is engulfed in the light.

Ben and Hugo are with Desmond. Hugo takes in the idea that Jack has gone.  Ben comforts him by telling Hugo that he did his job. Ben tells a frightened Hugo that he can do his job as the island's new protector by doing what he does best: taking care of people. Hugo asks how he can do things like helping Desmond to go home when people can't leave the Island.  Ben says that that is how Jacob ran things and that maybe there is a better way. Hugo asks Ben for his help, saying he needs someone with experience. Ben says he would be honored.

Jack awakens in the creek outside of the light source cave.  Knowing that his life is ending, clutching his fatal wound and in obvious pain, he slowly finds his way back to the bamboo grove where he first arrived on the island after the 815 crash.  As he does, he passes by the white shoe, still hanging from the branch, and collapses to the ground in the same spot where he awoke after the crash of Flight 815.
He hears a dog barking and turns his head to see Vincent running toward him through the trees. As the dog licks his face and lies down beside him, The Ajira plane soars overhead, and he is overcome with joy and laughs.

In the sideways world, a reunion is held.

Jack tells Kate that this is where he was going to have his father's funeral. He asks Kate why she brought him here. She says "Because this is where you were going to have your father's funeral." She goes to leave and she says that they will be waiting for him, once he's ready. Jack asks, "Ready for what?" Kate tells him, "To leave."


Jack goes into the church via a back entrance. In a chapel filled with symbols of different religions, he finds Christian's coffin and touches it, awakening to more memories from the Island. He opens the coffin but it is empty. Jack hears a voice, and it is his father, standing in the room. Jack tells him he doesn't understand, because Christian died, and asks his father how he could be there. Christian simply asks, "How are you here?" Jack realizes that he himself has died too. They embrace tearfully and say they love each other. (Did the cork also repress the memories that needed to be awakened in the dead souls?)

Jack is confused, and skeptical that the man he is speaking with is even real. Christian reassures him that they are real, Jack's life was real, and the people in the church are real. Jack asks if everyone else is dead too, and Christian explains that "everyone dies sometime, kiddo. Some before you, some long after you." When Jack asks why everyone is here now, Christian responds that "There is no now here", and that this is a place they all made together to find one another, 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. Jack tells Christian that Kate said they were all leaving. Christian explains they aren't leaving; they're moving on. Jack asks where to, and his father tells him, "Let's go find out."

Jack enters the nave. He is welcomed by Locke, who kindly tells him, "We've been waiting for you." He then greets Desmond, Boone, Hurley, Sawyer and Kate. Joining them are 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.

Science:

The Kush in Sudan were an ancient people. Scientists last year found a small area that contained 35 burial pyramids in a 5,000 sq. ft area. One of the most interesting new finds was an offering table found by the remains of a pyramid. It appears to depict the goddess Isis and the jackal-headed god Anubis and includes an inscription, written in Meroitic language, dedicated to a woman named "Aba-la," which may be a nickname for "grandmother.”

It reads in translation:

Oh Isis! Oh Osiris!
It is Aba-la.
Make her drink plentiful water;
Make her eat plentiful bread;
Make her be served a good meal.

The offering table with inscription was a final send-off for a woman, possibly a grandmother, given a pyramid burial nearly 2,000 years ago.

This points to the continued ritual tradition that people believed that once a person died, they would live another life in the after life. The descendants gave offerings so that their ancestors could live a good “second” life - - - in some respects, continue the norm of their prior existence in peace. We continue to discover more and more evidence that the earliest cultures had deep convictions in an after life.

Improbable Elements:

A large jetliner with bent wing tips would not be able to take off on short Hydra Island.

The island friends and enemies creating an elaborate, complex, interactive sideways "after life" world without remembering ever creating it.

Clues:

When a mystery story ends, there are not supposed to be more “clues” to what happened. There were many cryptic answers to some of the burning questions, but many of the key story elements were thrown out as immaterial, irrelevant or in pure conflict with the ending resolution.

The only “clue” or piece of information to solve the entire LOST complex is that in the last episode, EVERYONE GOT WHAT THEY WANTED. How in the Hell is that possible?

