GHOSTS

There will always be a debate on what the characters were on the island: human or spirits (souls).

But a subset of this debate can be the theory that the main characters did not know they were ghosts or spirits, so they lived a continuation of their lives as humans. Another tangent would be that they were spirits but were on the island to redeem their souls to become human once more.

The latter would be an interesting concept. One of the themes were "second chances."  What if there newly deceased had a second chance to reclaim their human life?

How would one go about reclaiming one's humanity?

If you were an evil person, would you have to do something "good" as in sacrificing yourself to save another?

But if you were a normal person, would you have to do something different, to erase a haunting "regret" in order to be saved?

The island whispers were said to have been trapped souls, such as Michael, after he died. Trapped souls infer that the island was some kind of purgatory where spirits could not move on unless something changed or they were released from their bondage.

If the island was merely a series of "humanity tests," who were the people that passed - - - and left the island as humans? It is noteworthy that Ben and the Dharma group both had a keen interest in island pregnancies. What is human life more than a fetus? It is the start of human life. But children could not be born on the island because their mothers were not human. But the experiments tried to create humans from ghosts in order to find the key to transform back into their human bodies.

Frank survived the submarine explosion and was found by Alpert and Miles, who had decided to continue as planned without Ben who had joined up with Flocke. Frank suggested that they escape the Island in the Ajira plane instead of destroying it. Upon reaching the plane, they repaired its broken windshield and damaged hydraulic systems. This brought the plane into good working condition, allowing Frank to prepare for takeoff. As the plane was taxiing down the collapsing Hydra Island runway, it managed to slow down so that Ford, Austen, and Claire could be pulled aboard. The Ajira plane safely took off just as the runway began to crack; its occupants managed to escape the initially self-destructing Island.

Who were the final survivors? Frank was an alcoholic pilot who should have died in the original 815 crash. Miles was a mystic con man who befriended Sawyer. Sawyer was a vengeful con man who killed the man who ruined his life. Kate was a troublemaker who killed her father and fled from responsibility and justice. Claire was bad daughter (her negligence killed her mother) and bad mother (she abandoned her son and went crazy). None of these characters had any major revelations or changes in their personality or morals to deserve to be "re-born" as humans to travel back to their past lives.

Jack was the one who sacrificed himself so the others could flee the island. He took on the guardian role to defeat Flocke (even though it was Kate's bullet that downed the smoke monster human form.)

The Ajira survivors all had deep rooted mental issues tied to self-esteem problems from events early in their lives. They had a sense of abandonment by one parent; they had family secrets which made their skin crawl. They did not want to take full responsibility for their actions. They wanted to escape in their own fantasy image of themselves.

But everyone dreams about their perfect self. Hurley wanted to be a confident, witty, popular and successful businessman with a charming wife and adoring family. But in the end, he did not achieve that self-image.  The same is true with Locke. He also had a strong longing to have a sense of "family" but he had a hard time gathering the trust of even friendships. In the end, he was alone in the church. He never did find the family he was looking for through all the hardships of the island.

What was the greatest "asset" the Ajira survivors maintain during their island ordeals to gather their ticket home? Frank, Miles, Kate, Claire and Sawyer all kept away from making leadership decisions. They were soldiers not generals. They did not want to seize power or control. That fit into their plan of self-survival - - - but in reality, the thing that tied them all together was being selfish.  They generally lacked consideration for others; they were concerned chiefly with their own personal profit, pleasure or safety.

If true, then "self-sacrifice" was a death sentence on the island. It would be the opposite of common sense or a normal story trope. If only the selfish survived, that would be a bad moral to the story.

But LOST was never really about morals. Characters did dubious things for strange reasons.

If Frank, Miles, Kate, Claire, Alpert and Sawyer were ghosts who passed the island test to regain their humanity, what actually was the test?

They all did survive the judgment (and destruction) by the smoke monster(s). None of them really wanted to seize the island's magic powers away from the guardian. Some of them did kill other people while on the island so a good-evil, right or wrong judgment seemed not to apply. But all of them really had no one waiting for them when they returned home (except for Claire and her son who may be of the age to know his mother had abandoned him in order to reject her). The LOST main story could have been told without any of these five characters. So why did they get special treatment at the climax of the show?

Unless they were always humans trapped in a spirit world. All the other characters on the island were spirits. We know Alpert, who left with them, was a spirit. He became immortal by the gift (or curse) of the guardian to serve him as a go-between with the people he brought to the island. But once Alpert cleared the confines of the island, he began to age. He regained his humanity not by serving the new island guardian or fighting for the black smoke monster - - - he got lucky enough to find himself with an opportunity to leave the island.

And this is why LOST will always have mixed commentary and two sides to any issue. There was no clarity in character traits and story line answers. The ambiguity weaved throughout the series fed the imaginations of the viewers to the point where fan theories were more canon than the show runner's scripts. The stories themselves cast ghosts into the mythology of the series.

The idea that no one survived Flight 815 break up and crash was probable. The idea that the deceased souls could not pass over in the after life because of unresolved personal issues was plausible. The idea that the island ghosts could have a chance to reclaim their humanity is possible.

INCARNATE

Every major religion has a creation myth that has elements of gods creating human beings on Earth. Several religions also believe that once a person dies, their spirit will be reincarnated into another person (or form).

The ancient Egyptians had a complex view of reincarnation. Their belief system is founded on two gods coming to Earth to begat mankind. The subsequent Pharaohs were believed to be the reincarnated souls of those original gods. Since they were gods, Pharaohs ruled with impunity.

But the incarnate god was not reserved just for royalty. The Egyptians believed that when a person died, his "ba," the spirit associated with one's character and personality, leaves the body to find a new vessel in which to be reborn. The souls of the departed continue to return to new bodies for an infinite cycle.

There have been several research papers on the subject. Scientists interviewed various people from different parts of the globe who claimed to have remembered clear details of their past lives. Scientists then would take this information and try to independently verify the recalled facts. In several instances, researchers concluded that the interviewees remembered things that they could have not known (personal information, names of relatives, phone numbers, houses, etc) that were not accessible to them in the present time.

There has always been a puzzle when reproduction happens in people. When the egg and sperm fuse, historically it was said there is a "spark of life," some form of energy which gives rise to fertility to the newborn. Theorists think that spark of energy may be a soul that the fuels the rebirth of a spirit.

On the other extreme, in the realm of B-movie sci-fi, science knows of all the elements of a human body, its chemical composition and structure. In theory, what is missing from the base elements is a form of electrical current that makes the human organs (including brain) function. In Frankenstein, the mad scientist uses lightning bolts to jump start "life" in a corpse. This "re-animation" is different than reincarnation since the former tries to re-use the old vessel to bring back a person's life.

It is not as far fetched as one would assume since emergency room personnel routinely revive cardiac arrest patients with electric stimulation. But in the re-animation world, it is assumed that the brain functions as a storage device for all memories, personality, speech, etc like a turned off hard drive. Turning the brain back on would revive that person's personality.

But the Egyptian view would say no. The dead person's character and personality is not located in the brain but in the spirit (or soul) of the individual. And once the person dies, their soul leaves the body so re-animation will not work.

