Sleep literally cleans your brain. During slumber, more cerebrospinal
fluid flushes through the brain to wash away harmful proteins and toxins
that build up during the day.
Harmful build up of proteins and brain toxins can lead to neurological damage. Many dementia patients have a difficult time sleeping. They can never "switch off" their brains in order to rest. The brain is in constant "on" mode which can lead to hallucinations, temper and mood changes.
Throughout the series, the castaways were shown constantly on the move, day and night, mission after mission, worn down by lack of sleep. The physical strains of island survival took a mental toll on them. They became irritable, possessive, paranoid, abusive and sly. Even level headed Sawyer showed those various traits as the days and weeks passed on the island.
If the first theme of the show was the standard "how would you survive on a deserted island," then the basic survival instincts would take charge of your body. The gut instinct of fear of the unknown would be front and center in your mind. What is behind the bushes? What is that noise? Is something out there that can harm me?
That is why the castaways felt compelled to stay together; strength in numbers. That is also why they chose the beach to set up camp; they only had to worry about the land side at night.
Getting past the fear, castaways in this situation would have four things on their mind: food, water, shelter and rescue. The island seemed to have sufficient plant life to provide some basic nutrition. Water was the first problem that needed to be solved which led to exploring the island. Shelter was from the airplane debris which kept the castaways focused on something else besides their plight.
The one issue that did not take center stage was rescue. It was more an afterthought than a compelling mission. Even when they found a way by finding the cockpit radio, things stopped by a tragic death. Only when the Others created a more dramatic need for survival did the main characters, as leaders, tried to find a way off the island. Michael's boat was really the first and last chance. When the freighter arrived, a second set of danger emerged which left most of the castaways unable to escape.
Throughout the incidents, it seemed that main characters stopped thinking rationally - - - asking the key questions to their colleagues. Information was sparsely communicated on a need to know basis. This led to jealousy and splits among the group. The island began to assert a deranged assertiveness in both Jack and Locke which drove a stake between a combined effort to leave the island.
At one point, Hurley hallucinations became so real that he almost killed himself by jumping off a cliff. His friend, who may have been imaginary, almost got him to buy into the premise that the only way to leave the island was to die. In some respects, this was a true statement. (Anti-purgatory theorists will not fixate on the Ending church as anything particular to island life.)
Hurley was the world in which the other characters orbited. Hurley was the only character to truly fit into all the castaway sub-groups and with the Others. (He was let go without any torture or retribution.) Some theorists believed that the entire show was within Hurley's own mind. A sleep depraved mind that got the story line farther and farther away from reality as each season ended. Hurley was a known mental patient - - - who seemed to get along with all the day room patients just like he did with the island people. He was not special. He was not a forceful personality. He was not a danger. He was the perfect observer.
Or, in the analogy to another fantasy, he could have been the Wizard behind Oz's curtain.
Collective dream theorists think that Hurley could have been the "thought engine" that connected the various characters subconscious dreams, desires, thoughts and issues to "life" on an imaginary island world. Dreams and a weakened mental state was suggested as the reason why the story lines had so many continuity errors and dead ends.
With so many tangents weaved into the LOST episodes, it is not difficult losing sleep over trying to figure everything out.
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label life. Show all posts
Thursday, April 16, 2020
Tuesday, May 8, 2018
FATE WORSE THAN HELL
One of the theories about LOST and its quirky sci-fi story line inconsistencies was that the characters were not "living" in a real world environment, but part of some grand experiment or alternative world (through technology like networking brains of coma victims).
Science may be catching up to some wild fiction.
The Daily Mail (UK) reports the scientists have kept alive pig brains outside of the body for the first time as part of a controversial new experiment. The radical experiments could pave the way for human brain transplants and may one day allow humans to become immortal.
Science may be catching up to some wild fiction.
The Daily Mail (UK) reports the scientists have kept alive pig brains outside of the body for the first time as part of a controversial new experiment. The radical experiments could pave the way for human brain transplants and may one day allow humans to become immortal.
The report suggests to ethics experts that any experiments to reanimate dead brains could
lead to humans being locked in an eternal "living hell" and enduring a" fate worse than death."
That's
according to Nottingham Trent ethics and philosophy lecturer Benjamin
Curtis who made the comments in light of controversial experiments on
pig brains.
"Even if
your conscious brain were kept alive after your body had died, you would
have to spend the foreseeable future as a disembodied brain in a
bucket, locked away inside your own mind without access to the sense
that allow us to experience and interact with the world,' Curtis said. "In the best case scenario you would be spending your life with only your own thoughts for company.
'Some
have argued that even with a fully functional body, immortality would
be tedious. With absolutely no contact to external reality it might just
be a living hell. To end up a disembodied human brain may well be to suffer a fate worse than death."
Last month, Yale University
announced it had successfully resurrected the brains of more than 100
slaughtered pigs and kept them alive for up to 36 hours.
Scientists
said it could pave the way for brain transplants and may one day allow
humans to become immortal by hooking up our minds to artificial systems
after our natural bodies have perished.
In LOST, viewers were conflicted about who, what, where and how the main characters were interacting with each other on an island that was not an island (where the laws of physics and smoke monsters roamed). Immortality was seen through Jacob, who shipwrecked as a baby on the island during Roman times. The Man in Black appears as an immortal smoke monster savagely imposing judgment on humans. Even the character of Michael appears to be trapped as a "whisper" on the island as a soul that cannot move on in the after life.
The idea that LOST could have been merely a network of reanimated brains now has a thread of truthful basis in current science. And the nightmare of being trapped on an island hell is what Mr. Curtis alludes to in his criticism of the experiment's potential outcome.
Monday, November 6, 2017
BEING LOST
LOST means different things to different people.
But what is the word lost?
As an adjective, it means being unable to find one's way; not knowing one's whereabouts; unable to be found; (of a person) very confused or insecure or in great difficulties.
It also could mean something that has been taken away or cannot be recovered like an attempt recapture one's lost youth. Or an opportunity not used advantageously or wasted.
The word also means having perished or been destroyed such as a memorial to the crewmen lost at sea.
It could also mean a game or contest in which a defeat has been sustained by a player.
However, the origin of the word "lost" comes from Old English losian for ‘perish, destroy,’ also ‘become unable to find,’ from los ‘loss.’
The above denotes the various layers to LOST, the TV show.
First, the characters each had a backstory that showed them unable to find their own way through their lives. They were very confused or had great difficulties in their lives finding true happiness.
Second, many of the characters had lost something or someone in their lives that put them on a dark path of regret, anger or hopelessness.
Third, many characters wasted opportunities or friendships that led them down the path of loneliness.
Fourth, the main characters seemed to be both lost at sea and perished at the hands of the island guardian(s). Whether they were merely pawns in a game by the island powers is a plot debate point. But the word, as with the show, was about winners and losers in the struggle of power and conquest (the heart of business and personal relationships such as love).
Lastly, the origin definition may come the closest to telling what LOST was truly about: if you are unable to find (someone), you will perish and be destroyed by life.
But what is the word lost?
As an adjective, it means being unable to find one's way; not knowing one's whereabouts; unable to be found; (of a person) very confused or insecure or in great difficulties.
It also could mean something that has been taken away or cannot be recovered like an attempt recapture one's lost youth. Or an opportunity not used advantageously or wasted.
The word also means having perished or been destroyed such as a memorial to the crewmen lost at sea.
It could also mean a game or contest in which a defeat has been sustained by a player.
However, the origin of the word "lost" comes from Old English losian for ‘perish, destroy,’ also ‘become unable to find,’ from los ‘loss.’
The above denotes the various layers to LOST, the TV show.
First, the characters each had a backstory that showed them unable to find their own way through their lives. They were very confused or had great difficulties in their lives finding true happiness.
Second, many of the characters had lost something or someone in their lives that put them on a dark path of regret, anger or hopelessness.
Third, many characters wasted opportunities or friendships that led them down the path of loneliness.
Fourth, the main characters seemed to be both lost at sea and perished at the hands of the island guardian(s). Whether they were merely pawns in a game by the island powers is a plot debate point. But the word, as with the show, was about winners and losers in the struggle of power and conquest (the heart of business and personal relationships such as love).
Lastly, the origin definition may come the closest to telling what LOST was truly about: if you are unable to find (someone), you will perish and be destroyed by life.
Friday, October 20, 2017
BRAIN LIVES ON
There is a haunting story from the UK Sun.
A UK study on what happens to cardiac arrest patients (where the heart stops) that "come back to life" indicates that brain activity continues after death. Specifically, a person's consciousness continues to work after the person has died. In other words, your brain knows you are dead when you die.
Dr. Sam Parnia and her team from New York University Langone School of Medicine set out to find the answer in a much less dangerous fashion, looking at studies in Europe and the US on people who experienced "out of body" death experiences.
“They’ll describe watching doctors and nurses working and they’ll describe having awareness of full conversations, of visual things that were going on, that would otherwise not be known to them,” Parnia said. Their recollections were also verified by medical staff who reported their patients could remember the details.
Death, in a medical sense, is when the heart stops beating and cuts off blood to the brain.
This means the brain’s functions also stop and can no longer keep the body alive.
Parnia explained that the brain’s cerebral cortex — the so-called “thinking part” of the brain — also slows down instantly, and flatlines, meaning that no brainwaves are visible on an electric monitor, within 2 to 20 seconds.
This study adds a factual context to several LOST theories. For those who believe that the series premise was contained inside the mind(s) of a character, then the after death experiences (which could seem to last for a long time like short REM dreams) could explain LOST's mysteries and inconsistent parts. For those who believe that LOST was staged in the after life underworld, the vivid life and death dreamscapes could be from the moments right after death - - - the brain pulling memories, fantasies and information from a still-active brain after the body has died.
A UK study on what happens to cardiac arrest patients (where the heart stops) that "come back to life" indicates that brain activity continues after death. Specifically, a person's consciousness continues to work after the person has died. In other words, your brain knows you are dead when you die.
Dr. Sam Parnia and her team from New York University Langone School of Medicine set out to find the answer in a much less dangerous fashion, looking at studies in Europe and the US on people who experienced "out of body" death experiences.
“They’ll describe watching doctors and nurses working and they’ll describe having awareness of full conversations, of visual things that were going on, that would otherwise not be known to them,” Parnia said. Their recollections were also verified by medical staff who reported their patients could remember the details.
