TRAGIC RESOLUTIONS

The tragedy in life doesn't lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in having no goal to reach. — Benjamin Mays

From a point blank, black or white, yes or no answer - - - - did the main characters attain what they were seeking when their LOST saga began?

JACK. His sole goal or mission when LOST started was to bring his father "home" for his funeral. 

In a roundabout way, Jack did have his father's funeral in O6 story arc and "another one" in the sideways world conclusion. It seems redundant that Jack "experiences" two funerals for his father, but we get the sense of no resolution within Jack.

KATE. Her sole goal or mission when LOST started was to get away from Marshal Mars and her criminal charges including murder.

In a sense, Kate got her wish when the marshal died with her secret, but she could not run away from it forever as in the O6 story arc, she was put on (a legally dubious) trial and received no punishment from her crimes. She re-lived her runaway nature in the sideways world when Flight 815 landed in LA. 

LOCKE. His sole goal was to become independent, to take charge of his own life (beyond his disabilities). 

As terrible as it sounds, Locke was crippled more by his mental fixation of abandonment and betrayal by his parents than his paralysis. The island gave him his miracle of being able to walk, and then his opportunity to become the man he never was . . . but the mental baggage of his own personality would doom him over and over again. He would get a second "miracle" in the sideways world by allowing Jack to do surgery, but we now know that was a meaningless fictional device to jump start the final reunion.

SAWYER. His sole goal in life was to avenge his parents death by killing Anthony Cooper. 

Sawyer was granted the opportunity to kill Cooper when Locke's "wish" was granted by the island's "magic box." In order to become the island leader, Locke needed to kill his father in order to become worthy (whether symbolic or real ritual is unclear). Locke could not do the deed, but he got Sawyer into the same locked room with Cooper knowing that Sawyer's rage would get the better of him. In the sideways world, Sawyer did not get any revenge on Cooper, who was a feeble old man being taken care of by Locke and Helen.

SAYID. His sole goal was to change his dark evil torturer past in order to find happiness with Nadia.

In all respects, Sayid failed in his goals. He really had nothing in common with the other main characters. The closest person to him from a purely mental background was Ben. Both had embraced the dark side of the force. But with all the pining for Nadia, including the O6 story arc, Sayid winds up as a reincarnated dark minion and with Shannon in the sideways reunion.

HURLEY.  His mission was to find the source of his problems, The Numbers, which he believed cursed his life by bringing him pain of people dying, people taking advantage of him (like his father in his return).

Hurley's blessing of winning the lottery added more mental pressure on his low self-esteem.  He could not see anyone liking him for himself because of the fame and money. At the most basic level, Hurley failed in his mission to find out what the Numbers truly meant. Even when his secret got out on the island, most people did not believe him. In the O6 story arc, Hurley was more comfortable voluntarily committing himself in a mental institution than dealing with the real world. And that fantasy escape seems to have transfixed his final resolution by ending up with Libby, a person he only "knew" for a few weeks on the island (and never had a first date until the sideways world.)

ROSE and BERNARD. To be together, until death do part.

Bernard wanted to find a miracle to cure Rose's cancer so he could spend more time with her. Rose was stoic and resolute that her cancer could not be cured so she only wanted to live out her life in peace with her husband. The island did give them that peace after they decided to get away from all the beach politics, leadership issues and dangerous battles with strangers like the Others or Widmore's men. It is interesting to note that they did not have to be "awakened" in the sideways world. One aspect of Rose's early introduction after the crash was that she knew her cancer was gone. Many assumed the island's healing powers, but a few of us thought that Rose knew then and there her cancer was gone because she was dead. Everything was going to be alright because she accepted her fate. 

JIN and SUN. Their confusion over their relationship was in part fueled by each individual's desire to run away (Jin from his poor fisherman past; and Sun from her domineering father). The open ended question was whether they had the personal resolve to run away from their past together.

Only in death on the island, did Jin and Sun truly sealed their bond (even though Jin's failure to take into consideration of their young child is a troublesome issue). They could never live "happily ever after" except in the fantasy sideways world.

CHARLIE. His pre-flight goal was to "get the band back together," but in some ways Charlie was looking for family to fill his drug induced void in his life.