Discussion:

“ The liberally educated person is one who is able to resist the easy and preferred answers, not because he is obstinate but because he knows others worthy of consideration. ”

— Allan Bloom

LOST left a stinging amount of more questions than answers.

Why is Christian the band leader in the sideways church? Why are not the other characters parents, siblings or loved ones present in their after life? Why is Locke still alone (no Helen from sideways world?) Why is Boone alone? Why are there no other parents or family members of the reunion cast in the church?

Also, why do you think Aaron had to be born again in the season six purgatory? How can he born literally be born "twice?" Does he go to heaven as a baby? He presumably lived a long, normal life off the island. Unless he never was born in real life.  A prop in the sideways world or died as an infant. Or he was merely a prop Claire created in herself to obtain some measure of sympathy from others in her measly life. The same is true for David, Jack’s son with Juliet in the sideways world. Did he ever exist, or was he a prop (like  Aaron?)

We are told that Jacob’s  life is ash; when the fire goes out, he ceases to exist. He must pass on his powers at his end (to Jack) who has the guardian’s powers to protect the island from MIB. Where do these ritualistic powers come from? It is a childlike game where one kid, the leader, makes the rules and controls the game.

When the fire goes out, Jacob as a smoke creature, ceases to be - - - much like his brother.

If the cork is removed, the water stops, the light goes out, the island destroys itself, and MIB becomes mortal. If the cork is replaced, the water returns, the light turns on, the island is saved, but the life force does not reincarnate Jacob or MIB - - - they are gone forever. So in one sense, the pulling and replacing the stone cork is exactly like rebooting a crashed computer hard drive. It wipes out the cache (Jacob and MIB) to start the processors all over again. So if Desmond and Jack went into the cave that created MIB as a smoke creature (or an existing beast released from the stone cork assumed his dead body), why did not Desmond or Jack become a smoke beast? Desmond had the electromagnetic spell and the knowledge that he was already dead and awake in the sideways purgatory. Jack continued his personal dilution that he had to stay on the island to “fix” his life, a life which did not really exist as set forth in the sideways reality.

And what happens to the people that left the island? Frank, Kate, Claire, Richard, Sawyer, Miles - - - they were going back to what? Richard had no one for centuries. Kate still has no one. Sawyer wants no one. Frank has no future. Claire is dead and crazy infected evil. And for those who believe these people were “alive” on the island - - - the sideways world was proven not to be real so these castaways did not fly to that fantasy world. How could they return to the real world, especially Sawyer and Claire who were “dead” during the O6 story arc. And how did Desmond get home to Penny? Hurley and Ben had little resources left on the island to do anything.

And what happens to the people that were left on the island? There were about a dozen Others, including Cindy and the children, Zach and Emma. Did they stay on the island to live out their survivor lives? Hurley and Ben as the new leaders of the island (Jacob and Alpert roles) had NO MEANS to leave the island, let alone “shut it down” except for dying - - - like Jack. All we know is that Hurley and Ben awaken in sideways purgatory, but for no justifiable reason, Ben gets to stay “to work things out” with Rousseau - - - which makes even less sense: for Ben tortured her in the island life, kidnapped her daughter, and caused her to be executed for the mistaken sake of the island. So, does Ben get “rewarded” for being bad and evil in the island world? And why would Rousseau or Alex, when they REMEMBER him, want to STAY with him forever? Is he now the new Eloise, who was hell-bent on not awakening Daniel? Ben now gets to live a fantasy existence as a nerdy school teacher? Is that his heaven? So how can people know their past island judgment world and not “move on” upon their island demise?

And where is Helen for Locke? In the sideways paradise world view, she was still with him. They were going to be married. So is this proof that the sideways world was a mere collection of subconscious dream-fantasies of the island castaways? And why was Boone also alone at the End? Was his life so pathetic he could not even be reunited with his parents? What did he do wrong in his life to be left alone forever?

Claudia was first known pregnant woman to arrive on the island, brought by Crazy Mother wrecking her ship. Her newborn children were stolen by Crazy Mother. She killed Claudia to raise Jacob and his brother. The brothers have a sibling rivalry. They become disenchanted with their island life. MIB wants to leave with his fellow Roman villagers; Crazy Mother forbids it. Crazy Mother kills all of them; in a rage, MIB kills Crazy Mother. In a rage, Jacob kills his brother (creating or releasing) the Smoke Monster.

