VISION

Carl Jung wrote, "Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart."

Today we live in a world of distraction. There is electronic noise all around us. We are immersed in the flashing glitter of technology. We are filled with escapist avenues to propel procrastination into an art form. But in the end, very few people are truly happy.

The disconnect may come from the fact that many people do not live their own lives. They are more concerned about what other people think of them then try to be the best person they want to be. It seems counter-intuitive to think not being the best person you want to be could hurt you in social and interpersonal relationships.

People can become trapped in their situation, whether it be work related, social, or emotional. Once a person falls into a pit of routine, it is very difficult to spend energy to get out of it. Humans find comfort in habits, even if they will lead to a self-destructive pattern. Suddenly, the years fly by. In an introspective moment, one could shake their head in disbelief. I thought one, two, three or four years ago, things would be different.

These lightning bolts of despair often occur on special days, such as a birthday. A birthday is the personal doomsday clock when people leave their 20s to face adulthood. Family, social, cultural and occupational headwinds will hit one hard in their early 30s which can result in the disconnect of a person's true feelings and their current situation.

Very few people have a vision of their future. Because it is clouded in the past. Mostly, past failures. People do not want to hurt themselves, physically or emotionally. They tend to isolate themselves from people or things that could potentially cause them pain, like a new relationship. But because there is comfort in isolation, there is no opportunity to find true happiness, such as a meaningful and loving new relationship. It is a Catch-22.

New year's resolutions normally command demands for self improvement. Usually, it is the physical traits such as diet, quit smoking, exercise more . . . . external things to make one appear better to the public. But rarely do people dig deeper into their own soul to map out a route to find their true happiness in life. So many people are stuck in a hamster wheel existence; around and around they go going nowhere.

DAYDREAMS OR NIGHTMARES

A Japanese proverb states, "Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare."

Modern people are caught in a cruel dilemma. Cultures impose upon individuals a sense of what is expected of them during their lifetime. Families also impose certain structures, values and goals upon their children which may or may not be realistic. Early experiences shape future actions more than people realize, especially the psychological underpinnings of self-esteem, self-worth, shyness, openness or personal anxieties.

The biggest governor in a person's life is the hard wired defense mechanism that a person does not want to get hurt. Hurt, being physical or emotional. As we grow older, the emotional buffer grows stronger because the mental pain of rejection hits deeper.

This post will not get into whether LOST was a daydream or nightmare premise of some character(s).

It is interesting to look deeper into the proverb's claim.

The hardest thing a person has do mentally is set forth action to overcome a difficult thought.

The classic example of this is a young man getting the courage and inner strength to ask his crush for a date.  The ramifications for him are huge. If she says yes, then the weight of the world melts from his shoulders. She likes him. OK. That is the start he was looking for (nervous success to follow). But if she says no, then the young man is crushed. He let himself be venerable by asking the question with the high expectation of a "yes" answer. This experience of pain can haunt him, especially the next time a similar situation happens in his life.

Everyone's mind is a set of dominoes of these types of experiences. One may set off a chain reaction of withdrawal from society. One may set off a relief valve of wayward expectations being corralled into common sense. It is how people work out and balance the fear factor to the potential reward is how one can live a meaningful and happy life.

A happy life is not necessarily what other people give you. A happy life is what you make of yourself.

But if you are leading an unfulfilled  life, one may get more and more caught up in the daydream of a better life. In your mind, the perfect world can be created to insulate yourself from the pain, fear and pressures of interacting with real people. When a daydream takes over a person's focus and bleeds into their daily routine, the person becomes their own anti-social island. Within the confines of their dream island, nothing can go wrong or hurt them because they control the outcome.

But in real life, you don't control the outcome of events. It may be random chance, hard work or a factor of opportunity over latent skill that leads to variable results. You can do the same thing over and over again to get variable results. There are infinite possibilities even in finite situations.

But if the insulated daydream takes over you to the point of not being able to cope in normal, real world situations (which makes your work suffer, your family estranged, or become a shut-in without friends), you create your own island prison of self-contempt.

It is tough to reverse that course because a person builds up layers of defenses to keep from feeling any bad memory pain. The more the defenses, the more difficult it is to open up your mind to gauge reality from fiction.

Hurley is probably the best example of this daydream-nightmare dynamic. His parental abandonment led to deep seated pain and anxiety about his self-worth. He was depressed to the point of changing his appearance to keep people away. He became secretive. He became a wall flower. When he had the courage to ask the record store girl to go out with him, he was on top of the world until his one best friend turned on him - - - after he kept his lottery winnings to himself. Hurley lost the girl and his friend. He retreated more into his fantasy world (creating imaginary friend, Dave, to take the place of everyone who had hurt him).  But it was actually Dave's last appearance on the island that was the path for Hurley to break free of his daydream nightmare. He had to leap off the cliff of self-delusion in order to "wake up" to the reality that he is a good, nice person who had a place in the real world. People would like him. He could find new friends. He could find a good job. He could find a girl and be happy.

But Libby, his dream girl, stopped Hurley from making that great mental leap. And that is the pull of the dream world - - - it keeps one in a safe illusion of happiness even though you are hurting your chances to find real happiness.

