REALITY SHRUGGED

"I'm not strange, weird, off, nor crazy, my reality is just different from yours." - - - Lewis Carroll's Cheshire Cat.

In the 1957 novel, author Ayn Rand depicts a dystopian  United States, wherein many of society's most prominent and successful industrialists abandon their fortunes and the nation itself, in response to aggressive new regulations, whereupon most vital industries collapse. The title is a reference to Atlas, a Titan, "the giant who holds the world on his shoulders". The significance of this reference appears in a conversation between the characters  in which one asks another what advice he would give Atlas upon seeing that "the greater [the titan's] effort, the heavier the world bore down on his shoulders". His own response: "To shrug."

The theme of Atlas Shrugged, as Rand described it, is "the role of man's mind in existence". The book explores a number of philosophical themes from which Rand would subsequently develop Objectivism.^[ In doing so, it expresses the advocacy of reason, individualism, capitalism and the failures of governmental coercion.

The story of Atlas Shrugged dramatically expresses Rand's  advocacy of "rational selfishness,"  whereby all of the principal virtues and vices are applications of the role of reason as man's basic tool of survival (or a failure to apply it): rationality, honesty, justice, independence, integrity, productiveness, and pride. Rand's characters often personify her view of the archetypes of various schools of philosophy for living and working in the world. A reviewer wrote, "Rand rejected the literary convention that depth and plausibility demand characters who are naturalistic replicas of the kinds of people we meet in everyday life, uttering everyday dialogue and pursuing everyday values. But she also rejected the notion that characters should be symbolic rather than realistic.^"

Rand herself stated, "My characters are never symbols, they are merely men in sharper focus than the audience can see with unaided sight. . . .  My characters are persons in whom certain human attributes are focused more sharply and consistently than in average human beings^."

In addition to the plot's more obvious statements about the significance of industrialists to society, and the sharp contrast to Marxism's value of labor theory to the explicit conflict is used by Rand to draw wider philosophical conclusions, both implicit in the plot and via the characters' own statements to caricature fascism, socialism, communism  and any state intervention in society, as allowing poor people to "leech" the hard-earned wealth of the rich; and Rand contends that the outcome of any individual's life is purely a function of its ability, and that any individual could overcome adverse circumstances, given ability and intelligence.

The concept "sanction of the victim" is defined as "the willingness of the good to suffer at the hands of the evil, to accept the role of sacrificial victim for the "sin" of creating values". Accordingly, throughout Atlas Shrugged, numerous characters are frustrated by this sanction, as when one appears duty-bound to support his family, despite their hostility toward him; later, the principle is that somebody's got to be sacrificed. Characters note "If it turned out to be me, I have no right to complain;" "Evil is impotent and has no power but that which we let it extort from us;" and, "I saw that evil was impotent ... and the only weapon of its triumph was the willingness of the good to serve it."

Is the island's own reality akin to a Cheshire Cat mash up with Rand's concepts? The permeation of evil, the lawlessness against control and structure, and the selfishness of the main characters as a means of survival are all deep roots in the LOST plot lines. The theme of a "sacrificial" victim, such as Charlie and his warning to Desmond, or Jack's final breath in the bamboo grove, is a homage to the forces of evil and not a heroic conduit to paradise. For the weight of the series was not carried on the shoulders of one titan character, but shoved through the meat grinder of selfish evil intent.

THE LAND OF MAKE BELIEVE

Throughout human existence, mankind has been aware of a few absolute truths: people are born and people die.

It is how one perceives life is what has changed over the tens of thousands of years.  In the past, ancient cultures mostly saw their lives in the cycles of Nature. Every year, like the seasons, would follow birth, harvest, death and rebirth. But in modern societies, the view is that life is a linear plane where each year of existence is another marker on a ruler.

Also, it is interesting that ancient cultures believed that there were present gateways from their creator gods to themselves on Earth. Ancient people looked to the stars in the heavens as the source of their own lives, including seeing the Milky Way as a portal to everlasting life.  Modern religions have adapted some of those past beliefs into a system of morality, where the human spirit lives on after mortal death on Earth, to be transported to a new realm of existence (heaven or hell).

But in this modern view, there is debate on whether there are intermediate steps in the transition from human to soul spirit. The ancient Egyptians believed that a human soul is divided at death so one part has to suffer judgment through a long, dangerous journey through the underworld with the hope to be reunited with its other part in paradise. Modern theology tends to state that if a person is good in his or her life, they will be rewarded in some fashion: external bliss in heaven in angelic form or reborn as another person or life form on Earth.

It is the transitory nature of life to death to potential rebirth that keeps the human mind from going completely mad at the prospect of nothingness at the end game.

So how could LOST fit into this existence time line?  The island was supposed to be the place of life, death and rebirth. It did not have the physics of an actual Earth island, so it is assumed that it is either a supernatural place or overlaps into another dimension of time-space. In other words, the island could be the space between human life and death.

For some viewers, that intermediate place makes sense. The characters pre-815 back stories show edtheir lives, troubles and sins. The sideways world showed the waiting room in the after life. The bridge between the two different existences had to be the island. It goes to show then that the characters could still be "alive" on the transitional island realm, but not able to "move on" to the after life unless certain conditions were met.

If you then view the island as a land of make believe, not of Earth but its own unique sphere of existence, it is easier to gloss over the factual inaccuracies or inconsistent story plot points because none of those really matter in a place which has no normal rules.

THE STORY OF A STORY

There is a story floating about the internet about an anonymous man who claims that in 2009, he traveled to a parallel universe. It has all the seemingly vivid details of an actual occurrence, but the hook is what puts people into the strange, whacko camp.

The man was driving with his through rural California. The dog gets restless so he stops the car in a remote area. The dog does it's business, but then is distracted by a rabbit and runs off. The man chases his dog, but as he is running he steps into a hole, falls and becomes unconscious.

He wakes up inside a small trailer-like home. There is a greasy haired man who tells him that he is 20 feet away from where he fell. But the man says that cannot be possible since there was no house where he fell. The stranger then tells him he found the unconscious guy baking in the desert sun , so brought him back to his home  - - - in a parallel universe.

Inside the house, the stranger tells the man that in his world, there is expensive technology that allows people to travel between the infinite parallel universes. It was developed in his world in the 1950s as part of a space exploration project. During this discussion, the stranger says that there are multiple Earths each with its own path. As he wanders to the living room, he sees a music system with cassette tapes. The stranger and the man discuss music briefly, and the stranger tells him about the "new" Beatles album called Everyday Chemistry. The man says in his world the Beatles broke up, and two are dead. The stranger says in his world, the Beatles never broke up. The man could not believe it.

The stranger told him that the machine that allows him and others to travel between worlds is dangerous. Many people teleport to places where there is an ocean (and drown), or there is no ground (and fall from space and die). Travelers are not allowed to take things to their destination or bring things back because that would violate the rules for dimension travel (and endanger one's life).

