At some point in our lives, most of us have experienced a major trauma, loss or mistreatment that has scarred us. The question is, do we let this pain and hurt grow inside of us, causing us to become bitter our whole lives, or do we learn to let go?

Since he was a boy, James has been consumed with the guilt, pain, and hatred from a severe childhood trauma he experienced—his mother’s murder by his father and his father’s subsequent suicide before his eyes. This deep scar has made James obsessed with tracking down and killing Anthony Cooper, aka Tom Sawyer—the man who conned his parents out of their life savings and led to his father’s meltdown.

While this situation is hopefully so much more severe than anything we will ever have to experience in our own lives, the exaggeration exists for a reason. The reason is so that we may process the wisdom without consciously fighting it because its truth hits too close to home. In other words, like the issues of all the characters on Lost, James lesson is really for us.

When we first met James on Lost, his issues were so deep he had taken on the persona of Sawyer including his name and profession. His self-hatred was so intense, he was a masochist, looking for a beating whenever possible. This aspect of James’ personality was revealed when he claimed to have stolen Shannon’s asthma spray in Season 1. This led to his torture by Sayid until he finally revealed that he had, in fact, never even seen it. The message was that James simply hated himself and felt he deserved whatever beating he could get. He hated himself because he had become the person he hated the most—Sawyer.

James carried this pain around with him until he was able to exorcise his demons by killing the man he believed to be Sawyer in the Season 3 episode, “The Brig.” I say “believed” because it is still unclear who this man really was and how he got to the island. Whether or not the man James killed was really the actual man who conned his parents though is irrelevant. The important thing was that he believed that it was and thereby was able to resolve his issues.

As I wrote in The Myth of Lost, “In classic psychology, repressed hatred must be purged from the subconscious in order to alleviate its symptoms. One does this by bringing it to the conscious mind, coming to terms with it there, and finally disposing of it.” This may explain why many of the characters on Lost, from John Locke to Ben Linus, have had to kill (or witness the killing) of their fathers. They had to purge them from their minds. For James, the reasoning is the same, only his issue is not as much with his father as with the man he deems responsible for his death.

After killing Sawyer, James began to lose the self-hatred and anger he’d been carrying around with him for so long. No longer a bad guy, he became a very likable character. But while he had resolved his issues regarding the perpetrator of his parents’ deaths, he had never come to terms with the deaths themselves. He had been so full of anger, he had never let himself grieve. Instead, he channeled his pain into the letter he wrote at his parents’ funeral—a letter that Jacob helped him finish.  It remains to be seen if Jacob’s intentions were meant to help or hinder James, but I think overall, it helped him. At least the letter gave James a goal. Yes, it caused him to internalize his pain, but at least it was contained. And once contained, it could be eliminated.

After killing Sawyer, since James was still carrying around unresolved grief over his parents, the island tested him again. This time the test involved a love relationship—a relationship that would come to a tragic end with Juliet’s death in “LA X.” After Juliet’s death, James regresses to his pain-body self by blaming the death on Jack. Much like with Tom Sawyer, James swears to get revenge by killing Jack. Only, he doesn’t. Sure, he releases some pent up anger by beating on him, but stops far short of killing him. The reason is because he has grown. Not fully, but enough to lead to the life we see in his flash-sideways.

Regardless of when the flash-sideways are actually taking place, it makes the most mythological sense that they represent the epilogue of the characters’ lives—after their experience on the island.  Thanks to the growth he experienced on the island, James is a much better adjusted character than we saw from his original flashbacks. He has sublimated his conning abilities for good—working as an undercover cop to help the law bust other con artists.

The mythology is the same as the one from the movie Catch Me If You Can where the former con artist Frank Abagnale Jr. eventually comes to work for the FBI to help them uncover other con artists. Of course, in this case, the movie was based on a true story. All our life stories are based on mythology. That’s why the myths are able to help us. It’s just that some life stories are made into movies and some aren’t. But even if yours hasn’t been made into a film, there is a film with the same message. Or at least, a character on Lost.

Unlike Jack and Hugo (those who have sided with Jacob), James has not been fully redeemed on the island. If he is to be redeemed, he will need to do so in his flash-sideways. I am assuming that Jack will be redeemed while still on the island because his flash-sideways has shown that he has resolved his issues. While we haven’t seen Hugo’s flash-sideways yet, I feel that he too will be redeemed because he seems to have already resolved his issues while on the island. Perhaps not with food, but I’ll hold off on commentary about that until his centric episode. His bad luck issues though seem to have been resolved.  James, on the other hand, still has hang ups about Sawyer in his flash-sideways, so it would seem that he is not yet fully redeemed on the island. Perhaps this is because he sided with MIB/Locke, or, simply sided with no one.

Having lost someone very close to him, it is completely healthy for James to grieve for Juliet and let himself feel pain. But he must let himself feel this pain and not push it away, letting pain and bitterness consume him. He cannot project his feelings onto Jack, but let himself come to terms with them. Eventually, James must learn to love again. Mythologically speaking, that woman will likely be Kate, and that seems to be where his intentions are heading both on and off the island. (However, those intentions may wind up with Juliet off the island as insinuated with Juliet’s dying words about getting coffee some time.)

The challenges and experiences that James faces on the island are reflected in his flash-sideways. In fact, this is the case for every character. This reflection has been symbolically portrayed in every single flash-sideways so far by the central character’s reflections: James punching the mirror in “Recon,” Ben looking at his reflection in the microwave in “Dr. Linus,” Sayid seeing himself in the window at Nadia’s house in “Sundown,” etc. The message is that both the growth and unresolved issues that the characters face on the island will be reflected in their off-island lives. It’s just like how the issues our souls want to resolve before we come to this world are reflected in the life scenarios we play out on this planet. Our entire lives are set up in order to help us experience the challenges our souls want us to overcome, and in doing so, help others to do the same. Everything else is just details.

To help us on our life journey we meet the right people at the right time, and we get clues from the universe including messages from the media. Since Lost is a major clue-giver for us, it is letting us know that these messages can be very helpful. It does this in “Recon” by showing how James comes to learn a life-changing lesson by watching, Little House on the Prairie. Who would expect that a tough undercover cop like James Ford would watch a seemingly sappy seventies show like that? Once again, the exaggeration is meant to provide insight to our own truth. That if Little House can provide meaning for James, surely Lost can provide meaning for us. Chances are, you aren’t as cool as James, and Lost isn’t as sappy as Little House. So if the message works in that exaggerated scenario, surely it could work in one that’s even more believable.

Having not fully redeemed his character on the island, James still has issues to deal with off the island. These issues come to a head when he blows up at Charlotte after she “accidentally” discovers his file on Sawyer. I put “accidentally” in quotes because the universe created that event so James could come to terms with his issues. Just as Jacob gave young James the pen to finish his letter, just as he also showed Jack that he had been watching him, and just as those trying moments have happened in your own life to help you on your path.

I myself have recently experienced such a challenge. I lost my mom to pancreatic cancer last week after her 3½ month-long battle. Like all other challenges, I believe that this too serves a higher purpose. As I said at my mom’s funeral, she had taught her family many lessons during her lifetime, but her final lesson could not be taught while she was alive. That lesson was how to live without her.

Perhaps because I am so attuned to it, or perhaps because I live in the reality that only exists from my perspective (as yours exists only from yours), but I’ve noticed that each episode of Lost has focused on the exact issues that I have been dealing with that particular week.  Last week, when I was first coming to terms with my mom’s passing, Lost had an episode about coming to acceptance when your life doesn’t turn out like you thought it would. (See “The Lesson of ‘Dr. Linus’—What About You?) Like many people, I’d always assumed my mom would be around to see her grandchildren and that her affectionate and fun-loving personality would help shape their own personalities. Lost helped me begin to come to terms with the reality that this presumed scenario would never come to pass. This week, as I was going through the early stages of the mourning period, there was an episode about learning to let go from loss. And within that episode, a message from another TV show—one that I grew up with.

The words of Michael Landon’s Charles Ingalls were so timely and relevant, they seemed to be directed specifically at me. His message was that life is too short to be spent holding onto pain and worry. And that we should just take the positive lessons and memories of the people who have been close to us and let the rest go. And that in the end, just maybe, we’ll get to see them again. Perhaps I look too deeply into the messages of these episodes in personalizing them so much, but it’s hard to deny their synchronicities.

Of all the TV shows from the past that have ever had a message about dealing with death, Little House On The Prairie seems like an odd choice for Lost. I cannot tell you what relevance such a show might have for you, but I can tell you what it meant for me. Michael Landon was born Eugene Orowitz. In and of itself this is pretty interesting given that it shares a prefix with my own name, Oromaner. (“Oro” means “gold,” coming from the root for “light.”) Orowitz grew up in Forest Hills, NY where I lived for four years with my brother. This is also very interesting, but not quite enough to give me chills. After reading up a bit more on Michael Landon’s life however, this did: he died after a 3-month battle with pancreatic cancer. For me, the message was clear: a confirmation that the message of the episode was definitely for me.

One thing I hope to accomplish in writing these columns is to teach readers to do these interpretations for themselves. I can only interpret generalizations or how episodes can relate to me personally. As for how they can help you with the specific issues of your life, only you can figure that out. I’d like to think that I’m helping by providing the tools, but you’ll have to master actually using them. With the help of Lost and the other clues the universe provides, I think most of us will one day become master carpenters, building impressive structures that just might help keep this world together. Good luck, we’re all counting on you.

Marc Oromaner is a New York City writer whose book, The Myth of Lost offers a simple solution to Lost and uncovers its hidden insight into the mysteries of life. He can be contacted in the discussion section of The Myth of Lost Facebook page.

The Myth of Lost is available on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com.

Life can often be frustrating. We can work hard, have faith, follow the clues, be good people, make sacrifices for the greater good, and still find ourselves in pretty dismal circumstances. When reflecting on our lives, we may wonder where we went wrong, or, if we are being punished for some reason. Perhaps something we did in a prior lifetime─karma that finally caught up to us.