Hurley is symbolic of the average person caught between the expectations of others and their own personal issues or demons. You want to be accepted by your peers. You want to make your parents proud. You want to enjoy what you do. But the voice in your head keeps telling you that if you take that action, you will be sorry.

The greatest regrets in life are those "what if" moments of inaction. If you act and fail, then chalk it up to experience. If you don't act (and don't get a positive or negative result), then you are stuck in personal quicksand and that opportunity is lost.

As you can tell, many LOST themes are woven into this situation, including illusion, island, regret, depression, mental issues, and friendship. The idea of self-growth being self-directed is the base line coda of human life. You cannot wait for someone to come by to make you instantly happy. It never happens that way - - - even in the movies.

DREAMWEAVERS

“ Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true. ” - - - Leon J. Suenens

 If there was one Dream Master, for which the entire series was inside his/her head, who would it be?

First, there are several types of dreams. There are day dreams, where a person loses track of his/her conscious self in a real world/public setting. They go into sleep mode like a computer does; ready to wake up when some outside force interrupts their escape from reality.

Second, there are traditional REM sleep. Researchers have concluded that REM sleep is an important aspect of human health. Some believe that the brain needs to reconfigure the day's events into memory pathways so a person can problem solve in the future. Others believe that a human body needs to rest in order for its organs, tissues, blood supply and nerve endings can regenerate from a long and stressful daytime of activities. In order for the body to rest, the brain must "trick" the subject into having dreams (adventures and thoughts) so the rest of the body can heal.

Third, there are night terrors or nightmares. These are spawn from the subconscious fears every person has from their instinctive distrust of the darkness or wild animals, to interpersonal relationship problems caused by the social, moral or cultural pressures of daily life.

The entire LOST saga could fit into any one of those categories: escapism, rest or nightmares.

Candidates for the LOST dreamer:  

1. Libby. When we saw her in the day room of the mental hospital, she was in a "blank stare" like she had zipped out on her meds. She seemed unaware of her surroundings, yet, she was staring at Hurley (who would later not recognize her on the island.)  This non-recognition is the building block for the thesis that Libby's escape from reality in a mental institution created the various "coincidental" characters that invariably got caught up on the island: Desmond and the boat; Jack as a hospital doctor she saw in passing; Locke, whose crazy mother was institutionalized  in the same facility; to even criminal psychological evaluations on people like Kate, Sawyer or Cooper. The main characters could have been composites of the people who would live and work at the mental hospital. They could have been the personality traps she wanted to release, such as motherhood (Claire), freedom (Kate), moral strength (Rose), intelligence (Juliet), leadership (Ana Lucia), or beauty (Shannon).

2. Sayid. He was the one who needed the most "rest," as his life was a turmoil. From a young child, he was dealt a rough hand. He had to step up to do the dirty deeds. He was trained to kill. It went beyond his religious beliefs, but he continued to do what he was told. He became a torturer, which led to mind torturing him. So when he went to sleep, he dreamed of a more idyllic paradise away from the war torn nation of Iraq. He would be the center of a noble journey to find his true love, happiness, acceptance and friendship with everyone in the world. But which each happy segment of island life, his memories of his real life would take over in violence, mistrust and self doubt. He tried to run away to protect the others in his dream world, but he could not - - - he would return to hurt them and himself over and over again. In a dream state, the mind can play simulator and go over problems to find different end games. In Sayid's case, the end to ease his pain would be death - - - which played out in several different ways in the island dream world (plane crash, being shot, tortured, and blown up by a bomb on the submarine.) To him, LOST was a series of stories on how he could possibly fit into a different world from his own.

3. Hurley. He was the one most open about his fears and concerns. He understood and accepted his weak mental state. He blamed himself for causing others pain. He acknowledged that he was "crazy," but that could have been a misdirection to deal with his constant nightmares. Hurley was a bundle of self doubt, lack of self-esteem, introverted neurosis, shyness, lack of social skills, and the inability to find acceptance in himself. He was a follower, not a leader. He was a wallflower, not a lover. He was person in the crowd, instead of the center of attention. As a result, he consumed the various aspect of escapism culture: television shows, comic books, movies. It was those aspects that fueled the improbable and disturbing island adventures that were Hurley's own night terrors. Hurley lacked the focus, will power and applied reasoning to follow through on things; that is why he was comfortable as a low wage fry cook. In the same way, that is why the LOST stories were a jumbled mess of half baked or incontinent conclusions because that is the way Hurley's real life was - - - a random smattering of thoughts and ideas that could mesh well brainstorming comic book hero plot lines that never would amount to any logical conclusion. Hurley felt hopeless in his real life situation. He had a single mother who pushed him from the nest but he resisted. He felt abandoned by his father. He believed he had no future. These thoughts would amplify his nightmares as these were real burdensome issues. He could only find happiness with people as "mixed up" as he was, his imaginary characters who we would come to know as the LOST cast.