Charlie never reached his goals. His overture was rejected by his brother, who suddenly had a nice family life in Australia. It was seeing that family life, and the rejection by his brother, that made Charlie "dream" of such life for himself. But he never got a chance to realize the full extent of any such relationship on the island, or really in the sideways church as he was engulfed by white light shortly after Aaron's "re-birth."

MICHAEL. His sole mission was to get his son, Walt, back into his life. 

Michael never succeeded in his goal. Walt was a stranger. Walt had issues on why his father let him go as a baby. Walt was also dealing with the death of his mother, and abandonment by his stepfather. Michael's desire to protect and save Walt from the island dangers clouded Michael's judgment so much that he turned into a killer and betrayer of his fellow survivors. As a result of his actions, Walt became bitter and estranged from his father. Michael, so despondent over his personal failures, tried to commit suicide on multiple occasions. In the end, he is literally a lost soul trapped in the spirit world of the island.

A summary of the main characters and their pre-crash goals being met:

YES: Jack, Kate, Sawyer, Rose & Bernard,

NO:  Locke, Sayid, Hurley, Jin & Sun, Charlie, Michael

There is no consistent story pattern from reviewing this simple pre-crash question. It is hard to pinpoint one critical pre-crash issue that was buried in the gut of each character. Maybe all the characters were looking for a way to say they were sorry to a parent. It also seems that the sideways world main unresolved issues were transfixed just before the plane crash (which gives some credence to the parallel purgatory theories). Maybe 40% of the characters attained some form of closure in their pre-island personal issues. But that means more of them did not.

UNWANTED CHILDREN

One of the issues I had with LOST is how it treated children like Aaron, Emma and Zach. At times, the portrayal of children were mere props. This includes Walt, who was supposed to be a major character into the series until a large growth spurt wrote him out of the series.

But as adults, we did not view the series through the eyes of a child. How one reacts to an entertainment show is based upon one's own life experiences. That is why writers try to use universal themes and events to give commonality to the characters so we can glean familiar traits and conflicts to be resolved in the story.

The show could be viewed now as a series of unwanted children stories.

Locke was probably the earliest example. He was the consequence of a smooth talking con man taking advantage of a naive country girl. After his miraculous birth, his mother refused to hold him. Locke was abandoned by his parents within minutes of being born. That scar was burned deep into Locke. He called his mother "crazy." He did not fit into his foster homes. He had no relationship with his father, until he came back into his life to steal a kidney.  No wonder Locke rebelled against his own nature and authority. He wanted to be in charge of his own life. He wanted to find a normal home life. It is telling that at an early age Locke transposed his feelings into artwork which included a dangerous smoke monster.

Kate also had bad childhood issues. She was raised by an army officer father, Sam Austen, and her mother. But Kate felt deeply betrayed when she found out that the man who raised her was not her "real" father. And once that secret was out, her "real" father  - - - an abusive drunk - - - came back to the house, Kate lashed out. She felt abandoned by the man he thought was her father. She felt abandoned by her mother who took more time and effort to please Wayne than maintain her relationship with Kate. As such, Kate began to act up in order to regain her mother's attention.  As a child,  a store clerk caught Kate and her friend, Tom, stealing a lunchbox from a small convenience store. Jacob intervened and paid for the lunchbox, tapping her nose, and telling her to "be good." Later,  Kate and Tom recorded a message and put it and a toy airplane and a baseball into the lunchbox and buried it under a tree as a time capsule. It is telling that Kate transposed her feelings into becoming a trouble maker to get attention. One way to do so was to runaway from home. Make her mother miss her. The toy airplane became of symbol of Kate's desire to runaway from her parents.

 Jack had different childhood issues. He was raised by an upper middle class professional couple. His father was a brilliant but boastful surgeon. He was never around when Jack was growing up. And when he talked to Jack, it was usually to correct him or knock him down a peg. Jack felt isolated from his parents. And as an only child, he had the desire to succeed in order to re-gain the perceived lost affection from his parents. So he tried very hard to match his father's accomplishments. And when he succeeded and began a successful surgeon, his father did not change. He was still critical of his son. The lack of respect was crippling to Jack's ego.