The stranger goes to answer the doorbell, and the man decides to take a cassette tape for this Beatles album.  He then leaves back through the Parallel Machine which he describes as feeling wet but without an liquid. When the man returns to his world, he has a copy of the Beatles tape in his pocket. He listens to it and believes that it is indeed the Beatles.

Now many people believe that it is a hoax, an elaborate story, or a fantasy induced by secondary means. Whatever the status, it does raise as possible ode to the LOST mythology.

In the Dharma camp, we first thought it odd that the equipment, including stereos, were not up to date but really older technology from the 1970s. This sort of matches the man's desert story where a world with fantastic technology of portals to other Earth dimensions would create lower levels of technology such as cassette tapes as being the current music standard.

In LOST, there is a reference to other "Earth gates" in the hieroglyphs in the FDW chamber. So it is possible that turning the wheel was really a functioning parallel dimension transportation machine. So when the island "disappeared" it was not a real disappearance but removal to another dimension. As the sideways world was also a different dimension but with the same characters and similar lifestyles, the theory that LOST was not a show about time travel but parallel universes does have some plot event support.

The idea that one earth dimension is in the Pacific Ocean, but the machine drops a user into the African desert is similar to the man's story. The dimensions can have the same components but at the same time be completely different. If you think every time there was an "incident" with the FDW, the life force energy bursts, then the LOST story is not one dimension or even two: every jump was another card in the deck. So we really don't know where the characters began or where they ended up.
Perhaps the resolution is when the characters jump from one dimension and find themselves in another. The merger of experiences actually kills them. Then in death, with the merged memories, they can move on to another plane of existence.

BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH

The BBC recently had an article about the scientific research conducted with severely vegetative patients. The most revealing aspect of the article (and study) was that a patient in a deep coma awoke to tell the medical community what she experienced in her vegetative state. It was totally different than what medical science perceived was happening inside the brain of an unconscious patient.

The problem is that the scientific definition of “death” remains as unresolved as the definition of “consciousness”. Being alive is no longer linked to having a beating heart, explains Owen. If I have an artificial heart, am I dead? If you are on a life-support machine, are you dead? Is a failure to sustain independent life a reasonable definition of death? No, otherwise we would all be “dead” in the nine months before birth.

The issue becomes murkier when we consider those trapped in the twilight worlds between normal life and death – from those who slip in and out of awareness, who are trapped in a ‘minimally conscious state’, to those who are severely impaired in a vegetative state or a coma. These patients first appeared in the wake of the development of the artificial respirator during the 1950s in Denmark, an invention that redefined the end of life in terms of the idea of brain death and created the specialty of intensive care, in which unresponsive and comatose patients who seemed unable to wake up again were written off as “vegetables” or “jellyfish”. As is always the case when treating patients, definitions are critical: understanding the chances of recovery, the benefits of treatments and so on all depend on a precise diagnosis.

In the 1960s, neurologist Fred Plum in New York and neurosurgeon Bryan Jennett in Glasgow carried out pioneering work to understand and categorise disorders of consciousness. Plum coined the term “locked-in syndrome”, in which a patient is aware and awake but cannot move or talk. With Plum, Jennett devised the Glasgow Coma Scale to rate the depth of coma, and Jennett followed up with the Glasgow Outcome Scale to weigh up the extent of recovery, from death to mild disability. Together they adopted the term “persistent vegetative state” for patients who, they wrote, “have periods of wakefulness when their eyes are open and move; their responsiveness is limited to primitive postural and reflex movements of the limbs, and they never speak.”

In 2002, Jennett was among a group of neurologists who chose the phrase “minimally conscious” to describe those who are sometimes awake and partly aware, who show erratic signs of consciousness so that at one time they might be able to follow a simple instruction and another they might not. Even today, however, we’re still arguing over who is conscious and who isn’t. 

Kate Bainbridge, a 26-year-old schoolteacher, lapsed into a coma three days after she came down with a flu-like illness. Her brain became inflamed, along with the primitive region atop the spinal cord, the brain stem, which rules the sleep cycle. A few weeks after her infection had cleared, Kate awoke from the coma but was diagnosed as being in a vegetative state. Luckily, the intensive care doctor responsible for her, David Menon, was also a Principal Investigator at the newly opened Wolfson Brain Imaging Centre in Cambridge, where one Adrian Owen then worked.

In 1997, four months after she had been diagnosed as vegetative, Kate became the first patient in a vegetative state to be studied by the Cambridge group. The results, published in 1998, were unexpected and extraordinary. Not only did Kate react to faces: but her brain responses were indistinguishable from those of healthy volunteers. Her scans revealed a splash of red, marking brain activity at the back of her brain, in a part called the fusiform gyrus, which helps recognize faces. Kate became the first such patient in whom sophisticated brain imaging (in this case PET) revealed “covert cognition”. Of course, whether that response was a reflex or a signal of consciousness was, at the time, a matter of debate.

The results were of huge significance for science but also for Kate and her parents. “The existence of preserved cognitive processing removed the nihilism that pervaded the management of such patients in general, and supported a decision to continue to treat Kate aggressively,” recalls Menon.

Kate eventually surfaced from her ordeal, six months after the initial diagnosis. “They said I could not feel pain,” she says. “They were so wrong.” Sometimes she’d cry out, but the nurses thought it was just a reflex. She felt abandoned and helpless. Hospital staff had no idea how much she suffered in their care. Kate found physiotherapy scary: nurses never explained what they were doing to her. She was terrified when they removed mucus from her lungs. “I can’t tell you how frightening it was, especially suction through the mouth,” she has written. At one point, her pain and despair became so much that she tried to snuff out her life by holding her breath. “I could not stop my nose from breathing, so it did not work. My body did not seem to want to die.”

Kate says her recovery was not so much like turning a light on but a gradual awakening. It took her five months before she could smile. By then she had lost her job, her sense of smell and taste, and much of what might have been a normal future. Now back with her parents, Kate is still very disabled and needs a wheelchair. Twelve years after her illness, she started to talk again and, though still angry about the way she was treated when she was at her most vulnerable, she remains grateful to those who helped her mind to escape.

In applying this real life coma story to LOST, there is a theme of "gradual awakening" of the dead in the sideways world to the events of their recent past (i.e. the plane crash). A person in a coma, or in a state between life and death, still can perceive the world around them - - - and still have strong emotions like pain and anxiety. For those who think most people pass quietly in their sleep may have to rethink that position. With her mind still active, the coma victim is trapped inside her own head. And what was she thinking about? Escape. What was the most driving force for everyone on the island, including the smoke monster? Escape. It was the inability of the coma patient to communicate with the outside world that led to frustration and more pain. Likewise, fans continually barked at the television screens when LOST survivors continually failed to communicate with each other, or ask the simple, common sense questions to get answers. 

Many of the same elements of the coma patient study were embedded into the LOST story. It gives those fan theories about mental or coma patients more real scientific evidence to support their viewpoint of the series.

THE GAP

There are a few elements that most people can agree upon: the island was a magical place; it was a spiritual place; it was not of this world. The implication of those facts is that somehow (such as Thoth's magic) the main characters were diverted, taken, kidnapped or sent though time, space, or realms.