ISLAND VISIONS

Boone had a vivid, "real" vision of his sister Shannon being killed by the smoke monster. It was so real that Boone blamed Locke by attacking him with a knife. Locke explained that he drugged Boone in order for him to have his vision, so he could understand the island better.

Locke was apparently one of the first survivors to make a "connection" with the island. But he was not alone in the island creating visions.

The series is littered with hallucination episodes.

In Season 1:
Jack repeatedly sees his dead father, Christian, in the jungle.
Claire has a dream about looking for her lost baby, encountering Locke, and finding the crib filled with blood.
Boone has an illicit dream with Shannon, later to find her killed by the smoke monster.
Locke dreams of a Nigerian drug plane crash on the island. He also becomes wheelchair bound again. He also sees a blood covered Boone blankly repeating "Theresa goes up the stairs, Theresa goes down the stairs."

In Season 2:
Shannon has three visions of Walt: a) while searching for Vincent, she sees Walt speak in gibberish to her (backwards: "Don't push the button. Button bad."), b) in her tent, Walt speaks backwards again "They're coming, and they're close," and c) while searching for Walt with Sayid, both glimpse a vision of Walt in the jungle.
Hurley dreams of gorging on food, speaking Korean to Jin and sees the mascot for Mr. Cluck's.
Kate and Sawyer sees Kate's horse in the jungle.
Mr. Eko sees flashes of his life when the smoke monster confronts him.
Charlie has two dreams about needing to save Claire's child, which include images from his childhood and a painting by Verrocchio.
Hurley has visions and conversations with his imaginary friend, Dave.
Mr. Eko has a dream featuring Anna Lucia and Yemi in which they tell him to help Locke, and instructions from Yemi to look for a question mark.
Locke has a dream from Eko's point of view, where he climbs a cliff and meets Yemi.

In Season 3:
Locke goes on a "vision quest" in which is is guided by Boone and instructed to save
Eko.
Desmond has a series of mental flashes in which he sees future events: a) Locke giving a speech about going after kidnapped Jack, Kate and Sawyer; b) Lightning striking Claire's hut, killing Charlie; c) Charlie drowning trying to save Claire; d) Charlie dying in the ocean while trying to catch a seagull for Claire; e) Charlie is killed by an arrow trap on a mission to find a parachutist; and f) Charlie drowning while flipping a switch in a hatch; Claire and Aaron then leaving the island in a helicopter.
Mr. Eko has a confrontation conversation with Yemi.
Young Ben sees his dead mother on the island.
Locke, after being shot by Ben in the purge mass grave, has a vision of grown Walt telling him to get up because he has "work to do."

In Season 4:
Hurley has several visions of Charlie: a) in a convenience store; b) in the LAPD interrogation room; and c) outdoors at the mental institution (where Charlie physically slaps him into conversation).
Hurley sees Jacob's cabin on the island, which follows him until he wills it to disappear.
Michael has two visions of Libby, once in the hospital and once before he tries to set off the bomb on the freighter.
Jack sees a vision of his father in the hospital lobby after hearing a smoke detector go off.
Claire talks to her dead father, Christian, on the island. Christian can pick up Aaron.
Locke dreams of Horace building a cabin for his wife. Horace tells Locke to find Jacob he must find Horace who has been dead for 12 years. (In this vision, the image of Horace skips and repeats like a broken record for a short time.)
Kate has a dream that Claire tells her she cannot take Aaron back to the island.
On the freighter, Michael sees Christian who tells him that "he can go now."

In Season 5:
Hurley has a vision of Ana Lucia, who stops him to tell him he has "work to do."
Locke is told by Walt that Walt had a dream about Locke on the island, in a suit, surrounded by people who wanted to kill him.

In Season 6:
Hurley sees dead Jacob, who instructs him to go to the Temple and the Lighthouse.
Sawyer and Flocke see a vision of young Jacob in the jungle. Flocke is surprised that Sawyer can see him.
Alpert sees his dead wife Isabella in the the Black Rock.
Isabella appears before both Hurley and Alpert on the island near where Alpert buried her locket.
Hurley sees dead Michael twice, first to warns him not to blow up the Ajira plane and second, to tell him to destroy the Black Rock. (In this encounter, Michael claims he is a whisper, a trapped soul on the island.)

Many of these visions or dreams involve interaction with dead characters. The acceptance of speaking directly to dead people freaks out only Hurley (momentarily).

What do many of these occurrences have in common? The smoke monster. The monster could shape shift and create human forms. It admitted that it was Christian on the island. As a result, it could be argued that the hallucinations and visions character had during the series were projections created by the smoke monster. The motivation of these visions is clear: to manipulate, confuse and create anxiety in the characters. It is like a person dangling a feather above house cats; a form of play. Many characters used their visions to guide them in their decision making process, usually with bad results.

There have been theories that the series was just a series of character dreams, individual or collective. But it is also possible that the dreams were actual programs or commands imputed by the smoke monster(s) to move the human characters around their game board (the island). Supernatural beings playing a supernatural game of backgammon.