James Ford a/k/a Sawyer had a traumatic childhood that scarred his psyche. He carried with him the story of how a con man came into his rural town and seduced his mother and stole all his family's money.  He said that the man, Anthony Cooper or "Sawyer," claimed that he loved his mother and promised to take her out of Alabama. Sawyer realized that her mother had betrayed his father. His mother chose a stranger over the family. Sawyer's father found out and became a deranged person.  He shot his wife then turned the gun on himself, while young James hid under the bed and watched. At the funeral, James began a letter to the con man, vowing to find him one day and kill him. Jacob  gave him a pen when his dried out, and he finished the letter, though he promised his uncle that he would not complete it.  In his bitterness and the traumatic emotional scar of a broken family, Sawyer's quest for revenge turned him into the man he hated since he was a boy.

Hurley also had abandonment issues. He was close with his mother and father. Everything seemed to be great. He was helping his dad rebuild a car, when suddenly one day, he left. All he gave him was a candy bar. That candy bar became a crutch to stay off depression. Hurley gained weight, became introverted, and began to fantasize about a better things. Hurley became a loner. As a result, he never thought that he would amount to much. He would go from dead end job to dead end job. Even his closest friend would take off and leave him alone.  He blamed his loneliness on the fact that it must have been his fault that his father left the family. He had to be punished for breaking up the family. And when he suddenly found wealth and the family was reunited, Hurley was ashamed by the superficial love shown by the people around him. He felt that the money was a curse, but he really believed deep down that he was the one that was cursed so that bad things would happen to people close to him.

In these examples, we find small children trying to deal with serious adult issues: abandonment, betrayal, harsh criticism to belittlement, traumatic emotional scars and cursed loneliness. And in these early years, the characters made certain choices that appear to haunt them for the rest of their lives. Locke pushing hard to find a family but as a result pushes away the good people. Kate only knows how to run away from her problems rather than directly dealing with them. Jack gives up all aspects of his life to make sure his father would one day be proud of Jack's accomplishments. Hurley learns to blame himself for the troubles of the people around him. At some early point in time, each of the main characters felt that someone they cared about did not want them.

It is a universal fact that babies and young children cling and bond to their parents. They need the close attachment for nourishment and safety. They get upset if they think a parent is abandoning them ("don't leave me alone!") or not paying attention. They cannot care for themselves. It is the care and affection they receive as a young child which molds how they will grow up.  Kate felt this deep pain of her childhood scars coming to the forefront when she took Aaron home to be raised by her. This was the same lie which she lived in her own childhood. Kate beat herself up so much that her solution was again to run away from the responsibility of caring for Aaron to find Claire in a apparent suicide mission to get back to the island. Kate abandoned Aaron much like her step-father abandoned her.  Kate knew that her actions would cause Aaron deep pain later in life. But her own history repeated itself when she left Aaron.

We saw the main characters as adults with childlike issues. And perhaps, that is how the main characters saw themselves. The characters had similar traits of being sentimental, emotional, bitter and feeling unwanted by their parents. Where do unwanted children wind up? An orphanage.

One small pebble of doubt in a young child's mind can snow ball into a huge emotional problem as an adult. How does a young child perceive his or her being put in an orphanage? A prison to punish them for something they did wrong to break up their family? A place where useless people are thrown away? 

The seeds of the entire LOST island story could have been established in the imaginations of the orphans who dreamed of what their lives would become if they could control them. Each of the children could bring an element to their group storybook tale of woe to the schoolyard: Locke the dangerous island monster; Kate the airplane to run away from their problems; Hurley the curse of crashing the plane; Sawyer the lies that turn matters into life and death actions; and Jack trying to prove that he is worthy of a parent's praise.

What if the basis of LOST is the group imagination of orphans acting out their psychological issues in their own Wizard of Oz fantasy play time. Children have vivid imaginations. They can recreate battles in the back yard; Star Wars space fights in the basement with paper towel tubes as light sabers; they can dream of tropical paradises; they can create monsters in the closet or boogie men under the bed; they can transform themselves into doctors, pilots, hunters, assassins, soldiers, beauty queens, witches and kings, and  all with the lack of moral right or wrong since to them it is all mere "play."

As normal adults, we have forgotten more childhood memories than we realize. It may be the clutter of the modern day multitasking, but at some time in the future the mental clouds will part and those forgotten memories will resurface like they happened just yesterday. An example of this is in elderly patients with various forms of dementia: they may not know the names of their family members, but they can tell vivid stories from the childhood. How or why people suddenly "awaken" or focus in on lost childhood memories is unknown. But that same mystery is apparent in the sideways world when the characters have to remember in order to move on. In LOST, it may have been to remember the fantasy stories of abandoned orphans in order to obtain peace of mind.