Death, in a medical sense, is when the heart stops beating and cuts off blood to the brain.
This means the brain’s functions also stop and can no longer keep the body alive.
Parnia explained that the brain’s cerebral cortex — the so-called “thinking part” of the brain — also slows down instantly, and flatlines, meaning that no brainwaves are visible on an electric monitor, within 2 to 20 seconds.
This study adds a factual context to several LOST theories. For those who believe that the series premise was contained inside the mind(s) of a character, then the after death experiences (which could seem to last for a long time like short REM dreams) could explain LOST's mysteries and inconsistent parts. For those who believe that LOST was staged in the after life underworld, the vivid life and death dreamscapes could be from the moments right after death - - - the brain pulling memories, fantasies and information from a still-active brain after the body has died.
Tuesday, July 12, 2016
LIFE AFTER DEATH
Typically, when a person’s heart stops beating, they’re pronounced
dead. But don’t tell that to their genes, some of which only come to
life two days after they’ve kicked the bucket.
In fact, hundreds of genes suddenly started churning out messenger RNA, which sends a signal to various cellular machines to start making the stuff of life, such as proteins. Peter Noble and Alex Pozhitkov, both at the University of Washington, discovered this life-after-death scenario in mice and zebrafish. They released their results recently on the BioRxiv, a prepublication server.
Anna Williams, reporting for New Scientist:
The big question following these findings is why these specific genes turn on after the heart has stopped beating. One hypothesis, Noble and Pozhitkov said, is that the body using the last of its energy to heal itself, similar to what happens while someone is alive.
The second hypothesis researchers have for why this may be happening has to do with how DNA unravels following death.
It takes time for the DNA to be unraveled by proteins called histones, according to Noble. As it unravels, genes that were previously silent, such as those involved in embryological development, may become active again as the genes that are used to suppress them break down.
“You’d think that when something dies, that everything would be turned off and everything would be silent, but that’s not the case,” Noble told NOVA Next. “In complex organisms, when we suddenly die, it takes awhile for the [DNA] complexes to break down, and they reach many barriers.”
Though the study focused on mice and zebrafish, the two organisms are commonly used in genetic studies as models for humans.
These findings could change the way that organ transplants are handled.
For example, liver transplant patients tend to have much higher rates of cancer, and up until now this was thought to be an immune response.
“Our results suggest it may not be [an immune response],” Noble said. “It may be just the fact that cancer genes are turned on at death as a natural phenomenon.”
With this knowledge, scientists could test an organ for active cancer genes before transplant occurs, drastically reducing the chances of cancer in the new recipient.
In fact, hundreds of genes suddenly started churning out messenger RNA, which sends a signal to various cellular machines to start making the stuff of life, such as proteins. Peter Noble and Alex Pozhitkov, both at the University of Washington, discovered this life-after-death scenario in mice and zebrafish. They released their results recently on the BioRxiv, a prepublication server.
Some of our genes don't peak in activity
until after we die (though not in these people—they're taking part in a
disaster response simulation).
Hundreds of genes with different functions “woke up” immediately after death. These included fetal development genes that usually turn off after birth, as well as genes that have previously been associated with cancer. Their activity peaked about 24 hours after death.For most genes, overall mRNA levels should decrease over time after death. However, in 548 zebrafish genes and 515 mouse genes, mRNA levels peaked after death. This meant that the decaying bodies had enough excess energy for these genes to switch on and continue functioning long after the animal died.
The big question following these findings is why these specific genes turn on after the heart has stopped beating. One hypothesis, Noble and Pozhitkov said, is that the body using the last of its energy to heal itself, similar to what happens while someone is alive.
The second hypothesis researchers have for why this may be happening has to do with how DNA unravels following death.
It takes time for the DNA to be unraveled by proteins called histones, according to Noble. As it unravels, genes that were previously silent, such as those involved in embryological development, may become active again as the genes that are used to suppress them break down.
“You’d think that when something dies, that everything would be turned off and everything would be silent, but that’s not the case,” Noble told NOVA Next. “In complex organisms, when we suddenly die, it takes awhile for the [DNA] complexes to break down, and they reach many barriers.”
Though the study focused on mice and zebrafish, the two organisms are commonly used in genetic studies as models for humans.
These findings could change the way that organ transplants are handled.
For example, liver transplant patients tend to have much higher rates of cancer, and up until now this was thought to be an immune response.
“Our results suggest it may not be [an immune response],” Noble said. “It may be just the fact that cancer genes are turned on at death as a natural phenomenon.”
With this knowledge, scientists could test an organ for active cancer genes before transplant occurs, drastically reducing the chances of cancer in the new recipient.
Thursday, July 7, 2016
THE FORMATIVE NUMBERS
When one connects the cross Numbers on a clock face, you get the following result:
8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18.
These numbers could be important because they form the basis of the formative years of a person's personal growth.
At common law, the age of 7 was deemed the age of reason. A person was expected to know the difference between right and wrong.
The age of 18 confirms adulthood. A person is emancipated from their parent's guardianship. They can join the military, make contracts, get married, etc.
How one what acts and behaves during the time between age 8 and 18 is important. What were the parental guidance? What were the environmental factors? What were the support mechanisms? Did the person learn values, goals and ethics? Did he or she fall in the wrong crowd?
Look at the people devoid of parental love and attention:
Locke.
Ben.
Sawyer (after his parents were killed).
Look at people who only had the attention of one parent:
Hurley.
Kate.
Shannon.
Walt.
Claire.
Jin.
Look at people who had a "normal" upbringing:
Jack.
Sun.
Sayid.
In the "normal" group, Jack had the upper middle class upbringing which led him to become a highly respected surgeon. He was smart, encouraged, had the means and opportunity to get a large slice of the American Dream. But in the end, was he a happy person?
Sun came from a very wealthy family. She was repressed by class status and her Korean culture. The only way she could get attention and feel independent was to rebel against her father in the worst possible way: by marrying a poor man. But even that goal did not make her a happy person.
Sayid grew up in a tight family setting in Iraq. His household was ruled by a strict father and a demanding culture. Sayid did what he had to do - - - such as butchering an animal his older brother could not do - - - which gave himself value to the group. And that need to be valuable in a group was the anchor that dragged his personal ambition and happiness down.
In many ways, the characters brought up by one parent have two common traits: loneliness and selfishness. Hurley was raised by his strict mother after his father left. She was religious and pushy, especially about his social life. That caused Hurley to eat to repress his social life. As a result, his mother enabled him to become a shy, quiet, dependent child who would never want to leave the artificial womb of her home. It is selfish to stay with a parent when, with any personal drive, you should be on your own. Claire had a similar relationship with her mother. Her mother wanted her to settle on a normal path, but Claire had a wild streak. They would fight over trivial matters. The last argument led to her mother's severe and fatal injuries.
You can add bitterness to characters like Kate and Walt. They were given a relatively carefree life, their needs being met by their mothers, but they were not very grateful. Each would act up in a controlled tantrum for attention. Then they were upset when things did not go their way, not understanding that it is the effort you have to put in yourself to get the result you want.
The characters who lost their parents early in the childhood, Ben, Locke and Sawyer, all had one driving trait: criminality. Their moral compasses did not have the bearings that parents instill in their children. Ben was beaten down daily by his alcoholic father who blamed Ben for his own shortcomings and lousy life. Locke's known abandonment was reinforced like a knife blade in his back each day he was in a foster home. Sawyer could only think of revenge after his father committed murder-suicide because of a con-man's trick on the family. Each would cross paths in the criminal world and go with its flow, including Locke - - - in seeking a "family" would have been fine living in a drug selling commune if they would accept him.
They say there is good and bad in everyone. What dominates a person's adulthood comes from what happens when a child is 8 to 18 years old. Each of LOST's main characters personalities were crystallized by events that happened in their childhoods.
8, 10, 12, 14, 16 and 18.
These numbers could be important because they form the basis of the formative years of a person's personal growth.
At common law, the age of 7 was deemed the age of reason. A person was expected to know the difference between right and wrong.
The age of 18 confirms adulthood. A person is emancipated from their parent's guardianship. They can join the military, make contracts, get married, etc.
How one what acts and behaves during the time between age 8 and 18 is important. What were the parental guidance? What were the environmental factors? What were the support mechanisms? Did the person learn values, goals and ethics? Did he or she fall in the wrong crowd?
Look at the people devoid of parental love and attention:
Locke.
Ben.
Sawyer (after his parents were killed).
Look at people who only had the attention of one parent:
Hurley.
Kate.
Shannon.
Walt.
Claire.
Jin.
Look at people who had a "normal" upbringing:
Jack.
Sun.
Sayid.
In the "normal" group, Jack had the upper middle class upbringing which led him to become a highly respected surgeon. He was smart, encouraged, had the means and opportunity to get a large slice of the American Dream. But in the end, was he a happy person?
Sun came from a very wealthy family. She was repressed by class status and her Korean culture. The only way she could get attention and feel independent was to rebel against her father in the worst possible way: by marrying a poor man. But even that goal did not make her a happy person.
Sayid grew up in a tight family setting in Iraq. His household was ruled by a strict father and a demanding culture. Sayid did what he had to do - - - such as butchering an animal his older brother could not do - - - which gave himself value to the group. And that need to be valuable in a group was the anchor that dragged his personal ambition and happiness down.
In many ways, the characters brought up by one parent have two common traits: loneliness and selfishness. Hurley was raised by his strict mother after his father left. She was religious and pushy, especially about his social life. That caused Hurley to eat to repress his social life. As a result, his mother enabled him to become a shy, quiet, dependent child who would never want to leave the artificial womb of her home. It is selfish to stay with a parent when, with any personal drive, you should be on your own. Claire had a similar relationship with her mother. Her mother wanted her to settle on a normal path, but Claire had a wild streak. They would fight over trivial matters. The last argument led to her mother's severe and fatal injuries.
You can add bitterness to characters like Kate and Walt. They were given a relatively carefree life, their needs being met by their mothers, but they were not very grateful. Each would act up in a controlled tantrum for attention. Then they were upset when things did not go their way, not understanding that it is the effort you have to put in yourself to get the result you want.