This supernatural trick and manipulation also follows in the ancient Egyptian burial rites where the king must take a dangerous journey through the underworld. He may be tricked by the underworld gods, go through trials, and be judged by the decisions he makes during the course of finding a way to paradise. The Book of the Dead was a manual on how to traverse the underworld. It allowed the king to bring with him his servants, consorts, food, weapons, and magic spells to help in his journey. The underworld gods also had a childlike cruelty in their game play with lost souls.

Locke's "connection" with the island may have seemed real to him, but it was clearly a manipulation by higher forces. Locke believed in the island, but the island used him like a pawn.

But this raises an interesting question: if these "waking" visions of dead people were the smoke monster, could it also have controlled the characters dreams while they were asleep? Anything is possible, and based on the number of incidents, it is probable. Since Christian's body was not in the coffin, Smokey had to create his image from Jack's memories. In fact, the entire island may have been built upon the memories of those unfortunate souls who were shipwrecked on the island. Crazy Mother was a smoke monster when she destroyed the Roman village. Flocke turned into the smoke monster and attacked the temple. The smoke monster was not just a security system, but the entire island system. It created everything from the memories of human beings, including their feelings, emotional strings, their fears, their experiences and their goals. It "replays" those events to see how human beings react or change. It is not a moral, religious or redemptive series of tests. No, perhaps the smoke monster(s) are using human beings the same way our scientists use lab rats to run through mazes and tests. The whole series was data acquisition by the smoke monsters to understand the human condition.

But, then again, the ending seems to fall outside the realm of island experimentation. Unless, one believes that the smoke monster master(s) became "attached" to their pets in such a fashion to use their collective memories to give them a final illusion of happiness upon their mortal demise.

THE EYE

One of the key shots in the series was a close up of a single eye opening. It usually signaled a character change, a flashback, or new story tangent. What does an eye represent?

The phrase "mind's eye" refers to the human ability for visualization,that is the experience of visual mental imagery; in other words, one's ability to "see" things within one's mind.

The biological foundation of the mind's eye is not fully understood. MRI studies have shown that the lateral geniculate nucleus and the V1 area of the brain's visual cortex are activated during mental imagery tasks. Scientists have found that this visual pathway is not a one one street. Higher areas of the brain can also send visual signals back to neurons connected in the lower areas of the visual cortex, also creating the ability to see or have a perceptual experience in the absence of actual visual imput from a person's eyes.

Deeper studies of the brain have shown that below the neocortex (where the center of perception exists), the thalamus has been found to be discrete to other components in that it processes all forms of perceptional data relayed from both lower and higher components of the brain. Damage to this component can produce permanent perceptual damage, however when damage is inflicted upon the cerebral cortex,  the brain adapts to neuroplasticity  to amend any occlusions for perception. It can be thought that the neocortex is a sophisticated memory storage warehouse in which data received as an input from sensory systems are compartmentalized via the cerebral cortex. This would essentially allow for shapes to be identified, although given the lack of filtering input produced internally, one may as a consequence, hallucinate - essentially seeing something that isn't received as an input externally but rather internal (i.e. an error in the filtering of segmented sensory data from the cerebral cortex may result in one seeing, feeling, hearing or experiencing something that is inconsistent with reality).

Other studies theorize that the pineal gland may be the source of the mind's eye. Researchers think that during near death experiences and dreaming, the gland may secrete a hallucinogenic chemical known as DMT which could  produce internal visuals when external sensory data is occluded.

The pineal gland is a light sensitive gland that is located deep in the brain at its hemispheric division. It produces the serotonin  derivative melatonin, a hormone that affects the modulation of wake/sleep patterns and seasonal functions in a person's body cycle. Because of its location and light sensitive properties, many philosophers believe this gland is the gateway into enlightenment beyond mere dream states. Some people believe that this gland is the gateway to the soul or spiritual world.

This is best described as "the third eye" (or the inner eye) in Hinduism. The third eye is a mystical concept referring to a speculative invisible eye which provides perception beyond ordinary sight.  The third eye refers to the gate that leads to inner realms and spaces of higher consciousness.

 In New Age spirituality, the third eye often symbolizes a state of enlightenment and process of mental images  having deeply personal spiritual or psychological significance. The third eye is often associated with religious visions, clairvoyance, the ability to observe chakras or auras, precognition and out-of-body experiences.  People who are claimed to have the capacity to utilize their third eyes are sometimes known as seers.

In ancient Egyptian religion, the Eye of Horus contained powerful symbolism.  Horus was a sky god usually depicted as a falcon. His right eye was associated with the sun god, Ra. The eye symbol represents the marking around the eye of the falcon, including the "teardrop"marking sometimes found below the eye. The mirror image, or left eye, sometimes represented the moon  and the god Djehuti (Thoth, the scribe and holder of magical powers). In one myth, when brothers Set and Horus were fighting for the throne after Orsiris's death, Set gouged out Horus's left eye. The majority of the eye was restored by either Hathor  or Thoth (with the last portion possibly being supplied magically). When Horus's eye was recovered, he offered it to his father, Osiris, the god of the underworld, in hopes of restoring his life. Hence, the eye of Horus was often used to symbolise sacrifice, healing, restoration, and protection.