NURSING A CONCEPT

It is hard to imagine, but the story lines of LOST contained more than 35 "nurses."  In battlefield medical tents, nurses were called "angels of mercy." They have the difficult job of treating people in difficult to life threatening situations.

There are some interesting patterns with some of them.

Locke's nurse at St. Thomas Hospital where he donated a kidney to Anthony Cooper later showed up as his nurse at St. Sebastian Hospital with Jack. It is odd that a nurse would change hospitals. It would seem that this nurse was "assigned" to follow Locke, to watch over him.

A nurse worked at the Santa Rosa Mental Health Institute in which Hurley and Libby were institutionalized as patients. When Hurley came back (after being released) to visit Leonard, the nurse would not allow Hurley to see him, as he didn't know Leonard's last name. Eventually Hurley was let in by Dr. Curtis.  This nurse must have been hired after Hurley left because she did not know him. The odd part is that Hurley was good with names, so he would have remembered Leonard's last name.

But the more mysterious nurse was Susie Lazenby, a nurse from a prior episode, "Dave."  She was the nurse who gave medications in the day room to both Hurley and Libby. Was there something important to keep both Hurley and Libby "drugged" to the point where they would not remember each other?

Ayesha was a nurse at the local Tunisian infirmary to which a severely injured Locke was brought to after he turned the FDW.  She was on duty when three men entered carrying Locke. A doctor shouted out loud for her twice while he was treating Locke, but she was unresponsive until another nurse pointed out to her that the doctor was in hurry. When she finally responded to the doctor, Matthew Abaddon  was watching from behind a curtain where she was standing. Abbadon was Locke's orderly after he was paralyzed by Cooper's betrayal. Ayesha was the last person Locke seemed to recognize before losing consciousness.

Debra was a DHARMA nurse who assisted Juliet while operating and caring for a young Ben who was shot by Sayid during the time flash period. She worked with Juliet and later informed Juliet that Kate was there to donate blood for Ben because she was a universal donor.

In the End, Nurse Jean assisted Jack with patient Locke at St. Sebastian Hospital when Locke awakened. Jean's name was said on screen by Jack making her the final named character ever to be introduced on LOST.

In the theme of Life and Death, nurses as angels can be powerful symbols. Or they can be sinister agents for powerful forces. For example, in Locke's story his life "ends" when he is thrown 8 stories from a window. As part of his miraculous rehab, an orderly called Abbadon (which is a reference to the devil) imparts wisdom and hope to Locke to continue with his rehab. Abbadon, who is working for Widmore, returns to help Locke gather up the O6 survivors to return to the island. But not after being present when Locke is treated after his time flash. Abbadon and the nurses around him clearly were pushing, guiding and advising Locke on important decisions that Locke had to make in order to survive.

I also think nurse Susie Lazenby was carrying on exterior motives by being the one medicating both Hurley and Libby. She could have been an operative to keep Hurley or Libby from remembering their past or their future (see prior post about the sideways world being first in actual time).  Who would suspect a nurse who has an oath to help patients, actually dispensing drugs to keep souls in the state of darkness, despair, illusion or depression? It is the perfect cover to control, manipulate and brain wash patients.

Perhaps young Ben learned these manipulation techniques when he was shot by Sayid. Kate took on the role of being an angel of mercy by donating blood to save Ben's life. Juliet, knowing what Ben would become in the future, decided that her own personal feelings and desire to kill the monster called Ben in 2004 had no place in 1977. It was one of those ethical puzzles with no clear answer.

If one thinks the series was an dreamy after life state where the characters had to sort through various ethical, moral, immoral and judgmental decisions, the nurses weaved into the stories could be the good messengers to the dark forces trying to manipulate lost souls. And it was the various choices, changes of direction and final decisions in the maze of series events led the main characters to the sideways church reunion, all with some contact to a nurse sometime during the series.

CHICKEN OR THE EGG

It is the most basic childhood paradox: which came first, the chicken or the egg?