The characters who lost their parents early in the childhood, Ben, Locke and Sawyer, all had one driving trait: criminality. Their moral compasses did not have the bearings that parents instill in their children. Ben was beaten down daily by his alcoholic father who blamed Ben for his own shortcomings and lousy life. Locke's known abandonment was reinforced like a knife blade in his back each day he was in a foster home. Sawyer could only think of revenge after his father committed murder-suicide because of a con-man's trick on the family. Each would cross paths in the criminal world and go with its flow, including Locke - - - in seeking a "family" would have been fine living in a drug selling commune if they would accept him.
They say there is good and bad in everyone. What dominates a person's adulthood comes from what happens when a child is 8 to 18 years old. Each of LOST's main characters personalities were crystallized by events that happened in their childhoods.
Sunday, May 15, 2016
FLASH OF LIFE
One of the mysteries of The End was the last flash of light when Christian opened the doors in the sideways church.
What was that flash of light supposed to represent?
We were told that the characters were "moving on." To what? Where? How? and Why?
A wild yet intriguing science article could shed some "light" on the ending.
Scientists at Northwestern University have found that human life begins in bright flash of light as a sperm meets an egg. This flash is caused by a sudden release of zinc when the egg is fertilized which causes light to be seen under the microscope.
The reports state that an explosion of tiny sparks erupts from the egg at the exact moment of conception.
Scientists had seen the phenomenon occur in other animals but it is the first time is has been also shown to happen in humans.
One of the early issues in the series was the theme of the island stopping conception or babies being born. We were never told why the island with alleged "healing" powers (such as seen to Rose for cancer and Locke for paralysis) could abort a fetus.
What was that flash of light supposed to represent?
We were told that the characters were "moving on." To what? Where? How? and Why?
A wild yet intriguing science article could shed some "light" on the ending.
Scientists at Northwestern University have found that human life begins in bright flash of light as a sperm meets an egg. This flash is caused by a sudden release of zinc when the egg is fertilized which causes light to be seen under the microscope.
The reports state that an explosion of tiny sparks erupts from the egg at the exact moment of conception.
Scientists had seen the phenomenon occur in other animals but it is the first time is has been also shown to happen in humans.
Researchers noticed that some of the eggs burn brighter than others,
showing that they are more likely to produce a healthy baby.
What could be the possible symbols for light? Light is energy in a pure form. Light is a positive influence. Light can be representative of god in many religious contexts. Light can represent life. It could represent a soul. And now science adds conception to the list of possible symbols for life.
When a egg is fertilized, the human DNA of two people merges to create a new life.
Was the fact that both Claire and Sun birthed their children for the second time in the sideways world, a clue that the characters were precursors to conception?
It is possible when the show writers grappled with their big question, what is life and death, that they masked the symbolism too tightly in reality.
Each of us carries the genetic material of our parents. That genetic material is code. Code that creates the complex biochemical factory called the human body. Code that is similar to that of a computer operating system.
Many fans thought LOST was merely a computer video game with the characters being avatars of the players. But instead of looking at the show as an illusion of a video game, look at it as symbolic embodiment of the genetic material of each characters' parents. For example, Jack was not Jack a human being. Jack was the collective code of his father and mother's life, traits, predication, personality, faults, emotions and intelligence. Jack was a double helix compiling his parents data into his own data set just prior to "conception" with another double helix (specifically Kate's ancestry).
Other scientific studies indicate that many people are predisposed for disease, alcoholism, illness or athletic because of genetic disorders hard wired in a person's DNA. Each of the main characters traits and characteristics could represent a genetic pattern for that future human being.
The idea that the sideways church is merely a vessel for the fully developed sperm and egg DNA of ancestors reaching puberty (the waxing and waning of hormones) is an interesting concept. The last flash of bright light in the final episode could have marked the real beginning of the story.
Wednesday, March 23, 2016
THE MOMENTS OF DEATH
Scientists continue to probe on what happens to a person at the time of death. They have tracked down the chemical components that are released on death which may explain how people perceive and feel death.
Inside the center of one's brain is a vestigial gland. It was thought to have little function. The pineal gland, roughly the size of a grain of rice, is more heavily protected than even the heart with its literal cage of protection, because if something happens to your heart you die, but if something happens to your pineal, some say you can’t go to heaven.The pineal gland influences on both melatonin and pinoline, its end of life role in the creation of dimethyltriptamine or DMT. This chemical, DMT, may well be the reason we, as a species, are capable of sentience itself.
DMT is a narcotic substance. It is a powerful psychedelic. The pineal gland produces this substance every day.
DMT is also the trigger that elicits dreams. So the reason one has dreams is that the brain is producing a narcotic.
However, at the time of death, the gland floods the brain with massive amounts of DMT.
Science has studied the effects of DMT on normal people. These drug users experience two major themes while under the influence:
1)
A stretching of time – they experience the hectic 6 or 7 minutes as a
near eternity or lifetime. 2) They experience religious incarnations with a tilt toward whatever sect the subject is affiliated with.
This compound has been known for a long time. Cultures have known about the pineal, more widely known as the inner eye, all-seeing eye, or the like – considered the body’s gateway to the soul.
Egypt had its "Eye of Horus" Hindu culture has its bottu (the familiar forehead dot). Even the ancient art of yoga recognizes the brow chakra, or ajna, as blossoming at the pineal, or third eye.
Since science is aware that DMT is released at death, they have also observed that there is a mysterious several minutes of time after death where the brain still functions. These last few minutes after death, subjectively, are experienced as an eternity, engrossed in the DMT universe. Also, the trip itself is a highly personal experience dictated by the deepest realms of the subconscious.
The scientific chemical basis of death helps explain LOST.
Each person was experiencing a traumatic event (the plane breaking a part mid-flight). They were charged with adrenaline, anxiety and fear. Their minds would have "flashbacks" on their lives, their experiences, their families and their regrets. "Your life flashes before your eyes" is a common recall from near death experiences. But at the moment of death, the people on board Flight 815 did "survive" for several minutes through the massive release of DMT into their brain. A wash with an intense psychedelic narcotic drug which induces a dream state. A dream state that would seem to last for an eternity because there is no "time" barrier in the subconscious. One could feel or experience days, months, years of livid events in the minutes after death.
Those passengers whose final thoughts were centered on the will to survive the crash did so in their last dream state upon death.
So we did not view one coherent interaction between the survivors and the island, but hundreds of layers of final dreams stitched together like an overlapping quilt.
Thursday, March 10, 2016
AJIRA'S RETURN
One of the great unknowns is what happened to the Ajira plane after it took off from the island.
We see it fly over a dying Jack, but we really do not know if it ever made it back to the mainland. It was a damaged plane fixed without tools or supplies. It may have not had enough fuel to reach a destination. And if the island's electromagnetic shell was still working, it would have not let the plane travel in any direction except in circles.
But we are led to believe that the passengers got home safely. That they returned to their lives and died "much later" than Jack, according to sideways Christian in the church anteroom.
But is that believable?
If the Ajira return passengers got back to the mainland, they would have been celebrity-heroes. They would have been hounded by the media for interviews, shows and biographies. They would have met other celebrities, been part of the B-list jet set, and had their lives totally changed.
Frank piloted the plane off the Hydra Island with Kate, Claire, Richard, Sawyer and Miles on board.
One would assume that if Frank got back, he may have retired to Florida to charter smaller planes. It never made sense that he would have returned to a commercial pilot status after the 815 crash psychosis and alcoholism. Frank would have been the type to recede into the background.
Kate would have returned to the mainland as a free woman. But what would have happened to her? She was still married to Florida police officer Kevin Callis. She could not have been declared legally dead. Kevin truly loved and supported Kate, but he must have been devastated when she left him. He never showed up in the O6 arc. Would he ask her for a second chance upon her return to the States? If so, then Kate should have not ended up in the sideways church with Jack. She would have created a long life with Kevin. But that does not seem to be the case, as Kate arrives without him in the afterlife.
More likely, Kate would have reverted back to a life of recklessness. She enjoyed being a fugitive, using her wits to get out of trouble. She was a troublemaker. She tried to change by being a homemaker to Aaron, but she abandoned that notion on the wild dream that she could find and return Claire to him.
Likewise, Sawyer would have come back with no career, no prospects except the con game. But he also had a person to re-connect with: Cassidy, the mother of his child, Clementine. If Sawyer had changed into a responsible adult during his time with Juliet in the time loop 3 years in the Dharma camp, one could imagine Sawyer wanting to have a "real" family and a "real" life. But that does not seem to have happened, because Sawyer does not end up in the afterlife with either Cassidy or Clementine.
Claire's return would have been problematic. First, she was an emotional and psychological nightmare. She loved a dead squirrel baby. If she returned to the mainland, she would have had to go back to Australia to face her mother in order to re-connect with Aaron. But the main issue with the O6 arc was that Claire's mother, Carole, was on life support because Christian was paying for it. When he died, the support ended. It was a miracle that Carole suddenly recovered and found her way to LA for Christian's funeral. No one would have told her that. And for Carole to take Aaron out of the United States when all the documents said it was Kate's baby - - - again, legally far-fetched and unbelievable. But even if the fairy tale ending happened and Claire was reunited with Aaron - - what would she do? Would she seek out Aaron's father, Thomas, and live happily ever after on her celebrity fame? Doubtful, since it seemed that Thomas was the type not to accept responsibility. Claire's return to the afterlife casts doubts on whether anyone survived the return flight. She was pregnant with Aaron, meaning she never reunited with him. It may mean that her mother and Aaron rejected her - - - so she may have been institutionalized from her island trauma and grief. But how she could re-create the soul of Aaron outside his own time-life line is a major plot hole. (This is also true with Sun and Jin).
Miles return to the States was also problematic. He had given up being a spiritual con-artist, speaking to the dead to give loved ones closure. We don't know if his mother, Lara, was still alive. But if Miles was going to re-start his life, one would expect he would start back in his hometown, Encino, and probably return to a job as a mechanic. The only other alternative would to follow Sawyer down his path if the con game was still an option. But since Miles does not make it to the sideways church reunion, he moved on to his own life.
Richard would have continued to be a lost soul. He was more than a 160 years old when he left the island. Nothing is known about what happened to Richard after he left the island. But the gray hair he discovered before leaving suggests that he later aged as a normal person would. But he had no place to go - - - everyone he knew was long gone, dead. Would he have reconnected with the few remaining remains of Ben's network of spies and assassins? Probably not, because they had no purpose anymore. Richard would return to the modern world with no identity, no resources, no family and no friends. He would truly be a man out of his time. And that would be a sad, troublesome end for him. He also did not show up at the church.