Besides the close ups of eyes, John Locke had a similar scar across his right eye like in the story of Horus. Locke's goal on the island was succeed Horus, and later Ben, in the leader of the natives. Locke was the person who found and interacted with the (holographic or repetitive image) of Horace near Jacob's cabin.

Also, in Season 1, Jack, Locke, Sun, Claire, Boone, Michael, Charlie, Sawyer and Jin all had eye close ups which led to flashback story lines. This is strong evidence that even though a clever foreshadowing device to get back stories started, it may have served a more compelling clue that in each case, the eye that was "opening" was the character's inner eye, or mind's eye - - -  the gateway to inner, magical or spiritual realms.

It would also explain why so many people appeared to be uninjured despite the plane tearing apart and falling from 35, 000 feet. They were, but it was their minds that were creating a new perception of the world around them when they were in shock, or in a coma, or having near death experiences. The story structure then is a patchwork quilt of the passengers own perceptions if they survived the plane crash. It is a collective story telling through the portal of individual pineal glands set off by the unique electromagnetic energy of the island (which gives life, death and rebirth.)  While it seems that it would be one consistent story, each individual character was in his or her own dream state. This could be why there are drastic mood and alliance changes during the series because we do not know who is the actual projector of that story line.

So when Christian tells Jack that all the people in the church, his fellow passengers, were the most important people in his "life," it was his pre-purgatory limbo that his mind's eye shared with the other island crash victims, in order to sacrifice, heal, restore, and protect their spiritual souls so they could move on in the after life together by reconnecting in the church realm. The toll to pass to the church realm was to work out one's material, selfish, and sinful nature in order to redeem the goodness trapped in one's soul. That is the true escape from the island, through each person's inner eye.

REBOOT EPISODES 49-52

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

LOST REBOOT 
Recap: Episodes 49-52 (Days 67-69)

The second season begins to wind down with the build up of the confrontation with the Others.

Michael reveals secrets about the Others' camp to the survivors;  Hurley and Libby plan their first date. When Ana  is attacked by Ben, she begins to contemplate taking matters into her own hands. Meanwhile, Michael is reunited with his friends and tells them he wants to go back for Walt, which Ben said the Others would never give up. Michael takes matters into his own hands, and as a result he shoots Ana and Libby.

After Eko experiences unusual dreams, he asks Locke to take him to the “?” from the blast door map. They go out and find the Pearl Station. Michael must maintain his cool as he watches Libby die slowly. In the Hatch, the rest of the survivors  must come to terms with what just transpired and try to ease the suffering of a mortally wounded Libby.

As the survivors mourn the losses  Ana and Libby, Michael  continues to badger the 815ers to launch a rescue mission for Walt, an assault against the Others who are to blame for their current situation. Michael convinces Hurley, Jack, Kate and Sawyer  to ambush the Others.

Events come to a head as Michael  leads his friends across the Island to confront the Others. Meanwhile, Desmond returns to the Island on his sailboat, and he and Locke make a decision to see what happens if the Hatch countdown timer goes beyond zero.

Michael’s ambush party is captured by the Others; Sayid, Jin and Sun use Desmond’s boat to counterattack and to meet up Jack's crew. Locke and Desmond confront Eko, who wants to continue to press the Hatch button.

Season 3 begins with Jack in a holding cell, an aquarium at the Dharma Hydra station. The interrogation of Sawyer and Kate take different tacks: Sawyer is caged and treated harshly by Tom (Mr. Friendly) while Kate is given beach breakfast with Ben, who then tells her the rest of her stay would be harsh. All three prisoners have had blood drawn and/or something injected into their arms.

We also see the “crash” of Flight 815 from the vantage point of the center of the Island barracks where the Others have a bucolic campus. Once the crash occurs, Ben orders Goodwin to run an hour away to the tail section; and Ethan to become a survivor in the front section of the plane. He wants “lists” in 3 days.

Sawyer and Kate are put to work by boss Danny Pickett in clearing the jungle of rocks, which we will later learn is for a runway. Sawyer “tests” his guards by kissing Kate to gather information on who is strong and who is weak. At the same time, the Others are testing Sawyer and Kate, first with the polar bear biscuit food cage puzzle, and their escape plans (as Ben is sitting in a monitoring station observing them).

Sayid’s rescue/ambush plan fails, as the Others board the sailboat while Jin and Sayid wait in the shadows of the beach fire. The boarding party finds Sun with a gun; Colleen tells Sun that she won’t shoot, because she is not a killer. But we know from a flashback that Sun is a killer, cleaning up her own mess with her tutor, when Jin could not follow her father’s instructions. Sun shoots Colleen in the stomach; more gun fire erupts and the sailboat leaves the dock. Jin rushes out into the water to find Sun in the darkness.

Locke also has to “clean up his own mess” when he is physically jolted by ghost Boone in the sweat lodge, built inside of Eko’s church frame. Boone tells him that he needs to save someone. It turns out to be Eko from a polar bear that has dragged him into a deep cave. Locke continues to see and hear visions.