So Jacob is left totally alone on the island, except for his ghost brother/smoke monster. Their sibling rivalry and conflicts continue. Since Jacob is the “most” alive, he gets to set the rules; a game which would allow his brother his final peace (or would it if the evil smoke monster was trying to con Jacob into allowing him to leave his prison to destroy the universe).

Rousseau was the next known pregnant woman to arrive on the island, brought by Jacob. She gave birth to Alex, who was stolen by Ben to be his daughter. Ben’s actions caused Rousseau and Alex to be killed by Widmore’s men. Ghost Alex told Ben to follow everything that Flocke would tell him, which led to Ben killing Jacob.

The last woman to give birth on the island was Claire. Her son, Aaron, was taken off the island by Kate, and raised in LA. Claire was killed (infected) by Widmore’s men on a raid on the barracks. Claire abandoned her baby to follow ghost Christian (MIB). Claire tells her fellow castaways that “she is with him now,” meaning Flocke, because “he was the only one not to abandon me.”

Why were the island "rules" so haphazard and inconsistent, especially during the end sequences where both Jacob and his brother die from false assumption after false assumption of what happens when the light cave is messed with? Do we really know Jacob and MIB actually died? 

And if Jacob "created" the smoke monster by killing his brother (a rule violation) in the classical Roman period, then why is the smoke monster depicted in Egyptian temple mural thousands of years before MIB's smoke creation? Is the chronology of the island actually going backwards towards the first civilizations before the Egyptian period of 3000 BC?

The problem with the sideways world is that Sawyer continues to false legal basis of Kate’s crimes (waiting for the feds to pick her up for murder - - - which is incorrect in American jurisprudence). The sideways world also continues the medical errors and Jack’s surgical miracles. It shows that both the island and the after life are connected in such a fashion that both story lines have the same core operating factors. Which means that both island and after life are post-death states of existence.
Otherwise, how can a dead person communicate with his “living self” as Desmond did with his flashes.

Whose “story” is LOST? Many believe it is about Jack, since it is his eye that opens at the beginning and closes at the end. But it would appear that the man making all the moves would be Jacob. but the first reference to “Jacob” in The Man Behind the Curtain, Season 3, Episode 20:

Act 2
[Inside Ben's tent, Locke and Ben discuss matters over a glass of alcohol.]
BEN: I know I promised to tell you everything, John, and I wish it was as simple as me taking out a dusty old book and opening it up.
[He offers Locke a glass, but is met with a blank face. He places the glass next to him instead.]
BEN: But it's not that simple.
LOCKE: How about you just tell me?
BEN: You probably think I'm the leader of this little community, but that's not entirely true. We all answer to someone, John.
LOCKE: And whom might that be?
BEN: His name is Jacob.
LOCKE: Okay, then. Take me to Jacob.
BEN: I can't do that.
[John gets up and heads to leave.]
BEN: Where are you going?
LOCKE: Hell, Ben, if you don't wanna take me, maybe someone else will. I'll just go and ask Richard...
BEN: Why would Richard take you? He doesn't know where Jacob is. He doesn't talk to Jacob...
LOCKE: Well, who talks to him?
BEN: I do.
LOCKE: So you're the only one who talks to him?
BEN: That's right!
LOCKE: And no one else knows where he is?
BEN: I was born here on this Island. I'm one of the last that was. Most of these people you see—I brought them here. So Jacob talks to me, John. He tells me what to do, trusts me.
LOCKE: And no one else has ever seen him?
BEN: That's right.
LOCKE: How convenient. You know what I think, Ben? I think there is no Jacob. I think your people are idiots if they believe you take orders from someone else. You are the man behind the curtain, the Wizard of Oz. And you're a liar.
BEN: And what might you base that theory on, John?
LOCKE: Because if you were telling the truth, your hand wouldn't be shaking.
[Ben steadies the glass in his hand, which is shaking.]

In the Wizard of Oz, the characters are told not to pay any attention to the man behind the curtain (the Wizard) but when Toto pulls the curtain, it reveals the truth. Dorothy, Lion, Tin Man and the Scarce Crow to no pay attention to the man behind the certain because the man behind the certain is the Wizard of Oz and he has no magical powers so when the dog pulls the certain Dorothy and her friends see that the Wizard uses machines, sounds and stuff to create a strong and powerful illusion.