The sideways church reunion was supposed to wrap up the grand question of LOST. Christian reassured Jack that they are all "real," Jack's life was real, and the people in the church were 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 explained they aren't leaving; they're moving on.
But if the Ajira plane did return to the mainland, and those passengers did live long lives as expected, one would presume that they would have made new friends, had new relationships, gotten married, had children - - - created a brand new life separate and more important than the island world. If Sawyer spent the next 50 years brooding about losing Juliet, then that would have horrible (and totally out of character). If Kate secretly pined for Jack, that would also be counter to the chances she had with him on the island and during the O6 arc (when she rejected him for the last time). We can then only assume that she led a spinster, quiet and lonely life if Jack was the best thing she ever had. And apparently, Claire had no life since she is re-creating it over again with Charlie.
Which gets us to a new question: is the sideways (after life) itself an illusion, a fantasy, a re-boot? It must be if you take Sun-Jin and Claire's post-pregnancies into account. Then if that is not believable as in a truth, then can we take anything that Christian said as being true? It makes more sense that the Ajira flight did not make it home. That the passengers last moments of life were thinking about the island and the people they left behind.
We see it fly over a dying Jack, but we really do not know if it ever made it back to the mainland. It was a damaged plane fixed without tools or supplies. It may have not had enough fuel to reach a destination. And if the island's electromagnetic shell was still working, it would have not let the plane travel in any direction except in circles.
But we are led to believe that the passengers got home safely. That they returned to their lives and died "much later" than Jack, according to sideways Christian in the church anteroom.
But is that believable?
If the Ajira return passengers got back to the mainland, they would have been celebrity-heroes. They would have been hounded by the media for interviews, shows and biographies. They would have met other celebrities, been part of the B-list jet set, and had their lives totally changed.
Frank piloted the plane off the Hydra Island with Kate, Claire, Richard, Sawyer and Miles on board.
One would assume that if Frank got back, he may have retired to Florida to charter smaller planes. It never made sense that he would have returned to a commercial pilot status after the 815 crash psychosis and alcoholism. Frank would have been the type to recede into the background.
Kate would have returned to the mainland as a free woman. But what would have happened to her? She was still married to Florida police officer Kevin Callis. She could not have been declared legally dead. Kevin truly loved and supported Kate, but he must have been devastated when she left him. He never showed up in the O6 arc. Would he ask her for a second chance upon her return to the States? If so, then Kate should have not ended up in the sideways church with Jack. She would have created a long life with Kevin. But that does not seem to be the case, as Kate arrives without him in the afterlife.
More likely, Kate would have reverted back to a life of recklessness. She enjoyed being a fugitive, using her wits to get out of trouble. She was a troublemaker. She tried to change by being a homemaker to Aaron, but she abandoned that notion on the wild dream that she could find and return Claire to him.
Likewise, Sawyer would have come back with no career, no prospects except the con game. But he also had a person to re-connect with: Cassidy, the mother of his child, Clementine. If Sawyer had changed into a responsible adult during his time with Juliet in the time loop 3 years in the Dharma camp, one could imagine Sawyer wanting to have a "real" family and a "real" life. But that does not seem to have happened, because Sawyer does not end up in the afterlife with either Cassidy or Clementine.
Claire's return would have been problematic. First, she was an emotional and psychological nightmare. She loved a dead squirrel baby. If she returned to the mainland, she would have had to go back to Australia to face her mother in order to re-connect with Aaron. But the main issue with the O6 arc was that Claire's mother, Carole, was on life support because Christian was paying for it. When he died, the support ended. It was a miracle that Carole suddenly recovered and found her way to LA for Christian's funeral. No one would have told her that. And for Carole to take Aaron out of the United States when all the documents said it was Kate's baby - - - again, legally far-fetched and unbelievable. But even if the fairy tale ending happened and Claire was reunited with Aaron - - what would she do? Would she seek out Aaron's father, Thomas, and live happily ever after on her celebrity fame? Doubtful, since it seemed that Thomas was the type not to accept responsibility. Claire's return to the afterlife casts doubts on whether anyone survived the return flight. She was pregnant with Aaron, meaning she never reunited with him. It may mean that her mother and Aaron rejected her - - - so she may have been institutionalized from her island trauma and grief. But how she could re-create the soul of Aaron outside his own time-life line is a major plot hole. (This is also true with Sun and Jin).
Miles return to the States was also problematic. He had given up being a spiritual con-artist, speaking to the dead to give loved ones closure. We don't know if his mother, Lara, was still alive. But if Miles was going to re-start his life, one would expect he would start back in his hometown, Encino, and probably return to a job as a mechanic. The only other alternative would to follow Sawyer down his path if the con game was still an option. But since Miles does not make it to the sideways church reunion, he moved on to his own life.
Richard would have continued to be a lost soul. He was more than a 160 years old when he left the island. Nothing is known about what happened to Richard after he left the island. But the gray hair he discovered before leaving suggests that he later aged as a normal person would. But he had no place to go - - - everyone he knew was long gone, dead. Would he have reconnected with the few remaining remains of Ben's network of spies and assassins? Probably not, because they had no purpose anymore. Richard would return to the modern world with no identity, no resources, no family and no friends. He would truly be a man out of his time. And that would be a sad, troublesome end for him. He also did not show up at the church.
The sideways church reunion was supposed to wrap up the grand question of LOST. Christian reassured Jack that they are all "real," Jack's life was real, and the people in the church were 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 explained they aren't leaving; they're moving on.
But if the Ajira plane did return to the mainland, and those passengers did live long lives as expected, one would presume that they would have made new friends, had new relationships, gotten married, had children - - - created a brand new life separate and more important than the island world. If Sawyer spent the next 50 years brooding about losing Juliet, then that would have horrible (and totally out of character). If Kate secretly pined for Jack, that would also be counter to the chances she had with him on the island and during the O6 arc (when she rejected him for the last time). We can then only assume that she led a spinster, quiet and lonely life if Jack was the best thing she ever had. And apparently, Claire had no life since she is re-creating it over again with Charlie.
Which gets us to a new question: is the sideways (after life) itself an illusion, a fantasy, a re-boot? It must be if you take Sun-Jin and Claire's post-pregnancies into account. Then if that is not believable as in a truth, then can we take anything that Christian said as being true? It makes more sense that the Ajira flight did not make it home. That the passengers last moments of life were thinking about the island and the people they left behind.
Saturday, November 28, 2015
PRE DEATH DREAMS
During their final days, people commonly report having extraordinary
dreams and visions. While there’s an extensive record of these pre-death
experiences, little formal research on them exists.
Researchers from Canisius College, however, recently conducted the first such study, published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine and found that end-of-life dreams and visions (ELDVs) are an intrinsic and comforting part of the dying process.
The study included 66 patients receiving end-of-life care at the Center for Hospice and Palliative Care in Cheektowaga, NY. On a daily basis, researchers interviewed patients about their dreams and visions, specifically asking about their content, frequency and comfort level.
More than anything else, patients said they dreamt of deceased relatives and friends. While dreaming of the departed may sound saddening, patients said the experiences, which grew more frequent as they neared death, brought them significantly more comfort than dreams concerning other topics.
Study authors say it’s important that doctors understand ELDVs as cathartic, comforting and natural experiences. Too often, according to the press release, doctors and nurses dismiss ELDVs as delusions or hallucinations that require fixing. But the end of life dreams and visions differ from delirium in a significant way: People who are delirious have lost their connection to reality and cannot communicate rationally. Because delirium poses risk and causes distress, it merits medical treatment. ELDVs, per this research, don’t warrant the same cautious response; they’re meaningful and healthy, and can affect quality of life for people nearing the end of theirs.
Can this new research area be applied to LOST?
The show winds up as an End of Life experience. And Christian told Jack that many of his friends died before and after him . . . . which suggests that Jack's experiences on the island could have manifested dreams with his "deceased" friends in a fantasy world.
Researchers from Canisius College, however, recently conducted the first such study, published in the Journal of Palliative Medicine and found that end-of-life dreams and visions (ELDVs) are an intrinsic and comforting part of the dying process.
The study included 66 patients receiving end-of-life care at the Center for Hospice and Palliative Care in Cheektowaga, NY. On a daily basis, researchers interviewed patients about their dreams and visions, specifically asking about their content, frequency and comfort level.
More than anything else, patients said they dreamt of deceased relatives and friends. While dreaming of the departed may sound saddening, patients said the experiences, which grew more frequent as they neared death, brought them significantly more comfort than dreams concerning other topics.
Study authors say it’s important that doctors understand ELDVs as cathartic, comforting and natural experiences. Too often, according to the press release, doctors and nurses dismiss ELDVs as delusions or hallucinations that require fixing. But the end of life dreams and visions differ from delirium in a significant way: People who are delirious have lost their connection to reality and cannot communicate rationally. Because delirium poses risk and causes distress, it merits medical treatment. ELDVs, per this research, don’t warrant the same cautious response; they’re meaningful and healthy, and can affect quality of life for people nearing the end of theirs.
Can this new research area be applied to LOST?
The show winds up as an End of Life experience. And Christian told Jack that many of his friends died before and after him . . . . which suggests that Jack's experiences on the island could have manifested dreams with his "deceased" friends in a fantasy world.
Monday, November 23, 2015
LIFE FORCE CONCEPT
The question of life is never ending.
Even in our modern culture, in stories like Star Wars, there is a belief in a "life force."
FoxNews.com recently reported that archeologists have found evidence of an ancient Mayan ritual which focused on a belief in human life force and the requirement to feed their gods. An ancient arrowhead with human blood on it points to a Maya bloodletting ceremony in which a person's "life force" fed the gods, two researchers say.
The ceremony took place around 500 years ago in a temple in Guatemala. During the ceremony someone was cut open — possibly through the earlobes, tongue or genitals — with an arrowhead made of obsidian (a volcanic glass), and their blood was spilled.
The Mayans believed that each person had a "life force" and that bloodletting allowed this life force to nourish the gods. "The general consensus (among scholars) is that bloodletting was 'feeding' the gods with the human essential life force," said Prudence Rice, a professor emeritus at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
"We know Mayas also participated in bloodletting as a part of birth or coming-of-age ceremonies," said Nathan Meissner, a researcher at the Center for Archaeological Investigations at Southern Illinois University. "This practice served to endow with a soul future generations and connect their life force to those of past ancestors." Whoever gave their blood may have done so voluntarily and probably survived the ceremony, Rice said.