In the Egyptian dead scrolls, it is said that the deceased spirits have to journey through the underworld to be judged before being reborn. And since one spirit can be reborn more than once, the journey could be fraught with danger.

In LOST, the island could be a representative underworld where souls travel to begin their journey to the after life. This would explain why certain characters, Mikhail Bakunin, could apparently die over and over again on the island. It could also explain how Desmond survived the Swan station implosion to be found naked wandering around the jungle (symbolic "reborn.")

One of the story principles in the series was giving the characters "a second opportunity" in life. Reincarnation would be a means to give a person (especially a tortured soul like Locke) a new beginning, a new life.

ENERGY MATTER SPIRITS

For what it is worth, the theme of spirituality can be changed to spirits as an explanation of the Jacob-MIB dynamic.

We were taught that e=mc2 or energy=mass x the speed of light squared.

Energy has a mass component, but also mass has an energy component (e/speed of light squared).

We look upon ourselves as organic beings with the sense of higher purpose, or a spiritual take on the universe.

What if it is the opposite. What if there are spirits who are beings who take on energy to form mass.

For example, when Jacob is "killed" but is still wandering the island interacting with the castaways, he comes to his final time at a camp fire. He tells the castaways that once the "fire" goes out his life ends. So he asks for a volunteer to be the next island guardian.

From this exchange we can postulate that Ben did not "kill" Jacob, per se. MIB burned Jacob's body, but that was merely a shell for the spirit called Jacob. The spirit could still live if it had a source of energy (a fire). The spirit consumed the body mass into energy, then recreated it in a physical form to interact and communicate with the survivors.

This is the same mechanism to explain the smoke monster. It can change physical appearance from MIB, smoke or Flocke because it is not confined to a human body. As a spirit, it can manipulate energy into physical form to absorb more energy (perhaps, as speculated in earlier posts, consuming the "fear" from human beings).

This explains why Jacob and MIB could not harm each other - - - because as spirits they are equals. They are not doomed by age, injury or death of a human being. They are immortal if they chose to be immortal. But if they chose to leave the island, then their spiritual existence would be compromised. The island, with its unusual magnetic energy, was the source of the spiritual well being of Jacob and MIB. But when that was disrupted, it endangered each of them.

In nature, all beings have some sense of survival. Crazy Mother's rampage against the Roman shipwreck survivors was probably to protect the spiritual energy field - - - her own survival. But just with Jacob's demise, MIB had altered the energy field with the FDW so Crazy Mother was venerable. She no longer wanted to live trapped on the island alone, so she submitted to her own death. Or so it would seem. Her spirit may have lived on in Jacob, who we were led to believe was a boy who became immortal when he became the guardian. Likewise, when his brother was killed but found his soul cast into the light cave, he turned into a spirit as well.

The idea that the island was populated with spirits and not immortal human beings helps explain the nature of the Jacob-MIB story. However, it does not explain the relationship with the island visitors and 815 survivors whose mortality was clearly displayed throughout the series.

SPIRIT ANIMALS

Otherkin are people who identify as partially or entirely non-human. Some say that they are, in spirit if not in body, not human.

This is explained by some members of the otherkin community as possible through reincarnation,   having a nonhuman soul, ancestry, or symbolic metaphor. Some scholars categorize this identity claim as "religious" because it is largely based on supernatural beliefs.

Otherkin largely identify as mythical creatures, with others identifying as creatures from fantasy or popular culture. Examples include: angels, demons, dragons, elves, fairies, sprites, aliens and cartoon characters.  Many otherkin believe in the existence of a multitude of parallel/alternative universes, which would explain the existence and the possibility to relate to fantastical beings and fictional characters.

Many of these themes like life, death, demons, monsters, souls, reincarnation, heaven and hell, are embodied in the LOST mythology. Why were the Others called "the Others."  Was this a clue to their origin, as otherkin (not human but spirits)? That would put a different spin on the island and the show's premise, being more underworld than real world.

Another realm of otherkin is the bonding of humans with spirits. Self-identification with another person, community or lifestyle helps mold a person's character and personality. Otherkin is essentially another manifestation of this phenomenon, which has its roots deep in human psychology; in other human tribes, it's perfectly acceptable to identify with a spirit animal and to take on traits and fetishes relating to that creature. 

What would be the spirit animals for each main character "Candidates?"

Hurley: Turtle. Slow, steady, nonthreatening, loner.

Kate: Rabbit. Fast, on the run, avoids people and danger, cute, adorable.

Sawyer: Snake. Lies low, stalks prey, strikes when least expected, deadly.

Sayid: Scorpion. Shifts with the sand, dangerous quick strike ability, deadly.

Jack: Horse. Strong, steady, a hard worker.

Locke: Lone Wolf. Seeker, follower, trying to find own path.

Jin: Shark. Always on the move, looking for opportunity, advantage, willing to hunt in pack.

GEMINI SYNDRONE

There is a philosophy that each person is born with a duality.

Gemini is the ‘twins of the zodiac.’ That itself kind of captures the whole concept of duality, but on a philosophical level;  you have yin-yang, positive and negative, day and night, and left and right. These are principles that we created. We made words for those things to help us understand the world that we live in. Bringing those two sides together, everybody has good and bad days, good things and bad things, and even we have good shows and bad shows. It’s just trying to balance those two things to make your life more fulfilling and trying to make it the most positive experience you can.

Each person could be said to contain two individual characters.

There is the conscious self as opposed to the unconscious self. In the light of day we have a public self, while at night we can have a private, dark self where societal rules do not apply.

There is the good behavioral person as opposed to the evil persona. Each person has within themselves to do evil. It is how we check this bad twin is what keeps normal people from becoming criminals.

We have split personalities of the work ethic and the procrastinator, where there is a moving slide mixing the two elements to determine the course of our daily lives. Some days we are work horses, other days we are lazy bums.

We also have various emotional states that are constantly in flux. Love-hate relationships. Kindness versus cruelty. Extroverted energy to introverted paralysis. There are various shades of the emotional self that has many variables based upon cultural and environmental cues.

LOST had various themes which included a duality principle.

The mirror is a reflection of one's self. It also could be considered to represent the other side of your personality (usually a darker one).

Duality is a central principle in Egyptian burial mythology, where a person's soul is divided into parts which are reunited if the person passes final judgment.

Several main characters went through drastic phases in their lives. For example, Ben was a shy, introverted school boy who deep inside hated his father to the point of being an evil mass murderer and dark tyrant. But even then, the story twists unbelievably to Ben as a sympathetic nice guy waiting to cure his sins in the sideways purgatory. Fans were drawn quickly to the evil Ben more so than the redeemed Ben.

And the fact that LOST was set in two different dimensions is still a cause of great concern. Was the sideways world purgatory, heaven, dream state or alternative universe? Likewise, was the island time line real, imagined, science fiction worm hole or psychotic?

The series raised duality concepts but failed to clearly address them in a coherent fashion.

CREATURES

When you rise in the morning, form a resolution to make the day a happy one to a fellow-creature. - - - Sydney Smith

A "creature" is normally defined as an animal, as distinct from a human being, however it can be used for either an animal or person, such "as fellow creatures on this planet, animals deserve respect."