The urban dictionary states:
"the man behind the curtain":
A phrase used to describe someone who is in the background secretly plotting and conspiring or also a hypocrite of great proportions.

The land of Oz is depicted as real (fantasy place) in the books, unlike the 1939 movie, which presented it as a dream of Dorothy's. Dorothy and Toto are swept away by a tornado to the Land of Oz and, much like Alice’s Wonderland adventures,  they enter an alternative world filled with talking creatures. With so many references to Oz and Alice, there can only be two premise alternatives: one being a dream of a central character (like Jack) or the characters were swept away into a alternative, spirit world while either living their lives or entering their deaths.

Or was the real man behind the curtain Christian Shepard? His body was never found in the casket in either the island world or the sideways world (which could mean his state of death was the bridge between the two places). Why is he the only non-815 survivor at the Church in the End? And how does he allow everyone "to leave, to move on" into the white light, which must symbolize heaven? Was Christian the group's guardian angel? Except on the island, his image was corrupted by MIB. So, is it possible that Christian is not really Jack's father in the end - - - - but an illusion cast upon him by MIB or Jacob?

Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

The light cave being the source of life, death and rebirth for the entire universe.

That a stone cork being dislodged from the light pool would cause the light to disappear
and the island to have an immediate earthquake and destruction to sink into the ocean.
One could argue that the exact opposite would happen if you released any pent-up EM energy stopped by the cork, the island would not suffer any consequences (the Hatch protocol).

Last lines in episodes:

EP 117:

LOCKE: To finish what I started.

[He walks off and leaves Claire alone.]

EP 118:

JACOB: Goodbye, brother. Goodbye.

EP 119:

LOCKE: Because I'm gonna find Desmond, and when I do, he's gonna help me do the one thing that I could never do myself. I'm gonna destroy the island.

EP 120/121:

LOCKE: We've been waiting for you.


New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

MIB plan from the beginning was to kill all the candidates; that is why he scratched them off one by one in his cave. If MIB’s master plan was to destroy the island, why could he not have smoked down into the Light Cave, knock over the cork, and let the island earthquake and sink into the ocean? There was nothing stopping him from doing that, especially after he had Jacob killed. If the candidates were the substitute for Jacob’s guardianship of the island, then why is killing all of them by their own hands necessary to detonate the island?

And if MIB truly wanted to leave, he could have at any time. He was not trapped by the ocean, for he could be immersed in water (as he was at the sub dock by Jack). And why did Jacob say that when the fire containing his ashes would end, so would he? Does that infer that Jacob was also a “smoke monster” and that is the reason for his immortality (that his age was forever fixed at age 42?)

What came first? The chicken or the egg?
It is a classic paradox.
For to have the chicken to come first, one needs to adults to create a fertilized egg.
But for adults to be, they must first be born from an egg.

So what came first, the island world or the sideways world?
The problem with any convention is that TPTB tried to use McGuffins and tropes to answer questions used as dramatic filler as foundational canon which turned into illogical ruins.

For how could the 815 cast “create” the sideways world “to find themselves” in the after life? If the flashbacks and off-island world is to be believed, the cast had no interpersonal bonds before the “crash.” And even after the “crash,” how could they all immediately “create” a new after life world WITHOUT remembering it on the island? If that is what happened, and what happened did really happen, then the only true bridge between the island world and the sideways world is being dead.

The source was called life, death and rebirth. The island could be the place of the light’s death, and the sideways world a place of rebirth. But the sideways world overlap with Kate’s legal problems and the false medical stories (and miracles) shows it was purely a  collective fantasy. So if the sideways world was a collective fantasy, then the island world could have been a collective fantasy adventure.

The sad part of the ending was after the wash of white light from the front doors engulfs the church (which by the way - - - the light came from where Ben was sitting outside the church) the final question was “so what?” 

So what if they reunited in the after life after they died somewhere else?
So what if the “most important people in their lives” excludes most parents and siblings?
So what if the show leaves us pondering what will happen to all the characters next?
So what?, indeed.