This chart explains the possibilities. In our normal life existence, a human soul would live her or his life out in a normal fashion, ending in some sort of purgatory afterlife as taught by most of the major religions. But in LOST, the normal life continuum was interrupted by the "plane crash."  The passengers on Flight 815 were diverted to a magical island in a different realm of existence.  The FDW chamber held hieroglyphs which stated there were various "Earth gates." This chamber could have been a two way teleportation device.

Why were the characters diverted into the island realm? There are a few reasons: to train for their eventual journey through the after life; to kill boredom of the gods (throughout the pantheon of Greek myths the gods came down to Earth to mess with humanity); or to experiment on human souls to determine if they were worthy of a greater purpose.

But once a person got to the island, there were only four choices. One could go back through the diversion portal back to the normal Earth time line. One could stay (or be trapped) on the island in human or spirit form. One could "die" on the island and one's soul could go through a nexus gate to the afterlife. Or, as some of the characters did (but we don't know how), they opened a new gate to create their own sideways purgatory (a purgatory within purgatory). The various realm gates appear to intersect in the afterlife, to be sorted by the White Light.

The big Gap in the flow chart of where the characters were during the series is the island itself. Many fans thought the island was connected by a wormhole which would explain the shifts in time and space. Others believed that the island was a fore-hell for lost souls to begin to sort out their acceptance of their fate of being dead. Others thought that characters were trapped in mental delusions so strong that their conscious thought they were transported to different realms.

If we go with the proposition that what happened was "real," then the passengers on Flight 815 were diverted from normal Pacific air space through an electromagnetic energy field and deposited on the island. This island looks and feels like a tropical island, but it contains supernatural elements and immortal beings so it cannot be of "our Earth."  The characters are still "alive," but must try to live in a spiritual or a world in a different universe. In order to get back to Earth, they must escape the pull of the island's power source or use it to re-open the diversion portal. Only a handful of people ever made it back to their Earth time line. The rest either went directly to the afterlife or diverted themselves to the sideways world to wait for their friends to "awaken."

The concept of awakening leads to the concept of magic: being under a spell. Illusionists can put audience members into deep sleep, hypnotize them, make them do weird things, then snap them back to reality. Did the island and/or Jacob serve the role as magician? Or was the real guardian of the souls of Jack's friends Christian? He died before the other characters so he may have been in an afterlife position to direct or re-direct his son to the promise land (as inferred by the church ending).

In any event, the characters were clearly "detoured" from their normal life's path by and through the island. The question remains about how they got from gap to gap in the time-space-reality spectrum.

PORTALS

 A "portal" is a doorway, gate, or other entrance, esp. a large and elaborate one. It also means in computer science, an Internet site providing access or links to other sites. As an adjective, portal means of or relating to an opening in an organ through which major blood vessels pass, esp. the transverse fissure of the liver.

There were many heated debates during the original series about whether the island itself was some form a portal to another world, universe, or dimension. The portal idea made sense to some because of the bizarre unexplained components of the early series story construction. Further adding to the mysteries were the hieroglyphs in the FDW that indicated that there were several "gates" that the wheel moved to including "Earth gates."

When the concept of the "light force" which was described as "life, death and rebirth" was introduced as the catalyst to get to the End in Season 6, it added another level of evidence that the island sat on something more than volcanic rock.

A cross section from the clues results in the above diagram. The snow globe effect described by Desmond and confirmed by the difficulty of finding the island despite all modern technology shows the unique metaphysical properties of the island energy field. The light source was found in various wells or caves by islanders, who tried to tap it in order to escape the island's hold. Using the force by turning the FDW resulted in people being transported through both time and space. A disruption of the light force (the Incident) resulted in the island world (or some of the souls on the island) to violently time skip and nose bleed as their brains turned to mush. The events on the island were at least in part psychically connected to the souls trapped in a state of limbo in the sideways world.

If you look at the shape of the diagram, it occurs to me that it looks partly human. The snow globe is the human skull, as it protects and shields the brain from danger. The island could be the memory banks of the brain, its experiences and connections. The underground could be the subconscious where a person's dreams, fears, secrets and nightmares reside. The portal may be the engine or the heart of the person. In ancient Egyptian death rituals, a person's heart would be weighed against a feather to determine if the person was worthy of an after life. And the sideways represents the person's internal soul which remains hidden during life from the mind and subconscious but to be awakened in the after life.

The island construction could be symbolic of various beliefs in the after life transit of a person's soul (the collective personality, memories, accomplishments, sins, connections, and bonds) needed to move forward into another realm of existence.

ALTERNATIVES

There are a few ways to look at the Island and what it represents in the series.

1. IT IS AN ISLAND.

A real island. A real place. In the Pacific. It is shrouded from observation because of the intense electromagnetic properties (which bends light to cloak it from view). It is a real island with real plants, real animals, and  real weather. It is a natural place with some supernatural elements.

2. IT IS AN AMUSEMENT PARK.

It is meant to "look and feel" like a tropical island, but it is not a natural island formation. It was created by man or alien hands. It could be considered Disneyland with the safety precautions turned off (or for 1970s film buffs a version of Westworld.)

3. IT IS A PRISON.

It is a place where undesirable people are locked away from the real world. We were told that it was difficult to find and difficult to enter. One needed permission to enter (Jacob as the warden). Once you arrived on the island you could not leave.

4. IT IS AN INSTITUTION.

A voluntary form of prison, the island could be a mental institution utopia experiment. People were brought to the island to work out their emotional and psychological problems until the inmates began to run the asylum. The Dharma may have been the original therapists but they turned into a cult.

5. IT IS A PLACE IN A DIFFERENT DIMENSION.

The unique electromagnetic properties of the island are not Earthly so the island itself is in a parallel universe. The people are taking to a new realm of existence. This is why they cannot leave the island because the snow globe effect is actually a space barrier between universes.

6. IT IS A MODERN INTERPRETATION OF HELL.

Instead of fire and brimstone, it is a dangerous tropical paradise of demons, tests and judgment.

7. IT IS THE SIDEWAYS WORLD.

There is only one "world" for the characters. Since they end up in the sideways fantasy world (created by themselves) it is a fair assumption that the island was also part of this sideways fantasy world (created by themselves).

8. IT IS A REPRESENTATION OF THE INTERNET.

The island has no physical elements. It is a creation of bits of information contained in a network. Characters immerse themselves into the island like gamers in open MMOs. It is a place where a person's mind becomes free of its body (and the things that would hold back a person's full abilities like a body in paralysis or having cancer). It is a mechanical representation of a real world (which elements such as the smoke monster make mechanical sounds when making an appearance). It plays into the repetitive notion of the characters going on endless missions and dangerous quests.

9. IT IS AN ILLUSION.

The island is a mental illusion or delusion in the mind of an unbalanced person. If the island is a construct of a twisted mind, then the elements of nature and physics do not apply. The fears, phobias, ego and emotions of a person are the true elements of creation. Everything was imaginary in reality but quite real in the mind of a mental or coma patient. Many people thought that the whole series was inside a character's head, such as Hurley. But it could also be assumed that the whole thing was made up by the twisted mind of Jacob.