From our limited perspective, it may sometimes seem that our lives aren’t amounting to much. But like It’s A Wonderful Life, we usually just don’t realize how many lives we’ve touched─lives that were made better because we were in them or at least helped influence them in some way. We might feel like failures, but in fact, may have succeeded without even knowing it. It’s just that there is a bigger picture going on behind the curtain that is more important than our own wants and perceived needs.

As Ben is told by Jacob at the end of “The Incident” it’s not about him. But it is about how he fits into the overall picture. That was why as Miles told Ben in “Dr. Linus,” Jacob continued to have hope for Ben right up until the very end. Hope that despite all of Ben’s hardships, much like the Biblical Job, he would keep the faith. So while Ben had given up on Jacob, Jacob never gave up on him. And this knowledge may have swayed Ben to return to Jacob’s side, despite his temptation from Jacob’s nemesis to join the dark side. Perhaps Ben had to go through all those hardships so that he could have the strong foundation to be able to make the tough choices he would need to make─choices that would drastically affect the lives of others.

In both his island life and parallel life, Ben had to make a choice between benefiting just himself or, someone else. And in both lives, he chose the more challenging, selfless path. Perhaps then, Ben is one of the good guys as he had claimed all along. So is there a message there? That whatever makes us who we are stays with us no matter what life situation we are placed in? Are there good souls and bad souls that will remain that way regardless of how their life turns out? Is there an inner-intelligence that determines what we are?

This question of what makes us who we are was the theme of the 1998 movie Dark City. In the film, a society of aliens has created an artificial world and placed Earthlings inside it with different professions and socio-economic backgrounds. Once the humans were comfortable in their respective lives, the aliens would change them around, complete with lifelong memories of their new life. Millionaires would become paupers, healers would become killers, cops would be criminals, and all of them would believe that this is what their life had always been. What the aliens were looking for was what stayed the same when they continually shuffled the people’s circumstances. Whatever this constant was, was presumed to be the soul, and this is what the aliens wanted to find. If you put people into different life situations, will the same people always be good while others are always evil? Or, will it depend upon the life situation they find themselves in?

This element of what makes people who they are is also explored on Lost as seen through the flash-sideways, enabling us to see what stays the same when the characters are thrown into different life situations. In both parallel worlds, Kate is running away from her problems, Locke is angry at the world, Jack is dealing with daddy issues, Sayid is a killer, and Ben devises intricate plans to suit his Napoleon-esque power-hungry ego. This all comes down to the characters’ nature. But can it be changed, or at least, tweaked?

In both versions of his life, Ben feels that he hasn’t been treated fairly and therefore, has not been able to live up to his potential. Despite this belief, he still ends up making a sacrifice for the greater good. In one life he does this by giving up his blackmailed principal position in order to ensure his student Alex’s future. In the other, he gives up the power offered to him by MIB/Locke in order to return to help the side that he felt was the good one─a side that will have him despite his past transgressions. So does this mean that the villainous Ben Linus actually has a good soul? Yes…we all do. But some of us just have to clear away the crud that life has thrown at us in order to find it. A theme of Lost has always been that no one is truly bad or good. They just do what they think is right as seen through the filter of life that they have experienced.

As seen in both timelines, the characters sometimes choose to do bad things, but usually it is the result of situations they are thrown into. Each choice they make helps determine who they really are─tipping the scale more towards the ego/selfish side, or the spiritual/selfless one­. Dogen believed that Sayid’s internal scale had tipped too far towards “evil.” But everyone can be redeemed. In fact, no matter which side of the scale we are leaning, the universe will continually challenge us to grow with experiences that require us to make a decision about who we are. These decisions don’t change our soul, but can help us to get in touch with it. In some parallel versions of our life, we have grown ourselves by making a majority of choices that went against our selfish nature. In others, we’ve stayed pretty much the same by making an equal number of selfish and selfless choices. And in others, we’ve tipped the scale entirely towards the selfish side by usually choosing for just ourselves.

Ben’s father Roger Linus is someone who lives life full of regret in both of his timelines. On the island, he’s tipped the scale entirely towards the selfish side, blaming his son for the death of his wife and becoming an alcoholic in the process. In the parallel timeline, Roger blames himself for leaving the island, and while still relatively negative and regretful, seems to have a better relationship with his son. Not shown on Lost, but existing somewhere in the multiverse is a version of Roger Linus that is even stronger. Here, there is no blame at all, but acceptance. This version was able to accept his wife’s death and play the challenging role of both father and mother to his son. In “Dr. Linus” when Ben complained to his dad about the way his life turned out, instead of agreeing and being regretful about leaving the island, this version of Roger Linus would have commended his son for completing his doctorate, dedicating his life to helping others, and being able to take care of him in his old age. This stronger version of Roger Linus would’ve told his son that he was proud of him, just as Jack told his son in his parallel timeline.

On Lost, it seems as though the decisions that the characters make on the island, influence their parallel lives. Island Hurely has risen above his belief of feeling like a jinx and is rewarded with good luck in the parallel timeline. Jack has taken a leap of faith by risking his life with Alpert and is beginning to accept that he has what it takes, enabling him to resolve his issues with his son in the parallel time. Ben’s selfless decision to return to Jacob allowed him to make another selfless decision for Alex. On the other hand, Sayid who has decided to kill on the island, eventually makes that same choice in his parallel life. Perhaps this is why he is not married to Nadia in this life, it is sort of his punishment because he does not “deserve” her. In both timelines, Sayid wants to be good but always makes the choice to kill. I personally feel that the choice was a bit unfair in the off-island timeline since he was kidnapped and Keamy had threatened his family, but hopefully, Sayid’s story doesn’t end there.

Overall, the message for us is that even though things may not appear to be going according to our plans, it is not our plans that necessarily matter. Despite how things may appear, we are part of a much bigger plan. Richard Alpert feels betrayed and misled by Jacob, dedicating multiple lifetimes to a plan that seems to have failed. Was all his hard work and dedication for nothing? Even if the plan doesn’t work out, the answer is no. The reason is because all his hard work was not ultimately about helping Jacob, but helping himself. Just as Jack thought that the lighthouse would be helping someone else, we come to learn that it was all for his benefit. Similarly, our journey through life isn’t about how we succeed in mastering the material world. It’s about how we succeed in mastering ourselves─overcoming our own selfish desires. And the better you do, the easier you’ll make it for everyone else.

If things have been particularly challenging for you, perhaps you just have more growing to do because you’ve taken on a more challenging role. Each time you are presented with a tough decision and make the more selfless, challenging choice, you’ll be presented with fewer of those types of decisions in the future. Make the more selfish choice however, and you’ll be presented with those same situations again and again.

If you want to know how you’re doing, just look at your own life. What parts appear to flow smoothly and what parts feel like a broken record? Why does Sayid continually have to make decisions about killing? So he can choose to walk away from it. Why does Jack always end up in situations that he feels need to be fixed? So he can accept something even if it’s broken. Why does Kate always have something to run away from? So she can choose not to and settle down. Why does Locke always have crap happen to him? So he can learn not to react and be grateful for what he does have. Why did Hurley always experience bad luck? So he could learn how to make his own luck. Why did Claire keep having her baby taken away? So she could really want to raise it on her own.  And why do you always have that same thing that always happens to you? Next time it happens and you’re about to act the same way you usually do, take the more challenging path. You’ll be one step closer to redeeming the main character of your life story.

Marc Oromaner is a New York City writer whose book, The Myth of Lost offers a simple solution to Lost and uncovers its hidden insight into the mysteries of life. He can be contacted in the discussion section of The Myth of Lost Facebook page.

The Myth of Lost is available on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com.

So, what other sacred narratives can we revisit to help us interpret “Sundown”? It has been mentioned by other fans that Jacob and Smocke reflect the ancient Egyptian story of Horus and Set (or Seth). Unlike many early polytheistic stories, this one clearly defines a “primal duality” which was later interpreted as a battle between good and evil. Like many monotheistic faiths, it promotes the notion of pure goodness being embodied by one deity and pure evil embodied by another. Horus, the falcon god and representative of goodness is frequently seen holding the shen ring which is, notably, a symbol of eternity. Shen means “to encircle.” This particular hieroglyphic symbol was written on the stone that Ilana pushed to open the Temple’s secret Scooby door. Perhaps this pictograph refers to the shape of Lost’s narrative or hints at Nietchze’s “eternal return.” Will the characters continue to revisit their same old mistakes? Will they ever be able to redeem themselves? Are they stuck in an eternal cycle? Is time a circle?

The ancient Egyptian falcon god, Horus, with shen rings in his talons.

Set, god of sky and storms, was Horus’s evil counterpart. These two gods, of course, represent the theme of polarity that has been tirelessly accentuated in recent episodes through the relationship between the benevolent Jacob and the “evil incarnate” Smocke. But I think we should return to the episode title in order to temper this idea. Remember that sundown is a middle place between light and dark, good and evil, high and low.

St Michael and the Weighing of the Souls

Another significant motif we should examine here, as well as in a study of “The Substitute,” is the final judgment and the image of the scale. Recall Dogen’s words to Sayid: “For every man there is a scale. On one side is good and on the other, evil.” Apparently Sayid’s scale is off kilter in a bad way. But before we determine which is “the wrong way” in Dogen’s eyes, let’s take a look at some cultural references to the old-fashioned balance scale.