This life force ceremony was one of many discoveries made in a study published recently by Meissner and Rice in the Journal of Archaeological Science. For the study, they examined 108 arrowheads from five sites in the central Petén region of Guatemala. All the sites had been excavated within the last 20 years and all the arrowheads date to between A.D. 1400 and A.D. 1700. Using a technique called counter-immunoelectrophoresis they were able to detect the remains of ancient blood on 25 of the arrowheads and identify the types of species they came from. Two of the arrowheads had human blood, while the others held blood from a mix of animals, including rodents, birds, rabbits and large cats.
During the lab procedure, proteins are removed from the arrowheads and tests are conducted to see if the proteins react to serums containing the antibodies of different animals. If a reaction occurs, then it means the proteins from the arrowhead may be from the animal whose antibodies are being tested. This technique "has been used occasionally in the last decade, but has some limitations because of cost, its potential for contamination, and its success rate," Meissner said.
Quite often, ancient proteins don't survive the passage of time and the reactions don't always allow scientists to identify the precise species. For instance, while the researchers were able to tell that four of the arrowheads were coated with the blood of rodents, they couldn't identify what type of rodents were killed.
In the study, the researchers found that two arrowheads had human blood on them. The second arrowhead with human blood was discovered inside an old house near a fortification wall at Zacpetén. Impact damage on the arrowhead suggests it hit a person.
The researchers aren't clear on the story behind this arrowhead. A wounded individual (perhaps someone who was defending the site) may have been carried into the house, where the arrowhead was removed. "There are multiple accounts of Mayas surviving arrow injuries, which could mean they were brought back embedded in living individuals," Meissner said.
Another possibility is that the arrowhead hit someone in a skirmish and the arrow itself was then recycled. "The arrow could have been retrieved from a skirmish and brought back to the residence to reuse the arrow shaft, thus discarding the tip," Meissner said.
Modern man has the arrogance to view ancient civilizations as primitive cultures. However, these cultures had very sophisticated belief systems on par with most modern religions. Their viewpoint of the human spirit and the afterlife has not been determined to be false by modern science. A "life force" or soul is the center piece for trying to understand what happens to us when our mortal time ceases to exist. It remains the ultimate question of what is life?
Even in our modern culture, in stories like Star Wars, there is a belief in a "life force."
FoxNews.com recently reported that archeologists have found evidence of an ancient Mayan ritual which focused on a belief in human life force and the requirement to feed their gods. An ancient arrowhead with human blood on it points to a Maya bloodletting ceremony in which a person's "life force" fed the gods, two researchers say.
The ceremony took place around 500 years ago in a temple in Guatemala. During the ceremony someone was cut open — possibly through the earlobes, tongue or genitals — with an arrowhead made of obsidian (a volcanic glass), and their blood was spilled.
The Mayans believed that each person had a "life force" and that bloodletting allowed this life force to nourish the gods. "The general consensus (among scholars) is that bloodletting was 'feeding' the gods with the human essential life force," said Prudence Rice, a professor emeritus at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.
"We know Mayas also participated in bloodletting as a part of birth or coming-of-age ceremonies," said Nathan Meissner, a researcher at the Center for Archaeological Investigations at Southern Illinois University. "This practice served to endow with a soul future generations and connect their life force to those of past ancestors." Whoever gave their blood may have done so voluntarily and probably survived the ceremony, Rice said.
This life force ceremony was one of many discoveries made in a study published recently by Meissner and Rice in the Journal of Archaeological Science. For the study, they examined 108 arrowheads from five sites in the central Petén region of Guatemala. All the sites had been excavated within the last 20 years and all the arrowheads date to between A.D. 1400 and A.D. 1700. Using a technique called counter-immunoelectrophoresis they were able to detect the remains of ancient blood on 25 of the arrowheads and identify the types of species they came from. Two of the arrowheads had human blood, while the others held blood from a mix of animals, including rodents, birds, rabbits and large cats.
During the lab procedure, proteins are removed from the arrowheads and tests are conducted to see if the proteins react to serums containing the antibodies of different animals. If a reaction occurs, then it means the proteins from the arrowhead may be from the animal whose antibodies are being tested. This technique "has been used occasionally in the last decade, but has some limitations because of cost, its potential for contamination, and its success rate," Meissner said.
Quite often, ancient proteins don't survive the passage of time and the reactions don't always allow scientists to identify the precise species. For instance, while the researchers were able to tell that four of the arrowheads were coated with the blood of rodents, they couldn't identify what type of rodents were killed.
In the study, the researchers found that two arrowheads had human blood on them. The second arrowhead with human blood was discovered inside an old house near a fortification wall at Zacpetén. Impact damage on the arrowhead suggests it hit a person.
The researchers aren't clear on the story behind this arrowhead. A wounded individual (perhaps someone who was defending the site) may have been carried into the house, where the arrowhead was removed. "There are multiple accounts of Mayas surviving arrow injuries, which could mean they were brought back embedded in living individuals," Meissner said.
Another possibility is that the arrowhead hit someone in a skirmish and the arrow itself was then recycled. "The arrow could have been retrieved from a skirmish and brought back to the residence to reuse the arrow shaft, thus discarding the tip," Meissner said.
Modern man has the arrogance to view ancient civilizations as primitive cultures. However, these cultures had very sophisticated belief systems on par with most modern religions. Their viewpoint of the human spirit and the afterlife has not been determined to be false by modern science. A "life force" or soul is the center piece for trying to understand what happens to us when our mortal time ceases to exist. It remains the ultimate question of what is life?
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
THE INTERNET AND PAIN
"I love the Internet because every piece of true pain I've experienced
as an adult — with the exception of death in the family and breakups —
has come from it." - - - actress Lena Dunham
When a public figure acknowledges that the world around her is a painful place, but then accepts the pain as being part of her public life, there is some profound truth that rises to the surface of our collective intelligence.
The Internet is a vast, open world. But it really is a tool, a utility, to help people communicate thoughts and ideas. However, it has turned into a dark space where trolls, haters, criminals and weak-minded prey on the lives of more fortunate people. High school bullying has gone from the playground to the global stage.
Since the Internet is an all-consuming place, people can get lost in this world just as an intense gamer can get lost for days or weeks in a open world multi-player epic console game.
Then the lines of reality and virtual reality blur.
People need connections to other people. People need real connections to other people, and not virtual, cliche or fake connections. Friends are different than acquaintances, but on the web more and more people fall into the latter category because they don't do anything else together expect exchange messages or photo tags.
Since the daily interaction with the network and the people who you friend becomes more important, the ability to hurt one another grows exponentially. People can be meaner because you don't have to be face-to-face to hurt someone. There is a growing segment of people out on the net with the sole purpose to hurt other people (most people they don't even know.)
There was a recent line from Dr. Who which is applicable here. "Hate is such a strong emotion that it should not be wasted on people you dislike."
Think about that.
If someone or something causes you pain, why continue to interact with it? Because someone or something (like the internet) has woven itself into your core principles, it occupies the center of your mind and thoughts, it makes you a complete being and it defines who you are as a person.
Life is filled with ups and downs, pain and pleasure. The management of those emotional highs and lows is what separates the good from the bad, from those who can cope and those in despair, those who hide from the world from those who live life to the fullest despite the painful pitfalls that the future may hold.
When a public figure acknowledges that the world around her is a painful place, but then accepts the pain as being part of her public life, there is some profound truth that rises to the surface of our collective intelligence.
The Internet is a vast, open world. But it really is a tool, a utility, to help people communicate thoughts and ideas. However, it has turned into a dark space where trolls, haters, criminals and weak-minded prey on the lives of more fortunate people. High school bullying has gone from the playground to the global stage.
Since the Internet is an all-consuming place, people can get lost in this world just as an intense gamer can get lost for days or weeks in a open world multi-player epic console game.
Then the lines of reality and virtual reality blur.
People need connections to other people. People need real connections to other people, and not virtual, cliche or fake connections. Friends are different than acquaintances, but on the web more and more people fall into the latter category because they don't do anything else together expect exchange messages or photo tags.
Since the daily interaction with the network and the people who you friend becomes more important, the ability to hurt one another grows exponentially. People can be meaner because you don't have to be face-to-face to hurt someone. There is a growing segment of people out on the net with the sole purpose to hurt other people (most people they don't even know.)
There was a recent line from Dr. Who which is applicable here. "Hate is such a strong emotion that it should not be wasted on people you dislike."
Think about that.
If someone or something causes you pain, why continue to interact with it? Because someone or something (like the internet) has woven itself into your core principles, it occupies the center of your mind and thoughts, it makes you a complete being and it defines who you are as a person.
Life is filled with ups and downs, pain and pleasure. The management of those emotional highs and lows is what separates the good from the bad, from those who can cope and those in despair, those who hide from the world from those who live life to the fullest despite the painful pitfalls that the future may hold.
Monday, October 12, 2015
OBSERVATION
An observation by George Carlin:
The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but
shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend
more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses
and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more
degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts,
yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.
Remember to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
And always remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by those moments that take our breath away.
We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom.
We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.
We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.
These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much in the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.
Remember to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, 'I love you' to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
Give time to love, give time to speak! And give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind.
And always remember, life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by those moments that take our breath away.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
HAWKING CONCEPTS
Stephen Hawking revealed a new theory at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden. He claims to have potentially solved the Information Paradox.
The paradox a conflict between the quantum mechanics and general relativity models that has vexed physicists for more than four decades. The Information Paradox arises from black holes - - - specifically what happens to information about the physical state of objects that fall into one.
The quantum mechanical model posits that the information remains intact while general relativity argues that it is indeed obliterated under the black holes immense gravitation. But Hawking has developed a third opinion: the information never actually makes it into the black hole. "I propose that the information is stored not in the interior of the black hole as one might expect, but on its boundary, the event horizon," he said.
Basically, Hawking argues that the information about particles sucked into the hole sit on the surface of the event horizon as holograms (2D afterimages of a 3D object).
"The idea is the super translations are a hologram of the ingoing particles," he told the crowd. "Thus they contain all the information that would otherwise be lost." What's more, that information can actually escape a black holes pull thanks to Hawking Radiation -- the concept that photons can sometimes be ejected from a black hole due to random quantum fluctuations.