10. IT IS HEAVEN.

It is a heavenly playground for children who never had a chance to grow up to be adults. There are elements of immaturity, lack of problem solving, lack of applied knowledge and basic emotional attachments in awkward social dynamics which baffle young children who have to learn their way through the culture and social obligations. Without time to develop those social skills as children, their souls would be incomplete. The island is for souls to role play and to learn what it means to be human.

REFLECTIONS

It was once believed that if one stared into a reflective surface, like a mirror or polished volcanic glass, the person would be transported to other worlds. More than 400 years ago, the Aztecs used mirrors to see the future.  Even during the 18th century era of enlightenment, many people would mediate in their reflection in order to "hear" angels give them prophecies about the future.

So what does this have to do with Lost? There was a theme around mirrors. Mirrors as a reflection or introspection of a character's soul. And throughout the series, we saw characters stare blankly out into the ocean (a reflective surface). Is this the portal to the off-island events and alternative realities?

It may be considered a sub-set of mental themes of the series. Are the characters crazy, or are they really crazy. Can someone really have a conversation with a dead person? Can a dead person actually physically assault a live person? Can disembodied souls remain as whispers? If the characters were all surrounded by a mirror surface (the ocean), is this an inner trace for each character to find what he or she lost in their real lives?

One would have hoped that all the characters would have some some profound meaning during their island stays. But in the end, there was no Great Plan revealed; there was no great understanding; there was no great bond between the characters. It was like they all got off the boat in the same port of call.

Which gets us back to the island itself. If the journey to and through the island was one to test the soul, to find redemption, then none of the characters really surged past the finish line. In fact, the best one could say is that most of the characters were "punished" mentally for their past transgressions, but the island did not change their base personalities (Sayid continued to be a torturer; Sawyer continued to be a con-artist, etc.). The only people "rewarded" by the island appeared to be Rose and Bernard, since her cancer was "cured" and they spent their time alone and happy. The only mental anguish they suffered as a couple was the separation when the plane crashed on the island.

Even if the island was a passage of punishment, that would mean that the reunion in the church was not the happy time most people believed what happened to the characters. What if the next leg of the after life journey was not to heaven (the white light) but actually to the next stage of death: judgment. Only after the pain of punishment is there a judgment to determine if a soul has redeemed his or herself to be worthy of a heavenly after life. So believed the ancient Egyptians. That belief is the cornerstone of most modern religions. So when there was lack of religious context throughout the series, and the mish-mash of all religious symbols in the church, one could assume that the characters next chapter would be answering for all their personal sins. They certainly did not reflect on their past mistakes in the sideways world. Once they were awakened, it was time to "move on." To what? Judgment. That is the most probable answer to the question.

SATAN'S STEW

The one thing most Lost fans hate to discuss is the topic of Purgatory. Early in the series, TPTB clearly stated that the show was not about the characters dying in the plane crash and the island being purgatory. Well, throughout the series, the creators, producers and writers lied to the viewers during their plot points and story arcs allegedly having meaning, clues or substance. Many characters built their entire existence on a pyramid scheme of successive lies. Lying was a core concept of Lost. At come point, one has to accept the proposition that TPTB lied to the viewers about purgatory.

The question begins with the answer. The sideways world clearly was a place of departed souls. All the characters were dead "but living a life" of their own fantasy, according to the account of master of church ceremonies, Christian.  In one respect, dead was not dead. The sideways characters were involved in a complex, diverse and physical plain of existence. So why was that kind of existence only limited to the sideways premise?

Building upon the next concept that Christian stated that the sideways world was created by characters, but it had no concept of time (past, present or future), what came first - - - the island or the sideways world? This is a brain teaser because most people assume the sideways world was created by the characters in direct response to the island interactions of the characters. Except, there are logical inconsistencies with that premise.

If we narrow the analysis to the final candidates, we find that they have the following connections:

In breaking a part the three levels of Lost (pre-815, O6 and sideways), we find surprisingly that the candidates never really had any connection with each other during any time or event periods. In the pre-815 situation, none of the final candidates had any real interaction with each other. (It would be speculative at best to assert that Locke "could have" met Hurley while Locke visited his mother at Santa Rosa, but post-crash none of the characters had any recollection of prior meetings except for being passengers in the departure gate.) Even in the O6 off-island situation, only Hurley and Jack had a few encounters but were not close. Only in the sideways world is there the strongest connection: Jack and Locke, based upon a doctor-patient relationship Otherwise, the interactions between the candidates were in limited events of short duration.

We could gather from that information, that each level of Lost was an independent construct. They were not dependent upon candidate interaction or interconnected characters. Which in some respects is a surprise.

For if the characters created the sideways world because those church participants were the most important people in their lives, there is certainly scant evidence of any true friendships between them.
The only long term interaction between the church goers was on the island.

Which then leads to the ultimate question: what is the island? And this is where the purgatory doubters and haters do not want to go.

There is evidence that the island could be hell or purgatory. MIB called Jacob "the Devil." Cooper came to the island immediately after a serious traffic accident and believed he was transported to Hell. If the sideways world was an after-life holding pen, a purgatory for dead souls to occupy their minds until the time was right, then why dismiss the possibility that the other levels of Lost could also be after life creations?

Lost could be considered a multi-layered purgatory. Or in some descriptions, various layers of punishment in hell.

For example, many believe that the island adventures were merely tests of redemption for the characters. Each character arrived on the island with secrets, sins and unresolved issues. The island created all the elements to mirror those secrets, sins and issues in order to test each character to determine if they could change or resolve those issues; to repent, to become a better person, to change their evil ways, or to redeem themselves from their faults.

If we agree that the sideays world was a purgatory that allowed the dead souls to continue to figure things out (as Ben decided to do when he turned down a final church invitation from Hurley), then we can also say that the island itself gave the characters ample opportunity to figure things out.

One can then make the final connection: that the pre-815 world that we were shown was also an after life purgatory challenges and punishments. For example, Hurley in the pre-815 world was the luckiest man in the world as a lottery winner, but it caused him great anguish and grief. Money did not solve his problems, but actually caused him more pain and damnation. It would be an ironic trick that a character like Satan would have found amusing.  And the pre-815 after world would explain why all the characters were illogically rounded up onto one flight to LA. Each character wound up in Australia as a possible solution to a pressing personal burden: Hurley, the Numbers; Sawyer, revenge on Cooper; Jack, to find his father; Bernard to find a cure for Rose's terminal cancer; Locke to find freedom in a walkabout. But in another ironic trick, each of their quests turned up negative and a major disappointment.

One must picture that the all the characters are dead. Satan is the man behind the curtain. He has these dead souls to direct during their journey through the after life. Some need to be punished. Some need to be taught a lesson. Some need to find their own purpose. Some need to let go of their sins. Some need to let go of their unresolved personal relationships.