In Medieval times, St. Michael was considered to be the guardian of souls. Many works of art depict him weighing souls on a balance scale. In the 15^th century painting provided (see directly above the Egyptian work), you can see a devil, perhaps Satan, lying underneath the left pan, coaxing the souls toward him and acting as a magnet to weigh the scale in his favor. Another story involving scales is the ancient Egyptian judgment of souls in the underworld or Amenty (literally “the place where the sun sets each day”). Anubis weighs the heart of each soul against the weight of a feather and Ammit, a fierce goddess with a head like a crocodile’s (possibly an eight-toed creature?), eats the souls of those who don’t pass the test.

photo courtesy of abc television

A very similar process takes place during the cycle of reincarnation, according to Tibetan Buddhism. Shortly after death, the soul is faced with a scale—on one side there are black pebbles, on the other white ones. If the scale tips too much in the “wrong direction,” the soul will be tortured and punished by the terrifying “Lord of Death.” But first, the newly-dead must look into a mirror that reflects the “naked soul” including all of its hidden faults and deepest desires. (Recall the magic mirror in the lighthouse where Jack’s deep-seated longing to find a true home is revealed to him.)

As for the featured book of the week, Chad Post at Three Percent, has reported that Deep River would be used in “Sundown,” but, unfortuantely, I could not see Dogen’s book well enough to read the title. Good old Lostpedia confirms that he is, indeed, reading Deep River, a novel by Christian Japanese novelist Shusaku Endo published in English in 1995 by New Directions. “It is a novel about four Japanese tourists on a trip to India,” who each eventually discover an individual spiritual purpose for the trip.

And while I’m on the topic of featured books, I just want to thank “Doc” Jensen at EW for this bit of bookish cheerleading from his article on“The Lighthouse.” Go literary references Go!

This is why it’s actually important to read the literary references that Lost gives us, because a mere Wikipedia summary of Through The Looking-Glass doesn’t tell you about the kittens and their color coding. It also doesn’t tell you this: the title of the book’s first chapter is ”Looking-Glass House.” Which totally evokes the title of last week’s episode (”Lighthouse,” also awkward for its missing/implied ”The”), not to mention the Lighthouse itself, which was less notable for being a beacon for bringing ships to the Island than for the magic mirrors in its tower — for being a real ”Looking-Glass House.”

Special Thanks to SCS over at TheSanatorium for this post

Let me know what you think–leave comments here…and see more about the literature in Lost at TheSanatorium or at my personal blog at lostandlit.wordpress.com

I’ve been thinking a lot about the Candidates recently (who hasn’t?), and I think we’ve been aware of the existence of this elite group for longer than we think. Think about it. When Ben moved the Island at the end of Season 4, only a select group of people began to move through time: the survivors, Juliet, and the science team. The Others who were already on the Island remained in the present. So what does this tell us? I’ll tell you what it tells me. Only the Candidates moved through time. People who were already crossed off the various lists strewn across the Island (the cave, the Lighthouse) were grounded in reality. Their place in the world was already decided.

However, the Candidates still had a degree of unknown affiliation; there was still a possibility that any one of them would end up being the next Jacob. So they were, in essence, “loose,” free to be sent back to wherever they had a place. They still had a job to do; Jacob still had a place for them in history. And when their use was exhausted, they stopped moving through time. That’s why Charlotte’s body remained in the time in which she died. She ceased to be a Candidate, so she became grounded in whatever time that ended. The same goes for all the survivors who died at various points in history, until finally, the only Candidates left were those who were forced to infiltrate DHARMA, and Rose and Bernard (Vincent too? Now there’s a discrepancy…).

Only the Candidates move.

This may also tell us why some people were sent back to 1977 when the Ajira flight crashed and others were not. The names Austen, Reyes, Shephard, and Jarrah were all on Jacob’s list, not crossed out. On the Island, their place in time was with the other Candidates. That was where they were supposed to be. All of them. In short, the Candidates are their own separate group of humanity, and while they can exist at a point in time with people who are grounded, they are also fluid, and can move around. And at the time of the Ajira crash, Kate, Jack, Hurley, and Sayid weren’t supposed to be in 2007 on the Island. They were supposed to be with the rest of the Candidates in 1977.

You’ll remember that there was only one “Kwon” written in the cave and in the Lighthouse. Perhaps that is why Sun was never sent back. It could be that Jin is a Candidate and Sun is not, or that only one of them can be a Candidate, and Jin was already back where the Candidates were supposed to be. Frank, too, was not sent back, and we have never seen his name on any of the lists, despite what Ilana may think. Claire lost her Candidacy before the Island even started moving when she became Infected, and thus remained in the present, like the Others. The Candidacy seems to me to explain many of the series’ past discrepancies, although I’m not quite sure yet how Miles’ name being crossed out on the lists fits into my explanation yet.

Sun is left behind on the Ajira flight.

I’ve been hearing a lot of chatter lately involving the three Season 6 cast photos recreating The Last Supper. A bunch of stuff about everyone to the left of Locke joining the Man in Black and everyone to his right joining Jacob. While this seemed plausible at first (and does seem to be working out, what with Sayid, Claire, Kate, Sawyer, Jack, and Hurley’s placements), there are certain discrepancies that lead me to believe this theory is not correct. First of all, Ilana and Richard seem to be placed incorrectly, to the left (the Man in Black side). Secondly, fans are basing this theory on only one of the three photos. The other two show different placements of the cast, on different sides of Locke. Clearly, this theory doesn’t work exactly how people originally thought. Personally, I’ve been thinking for a while that eventually the entire cast will join the Man in Black, with Jack being his last recruit. Then, the Man in Black will step in and take over for Jacob, his motive all along.

The LOST Supper (Photo 1)

My theory was shot to shreds by Jeff Jensen of Entertainment Weekly’s “Totally LOST,” who recently outlined what I find to be the most spectacular theory for the final season I’ve ever heard. He starts by breaking the season up: we’re a third of the way through, and only one day has passed since the Candidates flashed back to the present from 1977 in “LA X (Part 1).” We can postulate, then, that the remaining two thirds of the season will also each cover one day, totally three days for the final season.

Let’s look back at the cast photo for a moment. It’s the Last Supper. The Last Supper, which occurred on the Thursday before Good Friday (the early morning of “LA X?”), the first of the world’s most famous three-day period, the third of which is Easter Sunday. If we are to assume the first six episodes do indeed represent Good Friday, then they end at Sundown, the time of day Christ died on the Cross on Good Friday. And what happened mere days later, on Easter Sunday? Christ was resurrected. That’s right. And so in Season 6’s final six episodes, Easter Sunday may bleed through the pop culture fabric and bring with it the resurrection of John Locke.

This is all according to Jensen’s theory. Personally, I think it could be either John or Jacob. Regardless, LOST could be in the process of pulling off what my friend calls “the best use of Christian mythology since the Bible itself.”

Thanks to AmenRisky from TheSanatorium for this article…

Check out AMEMENRISKY’s weekly LOST reviews at TheSanatorium or @ my blog.

The song “Sundown” was inspired by Cathy Smith, Gord’s mistress at the time who he later claimed in interviews was “the one woman in my life who most hurt me.” Actually, Gord may have gotten off easy. Easier than John Belushi anyway, into whom Cathy injected a fatal drug overdose. So is the message of the episode “Sundown” that women are nothing but temptations that should be avoided? Not at all. In fact, the end of the episode hinted that the one hope the island has for survival is from a woman. But we’ll get to that later.

Metaphorically speaking, if the skeletons in the cave are Adam and Eve, and the island is Eden, and Jacob is God, who is the snake? If there was ever any doubt, in this episode it became clear that it is the smoke monster, or should we say, snake monster. He slithers about, he deceives by mixing truth with lies (promising Claire that he will retrieve Aaron from the Temple, yet, Kate is there so who knows), and now, we see that he is tempting the Losties with forbidden fruit. In addition to promising Claire that he will get Aaron back, he promises Sawyer the answer to the question of why he’s on the island, he promises Sayid to reunite him with his deceased love, and just like the serpent in Eden, he seems to be speaking the truth.

For the record, while I’m using the Adam and Eve myth as the morality parable it is most often associated with, to be clear, I do not subscribe to this perspective. The story of the Garden of Eden is ultimately not about morals, good and evil, or even temptation. It is about the creation of our physical universe with the tree of knowledge of good and evil representing opposites that exist in a physical world, as opposed to morality. It could have just as easily been the tree of knowledge of light and dark or up and down. The snake symbolizes time that also only exists in the physical realm. (Possibly because the snake sheds its skin. The symbol of the snake with its tail in its mouth is known as Ouroboros and represents the repeating cycle of time, not putting your foot in your mouth after succumbing to temptation.) Put it all together and the eating of the fruit is symbolic of the creation of our physical world. Period. The misinterpretation of the story that has formed the basis of the world’s patriarchal religions is pretty much responsible for most of the problems throughout our history—wars, ego, pride, discrimination, bigotry, self-righteousness, witch hunts, male chauvinism, etc.  But that’s a column for another day. Here, we are talking about temptation.

On the island, Sayid has taken a bite of the snake monster’s forbidden fruit—killing Dogen in exchange for the chance to be reunited with his beloved Nadia. Ah, what Sayid will do for a woman.  The writers are really trying to get us to believe that the flash-sideways are a result of the snake monster’s granted wishes. This may entirely be the case, but I’m not convinced. The major reason is that in Sayid’s flash-sideways, Nadia is indeed alive and in love with him, but married to his brother. Is this simply an example of the infamous genie/leprechaun  trickster myth—be careful what you wish for because you’ll get it but not as you want it? Perhaps, but for the first time in any Sayid-centric episode, Sayid resists the temptation.

As I wrote about in “‘He’s Our You’—How Proxies Play a Role In Our Lives”: “Throughout his life, Sayid has continually been revisited by a particular archetype—that of a strong, confident woman who is able to mesmerize and ultimately entrap him.” He is lured in by the ladies and then beat up by them. From Ilana and Elsa to Rousseau and Amira, Sayid kept repeating the same mistakes by falling for the temptation of lust or violence. But in his flash-sideways, Sayid finally falls for neither. Not only does he not commit adultery with Nadia and dishonor his brother, he also does not seek out revenge—it finds him. In this way, Sayid is redeemed. As far as I’m concerned, his final act of violence in the flash-sideways was in self-defense, as well as in defense of his brother’s family.