Hawking further stated black holes are boundaries or gateways to another universe.
Unfortunate space travelers won’t be able to return to their own universe, according to Hawking. But they will be able to escape somewhere else, Hawking said.
Black holes in fact aren’t as “black” as people thought and could be a way of getting through to an alternative universe.
“The existence of alternative histories with black holes suggests this might be possible,” Hawking said, according his report. “The hole would need to be large and if it was rotating it might have a passage to another universe. But you couldn’t come back to our universe. So although I’m keen on space flight, I’m not going to try that.
Hawking’s proposal is an attempt to answer a problem that has tormented physicists about what happens to things when they go beyond the event horizon, where even light can’t get back. The information about the object has to be preserved, scientists believe, even if the thing itself is swallowed up — and that paradox has puzzled scientists for decades.
Now Hawking has proposed that the information is stored on the boundary, at the event horizon. That means that it never makes its way into the black hole, and so never needs to make its way out again either.
A paradox is a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory.
It seems absurd or self-contradictory matter changes its status but not "information" when caught in the event horizon of a black hole. It would seem then there is a different cosmic physical state when at the edge of the gravitational pull.
How would that work on organic objects. If the "information" is created to a holographic state of "being," then would the organic life forms still be "aware" of an existence? And if the "information" is stored on the event horizon, what actually transfers into the other universe?
We set this question out because of the paradox between the island time line and the sideways world (which was stated as a place of death.) But there was evidence in the Hatch that the countdown timer was a release mechanism to "escape" a place of death. It could be that the light source is the holographic projector of the human beings caught in the event horizon of a black hole. The "information" and matter of the human beings, in essence their personal life force, continues on trapped in a new reality which appears to be the island.
How the trapped information which must wind and rewind like a video projector can interact or change is unclear. If the information on transformation is set in its final stage, then the LOST universe is merely a "replay" of past events. If the information on transformation is not set, and can change through the interaction with other newly trapped information holograms, then the LOST universe is a hybrid reality.
The Hawking concept could lend some support to the fan theorists believing that the island was part of black hole engulfing our solar system. The island could have been the "cork" or electromagnetic counter to the black hole's gravitational pull. But that does not explain the parallel time lines between the island and the sideways worlds.
In a multiple layered theory of Hawking's concepts, he may be actually trying to explain what spiritualists would call each individual's life force or soul making its journey to another level of existence.
The paradox a conflict between the quantum mechanics and general relativity models that has vexed physicists for more than four decades. The Information Paradox arises from black holes - - - specifically what happens to information about the physical state of objects that fall into one.
The quantum mechanical model posits that the information remains intact while general relativity argues that it is indeed obliterated under the black holes immense gravitation. But Hawking has developed a third opinion: the information never actually makes it into the black hole. "I propose that the information is stored not in the interior of the black hole as one might expect, but on its boundary, the event horizon," he said.
Basically, Hawking argues that the information about particles sucked into the hole sit on the surface of the event horizon as holograms (2D afterimages of a 3D object).
"The idea is the super translations are a hologram of the ingoing particles," he told the crowd. "Thus they contain all the information that would otherwise be lost." What's more, that information can actually escape a black holes pull thanks to Hawking Radiation -- the concept that photons can sometimes be ejected from a black hole due to random quantum fluctuations.
Hawking further stated black holes are boundaries or gateways to another universe.
Unfortunate space travelers won’t be able to return to their own universe, according to Hawking. But they will be able to escape somewhere else, Hawking said.
Black holes in fact aren’t as “black” as people thought and could be a way of getting through to an alternative universe.
“The existence of alternative histories with black holes suggests this might be possible,” Hawking said, according his report. “The hole would need to be large and if it was rotating it might have a passage to another universe. But you couldn’t come back to our universe. So although I’m keen on space flight, I’m not going to try that.
Hawking’s proposal is an attempt to answer a problem that has tormented physicists about what happens to things when they go beyond the event horizon, where even light can’t get back. The information about the object has to be preserved, scientists believe, even if the thing itself is swallowed up — and that paradox has puzzled scientists for decades.
Now Hawking has proposed that the information is stored on the boundary, at the event horizon. That means that it never makes its way into the black hole, and so never needs to make its way out again either.
A paradox is a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory.
It seems absurd or self-contradictory matter changes its status but not "information" when caught in the event horizon of a black hole. It would seem then there is a different cosmic physical state when at the edge of the gravitational pull.
How would that work on organic objects. If the "information" is created to a holographic state of "being," then would the organic life forms still be "aware" of an existence? And if the "information" is stored on the event horizon, what actually transfers into the other universe?
We set this question out because of the paradox between the island time line and the sideways world (which was stated as a place of death.) But there was evidence in the Hatch that the countdown timer was a release mechanism to "escape" a place of death. It could be that the light source is the holographic projector of the human beings caught in the event horizon of a black hole. The "information" and matter of the human beings, in essence their personal life force, continues on trapped in a new reality which appears to be the island.
How the trapped information which must wind and rewind like a video projector can interact or change is unclear. If the information on transformation is set in its final stage, then the LOST universe is merely a "replay" of past events. If the information on transformation is not set, and can change through the interaction with other newly trapped information holograms, then the LOST universe is a hybrid reality.
The Hawking concept could lend some support to the fan theorists believing that the island was part of black hole engulfing our solar system. The island could have been the "cork" or electromagnetic counter to the black hole's gravitational pull. But that does not explain the parallel time lines between the island and the sideways worlds.
In a multiple layered theory of Hawking's concepts, he may be actually trying to explain what spiritualists would call each individual's life force or soul making its journey to another level of existence.
Monday, September 7, 2015
DREAM
"There are anxieties from dreams that are more real
Than the ones life brings; there are sensations
Felt only by imagining them
That are more ours than our very own life.
There are countless things that exist
Without existing, that lastingly exist
And lastingly are ours, they’re us…"
Than the ones life brings; there are sensations
Felt only by imagining them
That are more ours than our very own life.
There are countless things that exist
Without existing, that lastingly exist
And lastingly are ours, they’re us…"
Fernando Pessoa
Monday, August 24, 2015
HAPPY NEWS TO MARRIED COUPLES
The reaction of happy married couples to news is now news.
New York Magazine report sunder the heading of this question:
Have you ever waited with excitement to share some amazingly good news with your partner, only to experience a surge of frustration and resentment when he or she barely reacts to your announcement?
As a society, we place a huge amount of emphasis on being there for each other when we’re in need, but past research has actually shown that relationship satisfaction is influenced as much, if not more, by how we react to each other’s good news. Whereas emotional support from a partner when we’re down can have the unfortunate side-effect of making us feel indebted and more aware of our negative emotions, a partner’s positive reaction to our good news can magnify the benefits of that good fortune and make us feel closer to them.
An unusual brain scan study, published recently in Human Brain Mapping, has added to this picture, showing that the relationship satisfaction of longtime married elderly women is particularly related to the neural activity they show in response to their husbands’ displays of positive emotion, rather than negative emotion.
Psychologist Raluca Petrican at the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto and her colleagues at the University of Toronto recruited 14 women with an average age of 72 who’d been married for an average of 40 years. The researchers scanned these women’s brains as they watched some carefully prepared videos.
The silent ten-second videos showed each woman’s husband or a stranger displaying an emotion that mismatched the way the video clip was labeled in a one-sentence description on the screen. For example, the clip might show the husband smiling or laughing about a happy memory (such as the first house they bought), but the video was labeled misleadingly to suggest that the man was showing this emotion while talking about a sad memory (such as the time he got fired). Other videos showed the reverse mismatch: a negative emotional display, ostensibly shown while talking about the memory of a happy event.
Essentially, the videos were designed to make the women feel like they were seeing their husband or the stranger display a surprising emotional reaction that didn’t match their own feelings. The real-world equivalent would be a situation in which a husband is happy about something that his wife doesn’t “get”; and the questions are whether she will notice, and whether she is she more sensitive to this in congruent emotion in her husband than she would be in a stranger.
The first important finding to emerge from this setup was that the women showed enhanced overall brain activity — which suggests more mental and emotional neural processing — when watching the videos of their husbands compared with videos of the strangers, but only when the videos showed displays of surprisingly in congruent positive emotion. During the other types of videos (when the men appeared to display strangely negative emotion), the women’s brains showed just as much overall activity when watching a stranger as when watching their husband. In other words, their levels of whole-brain activity betrayed a special sensitivity to their husband’s (versus a stranger’s) unexpected positive emotion.
This jibes with the past research that’s shown it’s our response to our partners’ positive news that is all-important for relationship satisfaction. Remember that these women had been married for decades, so it’s likely that they and their husbands have been doing something right relationship-wise. The brain-imaging data suggest part of the reason might be that the women are acutely tuned to when their husbands are showing happiness that’s personal to them (rather than common to both partners).
This specific interpretation trips up a little with another main result: The women’s levels of marital satisfaction (according to a questionnaire) correlated with the amount of neural processing they showed in response to their husbands positive and negative emotion.
However, the special importance of how we respond to our partners’ positive emotion was supported by another key finding. Namely, women who scored higher on relationship satisfaction showed more brain activation in regions thought to contain mirror neurons (neurons that are considered important for empathy) when watching their spouses than they did when watching a stranger. Moreover, this enhanced mirror-neuron activity was especially present for the videos showing their husbands’ positive, rather than negative, emotion. Again, this appears to support the idea that marital happiness goes hand in hand with sensitivity to our partners’ positive emotion (though the researchers acknowledge a different or complementary interpretation that people in happy relationships have a suppressed response to their partners’ in congruent negative emotion).
We need to interpret these preliminary and complex findings with caution. And the exclusive focus on wives’ reactions to their husbands’ emotions does lend the study a slightly retro ’70s vibe — what about the way that husbands respond to their wives’ emotions, and the importance of that for the marital happiness of both parties? But that said, the results are tantalizing in suggesting that at a neural level, people in a long-term, committed relationship are especially sensitive to their partners’ positive emotion, and particularly so when this emotion is different from their own. This neatly complements other research showing, for example, that people who are unable to differentiate their partners’ emotions from their own (they assume they’re the same), tend to be viewed by their partners as more controlling and smothering.
As a whole, this entire body of research gives pause for thought. How do you react when your partner arrives home on an emotional high? Would you only notice if you were feeling happy too?