It can also mean a fictional or imaginary being, typically a frightening one like a creature from outer space.

There is a possibility that the characters on LOST were a combination of both definitions. The main characters could be human, animal or imaginary beings from another world.

It goes back to the survival of one coming to the island. It is debatable whether anyone of Flight 815 survived the crash. However, if one looks back on how other people got to the island, there is also a clue about what dimension the island truly occupies. Juliet was given a massive overdose of drugs in order to board the submarine which would take her to the island. There is no reason for a person to be sedated in order to travel the Pacific in a submarine. It was a possible ruse to kill her and take her spirit to the island. Likewise, Desmond came to the island after being adrift on the Pacific Ocean for weeks, which could also have led to his own demise before reaching the island.

The island could be the bridge between the human world and the spirit world (and the after life).

This nexus point between real, unreal and surreal does touch on elements of the series that are unexplained, unexplainable and unknown.

Theology aside, what happens to a person when they nearly die? There are ample studies of the "near death" experience where patients get to a euphoric dream state where there is a white light. There body is still alive, but their mind (or soul) has left it to start another conscious passage to another place.  The question is the place, for people who don't come back cannot tell their doctors what was that new place.

So in chart form, one can imagine:

LIFE   - - - - NEAR DEATH - - -  DEATH - - - - AFTER LIFE

If one believes that man has more than just a biochemical body, a soul which differentiates man from other creatures, then a body's demise does not mean actual "death" in the conventional sense. A person's mind can live on, and possibly be re-created with a new "body" or vessel.

I theorized during the series run that if one ties the show to the ancient Egyptian rituals referenced in the series, the premise of the plots could center around near death and death experiences in a supernatural underworld. In the near death phase, the characters like the 815ers do not realize they are dead (or they don't accept it), therefore their spirits continue to "live" their past lives in a different dimension created by their collective memories. It is when these spirit creatures actually realize and accept their mortality, do they become full spirits in the sideways world, ready for their journey into the after life. This multi-stage process helps clarify the apparent conflicts within the plot about who dies and what happens to them (such as Patchy dying several times but somehow came back to life to torment the castaways).

By viewing the main characters not as continuations of their past selves, but as spiritual creatures trying to reel in their fate (death) by masking it with subconscious and dream state emotions would be a complex resolution to the characters' overall development.

UNIFIED IN SPIRIT

The attempt to unify the various story aspects of LOST is a difficult chore.

One cannot be positive about anything.

As Oscar Wilde wrote,  “All art is at once surface and symbol. Those who go beneath the surface do so at their peril.” 

Exactly. What was the true peril in LOST?

What was the one fear that bound together everyone?

It may be a basic human inner terror: dying alone.

The composite feature of any of the main characters were that they were basically loners wandering through life with little or no true friendships. Some say that it is not how you perceive your own life, but your life will be judged by those who attend your funeral.

Human beings have a tribal instinct to belong to a family, a community, kindred spirits. But during one's life, those connections can get lost - - - trampled by the pressures of work, obligations, derailed by alcohol, drugs or quests for power, or tortured relationships including rejection.

That is a heavy dose of DOOM that people think is shadowing them throughout their lives.

If we examine what was below the surface of the island, we find two things. First, we find the ancient Egyptian temple complex, with a drawing of the smoke monster sitting across from Anubis, the god of the underworld. Second, we find the mysterious light force which is said to bring life, death and rebirth through supernatural powers which includes moving both time and space. Despite what is shown on the surface of the island, below is the clear symbolism of death and the after life. And the smoke monster is clearly depicted as part of this underworld realm.

Attached to the subsurface of the island are the roots of the plants, including the banyon trees which some believe have magical powers to ward off evil because spirits reside in their roots. Juliet and Kate were saved from the attacking smoke monster by hiding in the tree roots. What also is tied to the surface of the island? We would learn from Michael that the whispers are trapped spirits who cannot move on in death. Michael was one of those trapped spirits when he spoke to Hurley.

So we could conclude that the island itself is symbolic border between the living and the spirit world. We can also conclude that the smoke monster is a form of a spirit that is trapped on the island. As a spirit, it has magical abilities to change matter and form, to probe the minds and memories of human beings, and to destroy or kill. In all natural systems, there is a balance in order for the system to sustain itself. If the smoke monster is a evil, dark force, then the light force represents the counterbalance of good. It would have its own representative shape or smoke monster form on the island - - - which probably is symbolic of the island guardian such as Jacob.

Jacob being an energy being, a spirit, can explain why he could give Alpert the gift of life on the island because he was connected to the life spirit who can give life and rebirth. Thus, it is fair to assume that there are more than one smoke monster on the island. This could explain why Rousseau's reanimated dead crew members came after her, to turn her into another smoke creature. It could also explain why there was an obsession with new born children. Evil spirits who are trapped or chained to the island because of their evil past may believe that taking a new born, free from sin (pure goodness), absorbing that soul could be the key to releasing their bonds to the island underworld.

We have an island filled with symbols of death and the rituals of the underworld. We have an island inhabited by immortals and spirits. Indeed, the island is thus a magical place not fully of Earth.

If spirits are energy beings, the uncontrolled release of the EM pulse such as Desmond's failure to input the containment numbers causes the spirits to surge into time and space to attach themselves to human beings or to draw them (shipwreck them) on the island. So we can have the 815 plane crash survivors being live, human beings living in a spiritual realm that seems, on the surface, just another Pacific island. 

There has to be some sort of unwritten bargain at play. The trapped spirits need to have humans come to the island for their own redemptive purposes, so their chains can be released so their souls can move on. But redemption is not what happens to any of the main characters on LOST. In fact, no one really has a defining revelation and life changing redemption on the island. There was no more compass that judged good or evil in their hearts. So what could the island spirits give the castaways that was so important, so valuable, that it could redeem them?

Since the spirits are dead, they had experienced the human frailty of dying alone. The island visitors have not gone through that end life moment. The spirit world would give them one last chance to find true connections with other human beings to avoid the fate of the whispers. Friendship, which includes affection, love, respect, trust and deep memories, was the passport for the 815 survivors to reach the sideways church, which was symbolic of their own group funeral.

When Christian said that "they" created the sideways universe, he was probably mistaken. It was the released spirits who created the supernatural alternative sideways world to hold departed souls in a state of ignorant limbo until everyone in the group was ready to "move on." The freed island spirits created the sideways world as their last penance before they themselves could move on. When know MIB could shape shift forms, so we can assume other spirits can too. And using the memories of the human visitors, the spirits and the island magic could create a realistic alternative world. And this could explain why it was slightly different, because a person's memories contain both factual recollection of past events as well as a person's dreams. So that may be why the spirit sideways world had Jack married to Juliet.

The bargain was simple: if the trapped island spirits could change human beings to be good, then they could be released from their island purgatory, and thus helping the humans from their inglorious fates of dying alone (and being unable to move on, like trapped spirits). The theme of redemption had little to do with the main characters, but it was the stake for the invisible characters, the island spirits.