So, with millions of departed souls to manage, Satan creates vast realistic worlds based on the memories of the people he needs to push through to the final white light. If one accepts that the pre-815 world (the flashbacks) are one level of purgatory, we can see each character living a miserable, lonely life - - - but with an opportunity to change themselves for the better. But in some ways, each character wants to find an easy way out (like Kate, whose solution to everything is to run). So when the souls cannot personally evolve in the pre-815 world, Satan directs them to salvation in Australia. But none of the characters find what they were looking for; they obtain no peace. Therefore, Satan mixes up their post-life journey by putting them all on a doomed plane for a more intense purgatory - - - where their self-obsessed life troubles are now turned into daily life and death trials. On the island purgatory, characters will need to make friends and trust other people in order to survive. It is that forced co-existence that requires the souls to change. But some characters who were too comfortable in the island chaos, needed another testing ground - - - the off-island O6 realm was an ancillary purgatory to mentally punish the "lucky" characters who got off the island. The guilt of leaving people behind got to all of them. They had to go back, but in reality like the round up to Australia by Satan, the O6 survivors were meant to go back to the island to complete their tasks.

The sideways purgatory was a like a dream state for most of the characters. They still had problems, but there were more individualized and focused such as Jack working through his own daddy issues by his interactions with his faux son, David. Once Jack came to the realization of what father-son relationships were all about, he was truly ready to accept his own relationship with Christian. And in this final fourth layer of purgatory is when Jack found the truth and resolution of his tormented relationship with his father.

Lost could be viewed as increasingly difficult post-life proving grounds for each departed soul. Satan kept mixing up the character's lives in order to get them to personally evolve and "fix" themselves. It was when the main characters were thrown together on the island did they begin to really confront their personal demons and find a path to closure.

Lost can be viewed as a series of after life purgatories concluding with a graduation type reunion in the church at the end.

WHAT IS REALITY?

There are two positions in regard to the end of LOST.

The pro-ending viewers said that the way the series ended was in a satisfactory conclusion where their favorite characters finally found resolution from their troubled lives. However, the majority of the pro-enders believe that though the characters were dead in sideways world, the characters were "alive" and survived the plane crash on the island.

The anti-ending viewers thought the series ended in an unsatisfying way for numerous reasons. First, many thought that the sideways church ending was a cop-out for not explaining the long, twisted science fiction mystery story lines of the island. Second, a minority of the anti-enders thought it was totally inconsistent (to the point of irrational) to believe that the sideways world could have been "created" by the characters at any point in time. Third, many thought the concept that the characters created their own sideways world - - - but failed to "remember" their island pasts as being a red herring. How could one create a fantasy sideways world (and actually participate and live in it) but not remember it?

Both sides of the question focus in on the pivotal conversation in the waning moments of the final episode: when Jack speaks to his father, Christian:

JACK: You...are you real?
CHRISTIAN: I should hope so. Yeah, I'm real. You're real, everything that's ever happened to you is real. All those people in the church...they're real too.
JACK: They're all...they're all dead?
CHRISTIAN: Everyone dies sometime, kiddo. Some of them before you, some...long after you.
JACK: But why are they all here now?
CHRISTIAN: Well there is no "now" here.
JACK: Where are we, dad?
CHRISTIAN: This is the place that you...that you all made together, so that you could find one another. The most...important part of your life, was the time that you spent with these people. That's why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone Jack. You needed all of them, and they needed you.
JACK: For what?
CHRISTIAN: To remember...and to...let go.
JACK: Kate...she said we were leaving.
CHRISTIAN: Not leaving, no. Moving on.
JACK: Where we going?
CHRISTIAN: [smiling] Let's go find out.

So what is "real?"

First, let us look to the definition of the word.

1. actually existing as a thing or occurring in fact; not imagined or supposed;

2. (of a substance or thing) not imitation or artificial,  genuine;

3. [ attrib. ] informal complete; utter (used for emphasis);

4. [ attrib. ] adjusted for changes in the value of money;

5. Law of fixed property (i.e., land and buildings), as distinct from personal property;

6. Mathematics (of a number or quantity) having no imaginary part;

7. Optics (of an image) of a kind in which the light that forms it actually passes through it; not virtual.


So what was Christian telling Jack?

"Yeah, I'm real. You're real, everything that's ever happened to you is real. All those people in the church...they're real."

Second, here is a literal translation:

"Yeah, I actually EXIST. You EXIST, everything that's ever happened to you is GENUINE. All those people in the church . . . they EXIST and they are not imagined or supposed."

Next,  Jack asks the question that is supposed to answer the question of what is the sideways world:

"They're all dead?"

The big twist in the finale is that everybody was dead. "Everybody" meaning the key players. Exactly who those players are remains open for debate and remains one of the show's most enduring mysteries. The finale revealed that a gathering of memory-restored Oceanic "survivors" in the sideways world have in fact been running through an elaborate fantasy, one designed to bring their group together before they step over to the afterlife. The major question that remains is when during the run of the show that break between life and death occurred. Life could have ended for the Oceanic passengers as far back as the pilot episode. The plane crashes, everybody dies, but this group is left behind because of unresolved issues within their individual lives. The trials they go through surviving on the island serve as a sort of purgatory. This would render certain key figures — Jacob, the Man in Black, Richard Alpert — as utter fabrications. That's just one theory. Another read could put the time of death for Oceanic 815's survivors as the hydrogen bomb blast at the end of the show's fifth season, which raises a whole new set of questions as to the nature of certain supporting characters. It is now a question of acceptance of this death premise in the mythology of the series.

The word "dead" is defined as follows:

1. no longer alive, as in a dead body;
• (of a part of the body) having lost sensation; numb.
• having or displaying no emotion, sympathy, or sensitivity;
• no longer current, relevant, or important;
• devoid of living things;
• resembling death;
• (of a place or time) characterized by a lack of activity or excitement;

2. [ attrib. ] complete; absolute;
• exactly:
• straight; directly;

Clearly, the sideways world characters were "no longer alive."

But, they were "real." 

And here is where the viewers become split in their perception of the show.

In the pro-ender camp, since we are told that everything was "real" that must mean that everything that happened on the island (including time travel and flashback back stories) was also "real."

However, the anti-ender camp points out that in the context of the sideways church statements, "real" means "dead." They would state that since the sideways world was "real" but "dead," then the island world being also "real" would also be "dead." For if the "dead" characters can create an elaborate fantasy dream purgatory in the sideways world (with marriages, children being born, etc), why can't the "dead" characters also "dream" of a fantasy adventure world called the island?

The pro-end fans would counter to say that Christian explained it.

"This is the place that you...that you all made together, so that you could find one another. The most...important part of your life, was the time that you spent with these people. That's why all of you are here. Nobody does it alone Jack. You needed all of them, and they needed you."

But then again, the anti-enders say finish the passage:

JACK: For what?
CHRISTIAN: To remember . . .