This does not seem to be the granting of a wish, but rather, a final test or result of passing his tests. He tells his brother that he is no longer a man who seeks out violence, and tells Nadia that because of what he’s done in his past, he is not worthy of her. Here, he has clearly passed, and is rewarded by successfully beating the bad guys and rescuing Jin. On the island though, it’s another story. While he tells Dogen that he’s changed, he’s still not quite there and has been lured by temptation. Off-island Sayid has been redeemed, but on-island Sayid still has work to do. Will Christian Shephard come to the rescue and much like Anakin Skywalker, trade sides in the end to overthrow the chief bad guy and save the rebellion…and himself? Perhaps. Or perhaps the savior will be someone completely unexpected—at least from the snake monster’s perspective.

“That boy is our only hope,” the ghost of Obi-Wahn laments to Yoda in The Empire Strikes Back. “No,” Yoda replies, “there may be another.” It’s always kind of disappointed me that Return of the Jedi really didn’t play up on this comment by having Leia somehow use her Jedi powers to save the day. I think it would’ve been cool if she showed up the boys. As with Star Wars, in Lost, all the serious contenders for candidacy seem to also be men. Of the six infamous numbers, all seem to be men, and Kate’s name isn’t even anywhere to be found in the cave. Despite being described by the snake monster as Jacob’s cave, I’m still leaning towards the possibility that it’s his. At the very least, it doesn’t seem like the lighthouse and the cave would both be Jacob’s. Why would he need to write down the numbers and names twice? I’ve heard a theory that perhaps the lighthouses belongs to the Man In Black and that’s why Jacob wanted it smashed. Cool idea, but mythologically, if Jacob does represent light, it should be his while the underground cavern should represent dark, earth energy or the Man In Black.

Since we did not see Kate’s name on the cave wall, the implication is that she is not a serious contender for candidacy, and might not be a threat to the Man In Black’s loophole plan. But while the Man In Black “can picture every move that a man can make, getting lost in her lovin’ is [his] first mistake. Every move??? As in a game???? And like Gordon is he too making a mistake by underestimating a woman? The song also provides another hint: “Sometimes I think it’s a sin when I feel like I’m winning when I’m losing again.” I feel this is exactly where the Man In Black is at. Jacob has a loophole of his own, and like most villains, the Man In Black’s ego blinds him of the unsuspecting threat to his plan—Kate.

I’m not a big backgammon player, but I’ve got a mean Othello strategy. And I’ll tell you exactly what it is: let the other player take up the entire middle of the board so he thinks he’s winning, then, once he’s surrounded himself with himself and has no moves to make, use your edges to turn the tide and flip over all his pieces in mighty swoops.

At the very end of the episode, the Man In Black seems to be in a very good position. He’s killed Jacob, killed everyone in the temple who he hasn’t recruited, and even gotten a possible new candidate to join his team. He gives Kate an intrigued look, but then confidently leads his team to certain victory. Yet, just as Kate got Sawyer and Juliet to turn the sub around, I think she is going to begin to flip over all of the Man In Black’s pieces right back to white. I could be wrong, but I hope not because there is a very strong goddess energy in the air these days and I’d love to write a column about it. We just need an episode with that as the focus to make it happen.

The writers have actually given another slight hint that it might be a woman who tricks the Man In Black. Considering that up until now, all the Season 6 episodes have been following the same order of character-focused episodes as Season 1 (they’ve both focused first on everyone, then Kate, Locke, and Jack), many people assumed this episode would center around Sun since she was next in the lineup. The Season 1 episode with her was called “House of the Rising Sun,” and this Season 6 one was also a play on her name. However, it was all a ruse. The episode focused on Sayid and his love for a woman. I don’t think this title was chosen by accident.

The insinuation might be that just as we took it for granted that a woman would play a role as we expected, the Man In Black may be fooled as well. Kate, Sun, or possibly even Ilana, may give the Man In Black a challenge he wasn’t expecting. If so, that will be a great episode to talk about the goddess.

In the meantime though, what was the message of this episode for us? The theme was obviously about temptation—about making deals with the devil. We all have our weaknesses, and the universe (devil, Satan, Lucifer, Beelzebub, serpent, anti-Christ, whatever you wanna call it) will continually tempt us with whatever it is. Every time we resist, we get that much stronger to make the right choice the next time. However, when we give in, we reap the repercussions. Not to worry though, because either way, you’ll get tested again. No matter what your weakness, you will continually be tested until you successfully overcome it and then successfully pass the multiple retests. Why does the world work this way? Why can’t we just indulge in sex, violence, junk food, and alcohol whenever we want? Well, we can—the choice is ours. But without having vices in this world that we know we shouldn’t give into that often if at all, there would really be no challenge in living life. It would just be like the Garden of Eden where everything was handed to us.

As I mentioned in “Why LOST Can Be A Substitute For ‘Willy Wonka’” it’s like that scene in The Matrix when agent Smith tells Morpheus that humans rejected the first matrix program where everything was perfect. That program was our mythological Garden of Eden. And it was torturously boring. Much like the Man In Black, Satan isn’t truly evil. It just represents the challenge that enables us to see what we’re made of. The Garden of Eden is cool at first, but after a while it gets really old. There’s a great Twilight Zone where this crook gets shot and finds himself in Heaven. He can have everything he desires. At first, he loves it. But after several months, he begs to be sent to Hell instead. It is then that he is told that he’s already there.

So don’t hate the struggle. Embrace it. It makes life interesting. Without it, there would be nothing for us to overcome, nothing to resist, nothing to strive for. Still, while nobody gets to walk between the raindrops, there are those who’ve had charmed lives. Everything goes right for them and they rarely have to struggle. But you know what? They’re soft. There might be a parallel universe where you are such a person. Where everything has gone right for you. But judging by the way the world is headed now, I’d think twice before wishing you could switch places with that version of yourself. You are in a much better position for handling the challenges that may be heading our way.

Even if there aren’t too many of these global challenges, you are at least in a better position to handle whatever might come your way…personally.  And something will. Because you are a Lost fan. You are attracted to an intelligently written show about people with major issues in mysterious and dangerous surroundings filled with complicated questions. Lost is preparing you and other Lost fans for the future. So should time start skipping in our world, or multiple versions of ourselves begin showing up, or people begin getting bloody noses, while the rest of the world may panic, you’ll know what to do. And perhaps if you’ve grown yourself enough you can take charge and comfort everyone else by letting them know that they shouldn’t worry. You know exactly what’s going on. After all, you’re a Lost fan.

Marc Oromaner is a New York City writer whose book, The Myth of Lost offers a simple solution to Lost and uncovers its hidden insight into the mysteries of life. He can be contacted in the discussion section of The Myth of Lost Facebook page.

The Myth of Lost is available on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com.

The producers acknowledged the significance of the Backgammon reference in the season 1 pilot quite a long time ago. And to fully understand this allegory we must look at its inspiration- So before we get back to LOST and Backgammon lets look at where this allusion came from- Don’t let me lose you we are on to something here….

We have seen, throughout the seasons and specifically in “The Light House” many blatant references to Carroll’s books Alice’s adventures in wonderland, and Through the looking glass…

Many people are familiar with the Disney adaptation of Alice in Wonderland and also Tim Burton’s upcoming remake. However LOST CANNOT be fully understood in terms of literary perspective without understanding the LITERARY devices used in Carroll’s books.

NOTE that the devices used by Carroll in the books are largely lost in the movie adaptations. While the movies tell the great story it loses much of what made Carrol books MASTERPIECES and what LOST has used to create a similar effect.

In “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” the story was meant to symbolize a game of cards, different scenes signifying different cards in a deck….

In “Through the looking glass” Lewis Carroll’s sequel to Alice’s adventures in wonderland, everything is mirrored. While ALICE opens outside on a sunny day in summer THE LOOKING GLASS opens indoors on a cold winter night….

The book then goes on to symbolize a game of chess, each scene in the book signifies a different move on the chessboard including Alice (a pawn) taking two spaces on her first move. This is also depicted by Alice crossing rivers in the book symbolizing advancing into a new square on the board. The book concludes with Alice placing the King in checkmate, who hasnt moved throughout the book…

When Alice first enters the world beyond the looking glass and looks “out in all directions over the country” she notices that it is all laid out like a giant chess board as far as she can see. “It’s a great huge game of chess that’s being played all over the world—if this is the world at all, you know.”

Consider the season 4 allusion, probably one of the most extensive and meaningful references from Carroll’s works–Episode 10 (“Something Nice Back Home”) . Jack reads to Aaron, straight from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland:

From chapter II, “The Pool of Tears”

“Alice took up the fan and gloves, and, as the hall was very hot, she kept fanning herself all the time she went on talking: `Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual. I wonder if I’ve been changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question is, Who in the world am I? Ah, THAT’S the great puzzle!’ And she began thinking over all the children she knew that were of the same age as herself, to see if she could have been changed for any of them.”

Amazing how blatantly relevant that passage is to The show

Now lets go back to Locke’s discussion with Walt on the beach in the pilot episode of season 1. Backgammon is the oldest game- it pre-dates christ.

One side dark, the other light…( NOT

GOOD vs EVIL)

Only their pieces were made of pieces of bone!

To understand the allegory we must understand better a game of backgammon.

The game is essentially a race, and luck plays a measurable role, but backgammon offers a significant scope for strategy. With each roll of the dice, a player must choose between numerous options for moving the checkers, and plan for possible counter-moves by his or her opponent. Opportunities for raising the stakes of the game introduce more strategic intricacies.

Backgammon is not a game of strategy alone nor is it a game of pure luck. In Backgammon Luck and Strategy are both utilized to succeed in the game.This parrallels our Fate vs. Free will in LOST. We have seen that WHATEVER HAPPENED HAPPENED and that actions taking place in the past by a losties present actions are exactly the free will that leads to fate. So in LOST it is not Fate vs. Free will it is Fate and Free will and how they are really symbiotic in relationship.