This bargain unites two major elements of the series: life and death. How one lives their life is important, but it is also how one lives in death that is just as important. It answers the question of why people were brought to the island (to release trapped spirits). It answers the question why MIB was frustrated (most humans became corrupt-evil and turned into more whispers trapped on the island like himself). It also answers why an unlikely bunch of diverse people from Flight 815 could do something no other visitors could accomplish - - - because they truly changed their lonely paths and made strong friendships and bonds with unlikely people which enhanced the goodness in the island's life force.  The reward for this bounty was the release of the whispers, who in turn rewarded the castaways with something they could only dream about: dying together, and not alone.

WHAT BRIDGES THE GAPS IN STORY

Perhaps we must look beyond our modern viewpoint of the world, society and culture to find deeper answers to life's questions.

Ponder this: ancient civilizations created massive stone temples which today, modern man cannot replicate.

Throughout history, man has known it was different from other members of the animal kingdom. Man's brain function was far superior to the creatures that inhabited the same environment. With thoughts and observations came memories. And memories led to applied knowledge of how the world around them functions. In time, man learned to manipulate the environment around him which was the seeds of civilization.

But at the same time, man knowing it was different, tried to figure out if there was something more to living on Earth. If man was special, is it possible that there was something unique inside him and her that would live beyond our mortality. In order to live, man are dead animals. But at the same time, man learned live poisonous plants could kill man. It was one of the first paradox.

Many ancient cultures believed in a higher order of existence. Some thought that there was a spirit in everything: man, woman, child, plants, animals, earth, sky . . . every object contained a spirit. And if the spirits lived in harmony, all was well in the world.

Some narrowed the view to limit spirits to human beings, the special inhabitants of the planet. They called their spirits "souls" which gave them to prospect of immortality after death. Civilizations began to study then worship the concept of the soul. It changed the perspective of time. Time usually meant one thing: the harvest cycle which was symbolic of life itself - - - since the harvest was the real means of survival. But if one's soul could live beyond our mortal coil, then they looked to the stars and the long cycle of cosmic events. People began to view their place not in their physical location but a part of a larger universe.

Thoughts of the unknown led to philosophy. Deep thinkers who wondered, speculated, formulated then told stories about us and our place in the universe. As such, no one could actually challenge the formation of opinion of the unknown realms. And in certain respects, personal belief systems have cast mankind in reverse, to a more primitive and violent shell of their enlightened selves. The concept of one "true" religion has little place in a pure spiritual world.

Love, honor, community, family, trust are all elements of an enlightened human being. They are markers that most people believe help feed and comfort their mind to live a proper life in order to receive a proper reward after death. A person's spirit or soul is merely in a pupa stage of existence. In the end, it will release itself from the host body to a) reincarnate into another spirit animal or b) become energy and pass through a portal to a different dimension.

As stated in previous posts, there are wide gaps between facts, science fiction and fantasy plot lines in LOST. But one could argue now that the mortar that could fill those story spaces is the spiritual world. The producers remarked that Season 6's turn was toward a bigger question of spirituality, but without actually answering the question. It is not obvious, but probable that the pre-island represents reality, the island represents the transition between humanity and the spirit world, and the sideways world the spiritual after life. But the odd thing is that the main characters personality never changed in any of those plains of existence. Even ancient philosophers would be puzzled by that fact.

UP IN SMOKE

Another significant feature to LOST was the island smoke monster. It took many forms, as a menacing and killing mass of darkness, to human form in Christian Shephard, a horse and Flocke.

But if the characters were in a dream state, what does smoke symbolize?

The smoke is a dream symbol for conflict-laden forces which are stronger, the closer, biting or more darkly the smoke is in the dream. It is a good sign if the smoke still resolves during the dream action or pulls. This points because to a relaxation of the dreaming or his conflict, a solution can be found. We should find out whether it concerns the grey-black smoke of a fire or the white-grey of a blazing fire. Smoke can symbolize in the dream also passion, even if it is not 'roused' maybe yet for a certain person. In addition, smoke stands at the same time for cleaning.

At the spiritual level the smoke in the dream is a symbol for the prayer or the victim which climbs to the sky. In addition, smoke can also show climbing the soul figuratively. This may be the process of cleansing the soul for its journey to the after life.

If everyone needs to be or become a smoke monster in order to clean up their sins, issues, emotional failings and burdens as a means of enlightenment and re-birth in the after life, the island could have been that proving ground. In the theme of light and dark, it is possible that the soul is split into two separate divisions, the dark side of the soul going to the island while the light side going to the sideways world. As such a person's aura gets two ways in which to see the bigger picture of life. The sideways world draws out the "goodness" in a person, while the island world draws out the bad. It is when a person true soul can come to terms with both the dark and light can it be re-awakened to continue its journey through eternity.

It would seem to be a personal redemption without a moral component. Most people have issues based upon environment, personality, disorders, relational and cultural factors that may bog down a person's achievements in their life. The separation of the darkness from the good is a means of purifying the spirit so one side does not dominate over the other. Balance, which is key in nature, is restored when the person is ready to accept themselves for whom they are.

INTERLOPERS

The cable TV ads have been hyping a new sci-fi series, The Intruders, in which the premise seems to be that undead spirits come back to take over bodies of real people in order to do no good.

Why spirits would need to take over human bodies to do their evil deeds is unknown. The classic ghost story has transparent forms causing havoc in people's minds. It is like when the smoke monster, MIB, took the form of dead John Locke. He really did not have to so it.  At the time, some speculated that it needed to have a dead body in order to reincarnate in its form. However, MIB/Smokey did it without a body with island Christian.

The premise could be an explanation of the two different worlds LOST created in Season 6.

In the sideways world, all the characters were dead. Dead for a long and short time. If this is the true point of beginning, that the characters were dead before the series began and dead before getting on Flight 815, then perspectives change.

If everyone was dead already, and living in a purgatory setting as boring and mundane as their past lives on Earth (which they have repressed including their own fates), how do dead souls dream?

One would expect that being spirits, their dreams may not be confined to a human brain in REM sleep but could be projected without physical limitations because spirits are closer to energy beings than humanoids.

Perhaps this collective spiritual dream state created the island story. (This is the exact opposite position that most viewers perceive the series based on how events unfolded over the years).

The island could be a fantasy island for the dead.  Think about it: the main characters did irrational, stupid, crazy things without thinking about the consequences. It was an adventure vacation for some. It was an intense emotional soul search for others.

Now could the spirits rematerialize as human beings in the real world? Perhaps.
Or would it have been easier to commandeer human beings and steal those bodies for their vacation fun?

The physical imagines of the characters are the same in the sideways and real world, but that is a matter of convenience. Sideways Jack spirit was someone else's ghost who just wound up in real world Jack's body. And the interloper theory helps explain why some characters had dramatic life shifts after boarding Flight 815. This would include the experienced pilots, who lost control of their plane. It also includes Jack, whose human body and mind would not have become the "leader" that spirit Jack wanted to be in the sideways world.

The main characters were kidnapped by sideways world spirits who needed to re-live some part of their lives in order to break the bonds of their purgatory.

RECYCLED LIVES

There is an interesting concept, which may have roots in ancient Asian cultures, that states that individuals in the present are basically recycled souls.

We do not have the individuality that we think we have because we are the continuation of past lives, in different bodies, with different memories, experiences, etc.