"Life" is defined as:

1.  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;
• [ with adj. or noun modifier ] a particular type or aspect of people's existence;
• vitality, vigor, or energy;

2. the existence of an individual human being or animal;
• a biography;
• either of the two states of a person's existence separated by death (as in Christianity and some other religious traditions);
• any of a number of successive existences in which a soul is held to be reincarnated;
• a chance to live after narrowly escaping death (esp. with reference to the nine lives traditionally attributed to cats);

3. (usu. one's life) the period between the birth and death of a living thing, esp. a human being.

"Remember" is a verb meaning:

1. have in or be able to bring to one's mind an awareness of (someone or something that one has seen, known, or experienced in the past);
• [ with infinitive ] do something that one has undertaken to do or that is necessary or advisable;
• [ with clause ] used to emphasize the importance of what is asserted;
• bear (someone) in mind by making them a gift or making provision for them;
• (remember someone to) convey greetings from one person to (another);
• pray for the success or well-being of; and
• (remember oneself) recover one's manners after a lapse.

2. The word is derived from Latin "to call to mind" or mindful.


The characters represented the most important part of their collective lives, so that is why the created the sideways soul oasis. But "which" life? Some would say their human life. Others would say, based upon the mythology and images shown in the show, "any number of successive existences" including reincarnation. So when Christian says "life" it can be an ambiguous concept, especially in the Lost story.

But Christian tells Jack that he and his friends created the sideways place (where they are dead) in order to "remember" their past "experiences" together. Some will postulate that the sideways world was created AFTER the characters first met, and formed during their island world adventure. That could explain why there were ghosts and visions on the island.

But others would balk at that assertion that the ghosts were sideways world messengers or souls in charge of the construction of the sideways world. Dave, Hurley's vision, was not a part of the sideways story. We were told that Jack's vision of Christian was a smoke monster projection.

Further complicating any reasoned analysis is the statement from Christian that the sideways world contained no "now" or "present" time. It is an undefined magical statement to show how characters who died long before Jack and died long after Jack's death could co-exist together in a complex sideways world - - - for which we saw linear time events occur.

But an open question remains of "when" the characters "actually died."  Pro-enders believe that the characters survived the plane crash, and died when they did on or off the island. There is no room for reincarnation, or a purgatory level to the island so there is no belief that the characters souls manifest in human form such as the spirited smoke monster after dying in the plane crash. But these lost souls may have died at various time prior to the Flight 815 crash; a theorist would argue that the plane crash (like all the previous wrecks on the island) were mere metaphors of souls passing through one level of existence to another.

How can one reconcile the "nothingness" of sideways time and space which showed about a week's worth of linear time events to the "reality" of the island time and space which went on for months (on the island) and years (off-island)? You really cannot unless you make assumptions to fit a unified theory. One could argue that the survivors of plane crash only "lived" as long as the sideways world permitted (one week or so); meaning that the survivors minds raced through the island adventures like REM dreams and nightmares.

To "awaken" memories of a sideways soul means that those memories had to have be repressed; what represses memories? The existence of repressed memories is a controversial topic in psychology; some studies have concluded that it can occur in victims of trauma, while others dispute it. According to some psychologists repressed memories can be recovered through therapy. Other psychologists dispute this arguing that this is in fact rather a process through which memories are created through a blending of actual memories and outside influences. According to the American Psychological Association, it is not currently possible to distinguish a true repressed memory from a false one without corroborating evidence.

Memories can be accurate, but they are not always accurate. For example, eyewitness testimony even of relatively recent dramatic events is notoriously unreliable. Misremembering results from confusion between memories for perceived and imagined events, which may result from overlap between particular features of the stored information comprising memories for perceived and imagined events. Memories of events are always a mix of factual traces of sensory information overlaid with emotions, mingled with interpretation and "filled in" with imaginings. Thus there is always skepticism about how valid a memory is as evidence of factual detail. Some believe that accurate memories of traumatic events are often repressed, but remain in the subconscious mind, from where they can be recovered by appropriate therapy. Others believe that truly traumatic events are never forgotten in this way, although often people may not disclose their memories to others.

So, is the whole story of Lost boil down to a collective repressed memory of a plane crash? Who would "forget" surviving a plane crash? Why would such highly charged, emotional memories be repressed in one's after life?  Is this part of a dynamic that upon death, the conscious mind and the subconscious mind separate and a soul cannot "move on" in the after life without their mind being whole? The show writers did not intend to give a clear answer to any of these questions.

It comes down to a personal interpretation of the meaning of "reality" in the context of the Lost story.

REBOOT: EPISODES 29-32

LOST REBOOT 
Recap: Episodes 29-32 (Days  47-48)

Hurley worries that his new job will make him the most unpopular person in camp. Sawyer, Jin and Michael learn that their captors are actually survivors from the tail section of the plane. Claire finds the message bottle from the raft, making her and Sun fear the worst. Sayid’s exploration of the Hatch raises suspicions.

The Tail Survivors trek back to the Island’s South Beaches but encounter trouble as Michael breaks off by himself to find his son, Walt. Meanwhile, at the main camp, Sun  is heartbroken as she realizes that she has lost her wedding ring.

When Shannon sees Walt in her tent, she becomes convinced that he needs her help. Meanwhile, Sawyer’s bullet wound starts to become infected, prompting the tail-section group to pick up their pace, and risk cutting across the jungle where the Others  attacked the Tailies before. Michael, Jin, Sawyer and Ana Lucia’s group journey towards the 815 camp. Shannon sees Walt and she is shot and dies in the arms of Sayid.

In “The Other 48 Days,” the story of the tail section survivors, from the moment of the crash to the "present day" on the Island is reviewed. Ana Lucia, realizing that she survived a plane crash, becomes the de facto leader of an eclectic group of survivors. However, the newly formed community is put through extreme stress as they become targeted in attacks by other people living on the Island.

Science:
Clinical psychology. Libby lies to at least two people about her background while at the Tail section camp. She said she was a clinical psychologist, and later a drop out psychology student. She was neither in the flashbacks, but a mental patient with Hurley.

Although modern, scientific psychology is often dated at the 1879 opening of the first psychological laboratory,  attempts to create methods for assessing and treating mental distress existed long before. The earliest recorded approaches were a combination of religious, magical and/or medical perspectives.  In the early 19th century, one could have his or her head examined, literally, using phrenology, the study of personality by the shape of the skull. Other popular treatments included the study of the shape of the face—and mesmerism,  a treatment by the use of magnets. Spiritualism and "mental healing" were also popular.

By the second half of the 1800s, the scientific study of psychology was becoming well-established in university laboratories. Although there were a few scattered voices calling for an applied psychology, the general field looked down upon this idea and insisted on "pure" science as the only respectable practice. This changed when Lightner Witmer treated a young boy who had trouble with spelling. His successful treatment was soon to lead to Witmer's opening of the first psychological clinic at Penn in 1896, dedicated to helping children with learning disabilities. Ten years later in 1907, Witmer was to found the first journal of this new field, The Psychological Clinic, where he coined the term "clinical psychology," defined as "the study of individuals, by observation or experimentation, with the intention of promoting change.”