Also in a game of Backgammon we use a precise set of pieces, however these pieces interact with each other in various ways depending on the variable roll of the dice. In each roll pieces will interact with each other in different ways, sometimes aiding in the advancement of the other piece and other times blocking a piece from making a move.

When an opposing player rolls the dice, we can foresee that one of their pieces may lock in an opposing piece. This is foreseen and the opponent plays his next roll accordingly.

Jacob did not seem to try to stop his death, he accepted that this one part of a move that had been in motion since the last roll of the die and not only was he accepting of this fate but had planned his next moves accordingly.

In our Alt. timeline we may be seeing a seperate roll of the dice, and how our characters are interacting with eachother under the circumstances of this new roll. This is why they all still interact with each other, the pieces have not changed, however the circumstances have changed, drastically. A piece that may have inhibited another piece before may be helping that same piece now.

In The Lighthouse we have the most blatant refrences to Carroll’s books since our epsiode actually titled THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS.

In this episode, we actually see the cover of Carroll’s book, and a notable Easter egg that i found significant was Jack actually lifting up a white rabbit to reveal the key to the answer to the question he was seeking.

We also actually get to see THE LOOKING GLASS that apparently Jacob has been using to bring people to the island, and Jack subsequently destroying it!

Remember that the end only happens once, and everything else is just progress…

Want to delve deeper into the rabbit hole? Visit THE LOST BOOKSTORE or check out the books from Amazon below…

Amazon.com Widgets

Please come and visit us at  http://www.TheSanatorium.com

MUCH THANKS TO SCS WHO’S LITERARY ARTICLES ARE MUCH TO THANK FOR A PORTION OF THIS ARTICLE SEE MORE OF SCS AT LOST AND LIT

Answers: 10 Total with 3 Juicy ones…….

Questions: 16 Total with 4 Juicy ones….

Interestingly enough the smaller amount of answers doesn’t matter at all, This was a great episode and the literary perspective of it was amazing- I am loving the Liddel references in our ALT timeline- it is THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS-

And a nice easter egg i found was that Jack actually lifts up a white rabbit to find a key to the answer of the question he was looking for.

VISIT THE SANATORIUM

Thoughts to ponder:

IS IT POSSIBLE THAT JACOB NEVER ENCOUNTERED OUR LOSTIES IN THIS ALT TIMELINE? AND THIS IS WHY THEIR LIVES WERE SO DRASTICALLY DIFFERENT?

“EVERYTHING IS AN OPTION, BUT I WOULD HAVE TO STOP YOU” – Great quote by Samaurai

Hurley:: “I could eat”   HAHA!!

JACK SAYING “WHATEVER I DID IM SORRY” gave me chills ( he was leaving a message to his son but the screen had shifted from that, it was like a voice-over that was tanatmount to the character development that Jacks character is going through, he is completely redeeming himself.

Ive said it before but Jack is still the HERO of our story, just because we are seeing the deeply flawed side of what makes his journey makes him no less. All the best Hero’s were flawed we just never got to see HOW flawed. Around season 2-3 I started to hate Jack, he is again, redeeming himself admirably.

YOU WERE SO INTO IT, and the failure is too much to deal with- This is why David never told Jack about the Piano… This is so paramount to what has led Jack down the negative spiral we have witnessed.

ON TO THE TALLY

Questions:

• Why does Jack have no memories of having appendix taken out as a child?
• Was Jack’s appendix removed as a child IN ORDER to supply the memory of the scar that wasn’t initially there (MORE COURSE CORRECTION)?
• Is there allegorical significance to the name DAVID as Jack’s son?
• Where did Miles go when he was following Hurley into the temple to get food, right before he encounters Jacob?
• Who is coming to the Island that Jacob needs Hurley to help?
• Who is David’s mother?
• Is the apparition of Christian by Claire the same thing possessing the body of Locke now? ( I think so)
• Who are ADAM and EVE???
• Why can you only find the lighthouse when your looking for it?, kind of like why could Sayid could only die from the poison if he took it willingly…
• What isn’t Claire remembering correctly about her encounter with the others?
• Why was David too scared to show Jack he could wanted to play piano?
• Is Jack’s running in with the SAMAURAI in the ALT universe akin to the meeting he had with Desmond in the arena, are strings being pulled just in different ways this time around?
• (It would seems that Jacob is trying to predict the actions of our characters) So Jacob WANTED Jack to break the mirror, DOES HE MAYBE NOT Want someone to come to the island? maybe the person he wanted to make sure got to the island was the Jack who broke the mirror
• Why is Jacob against helping the others at the Temple?
• What will Jin’s Lie to Claire manifest into?
• What is Claire’s role in all this?

Answers:

• Jack Is A Father in our ALT Timeline, this is another solidification that the changes start at 77 not at the point where the plane did/didn’t crash
• Claire has been living in the jungle like Rousseau for years
• Jack declines a drink from his mother, his mental state is much more resilient than the original Jack.
• Claire doesnt know Christian Shepherd and Smocke are the same smokie… hey neither do we really…
• Shannon’s Asthma inhaler was right friggin there!
• It was the possessor inside Christian Shepherd that led Jack to find the caves, the game started all that time ago, they were meant to survive on the island and find Adam and eve and etc etc etc…
• The Lighthouse is how Jacob watched, and manipulated the lives of our losties…
  Jack is important, but he has to solve the puzzle himself, the influence of Jacob has its limits
• Someone BAD is coming to the temple!
• Claire has been seduced by Smocke the whole time, Its likely that she was told by him that the others stole her baby
• JACOB WANTED JACK TO FIND THE LIGHTHOUSE AND BREAK THE GLASS

Thanks to http://www.The Sanatorium.com for this article, keep em coming…

The novel depicts the changing dynamics of a large family, the Ramsays, over the course of a ten-year period during which time many characters die and World War I comes and goes. In the first section, “the Window,” some of the family members want to visit a lighthouse but the father discourages the idea. At the end, after several years have passed, they finally make the visit to the lighthouse. During this trip Mr. Ramsay and his son share a special father-son moment–James, who is accustomed to his dad’s criticism and high expectations is surprised when Mr. Ramsay lavishes him with praise. This sounds like a familiar family situation.

Thanks to SCS of TheSanatorium for this post!

In Lost, specifically in the Shephard family, the evolution of fatherly love took more time (an entire generation and a leap to an alternate universe), but at least Jack does learn to express his unconditional love for his son, David. Another clear similarity between Lost and this novel lies in the element of perspective. Woolf uses multiple voices to tell the story, a  technique where the point of view shifts from one character to the next, creating a highly textured story. This form of construction is a fundamental characteristic of Lost’s storytelling. There is no one single voice of authority that can provide a whole narrative; various single threads of narrative are woven together to create a complete tapestry (to use the image of Jacob weaving).

The Lighthouse of Alexandria, built in the 3rd Century. More commentary forthcoming on this image…

The other reference that immediately comes to mind is the story of Hero and Leander, a tale of two young lovers from Greek mythology. Hero, the beautiful priestess lives in solitude at the top of a towering lighthouse at the edge of Sestus. Guided by Hero’s lamp, Leander swims across the channel every night to visit her, and then returns each morning. The story ends in tragedy when Leander loses his way and drowns in a storm one night. When Hero finds his body she throws herself into the water, killing herself.

At this point, any strong connections to Lost are fuzzy, but both stories popped into my head when I remembered that tonight’s episode was titled “The Lighthouse.”

PS: Yet another guest appearance for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland! See the annotated edition in David’s room. Jack picks up the book and asks his son if he remembers (Jack) reading it to him when David was little. FOR MORE ON THE LITERARY ASPECTS OF THIS AND OTHER LOST LIT CLICK HERE

AGAIN MANY THANKS TO SCS FOR SUBMITTING THIS GREAT ARTICLE FROM HTTP://www.TheSanatorium.com

Lost

In Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, eccentric candy maker Willy Wonka chooses five children from around the world to partake in a tour of his glorious and magical candy factory. While each child believes that his or her prize will include a lifetime supply of Wonka chocolate, in truth, Wonka is looking for a candidate to replace him as custodian of the phantasmagorical factory. Sounding familiar yet? If not, no worries because we’re just getting started.

Wonka’s nemesis is a rival candy maker known as Slugworth, who, we are led to believe, tempts each of the children with riches should they bring him Wonka’s newest secret candy, The Everlasting Gobstopper. This shouldn’t be too difficult because all of the children, save one, are spoiled, greedy, brats. The only one who isn’t, is Charlie Bucket who has had a rough life, but is a good kid. Helping Wonka run his factory is a group of strange helpers known as the Oompa Loomas. Despite never helping the children get out of life-threatening danger, the Oompa Loompas consider themselves to be the good guys by singing preachy songs about proper behavior.

So, plugging in our Lost proxies, we can imagine that the mystical candy factory is the mysterious island, Wonka is Jacob and Slugworth is the Man in Black. The Oompa Loompas are the Others and the children are the Losties. Which children they are depend upon which formula you use to plug in. If we were to go purely by archetype, then Shannon is the spoiled brat Veruca Salt, Hurley is the greedy Augustus Gloop, Ana Lucia is the loudmouth Violet Beauregarde, Sawyer is the sheriff wannabe Mike Teevee and Locke is the loveable loser, Charlie Bucket. For our purposes though, let’s just say rich girl Sun could also be Veruca and tomboy Kate could also be Violet. Poor little Desmond could also be Charlie Bucket, but we won’t give up on Locke just yet.

Okay, so I’ve now compared Lost to Willy Wonka, just as easily as I could’ve with say, The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, or Star Wars. True, but we’ve already heard about those. And the new information we received in “The Substitute” really gives us a big clue that we can use Willy Wonka as a key to decode. The clue, is that of the concept of a candidate.

The idea of using a series of tests to pick a candidate to replace someone in a very important (and magical) position exists in many stories other than Willy Wonka. For example, after passing a series of tests in the final scene of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Indy is asked to replace the knight guarding Christ’s Holy Grail. Doing so would allow him to become immortal so that he could, say, later survive an atom bomb explosion by hiding in a refrigerator.