It is self-contradictory. One needs a mature chicken to create an egg. But one needs a fertile egg to create a chicken. It is an impossible question.

Likewise, the dilemma in LOST is an apparent paradox: which came first, the island time periods or the sideways realm?

It seems simple if one looks at time in a lineal progression. The sideways world is where all the characters arrived as dead souls. So, logically, the sideways world is the end point in time. However, the last shots of the series is Jack apparently still alive, but dying, on the island after the sideways church light engulfs them.

The evidence that the sideways world was created later is Christian's statement that the sideways purgatory was created by everyone present so they could be together in the after life since they shared the most important moments of their lives together. Besides the simple unanswered question of how can mortal humans create a supernatural mirror Earth in the after life, when exactly did the characters "create" the sideways realm?

The main characters had tenuous connections before boarding Flight 815. One could argue that the only event which was the "most important' shared aspect of their collective lives was the plane crash. It has been reported by passengers in plane crashes that time seems to slow down. They claim their lives flash before their eyes. A plane that breaks up at 35,000 feet has about three minutes to fall back down to the ground. The sideways world could have been "created" by the panic, fear and anxiety during that three minute fall.

Or, the collective fear, panic, and personal retrospective (each person's own life flashbacks) could have "created" the island story line prior to everyone being killed in the crash when the plane sections hit the island.

But Christian's church explanation to Jack has a serious flaw. Members of the reunion did not share the most important elements of their lives together. For example, Penny had no island connections.
Further, those who were aware and present of the sideways realm (Eloise, Keamy, Nadia, and even Juliet) were not present when Flight 815 crashed on the island. Another problem is Ben. Why would he have created the sideways world when he was the nemesis of all the people in the church?

A further complication is that sideways people ran around in their new realm oblivious to "the most important" aspect of their lives being suppressed in their memories. How is that logically possible?  If one creates an after life way station while alive, why would you "forget it" after you died until some event in the after life triggers your repressed memory? There are too many puzzle pieces which do not fit this explanation.

Then the last issue with the sideways awakening is that Ben got to "choose" to stay in purgatory world created by the people in the church? Why would the sideways realm continue on if its sole creation was to keep lost souls occupied in a game like logic loop until they all died and wanted to move on to heaven?  The concept that other souls, some awakened like Ben and Eloise, can continue to live a fantasy life in this purgatory world means that Christian's explanation cannot be correct: other people created the sideways world in order for it to continue on after the LOST characters left the church in the finale.

As such, we can conclude that the sideways realm was created well before Christian stated that Jack's friends "made it" for their reunion. That makes sense because Eloise seemed to be aware of both realms (the island world and the sideways world) without being awakened to a difference between them.

LOST itself was edited out of order to create a sense of drama, and a cloud of confusion. It is easy to take things out of context when there is no rational context when they are compared normal human common sense.

Which brings us back to the question: which came first, the island time period or the sideways realm?

It would seem that the sideways world was created first. But then, things get murky. One would assume that the flashbacks were the characters true lives, but there were some aspects which made no sense. Example, Faraday was born in early 1978, but he was killed on the island in July, 1977. In 2004, Faraday became highly emotional when learning of the news of the Flight 815 crash except he would not have any real connection to the 815 folks for months to come. These are clues that the island and flashbacks may not be in order.

It is possible that a plausible explanation of Faraday's memory issues and mental time skips is that he was already in the sideways world - - - and that the island realm was drawing upon his past life as means of giving him a second chance to work through issues he had before his death. Or, the island realm was giving him symbolic clues to what really happened to him in his real life. In the harshest sense, if Faraday's could have imagined his entire flashback "life" as a dream because he was killed (aborted) by his mother, Eloise, six months before he would have been born. This is why Eloise is so protective of Faraday in the purgatory after life - - - and that she does not want him to remember what she did to him (killed him before he was born). Eloise's guilt is the strong force to keep Faraday in the dark in the sideways after life.

In some respects, Aaron would also fit this pattern of denial. Claire was pregnant and in a serious car accident which mortally injured her mother. Claire was also pregnant in the sideways after life. One could make the connection that Aaron and Claire never survived the auto accident. The 815 passage to America was Claire's final dream to give her baby some sort of "real" life (but in an after life fantasy world.)