Positive responses to positive emotions makes a married couples more positive toward each other. It also goes to show that when a partner is "indifferent" to their significant other's news or needs, the relationship can quickly turn toxic. There is a probability of negative reinforcement that will gradually build between couples because they think since they are together, they should each feel the same toward each other. In most cases, that is probably true. But in every relationship, there is a roller coaster ride of highs and low points. Listening, respect and trust are the most important factors to get through any rough times. If one can try to mine a nugget of positive out of a negative situation, it is better for everyone.
New York Magazine report sunder the heading of this question:
Have you ever waited with excitement to share some amazingly good news with your partner, only to experience a surge of frustration and resentment when he or she barely reacts to your announcement?
As a society, we place a huge amount of emphasis on being there for each other when we’re in need, but past research has actually shown that relationship satisfaction is influenced as much, if not more, by how we react to each other’s good news. Whereas emotional support from a partner when we’re down can have the unfortunate side-effect of making us feel indebted and more aware of our negative emotions, a partner’s positive reaction to our good news can magnify the benefits of that good fortune and make us feel closer to them.
An unusual brain scan study, published recently in Human Brain Mapping, has added to this picture, showing that the relationship satisfaction of longtime married elderly women is particularly related to the neural activity they show in response to their husbands’ displays of positive emotion, rather than negative emotion.
Psychologist Raluca Petrican at the Rotman Research Institute in Toronto and her colleagues at the University of Toronto recruited 14 women with an average age of 72 who’d been married for an average of 40 years. The researchers scanned these women’s brains as they watched some carefully prepared videos.
The silent ten-second videos showed each woman’s husband or a stranger displaying an emotion that mismatched the way the video clip was labeled in a one-sentence description on the screen. For example, the clip might show the husband smiling or laughing about a happy memory (such as the first house they bought), but the video was labeled misleadingly to suggest that the man was showing this emotion while talking about a sad memory (such as the time he got fired). Other videos showed the reverse mismatch: a negative emotional display, ostensibly shown while talking about the memory of a happy event.
Essentially, the videos were designed to make the women feel like they were seeing their husband or the stranger display a surprising emotional reaction that didn’t match their own feelings. The real-world equivalent would be a situation in which a husband is happy about something that his wife doesn’t “get”; and the questions are whether she will notice, and whether she is she more sensitive to this in congruent emotion in her husband than she would be in a stranger.
The first important finding to emerge from this setup was that the women showed enhanced overall brain activity — which suggests more mental and emotional neural processing — when watching the videos of their husbands compared with videos of the strangers, but only when the videos showed displays of surprisingly in congruent positive emotion. During the other types of videos (when the men appeared to display strangely negative emotion), the women’s brains showed just as much overall activity when watching a stranger as when watching their husband. In other words, their levels of whole-brain activity betrayed a special sensitivity to their husband’s (versus a stranger’s) unexpected positive emotion.
This jibes with the past research that’s shown it’s our response to our partners’ positive news that is all-important for relationship satisfaction. Remember that these women had been married for decades, so it’s likely that they and their husbands have been doing something right relationship-wise. The brain-imaging data suggest part of the reason might be that the women are acutely tuned to when their husbands are showing happiness that’s personal to them (rather than common to both partners).
This specific interpretation trips up a little with another main result: The women’s levels of marital satisfaction (according to a questionnaire) correlated with the amount of neural processing they showed in response to their husbands positive and negative emotion.
However, the special importance of how we respond to our partners’ positive emotion was supported by another key finding. Namely, women who scored higher on relationship satisfaction showed more brain activation in regions thought to contain mirror neurons (neurons that are considered important for empathy) when watching their spouses than they did when watching a stranger. Moreover, this enhanced mirror-neuron activity was especially present for the videos showing their husbands’ positive, rather than negative, emotion. Again, this appears to support the idea that marital happiness goes hand in hand with sensitivity to our partners’ positive emotion (though the researchers acknowledge a different or complementary interpretation that people in happy relationships have a suppressed response to their partners’ in congruent negative emotion).
We need to interpret these preliminary and complex findings with caution. And the exclusive focus on wives’ reactions to their husbands’ emotions does lend the study a slightly retro ’70s vibe — what about the way that husbands respond to their wives’ emotions, and the importance of that for the marital happiness of both parties? But that said, the results are tantalizing in suggesting that at a neural level, people in a long-term, committed relationship are especially sensitive to their partners’ positive emotion, and particularly so when this emotion is different from their own. This neatly complements other research showing, for example, that people who are unable to differentiate their partners’ emotions from their own (they assume they’re the same), tend to be viewed by their partners as more controlling and smothering.
As a whole, this entire body of research gives pause for thought. How do you react when your partner arrives home on an emotional high? Would you only notice if you were feeling happy too?
Positive responses to positive emotions makes a married couples more positive toward each other. It also goes to show that when a partner is "indifferent" to their significant other's news or needs, the relationship can quickly turn toxic. There is a probability of negative reinforcement that will gradually build between couples because they think since they are together, they should each feel the same toward each other. In most cases, that is probably true. But in every relationship, there is a roller coaster ride of highs and low points. Listening, respect and trust are the most important factors to get through any rough times. If one can try to mine a nugget of positive out of a negative situation, it is better for everyone.
Monday, June 8, 2015
LIFE
The age old question is "when does life begin?"
Politically, this question has been hijacked in the abortion debate (which itself was a very early, fleeting theory that the childlike behavior of the main characters showed that they were not really adults but kids projecting themselves as adults in a fantasy world - - - one created because these characters were actually souls of aborted babies who never had a chance to live a life.)
But this is not a post about family planning (if anything, LOST was the anti-family planning show with unplanned pregnancies, abusive parents, foster care, etc.)
What is life?
Life is defined as the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death; living things and their activity.
A person's life is existence; either of the two states of a person's existence separated by death (as in Christianity and some other religious traditions) or any of a number of successive existences in which a soul is held to be reincarnated (as in Hinduism and some other religious traditions).
As LOST was not a religious show, more a secular mash-up of Western and Eastern philosophies with a heavy dose of ancient Egyptian death rituals, we should avoid defining life as merely a religious context.
At the base level of all life is this simple formula which I have developed over the years:
The purpose of life is to gather, store and consume energy.
All organisms, plants, animals, humans fit into this simple formula. How each life form goes about gathering its energy needs and resources are the variables in life.
Higher life forms like mankind think about the basic needs in more complex ways. To distinguish themselves from dumb animals, man has created his own mythology about creation, life and death. It was to explain the unexplainable. It was to comfort those against the impending losses (since everyone is born with a death sentence.) It was to create a greater purpose and foster hope for an unlimited future.
The fundamental purpose of life to pass on one's own life to the next generation. That is the cycle of renewal that most people understand and can fully grasp. It is the belief structure upon death that separates the believers from the non-believers.
Some may think that our existence on Earth is merely an embryonic state in which, like a larva turns into a butterfly (releasing a soul) upon the death stage to the after life. Others believe that man is just a chemical factory of complex neurons that returns to its inert, organic state to be renewed by other organisms.
LOST is more hopeful than that. At least the main characters found a way to another level of existence in the sideways world. Even if it was purely a dreamlike fantasy after death, where a person's own memories fuel an everlasting loop of dreams, that is still better than chemical decomposition theory.
But what is missing is clear: life still needs to be lived. Lived to the fullest. The LOST characters were anchored in misery by their own regrets and failures. They failed to use their own mistakes, failures and faults to become better human beings. Being better people would have made them happier, fulfilled and loved. They would not be bitter loners just waiting for the end. They would have cherished their moments with their loved ones so as not to care about the end.
Life was described as a bowl of cherries, which sometimes contains the pits. It is navigating around the pits that makes life worthwhile.
Politically, this question has been hijacked in the abortion debate (which itself was a very early, fleeting theory that the childlike behavior of the main characters showed that they were not really adults but kids projecting themselves as adults in a fantasy world - - - one created because these characters were actually souls of aborted babies who never had a chance to live a life.)
But this is not a post about family planning (if anything, LOST was the anti-family planning show with unplanned pregnancies, abusive parents, foster care, etc.)
What is life?
Life is defined as the condition that distinguishes animals and plants from inorganic matter, including the capacity for growth, reproduction, functional activity, and continual change preceding death; living things and their activity.
A person's life is existence; either of the two states of a person's existence separated by death (as in Christianity and some other religious traditions) or any of a number of successive existences in which a soul is held to be reincarnated (as in Hinduism and some other religious traditions).
As LOST was not a religious show, more a secular mash-up of Western and Eastern philosophies with a heavy dose of ancient Egyptian death rituals, we should avoid defining life as merely a religious context.
At the base level of all life is this simple formula which I have developed over the years:
The purpose of life is to gather, store and consume energy.
All organisms, plants, animals, humans fit into this simple formula. How each life form goes about gathering its energy needs and resources are the variables in life.
Higher life forms like mankind think about the basic needs in more complex ways. To distinguish themselves from dumb animals, man has created his own mythology about creation, life and death. It was to explain the unexplainable. It was to comfort those against the impending losses (since everyone is born with a death sentence.) It was to create a greater purpose and foster hope for an unlimited future.
The fundamental purpose of life to pass on one's own life to the next generation. That is the cycle of renewal that most people understand and can fully grasp. It is the belief structure upon death that separates the believers from the non-believers.
Some may think that our existence on Earth is merely an embryonic state in which, like a larva turns into a butterfly (releasing a soul) upon the death stage to the after life. Others believe that man is just a chemical factory of complex neurons that returns to its inert, organic state to be renewed by other organisms.
LOST is more hopeful than that. At least the main characters found a way to another level of existence in the sideways world. Even if it was purely a dreamlike fantasy after death, where a person's own memories fuel an everlasting loop of dreams, that is still better than chemical decomposition theory.
But what is missing is clear: life still needs to be lived. Lived to the fullest. The LOST characters were anchored in misery by their own regrets and failures. They failed to use their own mistakes, failures and faults to become better human beings. Being better people would have made them happier, fulfilled and loved. They would not be bitter loners just waiting for the end. They would have cherished their moments with their loved ones so as not to care about the end.
Life was described as a bowl of cherries, which sometimes contains the pits. It is navigating around the pits that makes life worthwhile.