On Lost, we are led to believe that Jacob and his nemesis have been given eternal life so that they too can guard something of vast importance—an island that seems to defy the laws of the universe. Why are two people needed in this version of the myth? Well, Lost has set up that precedent numerous times, as explained by the button-pushing chore performed in the Swan Station. It’s basically to prevent you from going crazy. While it didn’t work for Radzinsky, (who killed himself leaving behind only a blood stain on the wall according to his partner Kelvin) perhaps the reason was because Radzinsky, as we have seen, was not up to the challenge. Radzinsky was impatient and angry and hadn’t grown enough to take on the challenge of sitting in a contained place and pushing a button every 108 minutes. What if the whole button-pushing thing was actually a test to see who could take on the responsibilities of the island? A test he failed. A test Kelvin failed. And a test that Desmond failed, but came closer than anyone else. Sorta like Charlie Bucket, who also failed by stealing Fizzy-Lifting drinks with his Grandpa Joe. But “so shines a good deed in a weary world…” Hold on, I’m getting ahead of myself.

In “The Substitue” the Man in Black tells Sawyer that he was once a man. Perhaps then, Jacob was too, and both died on the island to be resurrected as its protectors. Much like Locke not believing the button has to be pushed, the Man in Black has lost his faith that the island needs to be protected. And much like Locke, he is wrong, as we see in the parallel timeline with the island being underwater. A timeline where the Man In Black seemingly wins.

As I’ve written in my previous two columns from this season (“What the LA X Refers To” and “Tale of Two Kates”) , I still believe the events of the parallel 2004 timeline are really happening after the events we are seeing on the island in 2007—after Man In Black attacks the temple with Sawyer (and possibly Claire, Christian, and Sayid from the inside). Dogen has already said that the Man in Black will be coming to the temple. Why? Well, why build a temple to begin with? Why was Solomon’s Temple built and later, the Dome of the Rock in its place? Because both sit on hallowed ground where Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac (the Biblical Jacob’s father) and Muhammad ascended to heaven. So the temple on the island also likely sits on hallowed ground or must contain a sacred treasure (something akin to the Ark of the Covenant?) that would allow the Man In Black passage back into our world. Perhaps it is the rejuvenating pool. Maybe Man In Black must kill Sawyer and resurrect him in the pool. Maybe his plan is to trick Sawyer into taking his place so that he can finally leave (just as Sayid the torturer is being tortured, Sawyer the conman is being conned). And what might this Man In Black do once he returns home? The end of the episode gives us a clue.

The Man in Black says he wants to get the “hell off” the island. Does Sawyer? “Hell ya.” Ladies and gentleman, should the Man In Black escape the island he will bring with him Hell on Earth. Perhaps not personally or even purposely. Perhaps in that parallel timeline, the changes in the Losties’ lives lead to a butterfly effect that alters the course of history and brings about the destruction of the world. Whether purposeful or accidental however, it all seems to be put into action by the Man In Black. And who, pray tell can stop him? Only the Christ. And who is the Christ? Well, there are many Christ archetypes on Lost: Locke, Desmond, and Jacob just to name a few. And all have good arguments to be the savior. Desmond was told by Eloise Hawking that the island wasn’t through with him yet, and he also sacrificed himself on the island only to be reborn naked (without sin). Locke has suffered in his life and also brought back from the dead (by Jacob and later physically by Man In Black). Jacob has been sacrificed, yet, we see what could be a young apparition or resurrection of him (much like the young Spock who is regenerated in Star Trek III: The Search For Spock) warning his nemesis about the rules.

As I mention in The Myth of Lost, in mythology, whenever we see ghosts, they usually speak the truth, and ghosts of children nearly always speak the truth. When Man In Black first sees what could be Jacob, the young boy is barefoot and has his arms spread out in a crucified Christ pose revealing bloody hands. He shows up first as his nemesis tries to recruit Richard and then as he begins to recruit Sawyer, seemingly to remind him that he cannot kill either one of them. Those are the rules. They must make the choice of their own freewill. Of course, this theme is right out of the Bible, which also teaches that we are given the freewill to make choices on our own. Despite Man In Black’s insistence to the contrary (as he explains to Sawyer in the cave), it is becoming increasingly clear that Jacob is the one who represents freedom of choice, though, much like the Man In Black, does offer little nudges here and there to fit his own agenda.

So, of Desmond, Locke, and Jacob, who do I think will save the world? Who do I think will most likely take on the role of the Messianic figure and sacrifice himself for the good of humanity? While I think all three characters will have a role, I believe it will be Locke. There are two clues as to why I believe this. The first was in the much talked about Lost Supper promo pictures taken of the cast. In all three pictures, Locke is sitting in the middle of the table in Jesus’ seat. When I first saw the picture, I thought that since Locke was dead, the image was actually of the Man In Black in Locke’s body. Having been given a taste of this season though, I now feel that it is actually Locke in that position. Yes, Locke who has been buried on the island and beaten down in his parallel life. Either way, I think he will rise to save the day. Why? Once again, we turn to our friend, mythology.

If there is one thing Lost teaches us, it is that we should not underestimate the power of a proxy. A proxy is basically a metaphor, or yes, a substitute, for a particular character—one that can be replaced for another because it has similar qualities (See “‘He’s Our You’—How Proxies Play a Role In Our Lives” for more). Through the character names it has given us, the allusions to books and movies, and its own storyline, Lost has taught us that stories tend to repeat themselves, and themes set up by one story are likely to show up again in another. While Lost does break the rules and surprise us every once in awhile, I highly doubt that they will go against one theme that they’ve spent their entire six seasons reinforcing: Suffering characters who rise against their challenges are, in the end, redeemed. On Lost, the redemption oddly seems to be death, but that’s an argument for a different column. The point is, they overcome their issues and can be at peace.

This theme exists throughout mythology—a hero is someone who suffers. And the more he suffers, the more he grows. The old adage is whatever doesn’t kill you can only make you stronger. One only has to look to The Odyssey, Clash of the Titans, Star Wars, The Ten Commandments, The Wizard of Oz, The Lord of the Rings, and your own life to see that this is true. And who does Lost go out of its way to show us has suffered more than any other character? John Locke. “Chin up, “Hugo tells him in the parallel timeline, “things are gonna work out.”

Cut To: Dead Locke on the beach.

The juxtaposition is humorous, but the message wasn’t really for Locke at all, it was for us. The writers know what they are doing, and things aren’t as they appear—both in the show, and in our lives during these trying times. Suffering will help make Locke, and us, stronger.

In any dimension, Locke’s life is hard mostly because he makes it hard. He became a paraplegic because he continued to harass his father who he knew was a deranged criminal. He stayed in a crappy job that had a crappy boss that no one was forcing him to stay at. Even in his parallel life, couldn’t he have asked his fiancée to pick him up from the airport? If not, he at least could’ve asked someone for help when the wheelchair platform got stuck. But no, he was too proud. He was also too proud to park in a handicap spot. And too headstrong to admit he couldn’t do a walkabout or work on a construction site. Quite simply, Locke’s ego gets him in trouble and is responsible for much of his misfortune. Locke’s handicap is the universe’s way of teaching him not to be too proud—to reduce his ego. Pride is Locke’s real handicap.

As mentioned in The Myth of Lost, Locke needs to learn to accept his paraplegic state. Insisting to Helen that he won’t call Jack and her ripping up his card is a first step, but it wasn’t for the right reasons. At that time, Locke doesn’t want to attempt to get help because he doesn’t have faith, not because he’s cool with his situation. Like island Locke before he lost his faith, Locke needs to believe in miracles as Helen tries to convince him of. Helen is good for Locke. Just like Helen of Troy, she may be the inspiration he needs to go to war with his ego, which he’ll need to do if he’s going to live up to his potential.

As with all the characters on Lost, life is hard. If it weren’t, it wouldn’t be a challenge and we’d find ourselves pretty bored. In The Matrix, Agent Smith echoes this truism when he tells Morpheus that humans rejected the first matrix program where everything was perfect. We are here to be challenged and to grow.

On Lost, Man In Black tells Sawyer that candidates have three choices. First, they can do nothing. This would make them the metaphorical zombies of our world, just going through their daily lives without growing until they die. The second choice is to accept the job, using the rules of society to rise to the top. Unfortunately, this choice often leaves one blind to the hidden truths of our world, and one is often left following rules, religions, or subconscious patterns without daring to go beyond and ask the deeper question—what lies beyond? The third choice is to leave the rat race behind and seek your own truth. While this option is often the toughest and the most ideal for one’s destiny, it is often taken on prematurely, before one has grown using the challenges of society.

The trick then, is to start out playing by the rules and growing as they challenge you so that you can later break them and seek your own truth and meaning. On Lost, Jack begins as a man of science, playing by the rules, but has slowly taken on the qualities of a man of faith. Locke became a man of faith on the island, but is now retracing his steps in a parallel life to relearn the rules he always dismissed so that his faith can become even stronger later in the game. It is very difficult to find someone who excels in both the material rules and the spiritual seeking, and perhaps that is why the island’s candidacy requires two people. Two people who can keep each other balanced on the metaphorical scale—or, the real scale seen in Jacob’s cave…or, was that really the Man In Black’s cave? It is more fitting of the dark energy to be underground. Usually light energy is high up, in say, a lighthouse. But I’ll leave that until next week’s episode to discuss. For now, let’s just take the Man In Black’s words with a grain of salt.

In order to become the highest version of one’s self then, it would seem that there is a sequence to reaching enlightenment. First, one needs to follow the rules of the game. Then, one needs to be challenged while playing the game. This makes the player stronger and able to overcome increasingly more difficult challenges. Continually being beaten down by life must cause one to lose his ego, but if one is not completely beaten by life, he or she will grow their faith. This makes the player bigger than the sum of his parts. Only then can he break the rules of the game for a purpose greater than the self. This is redemption. This is destiny. This, is Locke’s destiny. And I’m not telling anyone what the Locke character can or can’t do, I’m just saying that this is how it goes according to the myth that Lost, up until now, seems to be following.