It is a form of reincarnation, but different. It states that the soul or spirit is the living being, not the human form that looks us in the mirror each morning. The spirit is a non-physical form that inhabits flesh and bone (or in some cultures all things).

The application of this concept to LOST is interesting because the characters who were brought back together in the end church had very little in common besides the island experience. One would think that in an after life setting, the departed would reunite with the parents, siblings and spouses - - -  not a raggy band of misfits.

But step back and view the characters not as human beings but the 10th, 20th or 50th version of a spirit. Spirits whose past lives are repressed until their awakening prior to their next version.

As such, the reunion was not about the human characters but perhaps a long standing family or community of like spirits who have completed their last past human existence and are now ready for the next one.

There is some science to the notion that we are not individuals but a collection of past lives: in our DNA. It contains the genetic material for past generations so in fact we each our living histories of many people's pasts. Whether this past DNA is computer code that has an effect on our mental processes, and how our personality leads our lives, is unknown.

If LOST is viewed not as a human drama but as external spirits riding through a material world it does change the entire outlook of the series.

THE SPIRIT THEORY

In reading an article about ancient neurosurgery, I came across an interesting sidebar on how some South American cultures used the process of cutting holes in skulls to treat "spirits" inside a person's head.

It seems strange that ancient priests would crack skulls to release spirits that had taken over a person's mind and body. It could have been a way to explain a person's seizures, epilepsy or swelling of the brain casing to a primitive people.

Many medical researches do not believe ancient cultures performed neurosurgery. However, several archeologists and medical doctors have concluded that ancient people  had trepanned skulls, under the cultural significance to release spirits trapped inside the brain. Forensic archeologists claim that by using sharp glass, one can open the skull of a recently deceased 2-year-old in four minutes. Cutting a similar hole in an adult skull required 50 minutes.  The studies fall back on various finds in Central and South America where skulls had various holes in them. These holes did not have the signs of being from blunt trauma like a pick-axe or spear, but a deliberate round opening in the skull.

However, other researchers have come to the conclusion that that ancient neurosurgeons were removing bone fragments from injuries sustained during combat. Modern research has provided strong evidence for this, especially among the Inca. For one thing, far more males than females had trepanation holes, likely because most warriors were males. For another, the holes were usually located on the left side of the skull—where a right-handed assailant would aim a slingshot or smash his club.

If the spirit theory is that trepanation released evil spirits, it plays into stereotypes of ancient people as described by the first European explorers who called them savages, even though their cultures had vast knowledge of astrology, mathematics and engineering. Many tribes—despite wildly different supernatural beliefs—probably did trepan people to treat epilepsy and hallucinations, maladies often associated with spirits.

From a modern medical perspective, the idea of making holes in the skull makes sense: Doctors today still trepan people to reduce pressure on the brain after injury. The practice is meant to reduce swelling and the buildup of blood and other fluids, which can kill brain cells.

But if you take a primitive belief system of ancient people, who believed that various spirits lived in every living thing—a logical treatment to release evil spirits trapped inside a person makes sense if the process was to cure a 'cursed" person.

This has an application to LOST. One that is new spin on the main characters. We have discussed the possibility that the characters were under mental stress, hallucinations, mental illness or coma in order to explain the events that they encountered on the island. Some have even suggested that the characters, having perished in the plane crash, were reincarnated as smoke monsters and the island was just one big smokey playground of illusion and make believe.

Likewise, if spirits invaded the characters brains - - - either in an attempt to infect, control or manipulate a human being - - - does that help explain the disconnected story lines of the series? Perhaps. Many ancient cultures, including several modern religions, believe that there both good and evil spirits in our world. Some are messengers, some are guardians and some are tricksters that like to make misery on human beings by allowing them to make bad choices. Those spirit elements could be applied throughout the LOST story sphere, but we don't have a strong clue about it except for the re-creation of MIB by the smoke monster, who could have been an evil spirit.

LEVELS OF DEATH

There is still a nagging question about the sideways purgatory stinger. First, it came out of left field and led many viewers to question the first season plane crash as being unsurvivable. Second, it clearly stated that all the characters were in fact dead, but some died long before and others long after Jack did. But Jack realized his death in the church before we saw him actually "die" on the island. Third, the story telling vehicle of flashbacks, flash forwards and leaps in time create an uncertainty of WHEN the characters "died."

If death is the ending, when did the characters actually die?

It is not as simple answer.  For those who steadfastly believe that the characters survived the plane crash, then bear in mind in the scheme of LOST universe, the characters were "alive" in their own perception and interaction with people and objects in the sideways world. It was "real" to them, even though they did not realize it was not the Earth existence we know as life.

As such, there is no prohibition that this perception of a sideways "real" life could extend to the island world, or even to each character's flashback or background events.  In other words, LOST may have been a show about death from the very beginning.

I speculated long ago that deep within the background stories of the main characters, there were chilling life and death moments which we were led to believe each character survived. But what if they did not?

No one knows what happens after death. Many cultures believe a human soul must travel through inter-dimensional portals to find paradise. Some religions believe a soul is judged in hell or the various levels of the underworld before it is cleansed or purged of its sins to be worthy for heaven.

The LOST universe could be a construction of various levels or stages of the after life. If during childhood, the main characters were killed by the accidents or traumatic events in their lives, then those child souls could have been given an opportunity to perceive or "live" a new life in a sideways world like existence. Those could be contained in the recent or adult flashbacks; illusions and dreams of children coming to "life." Once those souls ran their course in their first after life level, they were rounded up and boarded Flight 815 for the next level of spiritual attainment, the island. With themes like sacrifice, trust, redemption and judgment, the island is the ideal place for a religious component or a place where lost souls could get rid of regrets or selfish desires in order to move on to the next level of spiritual existence.

It is probably hard to imagine that the characters who boarded Flight 815 in Sydney were already dead. But it does make sense in reference to the season finale in the church. The characters died at different times in different places and they could not move on without finding each other. The whole series then did not have to follow Earth bound concepts of linear time, physics, time or any form of relativity because it was not of this planet.

Now, the show's creators and writers would dismiss this theory as nonsense because they continue to be adamant that the characters did not die in the plane crash. Again, it may be parsing words, but if they were already "dead" before the plane crash, then it would be true that they would not die in the conventional sense in the plane crash on the island.

For example, Locke's "miracle birth" aftermath was actually the beginning of his soul's first life in the after life. It would have been highly improbable that a premature baby injured in a car collision in rural America in the 1950s would have survived the trauma with limited medical technology. This theory is bolstered by the fact that an immortal, Richard Alpert, visited him in the hospital.

Jacob was then not recruiting human beings but lost souls who were given a second chance to live a normal (abet fantasy) life.

It would also explain why Michael, after he left the island, could not kill himself. Mr. Friendly told him that the island was not through with him; he had work to do. A supernatural place was affecting Michael's suicide attempts; therefore, off-island was also a realm of supernatural actions. They could be classified as one in the same. If the island was a place of death then so to would be the off-island.