The sideways world was created by the dark memories of dead people to keep the truth hidden from themselves and others for as long as possible. It is a selfish diversion. In order to protect the sideways dream world, souls were separated from their conscious and subconscious (like ancient Egyptian death rituals) to allow spirits to go back into a re-created past (which is a present fantasy world) in order create an amnesia state in the souls living in the sideways world. 

So it does not matter which came first, the chicken or the egg because the organic nature of reproduction and rebirth is trumped by the spiritual.

SELF CHARACTERIZATION

You're braver than you believe, and stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. 
 — A.A. Milne

One of the quiet or nearly hidden theme of the show was how each main character viewed themselves.

Jack's alleged personality flaw was the lack of leadership skills (the life or death decision making process) instilled in his mind by his aloof father. But that characterization is not seen in any of Jack's background story. From the earliest moments, he stood to a school yard bully for his friend (and paid the price.) He was a emergency room trauma surgeon. He had to make quick decisions, bark out orders, and deal with life or death issues every day. He had to keep his emotions in check. The one critical aspect of his professional practice was that he always gave his patients hope because he could not accept the fact he could not fix everything.

Jack's character was supposed to die early in the series. His death was supposed to "shock" the viewers to the gravity of the island survival. Kate was going to be the focal point character for the series. It is hard to imagine now that Kate would have carried the series. Jack's personality and demographic appeal kept him on the series (the pilot was killed instead.) By Jack staying in the series, it gave the writers the opportunity to "save" injured people, or allow them to die while Jack struggled to cope with their deaths (i.e. Boone). 

Kate was never a leader. She was always a runner. She would get into trouble. Her solution was run away, not be accountable or responsible. She was the anti-leader. She was not even a good follower. She was a loner. Loners with serious baggage are quite independent. Kate probably enjoyed her rebel persona.

Sawyer was Kate's kindred soul. He also had serious baggage, including murder, in common with Kate. He was a loner who enjoyed playing with weaker individuals. He was not about gaining power but rigging situations for his own personal benefit. He did not want or need followers or friends. Sawyer learned the con man trade in order to get into the world of Anthony Cooper, the man who destroyed his family and his life. Sawyer thought of himself as a avenger, the only person who could exact closure to his own personal pain.

On the other hand, Locke aggressively sought out friendship and purpose. His parental abandonment left a big hole in his life. He wanted to be wanted; he needed to be needed. Locke turned his back on what he was good at (school, science) to try to be something he was not (a jock). As a result, no one accepted him. He tried too hard to fit in, including joining a commune. But he was so naive, he did not understand that he was constantly used as a pawn in other people's games. 

When Locke arrived on the island, he had another opportunity to change his persona. He acted like he was the great outback hunter. He could provide food, shelter and guidance to the survivors. It was hard for him to accept that the beach camp gravitated toward the doctor over his skill set. This drive to be accepted by his peers led Locke to become another pawn in the Island's game.

Then you have a character like Sayid who actually knew who he was: a dark soul soldier. He knew he was brave. He knew his was deadly. He hated himself that he could lie, torture or kill his opponents without guilt or shame. He had the experience to be stronger, smarter and more clever than anyone around him. He should have been a natural born leader, but he allowed himself to follow orders instead of commanding center stage. In some ways, he was anti-Locke, who wanted to give the Braveheart speech and lead the survivors in battle.  Sayid was more comfortable doing his solo missions because he never wanted to be responsible for the safety of another person.

Braver. Stronger. Smarter.
Which characters found themselves outside their personal comfort zones during the Island time?

Jack was braver in dealing with human conditions he could not control on the Island. The physical aspects of finding water, keeping people on point, going on missions made him physically stronger. But the added responsibility did not make him any smarter, because he continued to misjudge people and their motivations.

Kate was slightly braver when she went on missions for the sake of a group goal. But she continued to be distant with interpersonal relationships unless it gave her leverage. She was always a tom boy on the run so the island events did not make her physically stronger. She really was not that dependent on the group for survival. Her island time did give her more chances to charm the men around her. She was always street smart and could see through people like Sawyer.

Sawyer became braver when he gunned down a polar bear on the group's first mission to find rescue. He volunteered for a near suicide mission to go off on Michael's raft. It seemed that the Island kept throwing him into dangerous situations where he had to physically fight back. So he became physically stronger, but mentally weaker. He got conned by other people around him, including Ben.  But for the time travel tangent with Juliet in Dharmaville, Sawyer would have wound up as an egotistical manipulator like Ben.