Like most “bad” guys, i.e. Grand Moff Tarkin in Star Wars, Emperor Palpatine in Return of the Jedi, etc., the Man In Black underestimates the power of faith—in this case, Locke’s. Man In Black and many Lost fans believe Locke’s story is over. He’s dead and buried and was scared and confused when he died. Even in his other dimension, Locke the substitute teacher doesn’t offer much of a threat to the Man in Black’s dastardly plans. Yet, did little Frodo offer much of a threat? What about the “pitiful rebellion” in Jedi? Did anyone ever think that poor little Charlie Bucket stood a chance at winning a golden ticket, let alone inheriting the entire Wonka empire? In the end, Charlie’s challenges that had beaten him down and crushed his ego enabled him to shine much like a little candle in a dark room. Charlie’s inner peace gave him the strength to resist the temptation of riches from the Everlasting Gobstopper, and so he returned it to Wonka. Wonka, in turn, soon reveals that it had all been a ruse. That Mr. Slugworth really worked for him and that it was all a test. A test concocted to find the perfect candidate to take over for him and look after the chocolate factory and the Oompa Loompas. The curtain had been pulled back at last.

Much like Charlie Bucket, Locke must make up for failing his test. All it takes is one act that can redeem him and thereby, redeem everyone.  Perhaps Jack faces a similar challenge, and he and Locke will take the place of the Man In Black and Jacob. Or, maybe Locke will arrive on the island with Helen back in 1977 and die there, becoming Adam and Eve to be reborn and start a new world.

Even if any of these scenarios are even close, there are still so many questions. If Locke is still close to his dad in the parallel world, are we to believe that he became handicapped from some other reason? When Locke was wheeling down the halls in the high school, was that young kid he spoke with supposed to be Walt from 2004 who obviously had to be recast? Why wasn’t Kate one of the numbers? Is it a men’s only club? If so, does that mean that the 42 is Jin and not Sun? Were the numbers the Losties all along, or was Jacob just keeping track of them by their seat numbers on Oceanic 815? Either way, why do they show up everywhere? Do they signify markers where each Lostie has to go, i.e., the Swan Station? Are the whispers the dead souls on the island, and the reason bodies had to be buried was because the souls would possess them? If so, has the ghost of Rousseau possessed Claire? Is the reason why Claire seemed to recognize Jin because she is actually Rousseau? If the show is ultimately about finding a candidate, what really was the purpose of DHARMA on the show? Is there still something else going on or a major twist planned?

There are still many, many questions left on Lost, and while some will be answered, much as with life, I expect most will not be.  But more importantly, I think the show has played a greater part in helping us solve our own mysteries and co-create our own lives. We may never get to fully understand exactly why the numbers appeared everywhere, why everyone was connected, or what a snozzberry is, but who cares? We are the music makers. And we are the dreamers of dreams.

Marc Oromaner is a New York City writer whose book, The Myth of Lost offers a simple solution to Lost and uncovers its hidden insight into the mysteries of life. He can be contacted in the discussion section of The Myth of Lost Facebook page.

The Myth of Lost is available on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com.

In the February 4th “Official LOST Audio Podcast,” Damon Lindelof insists that the “flash-sideways” we’re seeing in Season 6 are in fact not alternate timelines. In other words, they do not have any lesser value than the other timeline and both are of equal importance. For this reason, I will refer to events of the flash-sideways as occurring in a parallel timeline. This does not necessarily mean that the events are happening along side each other. As I pointed out last week (in “What the LA X in ‘LA X’ Really Refers To”), it is entirely possible that this off-island timeline will occur after the island storyline ends and what we are seeing is the resolution of the characters in the show.

Of course, it’s also possible that the two timelines are occurring alongside each other. If this is the case, it is likely that these ripples in time will eventually merge once the flash-sideways events of 2004 catch up to 2007. This may cause a continual loop that leads to the Losties (and the world) being stuck in time (similar to the Star Trek TNG episode “Cause and Effect” written about in “’Follow the Leader’—Can Changing One Moment Change Everything?”).

Whether the flash-sideways is occurring alongside the other timeline or will occur afterwards, since time is an illusion anyway, the mythological message is similar. The island can represent a realm where you create the story of your destiny, after which, you’re born into a life where you get to experience it. So, whereas in most of my mythological interpretations of the show, I describe the island as a metaphor for our world on earth, in this case, I’m reversing it by saying that the island could also be seen as a metaphor for a heavenly realm where we write the story of our lives. That’s the beauty of mythology: its metaphors lend itself to many interpretations as millions of Lost fans can attest to.

Imagine if before we are born, our soul (energy, karma, light, essence, player of the video game of life, etc.), decides on the story it wants to experience in this lifetime. It chooses the people and events that will help it to grow past the issues it had experienced in its last lifetime.  So, the people who are the closest to you will likely challenge you with your biggest issues since these issues will take the longest to resolve.  That’s why, as they sing in the Broadway play Avenue Q, “The More You [Love] Someone the More They Drive You Crazy.” Your family, loved ones, and coworkers are put into your life to help you overcome your biggest issues.

Some faiths even claim that we continually get reincarnated with the same set of souls lifetime after lifetime. So your best friend now could’ve been your father or mother in a previous life. Your lover could’ve been a teacher or competitor. Your boss could’ve been an enemy on the battlefield. We keep coming back with these same souls to work out these issues, just as the Losties seem to be doing in their parallel timeline, and these connections and experiences have all been planned in our soul story from the start.

From a narrative perspective, this spiritual metaphor is easier to understand if the flash-sideways is happening after the events of 2007 because it’ll give us a sense of closure. Yes, Kate started out on the run in this new timeline, just as before, but in “What Kate Does,” we see her do something that goes against her nature. Instead of running away from a problem she has created, she endangers herself by trying to make it right. By coming back to help Claire and going with her to the hospital, she puts her own life at risk for someone else. That’s redemption. Getting into the cab that was occupied by Claire is, of course, no accident. It is fate pulling the strings to enable Kate to experience a test she was always meant to have.

Speaking of “pulling the strings,” Heroes fans may have recognized the cab driver from that scene as David H. Lawrence XVII who plays “Puppet Master” Eric Doyle on the series. Doyle is a villain who can control people’s actions, and he especially likes doing so to the cute blonde on the show, Claire (the cheerleader). Was this a purposeful hint from the Lost producers or one of those happy coincidences set up by the puppet masters of our universe? Either way, the message is once again that Lost is simply giving us hidden messages that reveal truths about our world.

If our life story really is all planned out before we come to this world, it really could explain some of the more bizarre mysteries we experience here. As stated above, when we recognize some of the key players from our destiny we can get a sense that we already know someone the moment we meet them.  This could also explain love at first sight—your soul is instantly recognizing someone from your future that you are destined to have a soulful connection with. The soul doesn’t experience time, it is eternal, so it can recognize another soul from a future time or a past life. It may also just resonate with meeting someone from your predetermined chosen path—someone who is meant to help you successfully navigate it.

Another weird phenomenon this may explain is déjà vu. What if the phenomenon happens when you experience an event that your soul had planned to experience—particularly, a key event that would be pivotal for your destiny? Remembering this event as it occurs brings about a sense of déjà vu. Using Lost as an analogy, perhaps Kate got déjà vu helping Claire with her pregnancy. And if she goes on to help deliver Aaron, the feeling may really resonate. On Lost, the reason is because she has already helped deliver Aaron on the island. In life, it’s a metaphor for an event that was destined to happen—a person’s soul created a scenario to help eliminate their own selfish behavior by one day unselfishly helping someone else. Once this event actually transpires, you get déjà vu. Judging by Jack’s expression after he stares out of the window of the plane in the parallel timeline, the show is acknowledging this phenomenon. And if Sawyer and Juliet eventually go Dutch over a cup of coffee in the parallel timeline, perhaps they will have the feeling too. At the very least, it might be love at first sight. (Sorry Skaters and Jaters.)

Being that we seem to live in a realm of freewill however, what happens when we don’t successfully make the decision that will lead to our redemption? What happens when a young pregnant woman gives up the baby she was meant to raise herself or a former torturer keeps following orders to kill other people? Well, in the case of Claire and Sayid, you become taken by the dark side; possessed by a desire to do for the self alone. You do not make the hard choices; you are controlled purely by life circumstances and react to them. In a word, you become a zombie. Damon and Carlton had jokingly threatened that Season 7 would be the zombie season, but it would seem that it may have been Season 6—despite Sayid’s denial at Hurley’s accusation (a little head nod to the fans).

Once you’ve been taken by the dark side, can you escape? Yes, but often it will require much harder sacrifices than what was originally required, if only because after sinking further down you have that much further to climb up.  Sometimes, you sink so low that the ultimate sacrifice is required, as Anakin Skywalker found out in Return of the Jedi. Most of the time though, the challenges, while difficult, are not overwhelming and the universe will continually offer you opportunities to take them on. But the harder you fight against these challenges, the more aggressively the universe will throw them back at you. In other words, what you resist, persists.

The whole zombie resolution opens up a lot of possibilities on Lost. Is the reason why Richard Alpert has never aged because he was a zombie all along? Are Claire, Yemi (Mr. Eko’s brother) and Christian Shephard also zombies? If so, why would zombie Christian go through the trouble of wading out to sea where Jack saw him standing in Season 1? Was it just for the creepiness factor? His body couldn’t have been there because the “Missing Pieces” episode (acknowledged as canon) showed him on the island already before Jack even woke up. And, more importantly perhaps, how did he appear to Jack off island in the hospital in Season 5? On the other hand, since the smoke monster can take the form of the unburied dead without the need to posses the body, has he just taken the form of Christian, Claire, and Yemi? Has he also taken the form of the people who were the Adam and Eve skeletons from Season 1? Is that who Charles Widmore and Eloise Hawking are? When we first saw Jacob’s enemy, aka, the man in black, was this his original appearance, or was he simply taking the form of a dead person too?