And then there is the Aaron problem. How could he be "born" twice? He was "born" just as the series ended in the sideways purgatory where everyone present was already dead (but just not aware of it). Aaron was so born earlier on the island. How could that be when the island did not or could not allow births of babies (if the island is hell or the after life that makes sense: who can bring new human life in the after life that is made up solely of souls). So this gets the trace back to Claire and her auto accident which severely injured and ultimately killed her mother. It could have also killed herself and her baby, leading the moments after the accident her first stage in the after life. Since Aaron was never born, he was always a spirit in the show who would manifest himself when Claire needed him.

This levels of death theory tries to unify the various aspects of a disjointed story line under one single premise: death.

SPIRITUALISM

There are many proponents that LOST was merely about spiritualism. In a general sense, it did not matter how anything worked, it was about the exploration of human beings to their non-material selves.

The idea of spiritualism in American culture is not new. One of the longest lasting board games, Ouiji, came from American spiritualism craze of the 1800s.

The Ouija board was created out of the American 19th century obsession with spiritualism, the belief that the dead are able to communicate with the living. Spiritualism, which had been around for years in Europe, hit America hard in 1848 with the sudden prominence of the Fox sisters of upstate New York. The Fox sisters became celebrities because of their claims that they could  receive messages from spirits, who rapped on the walls in answer to questions. By recreating this feat of channeling spirits, these gatherings started in parlors across the state. Aided by the stories about the celebrity sisters and other spiritualists in the new national press, spiritualism reached millions of adherents at its peak in the second half of the 19th century. 

Spiritualism worked for Americans: it was compatible with Christian dogma, meaning one could hold a seance on Saturday night and have no qualms about going to church the next day. It was an acceptable, even wholesome activity to contact spirits at seances, through automatic writing, or table turning parties, in which participants would place their hands on a small table and watch it begin shake and rattle, while they all declared that they weren’t moving it. Spiritualism also offered solace in an era when the average lifespan was less than 50 years: young women died in childbirth; children died of disease; and men died in war. During the Civil War, spiritualism gained adherents in droves, people desperate to connect with loved ones who’d gone away to war and never come home.

People wanted to believe that they could communicate with the dead loved ones. No one considered that the process could open the gates of hell. They wanted comfort from their troubled times.

In 1886, the Associated Press reported on a new phenomenon taking over the spiritualists’ camps in Ohio, "the talking board."  it was, for all intents and purposes, a Ouija board, with letters, numbers and a planchette-like device to point to them.

 

The Kennard Novelty Company, the first mass producers of the Ouija board seized upon the spiritualism movement's frustration with how long it took to get any meaningful message out of the spirits; calling out the alphabet and waiting for a knock at the right letter, for example, was deeply boring. After all, rapid communication such as the telegraph had been around for decades—people began to wonder why shouldn’t spirits be as easy to reach?  On February 10, 1891, the U.S. Patent Office awarded a patent for the Ouija board as  new “toy or game.” The first patent offers no explanation as to how the device works, just asserts that it does.

When people want something badly, their innate common sense can be lost in the moment. When desperate people want answers, they may throw their entire being into the unknown.

Perhaps, this was the ribbon that tied LOST's characters together. The island represented a transparent spirit board that allowed the characters to try to re-connect to their pasts. We observed that Hurley and Miles had abilities to communicate with the dead. Jacob had the ability to cast ghostly apparitions of himself as a child and as an adult. The smoke monster could create dead people to confront their loved ones, like Yemi to Mr. Eko.

Except, how did the island work its spiritual code on the characters? Locke used his vision quests to try to connect to the island. Desmond, through massive dose of radiation, began to mentally time flash to apparent future events. But they were not asking the island for answers; it was more that the island was telling or guiding them down certain paths.

If spiritualism is a key to LOST, then the series was more like a game than we were led to believe.

THE ENDING

Michael Emerson, who played Ben, earlier this year gave an interview about his time on LOST.

When asked about the ending, he said he understood what the writers and producers were doing with the story. He said that by the end, the series have various tangent story lines going out from the beginning, in both time and space. He agreed with the decision to go back to the beginning in order to end the series. He said the TPTB decided to go with a spiritual end.

Many fans would agree with Emerson that the spiritual ending was a fine way to end the series.

But the main complaint of the spiritual ending as it was presented to us was that it did not explain the previous five long seasons of events and mysteries.

LOST exploded on the television scene. It took critics and fans by storm. Like a real explosion, TPTB had to top themselves on a weekly basis by throwing more drama and mysteries at the public. They did so by spoon feeding parts of back stories, adding crazy mysteries like polar bears in the tropics, and power struggles among various island factions. That would have been well and good but for the added madness of time travel, frozen donkey wheels, island disappearing, ancient civilization hieroglyphs and the Numbers of the Hatch. You can't just throw out a dozen new story arcs with crazy attributes and not answer them - - - how they are connected to the main story line.

The main story line itself was lost by the third season. The idea of rescue became a non-focal point. Even the idea of survival from rival tribes seemed to be secondary to the weird science fiction elements that have been thrust before our viewing eyes.

For a show that landed its ending on a spiritual note, there was very little spiritualism in the series. There were some religion icons in the background, but there was no moral center to the series. There was no real punishment for those who did heinous crimes. There were little debate between right and wrong. In fact, just listing the attributes and events of each character would create a long rap sheet for most of them. More than a few of them would have been institutionalized as criminally insane, including Ben.

So the series created a massive among of diverging story mysteries that were analyzed by fans for clues and meaning, but abandoned all those allegedly important stories for a spiritual reunion in the sideways realm. There is a huge gap in logic on why the characters in the church met back up in the after life when in fact most of them had stronger bonds with other people, especially their family members. The spiritual ending did not answer any of the real questions that were posed by TPTB and that drove the rabid attention of fans.

Once TPTB exploded the series into fragments of diverse story lines, scientific principles, strange occurrences, they had no means to reconstruct the early story. In other words, they broke the ceramic plate and they could not put the pieces back together. And this is why the ending still hits a raw nerve with many fans.

They feel that LOST was a great show with a bad ending. Even the most forgiving fans say that LOST was a great show with a satisfying ending. But a great show should have a great ending. When led down the path with great expectations, the show should have delivered a mind blowing conclusion and not another story U-turn.

DOWN UNDER

If one looks to a nexus point of the series, it is Australia.

Australia was a British penal colony. It was founded in order for the British to send the dregs of their society as far away as possible from their aristocratic society. Out of sight, out of mind. At the time, most of the prisoners would have died from the harsh voyage, disease or hunger. But that was the plan, to rid the criminals and their costs from the general, law abiding population.

Australia has been called The Land Down Under. It is a reference to its continental position on the planet in the Southern Hemisphere. It is also a clue to the harsh climate for most of the land mass and the tough conditions for the original settlers who thought they were sent to Hell.

 The LOST characters all converged in Australia.

Ana Lucia came with Christian Shephard as his bodyguard after she murdered Jason McCormick and quit the LAPD. She had a grave sinful secret that she kept with her. She was told by her mother to return home and own up to what she did, but in the series she never came home because of the crash.

Arzt was meeting with his internet "girlfriend" but after his alleged girlfriend ditched him in a restaurant, he was returning home, depressed by the entire situation.