The island itself is intentionally trying to promote change in the characters by pushing them toward events and mysteries to solve. The connection with the electromagnetic energy of the island, the experimental stations and the perception that the survivors are being “observed” by the Others, are all classic elements of clinical psychology.

Improbabilities:
Sawyer surviving septic shock from infected gunshot wound in the jungle with no antibiotics  or treatment for days.

Mysteries:

The “Other” Others. When Eko and Jin hide in the underbrush when a party of 12 “natives” crosses their path while searching for Michael, the rag cloth and barefoot Others included children, with the last one dragging along 815 survivor Emma’s teddy bear. There has been a debate of whether these people were part of Ben’s group or a splinter group since they were patrolling part of the island far away from the safety of the Barracks.

Cindy the Flight Attendant. Was she an Other on the plane, or was she taken hostage then brainwashed or infected to become an Other? She appeared to be genuinely happy when Bernard found the radio (means of rescue). And if she was a pre-crash Other, why did Ben said Goodwin as a spy? Why did she lie when she said Nathan was not on the plane, when he was? Was Cindy the one who created “the list?” For several seasons, fans then questioned where was Cindy and the captured children?!

Themes:

Crazy. Several mentions in these episodes of characters saying they are not “crazy.”  But in flashbacks, we know several were crazy, including Hurley and Libby.

Change. “Change is good,” says Island Locke. But in his past life, change and acceptance was extremely hard for Locke.

Mirror universe. The Tail Section story line is a mirror image of the 815 story line (which some fans believed was the beginning of major filler episodes).  Ana and Nathan’s power struggle is like Jack and Locke. Goodwin and Nathan as being spies in the camps.
 
Clues:

Apollo candy bars are a talismans of the Island magic. an object held to act as a charm to avert evil and bring good fortune or something producing apparently magical or miraculous effects.

Some characters showing ESP traits like Rose knowing Bernard is safe and alright. It may foreshadow the TPTB concept of “mental time travel” where a person’s mind, like Desmond’s, sees the future which affects his decisions in the present.

Ana tells Eko that there is “no survivors - - - this is our life, get used to it!”

Visions. Shannon sees “ghost” Walt numerous times, which she interprets as a warning of impeding danger, but in her end runs toward the danger.

When Kate takes a shower, she says the water had sulfur in it. Sulfur has been equated to the fire and brimstone symbolism of hell.

Discussion:

“Some have been thought brave because they were afraid to run away.”
-- Thomas Fuller

Every main character on Lost was running away from something in their flashback past life. How characters faced adversity in the past was by quitting, as in the backstories of Hurley at Mr. Cluck’s or Jin as the doorman. Negative reinforcement brings about negative results as part of self-loathing by a person.

The hard lesson to be learned by these individuals that change can be good, as Island Locke told Claire. If one separates flashbacks as its own life cycle realm, the island as its own life cycle realm, and the flash forward/sideways world (purgatory) as its own life cycle realm, one can see that the character’s inability to meet their fears in their flashback lives is being re-created on the island to see if the character can change. In Shannon’s example, when her father was killed in a car crash, she was left alone and felt worthless. On the island, after Boone is killed, she is left alone and feels worthless until Sayid makes a connection with her and she helps the survivors with the radio message. But when on the island she accepts the change of being Sayid, she is killed. It appears in the island time, once you answer your fear, you die - - - game over. In Sayid’s case, when Shannon is killed, his revenge and anger from his flashback life are amplified against Ana.

The Sayid-Nadia relationship was the hardest thing most fans had to deal with when in The End, Sayid wound up with Shannon in the after life. In reviewing the reruns, and separating each time as a separate existence, we can see why Sayid winds up with Shannon. In the first time period, Sayid as a boy has no real connection with Nadia, as she is in a higher class family. Sayid as an adult had no feelings for Nadia when she is captured and tortured, it is more a Nadia crush on him (or manipulation for freedom). So when Sayid is searching for Nadia in the Island time period, it is guilt not affection. In the sideways world, the past lives are re-created in purgatory as a “holding” life until the characters are “awakened” to the knowledge of their Island lives. In the sideways world, Sayid still does not have Nadia; he is on the outside looking in. But when he is awakened, he realizes the only woman he physically loved was Shannon, and that is the connection that allows both of them to move on together.

The idea that elements of a person past is being re-created and re-worked from the flashback world, to the island world to the sideways world is like moving characters through a maze of levels in a computer game (one theory of the Lost premise.) Or it is the journey of a “lost” soul which needs to meet and conquer the deepest fear in order to be enlightened and “change” in order to move forward to the next life (Egyptian after life type theory). In either case, the Island is the testing ground for the mental aspect of a person’s life.


Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

Vincent.  He is Walt’s yellow Labrador Retriever.  Vincent originally belonged to Brian,   Walt's adoptive father. After the crash, Walt’s concern was for his dog - -  a strong emotional memory. Shortly after the crash, Vincent, who had been in the luggage compartment,  was searching the jungle.. Whilst doing this, he heard a whistle. It was Christian, who told the dog to go wake up his son, Jack.  As Vincent ran off towards Jack to do this, Christian stated that Jack "had work to do.” Vincent then continued running until he found Jack, who had just regained consciousness. As Jack awoke, he saw Vincent running towards him through the jungle and stopping to look at Jack. Vincent then continued exploring the jungle.

Vincent has led survivors into highly emotional and dangerous situations. Vincent woke up the survivors with his barking. Michael and Walt didn't know what had caused this but it was revealed to be the boars invading the camp; they were attracted to the scent of the dead corpses in the plane.(A symbolic theme of life from death)

Whilst trekking through the jungle, Vincent detected something and started to bark. As the sound of rustling in the jungle got louder, Vincent suddenly barked madly. Walt was unable to keep hold of Vincent, and he ran away. Walt chased after him, dropping the dog’s leash in the process. When Walt got rescued by his father and Locke from a polar bear later on, Walt told Locke that Vincent had run away. However Locke assured him that he would come back, just as he did before.

Vincent was chased by Michael in the jungle yet another time, which caused Michael to find Sun burying her secret driver’s license.  When Michael tried to comfort her, they nearly kissed, which would upset the Sun-Jin dynamic, but Vincent showed up barking just at that moment.

When Walt left with Michael to seek rescue on the raft, he placed Vincent in the care of Shannon so she would “not be alone.” Vincent initially tried to swim after the raft after it launched, but he shortly returned to the shore. In the following days, Vincent served as a source of comfort and distraction for Shannon, who had recently suffered the loss of her step-brother, Boone. (The Dog as nexus of point of death.)

At the caves, Vincent disappeared into the jungle, Shannon went after him saying she  couldn't lose the dog, as it was the only thing that someone asked her to do. So Shannon and Sayid ventured in the jungle to look for him. They found Vincent sitting in the jungle. When they attempted to catch him, Vincent ran off, and Shannon ran after him. She then heard whispers and saw a dripping wet Walt, who disappeared when Sayid came towards her with Vincent. The question is whether Vincent is shape shifting into illusions and/or is the agent to drive characters to event points in the Island time line.