Desmond, after the implosion, begins to see mental “flash forwards” including Locke’s rescue speech to the other camp members after returning with injured Eko. Other campers are upset that Hurley did not tell them

Science:

Entropy.
1. thermodynamic quantity representing the unavailability of a system's thermal energy for conversion into mechanical work, often interpreted as the degree of disorder or randomness in the system. (Symbol: S )
2. lack of order or predictability; gradual decline into disorder: a marketplace where entropy reigns supreme.
3. (in information theory) a logarithmic measure of the rate of transfer of information in a particular message or language.
ORIGIN mid 19th cent., Greek roots for “transformation.”

Improbabilities:

Kelvin Inman, the American soldier in Iraq with Sayid, is now pushing button in Hatch with Desmond.

Charlie and Eko surviving without burns the dynamite fireball in the Hatch hallway. Also, Charlie, Eko, Locke and Desmond surviving a massive explosion-implosion of the Hatch which threw a large solid steel hatch cover (which took two men to open) more than a mile in the air to the beach camp.

Mysteries:

What did the fail safe key really do? Did it lock or imprison an evil spirit? Did it move the island out of its protective snow globe shell? Or did it do nothing of importance (mental nightmare)?

How did Penelope’s Russian men in the Arctic “find” Desmond after the Hatch explosion/implosion?

How can Ben and the Others leave the Island, and Desmond in his boat could not?
And if Ben can leave the island (by boat or submarine), why is he building a runway?

How did Ben not know about Desmond’s sailboat?  Does it also mean that Ben did not know about Desmond being on the Island?

Themes:

Life and Death. There is a fine line between life and death. To what ends will a father do to save the life of his son? Is it rational for Michael to murder two people under the anger that his group is not helping him enough to find his son?  At this point in the story, it is the plane survivors who act more like savages - - - killing three others and a few of their own people by gross negligence. But later on, we will be told that pales in comparison with Ben’s purge of Dharma.

Being “Sorry.”  The characters are continually telling people they are sorry for some action, but in most cases the ask of forgiveness is hollow. At times, lies continue to cover up repentance for their past actions.

Mirrors. Events continue to mirror other events in different character story lines. The repetitive nature of the tests of the Island invokes a series of game play levels.

Clues:

When Desmond returns on his sailboat, which floated back to the Island, he states "we are stuck in a bloody snow globe! There's no outside world, there's no escape." Desmond finally asks Jack if they are "still pushing" to which Jack replies with a smile, "Yeah, we're still pushing it."

Again, Desmond tells Locke this time, “see you in another life” just before he turns the failsafe key.

Eko makes the sign of the cross before lighting off the dynamite to get back into the Hatch; Desmond makes the sign of the cross before turning the fail safe key.

Ben tells Michael to say at a 325 compass bearing to get “home.” That is the only way to get through the “snow globe” of the Island realm.

Discussion:

The man who backbites an absent friend, nay, who does not stand up for him when another blames him, the man who angles for bursts of laughter and for the repute of a wit, who can invent what he never saw, who cannot keep a secret --- that man is back at heart: mark and avoid him. - - - Cicero

A harbor, even if it is a little harbor, is a good thing . . .  It takes something from the world, and has something to give in return.  - - - Sarah Orne Jewett

As the second season winds down, there was a huge event that should have answered several burning questions about the Island and the Hatch. When Desmond returns, he makes the decision to “save them all,” and explodes the Hatch. In doing so, his “reality” does not change, again. When he says to Locke before inserting the failsafe key, we hear for the third time in the series “see you in another life.”  This infers that the characters are never going back to their old life; that there is no escape from the Island; and that the Island is another realm.

The failure to explain, even in a science fiction way, begins the slow decline of the of the story line continuity and mysteries. A formula will emerge in the next seasons of adding characters as red shirts, to be killed off in an unexplained conflict with the Others, who are in an unexplained conflict with Widmore, over control of the Island which no one knows what it is or its purpose.

The vague explanation of the Hatch and its purpose is that there is a “unique” electromagnetic property under the Island that was uncovered during the drilling of the Hatch “the Incident,” and as a result the Hatch was constructed over the anomaly in order to discharge the EM build up to avoid another incident, which is earthquake shaking magnetic pulls toward the underground station walls.

From lostpedia, the pivotal event of season 2:

[Back in the Hatch Desmond opens his Dickens book and finds the failsafe key. We see the timer at 29 seconds. Desmond rushes to open the grate and get to the failsafe.]
DESMOND: 3 days before you came down here, before we met, I heard a banging on the Hatch door, shouting. But it was you, John, wasn't it? You said there isn't any purpose—there's no such thing as fate. But you saved my life, brother, so that I could save yours.
LOCKE: No, no, no, none of this is real! Nothing is going to happen. We're going to be okay.
[We see 5 seconds left on the timer.]
DESMOND: I've got to go. And you've got to get as far away from here as possible.
LOCKE: Go where?! Stop!
DESMOND: I'm going to blow the dam, John. [the timer starts flipping to the hieroglyphs] I'm sorry for whatever happened that made you stop believing. But it's all real. Now I've got to go and make it all go away.
LOCKE: Wait, Desmond.
DESMOND: I'll see you in another life, brother.
[We see the last hieroglyph lock in place. The loudspeaker starts announcing System Failure over and over. Everything starts shaking. We see Charlie trying to help Eko.]
CHARLIE: Eko! Eko! Wake up! Can you move? Okay, come on.
[Knives and forks start flying toward the magnet wall, with Charlie and Eko in their path. Everything metal in the place starts flying toward the magnet wall. Charlie helps Eko walk. Desmond makes it to the failsafe mechanism.]
CHARLIE: Eko, on your feet.
EKO: Charlie.
CHARLIE: No.
[Eko pushes Charlie away and knocks him to the ground. Eko heads back toward the computer room. The washing machine comes barreling toward Charlie as he rolls out of the way.]
EKO: John!
LOCKE: I was wrong.
[We see Desmond cross himself and insert the key. We hear Penelope as a VO, reading again.]
PENELOPE: All we really need to survive is one person who truly loves us. And you have her. I will wait for you. Always. I love you.
DESMOND: [turning the key] I love you, Penny.
[The screen fades to white.]

This event transforms the series. Desmond now becomes a center piece character, the wild card in a suddenly wild place. The Island survives a massive release of energy which apparently destroys matter but leaves the humans unharmed. How is that possible? Clearly, it is not. It is direct evidence that the characters are not human beings in the sense of being of blood and breathing carbon.

There may be an ode to the science of Entropy, but in a literary sense. The Hatch’s EM properties is a “magic wand” to represent supernatural change in the characters, a conversion from their past problems, motives and fears toward new “work” to rehabilitate their souls. The Hatch explosion also marks the lack of peace on the Island, and the slow decline of disorder in the bitter struggle between the survivors and the Others. The transformation, including the accelerating use of personal information against people, is new dynamic at play.

This massive white light experience will come back two more times in the series. The next is the Juliet time travel “falling down the well” moment of smashing a rock against an atomic weapon to allegedly re-boot them back to their own time period.  The last time we see the white light is at the end of the church ceremony, when Christian opens the back doors and the room is filled with white light as peace comes over the characters expressions.

The other element of these episodes is Michael’s dissent into his personal hell. His incompetence as a father transforms him into an incompetent killer. He compounds his mistakes by blaming Ben for the shootings, and covers up the truth while his friends watch innocent Libby die. As a result of his misguided love for his son, Michael will forever chain his soul to the Island seeking answers to his misery, as a trapped whisper in the jungle, which in some respects is his purgatory.

The capture of Jack, Sawyer and Kate along with the absence of Sayid leaves the beach camp “leaderless” until Locke comes to tell them that he would get their friends back from the Others, and that he will come up with a plan. It is another transformation that Locke is taking a leadership role from his past as a follower. This time it appears that many of the castaways will follow his lead in this time of crisis.

Some consider the end of the Season 2, “Live Together Die Alone,” to be the climax of the first two seasons on the mysterious island. Beginning with Season 3, the quick descent into filler arcs and mad quests against “frenemies” is maddening to critics. The series “jumped the shark” for a few viewers with the introduction of Nikki and Paulo at the end of Season 3 Episode 3. In order to keep up the level of “drama,” more red shirts were required to fill time.

Michael's escape from the island is problematic as well. When Ben tells him to go NNW at a compass bearing of 325, a map of the Pacific Ocean west of Fiji shows that the boat would be headed into open ocean and not toward any close land mass.

Magical/Supernatural/Elements:

Desmond turning the “fail safe” key and the Hatch first exploding (with a solid steel door landing near the beach more than a mile away, and shaking the other side of the Island) then imploding into a large crater.

Locke returns to his commune past to build a sweat lodge to “talk” to the Island to find out what he needs to do now. The Island speaks through Boone, who is dead, who tells John that someone (Eko) is in danger and needs his immediate help.


Last lines in episodes:

EP 49:
MAN #1: It's us. I think we found it.

EP 50:
JULIET: Thank you, Ben.

EP 51:

BEN: That's home, Jack. Right there, on the other side of that glass. And if you listen to me -- if you trust me -- if you do what I tell you when the time comes -- I'll take you there. I will take you home.

EP 52:

CHARLIE: [looking at Desmond and back at Hurley] Okay. Well, when that wears off can you get bandages from the kitchen?
[Hurley continues staring as Desmond. The last shot we see is of Desmond looking out to sea -- worried and slightly crazed.]

New Ideas/Tests of Theories:

What does it mean to SEE YOU IN ANOTHER LIFE?

The Hatch explosion/implosion should have killed a human being inside the blast crater. If one assumes that the 200 pound Hatch door was blown one mile to the beach camp in a minute (landing next to Claire and Bernard), the force needed to throw that door would be at least 17,600 foot pounds of force. A human neck can only withstand blunt force of 140 pounds. A human skull can withstand 1600-1900 pounds.

There are three ways in which to try to reconcile the Hatch explosion/implosion and the affect on the characters. One, the events on the island are wholly fantasy, with no relation to Earth physics or human endurance.