Bernard brought his terminally ill wife Rose to see Isaac, a faith healer near Uluru (Ayer's Rock), on their honeymoon. Bernard was looking for a miracle cure. This trick upset Rose greatly, for she had accepted her fate and she wanted Bernard to do the same. Bernard's plan put a uncomfortable wedge in their marital relationship.

Boone went to Sydney to "rescue" Shannon from her boyfriend. Boone and Shannon had an inferred sinful past coupled with the fact that Shannon was an indifferent spoiled brat who was suddenly left on her own. Boone went to help heal their strained relationship, but never had a chance to work it out.

Charlie was visiting his brother, Liam, in hopes of reuniting their band, Drive Shaft.However, he found his brother content, happy and sober with his new family; a family that Charlie dreamed about but never could have because of his addiction.

Cindy, as a flight attendant for Oceanic Airlines, worked in LA and Sydney as part of her route assignment. Viewers thought that she may have been an Other planted on the Flight since she quickly assimilated into the Other culture.

Claire lived in Sydney. She was going to travel to Los Angeles to give birth and supposedly deliver her baby to adoptive parents connected with Richard Malkin. She was giving up her child because her boyfriend dumped her because he could not handle the responsibility of fatherhood, that she caused her mother's coma state from an auto accident, and that she could not stand her biological father, Christian, who showed up in her life after the car accident.

Eko was investigating the miracle of Charlotte Malkin as a fake priest. He finished investigation and he returning with fake passport as the start of a new wave of criminal dealings.

Edward Mars working as a U.S. marshal, looking for fugitive Kate (which makes no sense since he has no jurisdiction in Australia). But he arrested Kate and he was traveling back with her.

Emma and Zack were two children on the flight who were traveling back to LA to meet their mother. We can only speculate that they may have been children of divorced parents and this was a custody transfer, not unlike Walt to Michael.

Gary Troup was an author on a promotional tour for his novel, Bad Twin; It was believed that he was traveling home with his fiancee, Cindy (the flight attendant) according to the non-canon Lost Experience.

Hurley was following a lead her got from Leonard Simms about The Numbers. He went looking for Sam Toomey, the man Lenny heard the Numbers from. Hurley found out from Sam;s widow that Sam was dead and that confirmed that the Numbers were a curse. Hurley was returning home for his mother's birthday.

Jack, after  his mother, Margo begged him, went to Sydney to find for his father, Christian, and to bring him back home. Jack found his father dead from presumed alcohol poisoning which put Jack's mental state into an unstable mode as he had issues bringing his body home.

Jin was on an errand for Sun's father, delivering  Rolex watches to the criminal bosses, Keamy, in Sydney and LA.

Kate fled the U.S. to avoid criminal prosecution to work on a rural farm owned by Ray Mullen, who would later turn her in for the reward. She was on the flight bound to LA to face justice for her crimes.

Libby is another great unknown. We do no know why she was in Australia, or why she was on Flight 815. She just appeared as a survivor from the Tail Section, even though we would later learn that she was a former mental patient with Hurley at Santa Rosa.

Locke, who was confined to a wheelchair, tried to force his way on a vacation "Walkabout" in the Outback. When he was refused passage by the agent, due to his disability, an angry and frustrated Locke had to return to LA.

Michael, on request from Brian Porter, his ex-wife's widower and adoptive father of Walt, went to pick up Walt, after his mother's death, so he could live with him. Porter was freaked out by Walt's special abilities. Walt had strong abandonment issues from all his so-called parents.

Nikki was an actress who had a role in a TV show. Paulo was her lover, aiding her in the con of her director paramour. They stole the director's cache of diamonds and were fleeing to the U.S. to start a new life together.

Rose thought she was on her belated honeymoon with Bernard, but became upset when she found out that it was a trick for her to see a faith healer.


Sawyer was tracking down a lead on Anthony Cooper, the man who "killed" his family. Using the information from a fellow con man, Hibbs, he found the man he thought was Sawyer and killed him. But that was a mistake, a con; it was hit job for Hibbs. Distraught and drunk, Sawyer got into a bar fight which led to his expulsion.

Sayid was recruited by CIA agents Alyssa Cole and Robbie Hewitt to infiltrate a terrorist cell in Sydney by turn his old friend turned terrorist, Essam Tasir, in exchange for information on his love, Nadia. Sayid could not go through with the plan, but his friend died anyway. He stayed an extra day in Sydney to bury his friend, then he was going to LA to search for Nadia.

Scott had won a sales prize at work: two week Australian vacation, all expenses paid.He was returning home on Flight 815.

Shannon was living in Sydney with her abusive boyfriend. Having lost her meal ticket, she was going to con Boone into giving her money and a new place back in the U.S.

Sun was going to ditch Jin in the airport in order to runaway from her marriage and her father to start a new life, but at the last moment she  changed her mind and accompanying Jin to L.A. on Flight 815.

Vincent was Brian Porter's dog. He was given to Walt; they traveling to U.S. to live with him and Michael.

Walt lived in Sydney with his mother, Susan Lloyd, and adoptive father, Brian Porter. When his mother passed away, Brian freaked out with the responsibility of raising Walt so he got Michael to take him (which legally made no sense.)

Most every character in the series converged in Sydney with deep, dark, haunting secrets, sins and personal issues that could overcome the collective psyche of an entire plane of passengers on their long voyage home. There is a thought that there is a power of positive thinking. If so, then there would also be a power of negative thinking. So many characters on the plane had negative thoughts, fears, and mental issues  - - - could that psychic power brought down Flight 815 into a spiritual dream world of the Island? Or were these negative thoughts and sins the mere sorting device that teleported the "survivors" into the bowels of Hell for punishment or purification or redemption to find a path to the sideways church after life?

THE STORY OF LIBBY

Elizabeth Smith, or Libby, is an enigma.

She begins her time on the series as a Tailie in Season 2. She is caring but very secretive of her past.
She claimed to be a clinical psychologist, but also apparently dropped out of medical school. She was a supportive character, first to Ana Lucia when she was leading her group and then to Hurley when he was having his own personal issues. Libby had a very short term relationship (one date) with Hurley.  Libby died along with Ana Lucia when Michael shot them while arranging Ben's escape from the Hatch. Libby died without being able to tell anyone that Michael killed her.

From her own words and background observations, this is what we "know" about Libby:

1. She lived in Newport Beach, California.
2. She was a medical student but dropped out in her first year.
3. She eventually became a clinical psychologist.
4. She broke her leg skiing with an instructor in Vermont.
5. She was married three times, apparently last to a man named David Smith.
6. David Smith named his boat Elizabeth after her.
7. David Smith died of an unknown illness.
8. Libby inherited David's boat, and later gave it to Desmond for his Pacific race.
9. Some time after David died, Libby admitted herself to Santa Rose Mental Health Institute, the same place where Hurley and  Leonard Sims were patients.
10. Libby was traveling home from Australia on Flight 815.
11. Libby briefly intervened in an argument that Eko was having with Charlotte Malkin, the young woman who had drowned but miraculously returned to life on the autopsy table. Her father was a psychic who refused Eko's request to interview Charlotte for the church investigation on the miracle. Charlotte was telling Eko that she saw Eko's brother, Yemi, when she was between worlds. Libby had asked them if everything was alright, but she got the silent treatment and left to board to the plane.