Shannon continued caring for Vincent, right up until her sudden death, which was caused by her racing in the jungle trying to find the dog.  Before her second vision of Walt she fed Vincent. After Shannon saw Walt a second time, she attempted to use Vincent to track him by smelling Walt's shirt but he led her to Boone’s grave. He then led Shannon into the jungle but ran off just before her death. Later, Vincent returned to the beach to see Michael had returned and was reunited with him.
Egyptians were already burying dogs in the same way they buried humans with plenty of goods for the afterlife. In dynastic Egypt, dog mummies were made with great care and expense. At Hardai, the sacred city of the god Anubis there are sprawling dog cemeteries.When thinking of dogs as deities few come to mind as quickly as  Anubis, the god of the underworld, at times is represented clearly as a dog, at other times he appears more like a jackal.  Anubis was one of the most ancient of Egyptian gods closely associated with funerary rites and the afterlife. He was guide to the dead and the one who weighted the souls of the deceased against the feather of Maat (truth and order). Socrates referred to Anubis when he swore "by the Dog of Egypt."

In the End, Vincent does not leave the Island but remains by Jack’s side. If Vincent is the manifestation of an underworld entity “leading” souls through their personal journeys, it would explain the underlying premise of the show.
Last lines in episodes:

EP 29:

MICHAEL: Okay, it's okay. She's good.
[Shot of Rose putting an Apollo bar in her pocket, holding Bernard's ring and smiling.]

EP 30:
JIN: [handing Sun her bag]
In Korean: Here you are.
[Then they gaze into each other's eyes. And it's love at first sight.]
[On-Island - Sun on the beach crying and happy and scared.]

EP 31:
SAYID: Shannon! Shannon.
[Shannon turns around to reveal a wound in her gut. She collapses into Sayid's arms and dies. Then we see Ana standing there with the gun. And shocked looks on Jin and Michael's faces. Sayid looks like he has murder in his heart looking at Ana.]

EP 32:
ANA LUCIA: You think they're okay? Let's find out. Hit me.

New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

Three realms of premise to consider: Reality-Survival. Surreality-Fantasy. Death-After Life Journey.

If total reality, as Robinson Caruso meets the Lord of the Flies action-adventure drama of surviving on a deserted island; the premise is simple: what would you do as part of the castaways?

But with references to The Numbers, curses, mysteries, and crazy mental torment, a Stephen King world of horror-fantasy could explain that the unknowing participants are test subjects in cruel human experiments to test good, evil and free will.

But with supernatural elements quickly imposed on the Island, that would change the premise dramatically. In death, if one does not let go the baggage of their past life, they can not move forward toward heaven. It is a simplistic notion of the after life is not a good vs. evil punishment place, but a place where one conquers their personal fears head on, accepts them and then changes their personality for the better. Example, Hurley. He is an introverted, overweight person who sees his life as a dead end. He must divert to fantasy because he cannot cope at times with reality. He has been institutionalized in a mental facility. But the agent of change in his flashback world is the lottery ticket. Instead of embracing the change of wealth, he hides the secret and the Numbers mean that he is cursed by endless bad luck. He goes further into a shell because he cannot cope with the thought of success. On the island, he becomes more extroverted until he is tested with the inventory of the Hatch pantry. He realizes that everyone will “hate” him as the food czar. It is this change he cannot accept. He turns a positive event into a negative reality.

An ancillary theory was developed that the whole Island was Leonard Sims’ Mental Home for imaginary friends. Leonard was a long time patient at the mental hospital where Hurley and Libby were in-patients. He had the means to observe all the other patients, and had access to other areas such as psych/prison ward. All these faces, memories, stories could be jumbled together to create a layered mental illness fantasy place nightmare that is LOST. Leonard was lost in his own mind, and kept bringing in elements from his life in the hospital into dark island setting. It is the mirror image of the ghost elements that the 815 survivors see on the island as illusions. In a reversal, the 815 characters are the illusions in Leonard’s head. And the sudden “they lived happily ever after” ending to the series in the church, is the type of child like fantasy story a mentally challenged person like Leonard could create to cope or end his nightmare.

Leonard had to have been probed by medical specialists for years. He was aware of the techniques, protocols, experiments and theories that were given to him. From the studies conducted on himself, Leonard could internally reverse those same principles to create his own fantasy world to the study of individuals he met or observed at the hospital, and put them through various journeys to see if they could “change.” For this could be the only way Leonard himself could change and end his own mental problems  was to have closure for all his important imaginary friends through the use of foundational elements of clinical psychology.

POSTING NOTE: Due to work changes, I may not be able to post updates on Tuesdays after Monday night marathon G4 reruns, but updates will occur later in the week.

S6E15 LIGHT POOL

There are some viewers who are miffed by the concept of a magical light pool being the center piece of the island. It resorts to some sort of extraterrestrial location.

I have always thought that the best explanation for the unexplained would be the premise that the island was in a different realm like the underworld. TPTB were outspoken in Season 1 against the concept that the island was purgatory, but it could be a purgatory type setting without the religious connotations.

Maybe part of the viewer confusion is that the initial expectations of the show was presented in a style of a shipwreck-survival-adventure story which morphed into a science fiction now fantasy story line. The creators claim that all of these key elements were contained within the pilot episode, but besides the smoke monster, this is not accurate. The idea of "Jacob" did not get mentioned until late in Season 2, or any context until after Season 3.

People had hoped Season 6 was the light at the end of the tunnel, but they were not expecting the light to be a glowing pool of Life. The circumstances show that the special property of the island is not just strange electromagnetic energy, but the substance of Life itself. As stated in earlier posts, the Life force appears to be finite matter which can be "consumed" but not replaced. When MIB's body floated into the cave, the light diminished and the dark smoke monster appeared. If that is the case, then how is the Life force delivered to human beings?

When CrazyMom said the light was "life, death and re-birth," it could mean that the island is that nexus point between realms of life and death (after life). Not quite purgatory, but the light pool could a human soul recycling station. Except, the fact is that not very many people ever found the place; that its guardian's sole purpose was to guard the light pool from everyone.

ISLAND OF THE GODS

The results of a random search for "island gods" led me to this:

Dol hareubangs, also called tol harubangs, hareubangs, harubangs, are large mushroom-like statues found on Jeju Island (called "The Island of the Gods") off the southern tip of Korea. They are considered to be gods offering both protection and fertility and were placed outside of gates for protection against demons travelling between realities.

It may be the simple explanation for the Island. We have seen clues that match this description: Tawaret, a goddess of protection and fertility once stood guard on the Island shore. We have seen in the frozen donkey wheel cavern the words about opening side (Earth) gates for the eternities. The hatch alarm signaled the release of a gate by one who escapes a place of death.

We are getting closer to the final "reveal," the mystery of mysteries: what is the Island?
Possible answer: the nexus point of the gates where demons travel between realities (island world and the sideways world).