The inconsistency with how the implosion affected people inside the Hatch is a real story problem. Desmond winds up naked in jungle a day later. Charlie loses his hearing. Locke loses his voice. Eko apparently loses his consciousness.  All of these injuries are inconsistent with the amount of force applied to their bodies as compared to physical objects such as hatch quarantine door. Hurley asks if Desmond has turned into a “Hulk,” a comic book character created by a mad experiment gone bad. 

But there is another easy explanation. The first two seasons of LOST have all the components of a modern video game. In game play, you need a character with back stories. You need people or things to protect. You need territory to take or defend. You need spies, assassins, soldiers, weapons and missions. You need intel in order to form strategies. As we have said from the beginning, the key principle in LOST is “knowledge is power.”  All the characters could be avatars in a complex multiplayer video game, with Desmond’s new “power” of flash forward visions, either a wild card upgrade or the fact the player is “farther” along at a different level than the other players. The flashbacks, with the repeat of characters in different places, could be assumed to be merely earlier versions of the current game, as developers often re-use characters in video game sequels.

The second is the concept of power and illusion of the mind. When Hurley talked in earlier episodes about transference, it could also relate to the concept of the show’s mental institution theories.  When we talk about transference in the setting of a hospital mental institution, with its floors and “stations,” one could argue that there are similar pieces on the island. When you have institutional group sessions and group rooms, the island also has their own “groups.” If these groups have vivid fantasies, then they could create the island dynamic as it pits them against authority. Dave is Hurley’s alter-ego against such authority. When Dr. Brooks asks Hurley to make LISTs, that idea is transferred through to the Others who also demand “lists” or work off “lists of names.” The idea of the Numbers, lists, food - -  neurotic triggers of Hurley's mind - - - being of importance and repeating on the Island is because those elements are repeated because Hurley’s subconscious continues to repeat them in his fantasy world. Ben is also obsessive about LISTs: to Ethan and Goodwin after the plane crash, to Michael to bring back the four people to exchange for his son.

This leads to the continuing possibility that the big premise of Lost is contained in Hurley’s dream world. Dave’s explanation to Hurley that all of this is in his mind is the most detailed character driven rationale in the entire series. Where else can the surreal nature of the smoke monsters, polar bears in the jungle, whispers in the brush, and hostile natives all function except in the vivid fantasy world in someone’s creative mind.  People have said that their night visions are so “real” that they wake up in a panic, thinking the events are happening to them in real time. What if they are so real, a catatonic patient cannot wake up from his nightmares? Dave’s solution is that you need to kill yourself in your nightmare in order to wake up in the real world.

Hurley choses to continue his fantasy over a chance at getting back at reality. If you believe that the flashbacks are “real,” then Hurley would have known about Libby at the mental institution: they shared the same day room. Her photograph would have been on the bulletin board. She was only a few feet away from him when Leonard is playing Connect Four. Hurley’s memories of people we know he saw or who he could have saw if it is a criminal mental institution create all of his Island “characters.” That makes sense on all the backstory “coincidences” of the Island characters, such as Desmond telling Jack at the stadium, “see you in another life,” just as Dave tells Hurley he will “see him in another life.” How would Hurley know Desmond’s line to Jack unless Hurley himself had a memory or subconscious use of it.

Hurley has an opportunity to end his mental trap, but some part of him does not want to deal with reality. In his reality, he blames himself for the death of two people in a deck collapse, because of his weight. But what if that guilt haunts him after his own death?

There are more references to other characters having mental problems, mental meltdowns or “losing their grip” on reality like Jack going through his divorce and fighting his father at an AA meeting, to Jin “losing his grip” when told to do his father-in-law’s killing.  In fact, all of the characters in LOST have the ability to become violent killers. Even lovesick Desmond, kills Kelvin in a rage over keeping his repaired sailboat a secret. The repression of past harm could be re-tested in the environment of the Island, either as a metaphor for a hospital treatment, or as judgment of a person’s soul.

Third, that the events of the Island is in the realm of the afterlife. In an Albert Brooks movie tangent, the idea that Hurley was in an accident that killed two people, one of those people may have been himself. Like in Defending Your Life, a dead Hurley boards a plane to the afterlife with fellow souls, except for some reason, these people don’t believe they are dead. The plane crash was a fiction for these lost souls to work out their sins, issues and character flaws in order to pass on to the next level of existence.

There is also a reference to the Brooks movie when Juliet has a large file in front of her when she is talking to Jack. She tells him “this is your life.” She says knows everything about him, much like the angel defender does with Albert Brooks’ character.

These episodes dynamically reinforce the three theories about game play, mental illness, and the afterlife, creating a spiritual fantasy world that the characters are trying to get through, via quests, religious ritual or missions of survival. It seems that some characters must reach their personal “rock bottom” in order to change, in order to be saved.

Any form of dream or non-Earth state could explain away all of the inconsistencies, continuity, legal errors, medical errors and supernatural elements of the show. For in a dream you can do anything you want, including reviving the dead.

What does it mean to SEE YOU IN ANOTHER LIFE? It can mean see you at the next game level, see you in the next dream, or see you in the afterlife.