There were only five Tail section survivors left when Jin, Michael and Sawyer washed up on shore  (Ana Lucia, Eko, Libby, Cindy and Bernard). Libby was the first person to reach out some support to the raft survivors, telling them that Ana Lucia "had trust issues."

Libby used her knowledge of psychology to persuade Sawyer that his wound was not as bad as it looked or felt (which was a comforting lie).  Unlike Ana Lucia, she was willing to help construct a stretcher to transport Sawyer in the hopes of keeping him alive. When they were lifting this stretcher up a steep cliff,  Cindy disappeared without a sound. Libby expressed great fear when they heard  The Whispers right before Ana Lucia shot Shannon, as the two groups of survivors paths' collided in the jungle. The Tail section survivors met the beach camp members on Day 48 after the crash. Libby was killed on Day 65. This means that Hurley and Libby only had only 17 days to interact. When they met during this time, neither one of them acknowledged that they had been together previously in the mental hospital. During a Hurley flashback involving his imaginary friend, Dave, we clearly saw a disheveled Libby in the same day room, staring blankly into space, being given medications from a nurse. Even when she was visibly emotionally spent and mentally out of it, she looked intently in Hurley's direction. Hurley, being comfortable in the day room, would have noticed all the other patients, including Libby. This is one of those plot points that screams "set up." Was it a background story to lessen or tarnish Hurley's monumental moment (his first island date) since Libby knew him before the crash? Or, in an inversion of a fan theory that the whole Island adventure was Hurley's own dream, that the whole LOST sage was the imagination or dream of mental patient Libby. It is odd that Libby was the person who gave a stranger, Desmond, an expensive boat to sail off on a one man race across the Pacific Ocean. It is also odd that Libby is suddenly on Flight 815 in Sydney making sure that Eko was okay - - - and would board the flight. It is too convenient to place Libby at such desperate locations which have direct consequences of other people landing on the island. One could extrapolate the Libby was a player early on. She could have been an agent for Jacob just like Naomi was later on. Libby was a spy that was making sure that the candidates would make it to the island. And Libby died like Naomi trying to get the candidates all back together. Even if Libby was just another lost soul who found her way to the Island, why would she have wound up with Hurley? She had a more serious relationship with her husband, David, whose death traumatized her enough that she had to be admitted to Santa Rosa. Why did she not wind up with her husband in the after life? One answer is that her entire back ground was lies and cover stories. Even so, why did Libby become Hurley's "soul mate" after an extremely short island tenure? One could speculate that Libby was merely a prop or a reward that Hurley desired and that the Island's magic box provided to him. But this I Dream of Libby explanation is based purely on a childlike crush and not an intense romantic relationship and commitment. The character of Libby gave us certain plot twists and mysteries. But her predominate position in the end with Hurley makes little sense. If Hurley's relationship with Libby (the courage to ask her out) was the lesson why Hurley had to journey to the island in the first place, then when Hurley finished his guardianship and "closed" it, he would have returned to the main land to live a long, rich life (and presumably meet other women). But based upon the ending construction, Hurley gave us no indication that he had a life after he became the island guardian. That the island and the people he met "were the most important people" in his life. Libby's inclusion in the end church was merely to give a popular character, Hurley, happiness in the end. Apparently, that was the whole objective of the end sequence: to give the main characters a happy ending (logic and common sense not required.)

RESURRECTION

Most LOST fans do not want to consider that the show was truly a story about people traveling through purgatory. They make their belief based upon TPTB statements in Season 1 that the show was not about purgatory. Well, one explanation is that TPTB lied. The series is full of images and symbols of the after life and a purgatory journey of lost souls. TPTB also told us that we would get answers to the deep questions and mysteries  of the series. They lied about that, too.

For if all the major issues were addressed by the finale, we would still not be wandering the theoretical desert trying to find answers.

Resurrection, eternal life, and reincarnation are recurring themes in the plots and sets of the show. Christian, Egyptian, and Native American symbols were used to reinforce these themes.

The most common images of the after life theme were the Egyptian hieroglyphs and temples. The ancient Egyptians had an advanced funeral rites religious take on death. The temples and pyramids were grand palaces to worship the gods to help the worthy through their perilous journey through the after life. A prime example of the theme coming full bore is a dead Sayid being reincarnated in the temple pool.

Other aspects of the Egyptian death culture were found in the frozen donkey wheel chamber where the hieroglyphs referenced resurrection and portals to "Earth gates." The Egyptians believed that a dead person's soul and body would be split in the after life and travel through the various levels of the underworld to be reunited in paradise. The Hatch's warning glyphs stated "He Escapes Place of Death." The unique Egyptian cross, the Ankh, is seen in symbol form and worn as a pendant by Dharma leaders prior to the purge. Christian crosses, such as the one worn by Eko, were also seen throughout the series. Churches, were people pray for the souls of their departed, were also settings in the series.

On the Geronimo Jackson artwork, the Native American symbol of a hatband is shown. It represents everlasting life. The native tribes had a clear sense of a cycle of life by living on the plains. This cycle of life and rebirth follows the natural observation of nature's seasons. When Aaron was born, Boone had just died which shows a connection to the cycle of life from death. Even the Dharma symbols of ying-yang represent the circle of life; an endless balance and cycle of the univese which includes reincarnation as an essential element of its religion.

Locke was immersed in the resurrection theme. As a boy, Alpert visits him at a foster home. Alpert gives Locke several items to view. He then asks him which objects are "his." This test is similar to tests are done to find the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama. When Locke is working a cross word puzzle, one of the answers is from the story of Gilgamesh, in which the main character searches for immortality. When Locke is killed off the island by Ben, Locke's body was returned to the island. As a result, MIB transformed into Locke's image, a form of reincarnation, to instill fear and loyalty in those remaining survivors.

After Locke's death, his body was transported by "Canton-Rainier" which is an anagram for "reincarnation." To take the effort to make an anagram for what was going to happen in the series could be considered foreshadowing or an explanation of what the series is truly about.

There were also clear references to religious texts and beliefs. Ajira Flight 316 takes its number from the most recognizable biblical quotation, John 3:16. The passage states: "For God so loved the world that he gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Eko's walking stick contained numerous references including  "Colossians”, which includes the text: "When you were dead in your sins... God made you alive with Christ..." (Colossians 2:13)The appearance of his dead brother to Eko is also similar to the new testament passages of how Jesus came to be seen by his apostles after his death and resurrection.

While the action of LOST clearly contained struggles of life and death, hidden in plain sight were symbols and acknowledgments by the writers that the deeper meaning present was resurrection, eternal life, and reincarnation.

REBOOT: EPISODES 117-121

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

In the sideways world, a reunion is held.

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


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

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

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

Science:

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

It reads in translation:

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

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

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

Improbable Elements:

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

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

Clues:

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

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

Discussion:

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

— Allan Bloom

LOST left a stinging amount of more questions than answers.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

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

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

Last lines in episodes:

EP 117:

LOCKE: To finish what I started.

[He walks off and leaves Claire alone.]

EP 118:

JACOB: Goodbye, brother. Goodbye.

EP 119:

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

EP 120/121:

LOCKE: We've been waiting for you.


New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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