Locke never fit in. He appeared braver after the crash, but the group did not accept his bravery (some feared it). He appeared stronger like a survivalist after the crash, but his emotions got the better of him. Emotions that clouded his judgment. Locke fixated on things as the answer to his own problems (and therefore, the answer to everyone else's problems). When he was wrong, it made him more bitter. And the more bitter he got, the weaker people perceived him. He was not very smart because people easily made him the fool. Locke's island tenure mirrored his miserable pre-crash life.

Sayid's time on the island was also a non-change. Sayid was always a brave soldier, always able to do the group's "dirty work." He was stronger than anyone around him. He was military smart in tactics, weapons, killing and gathering  intelligence. As such, Sayid was viewed by those in power as tool to be used to secure or maintain power. First, Sayid worked for Jack taking the dangerous missions in the jungle. Then he worked for Ben as an asssassin. Finally, he worked for MIB on the island. Once Sayid was killed and reincarnated in the temple, Zombie Sayid finally realized that he was an empty shell. He was no longer independent, but a pawn who did not think much of himself.

Clearly, all the main characters went through a lot of trials and torment on the Island. But did they really change that much? Did a light bulb go off and suddenly make them smarter? Did a dormant trait hidden deep inside them awaken to make them stronger? Did their fits of bravery more heavily rely on basic instincts over courage? It may be subjective to answer those questions. It depends upon how you viewed each character's life before and after their Island time periods. But it is interesting to note that none of the main characters came to the self realization that they truly changed as the series closed. Kate continued to run away. Sawyer was self-motivated to get off the island. Locke and Sayid died in meaningless ways. And Jack never came to grip with his emotional demons. No one came out and said that they had an epiphany; that they were a changed person.

LOSING ONE'S MIND

The Associated Press reported a very strange story about a man who woke up in a hotel with no memory of his past life, but actually living a new one.

Four months ago a man was found unconscious in a California desert motel who awoke with no memory of his past and speaking only Swedish. The Florida man called himself Johan Ek.
 He was found with a duffel bag of exercise clothes, a backpack and tennis rackets. He also carried four forms of identification — a passport, a California identification card, a veteran's medical card and a Social Security card — all of which identified him as Michael Boatwright.

Doctors diagnosed Boatwright with "Transient Global Amnesia," a condition triggered by physical or emotional trauma that can last for several months. The rare mental disorder is characterized by memory loss, "sudden and unplanned travel," and possible adoption of a new identity. He does not recall his family or his past life.

The AP story also references an incident last year, when a North Dakota college student went missing for nearly a week before turning up in Arizona. She also had a bout of amnesia and didn't know who she was. Her mother said she has had recurring amnesia since suffering a head injury years ago. It is unexpected when it happens to her daughter.

This story is every "LOST" like in that a person's mental condition can suddenly change so that person adopts a new, complex identity with no memories of their real past. 

Could this be the explanation of the sideways world?

It has always been problematic that the main characters in the sideways world could not remember their island time. It was more complicated by the fact that the island time relationships allegedly "created" the sideways world so the lost souls could meet each other in the after life. If one believes the island time was a different level of purgatory and the main characters were already dead, then there is some supernatural basis for memory loss. But if one believes the main characters were alive on the island, then how can their memories be altered or suppressed so completely in the sideways world (only to be awakened by a sudden, emotional event that triggers memory recall). Was it only necessary for the island survivors to have a connection with each other to forge bonds that would create their pre-island past in the sideways dream state? In a roundabout way, each member in the church (except Christian) had an island "constant" present in the pews which somehow allowed all of them to become reunited in the after life.

But the alternative is that sideways is not what it seems. The sideways world may just be an amnesia induced alternative reality or psychosis dream of the island characters who were so traumatized by the crash and being hunted by the Others, MIB and Jacob. This explanation would basically state that most of Season 6 was immaterial because the sideways story arcs were irrelevant to the reality of the Island and its inhabitants. No one every reunited in the sideways world - - - that was Jack's final thoughts or wishes. But that does not mean it came true.

JACOB'S LADDER

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

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

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

There are various interpretations of this story in various religions.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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