Friday, May 1, 2015
KEY SYMBOL
This is an ancient Egyptian symbol that was found throughout the LOST series, including in the Temple where the original smoke monster hid and where the Others hid from it. The symbol, an ankh, is called the Key of Life.
Originally, the Ankh was viewed as just meaning "life," but others believe it meant the
creation of Life itself. In the context of LOST, the island was once called the place for life, death and rebirth which the latter two elements infer an afterlife then a new external life after death.
Inscriptions in the Hibis Temple shows that the Egyptians knew of one creator but acknowledge they had used several names and several stories but the one arose out of the primordial ocean.
Amun, Atum, Khepri, or Re were actually different names for a single god. This changes the view of the Egyptian culture and aligns it clearly with most modern religions.
Further, new theorists believe that the different names are merely elements of the god. The Ankh not only is a symbol of Life but the elements that create life. Wherever the Ankh is translated in Ancient Egypt Literature it can be re-translated with the following insight: The Ankh is the Life Code; The Egyptian’s so-called “Infinities or Chaos” Gods: Amen/Amenet, Nun/Nunet,Kuk,Kukhet, Heh/Hehet – the Ogdoad; The Meaning of Life is no longer just a flat definition but a multi-dimensional definition of the scientific and possibly spiritual definition of how life was created itself.
This is not that far off from some of LOST's formula themes, including the Valenzetti Equation which proposed the doom and destruction of mankind and the Numbers being symbolic of keeping the the island's electromagnetic properties in check in order to save mankind from destruction.
The new interpretation of the Ankh symbol representing 8 scientific and spiritual elements as the foundation of Life itself has merit to the understanding of the island symbolism. The island was not a normal island. It moved. It had supernatural and spiritual elements. It had unique properties. It had immortal beings and unusual smoke creators who could shape shift. It could recreate memories of people.
The Ankh takes the shape of a cross with a loop on top, resembling a key. In the ancient language of Egyptians, the ‘ankh’ meant ‘life.’ It is considered one of the earliest and most popular hieroglyphic symbols from ancient Egypt. It is said that the loop on the ankh symbolized the feminine or the womb, while the cross symbolized the masculine or the penis. When the two are put together, life is formed. Many believe that the Ankh is also a symbol for water and air, which are life-giving elements. Because of this, many water vessels were formed in the shape of an Ankh.
Used as an amulet, the Ankh was believed to be able to grant the wearer long life and health. Ancient Egyptians even put ankhs in tombs to give energy to the resurrected spirit. It is said that the symbol can even carry on its power to anyone within a certain proximity to it. As such, it is believed to be a conduit for life or power that stems from the universe. The Ankh can also be used as a strong protection against evil, decay and degeneration.
We can see various elements depicted: man + woman = life; water, air (life giving elements); health (immunities and spiritual energy); and power from the universe (nature).
But one modern theorist has a different formula which adds elements to science expressions:
This formula touches upon numerous LOST themes and elements. Some felt that the island was itself a wave, since it could travel through time and space (along with wormhole and event horizon applications). The dark and light theme was in the forefront of the Jacob-MIB plot. The separation of the light and dark creates an evolutionary train of events which some could consider the spiritual awakening of the soul to transform into an afterlife being.
Friday, April 24, 2015
BUGS IN THE SYSTEM
What is the meaning of Life?
It is a question that humans have contemplated since they became aware of their own existence, and then their own mortality.
From a purely objective standpoint, what are the roles of humans on this planet.
Basically, we all gather energy, consume energy, store energy, and use energy. The byproduct of all these biochemical factors is the create of waste. Waste that is then used as food/energy source by the smallest microbes. Some scientists have compared the human body to that of a complex industrial factory. Instead of an actual product at the end of the production line, the final discharge is human waste.
Evolutionists believe that from the primordial muck, bits of chemical molecules began to bond together to create more complex life forms like microbes and bacteria. Over time, these single cell creatures evolved into multi-cell beings to the current highly complex animal species. But throughout this entire evolutionary chain, the same basic tenet applies: life needs to find, consume, store and use energy in order to live. The microbe level breaks down chemicals and materials from higher life forms or found in nature. But if nature is a matter of creating efficiencies, in closed ecosystems of mutual cooperation (such as trees releasing oxygen for humans and humans releasing carbon dioxide needed for tree growth), then it makes sense to see that humans are the greatest microbe factory to feed microbes their favorite food sources - - - waste.
The microbe theory can be applied to LOST in the sense that the smoke monster appears to be a complex form of nanobots or microbes that have evolved into an intelligent being. The smoke monster preyed upon human beings - - - but not in the normal biochemical consumption sense, but a different form of energy - - - emotional.
Though never discussed by TPTB, one could tangentially say that one good theory for the show's "big theme" could be the evolutionary process on mankind is really the continuation of micro-biology finding bigger and better ways to support the smallest life forms on the planet. People are the sheep created by then herded by the microbes. Mankind's own self-importance and arrogance would erase any concept that they are food factories for the unseen bugs that populate every surface on the planet.
It is a question that humans have contemplated since they became aware of their own existence, and then their own mortality.
From a purely objective standpoint, what are the roles of humans on this planet.
Basically, we all gather energy, consume energy, store energy, and use energy. The byproduct of all these biochemical factors is the create of waste. Waste that is then used as food/energy source by the smallest microbes. Some scientists have compared the human body to that of a complex industrial factory. Instead of an actual product at the end of the production line, the final discharge is human waste.
Evolutionists believe that from the primordial muck, bits of chemical molecules began to bond together to create more complex life forms like microbes and bacteria. Over time, these single cell creatures evolved into multi-cell beings to the current highly complex animal species. But throughout this entire evolutionary chain, the same basic tenet applies: life needs to find, consume, store and use energy in order to live. The microbe level breaks down chemicals and materials from higher life forms or found in nature. But if nature is a matter of creating efficiencies, in closed ecosystems of mutual cooperation (such as trees releasing oxygen for humans and humans releasing carbon dioxide needed for tree growth), then it makes sense to see that humans are the greatest microbe factory to feed microbes their favorite food sources - - - waste.
The microbe theory can be applied to LOST in the sense that the smoke monster appears to be a complex form of nanobots or microbes that have evolved into an intelligent being. The smoke monster preyed upon human beings - - - but not in the normal biochemical consumption sense, but a different form of energy - - - emotional.
Though never discussed by TPTB, one could tangentially say that one good theory for the show's "big theme" could be the evolutionary process on mankind is really the continuation of micro-biology finding bigger and better ways to support the smallest life forms on the planet. People are the sheep created by then herded by the microbes. Mankind's own self-importance and arrogance would erase any concept that they are food factories for the unseen bugs that populate every surface on the planet.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
LOCKE STEP
Was John Locke the Key to Lost?
Let's look at some objective situations with the show's beloved whipping boy, Locke.
Prior to Flight 815, Locke was a handicapped loner who totally screwed up everything in his life. He was abandoned by his crazy teen mother who had been knocked up in the 1950s by a traveling con man. Locke miraculously survived a premature birth in a rural hospital with no advanced technology (but he was visited by Albert, an immortal island liaison who would try to recruit young Locke to the island.)
Locke was literally and figuratively a "broken man" when he got aboard the flight to LAX. His outback adventure turned into a bitter rejection. His final straw in his life snapped when he was not allowed to go on the trip.
One could remark at this point that Locke's outrageous and outlandish dreams had turned into one, big nightmare. And the "crash" on the island could be the manifestation of his nightmare.
Science has tied psychotic tendencies in parents to their children. There may be a genetic component to mental illness. Since Locke's mother was institutionalized, there may have been some lingering paranoia and delusional behavior hard wired into Locke's mind. As such, Locke's mental state could be the real state of the show, as many theories have speculated that the premise of the show had to be the fantasies and fears of a person's mind.
Locke was permanently paralyzed. There was no medical procedure to correct his crushed spinal cord. He would be trapped in his wheelchair for the rest of his life.
But once he "survived" the plane crash, he was no longer "trapped" in his wheelchair. That is a physical impossibility. The physical impact of a plane crash does not "heal" broken bones; it tears a part of person's body upon impact. Locke's transformation from a severely handicapped man to a strong, outback survivalist was unbelievable. A few people believe that the island's "healing" properties "changed" Locke. But that theory does not objectively hold true as many of the other passengers were in good health but sustained traumatic and fatal injuries. Other viewers believe that Locke was chosen by god to do his work - - - a supernatural intervention. Again, there is little evidence that any spiritual god was part of the show, let alone communicating and giving characters personal miracles. For if the island was a spiritual dimension, our general notions of good vs. evil; right vs. wrong; and the moral litmus tests for eventual good souls to go to paradise, none of those concepts were present in any religious context. In fact, some really, really bad people wound up in the same heavenly afterlife as the good people. So, a minority view Locke as the poster boy for "everyone died" theory.
Now, TPTB continue to vehemently deny that the passengers on 815 died on impact, and the island was about purgatory. But objectively, they contradicted themselves in Season 6 where the run-up to the conclusion was clearly "everyone died."
In fact a few people, including Locke, "died" many times. A few doubt Locke survived the fall from the office building (where he was met by Jacob who "touched" him, perhaps bringing him "back to life?") Some believe that Locke and his fellow passengers did not survive the plane crash. Later, some view the FDW and purple flash as another death portal that a normal human being could not survive. Then, we saw Locke strangled by Ben. Then we saw Locke's form reincarnated by MIB on the island to seek revenge against everyone - - - then falling dead to the rocks after being shot by Kate.
Locke went from an abandoned baby who should not have survived, to a abandoned adult in foster homes, to a loner and loser adult who bounced from job to job with no direction or common sense, to being tricked into giving up a kidney to a con man, to being crippled by the same man, then surviving a plane crash to become a heroic hunter leader. It sounds too made up to be true (even in this fictional series). Locke's path shows the self-grandeur that Locke himself would dream himself to be. This bolsters the dream theorists who think that the show was about one man's fantasies about himself.
It is a good study to show Locke's dreams (being a leader, a hunter, a lady's man, a jock, etc) seem to collide with his subconscious fears, phobias and experiences (being a worker, without friends, bad with women, anger and authority issues, etc.). The torment of Locke's mind is the sowed fertile fields of his imagination - - - the back and forth between the good (dreams) and bad (nightmares). This sums up the LOST experience, through Locke's own story.
Locke's own story could be the real story of LOST.
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