So far, Season 6 seems to be bringing up more questions than it’s answering. Every time it answers one, it gives us three more. Whether or not we ever get any satisfying answers to Lost, I think the show has been more than redeemed in the answers it has given us about life. Helping us to understand why we’re here is really the biggest question that the show is helping us to answer. Sure, most of the wisdom is only coming through on a subliminal level, but it is coming through. And, this wisdom is helping to make us stronger so that we will be able to better navigate the challenges in our own lives. This is why most fans feel that Lost is more than a show. It’s a guide to our own redemption.

Marc Oromaner is a New York City writer whose book, The Myth of Lost offers a simple solution to Lost and uncovers its hidden insight into the mysteries of life. He can be contacted in the discussion section of The Myth of Lost Facebook page.

The Myth of Lost is available on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com.

There’s a much neglected screencap/easter egg from Season 5 that we need to discuss!

—

Since I’m a Classics/Religion major in undergrad and love Greek mythology, I had to find out what this said. After extensive research I was able to fill in the missing portions because, as it turns out, all three lines are from various portions of the Iliad. The text reads:

Line 1:
νῦν τοι ἐελδέσθω πόλεμος κακός (Iliad bk. 16, line 494)

Line 2:
ῥέε δ᾽ αἵματι γαῖα (Iliad bk. 4, line 451)

Line 3:
θανάτου δὲ μέλαν νέφος ἀμφεκάλυψεν (Iliad bk. 16, line 350)

This translates to:

“Now you must embrace this evil war”
“the ground ran with blood”
“then death’s black cloud enveloped”

Seems we have references to the war that’s coming (which Widmore mentioned to Locke while he was off-Island last season), a lot of deaths in the upcoming Season 6 as casualties of said war, and a big shout out to Smokey doing the dirty work.

I should add that the first line from the Iliad is given by Sarpedon (a great Trojan hero) to his friend Glaucus (a Lycian) as Sarpedon lay dying on the field of battle. Upon seeing Sarpedon mortally wounded, Glaucus prays to Apollo, asking the god to help him rescue the body of his dying friend. Apollo cures Glaucus’ wound, allowing him to rally the Trojans around the body of Sarpedon until the gods carry the body away.

This seems to have nice parallels with Jack’s change of heart in becoming a man of faith due to Locke’s death and his return to the Island, and it has implications for the true body of Locke laying out on the beach amidst the Other’s near the Four-Toed Statue. Perhaps some deus ex machina will help Jack/Ilana rally the Losties/Others around Locke’s body until it can be carried off or restored by Jacob, who himself no longer has a physical form… Maybe Jacob will inhabit (cohabitate with?) Locke in order to bring him back to life!

Zombie season, anyone?

Or maybe this pertains to the ordeal with lugging around dying Sayid and his revival in the healing Spring inside the Temple that we already saw in LA X. I realize many people think Jacob might’ve inhabited Sayid, but I’m holding out for the real Locke coming back and facing off against his imposter.

Iraqi Lazarus? Muslim Christ?

Also, Sayid’s “What happened?” line makes me think this was just the same thing that happened to young Ben, and now Sayid will be a permanent Other badass. Sayid shoots Ben, leads to him being a creepy, manipulative Other and the man he wanted to prevent, and then Ben’s dad shoots Sayid, eye for an eye. Ironic turn of events, no?

—

Back to the issue at hand, I would like to point out that until someone told me in the #darkufo chatroom on IRC (and it was confirmed in LA X), I had no idea where this red rug was shown in S5. The red tapestry’s placement in the Foot Room (on the floor, hence the moniker Red Rug) is very intriguing.

Let's cut a rug!

While I have a copy of the DVDs, I couldn’t find the overhead pic of the rug anywhere, so my guess is it was either an exclusive for the Blu-ray or the Dharma Orientation Kit. Even though there’s not a lot to go on here with it simply being a screencap and an easter egg, I have a few guesstimates based on what we’ve seen of the Jacob/Nemesis debate thus far:

—

This is the tapestry of Jacob’s Nemesis; one which is in direct contrast to Jacob’s. These tapestries could quite possibly be the physical manifestation of MIB and Jacob’s “theories” about the nature of mankind and the goings-on of the Island (which we saw them give in the opening scene of The Incident).

The Great Debators

Man in Black: “They come… fight. They destroy. They corrupt. It always ends the same.”

Jacob: “It only ends once. Anything that happens before that? It’s just progress.”

Jacob’s white tapestry is about granting humanity it’s desired redemption (taking quotes from an epic about a hero’s journey home: Homer’s Odyssey), whereas MIB’s red rug is all about humanity’s willingness to destroy itself with constant wars (and takes quotes from the much more war-driven opus, Homer’s Iliad). These are the 2 competing narratives woven by these competing forces.

Oh, what a tangled web we weave!

Their choice of the same author (whose identity is uncertain, and therefore actually could have been multiple people), and yet preferring different books with different themes is very telling about these 2 individuals…

Many of us believed Jacob was the sole guiding force on the Island way back when we first saw the Cabin in S3’s Ben-centric, Man Behind the Curtain.

Our favorite haunting cabin misanthrope

Then our understanding became more nuanced and broadened when Christian claimed to speak for Jacob in S4’s Locke biopic, Cabin Fever. Some called bullshit and knew something was fishier than a fish biscuit, but others took good ol’ ghost Christian at his word.

Timeshares are a drag...

Flash back to last season’s finale, The Incident, and we got to see that there are actually 2 opposing forces at work here — just like the light and dark players in Locke’s backgammon game. And while they seem to have very different outlooks in regards to humanity, they may be cut from the same cloth.

O Ye of Little Faith

If this red tapestry is indeed the narrative that Smokey has tried to create, and firmly believes in, this explains the placement of the rug in Jacob’s statue abode, too. Jacob wanted to keep a reminder around about his competition/debate with the MIB, but he was showing his lack of respect/agreement with it by putting it down and walking all over it, symbolically.

Also, this might meant that the only one who can cut off a piece of these tapestries is the original weaver. Jacob cut the corner off of his tapestry and left it in the Cabin to show Ilana he’d be at the Statue of Taweret, and MIB/Smokey cut off a piece of his to (fittingly) wipe the blood from his knife off onto it. Guess the blood wouldn’t show, what with the thing already being blood red and all! Great way to show us (on several levels) that Smokey’s out to spill some major blood…

—

One last sidenote about my use of the name “Nemesis” for the Man in Black.

Nemesis: in Greek myth, a daughter of Nyx (Night) and the personification of righteous anger, especially that of the gods at human presumption; the spirit of divine retribution against those who succumb to hubris (tragic pride). The Greeks personified vengeful fate as a remorseless goddess, and the name Nemesis is related to the Greek word νέμειν, meaning “to give what is due”.

According to some versions, Nemesis (and not Leda) was loved by Zeus and laid the egg which Helen (of Troy) hatched from. Nemesis provides one of the rare instances where an apparent personification of an abstract quality is the object of an ancient cult, and was worshipped at Rhamnus in Attica, where a magnificent temple was built for her in the fifth century BC.

—

Lots of obvious parallels to our Smokey/MIB there, other than the obvious gender difference, and I’ll leave you to spot them all, but the not so obvious one I want to point out is that “birthing” of Helen makes Nemesis (in that timeline!) responsible for helping start the most famous war in all of history: the Trojan War. The same war, might I add, which is the setting for Homer’s Iliad, and which Smokey apparently has on his bookshelf as an all time fave. Remember how Widmore (in Life & Death of Jeremy Bentham) was talking about an impending war on the Island, and how if Locke wasn’t back on it before it started, the wrong side was gonna win?

Battle stations!!!!

—

Ok, folks… That’s all I have for now (as if it weren’t too much already!). Since I did the work on the Greek, now we have to find us an expert on hieroglyphs and get the Egyptian stuff translated! And I’m all ears about what the other drawings mean. Here’s hoping we can decipher this…

Don’t forget to leave your comments! One of the greatest things about LOST is that it’s a community effort, and it’s brought us together

Thank you so much for this unbelievable post from KeepingPace over at http://www.TheSanatorium.com

This Post is courtesy SCS over at http://www.TheSanatorium.com

In particular, this conversation recalls Lewis’s The Great Divorce, a slim fable-like novella published in 1945. The term “divorce” refers to the great chasm that exists between heaven and hell according to many Christian theologians. In the preface, Lewis claims that “if we accept Heaven we shall not be able to retain even the smallest and most intimate souvenirs of Hell” (8). But it is not so much the dualism of monotheism that makes this story comparable to the recent musings found in Lost. Though we know that the island is not purgatory or any kind of afterlife, the tone of the dialogue between the residents of heaven and those of hell/purgatory is identical to not only the Smoke Monster’s monologue, but also to Jacob and “Esau’s” discussion in “The Incident.” Consider a conversation from The Great Divorce between a “spirit” of heaven and an unsuspecting resident of Hell. The spirit is trying to explain to this man where he has been dwelling for so long. “Where do you imagine you’ve been?” asks Dick, the heavenly spirit. “Ah I see,” replies the ghost, “You mean that the grey town…with its field for indefinite progress, is, in a sense, Heaven, if only we have eyes to see it?” The spirit replies, in no uncertain terms, that it is, in fact, Hell, “though if you don’t go back you may call it Purgatory” (36). Maybe the Smoke Monster will be equally revealing about the island’s identity (and that of his own) in forthcoming episodes.

More of this author’s work can be found at lostandlit.wordpress.com     and http://www.TheSanatorium.com

That’s right- Our beloved Jin will be reprising the role of Chin Ho Kelly in the upcoming remake.

Perhaps Kim wanted to stay in Hawaii close to his burger joint… The reboot will be brought to us by Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci from Fringe Fame and also from CSI NY.
It is too soon to speculate on the show as the part of Detective Steve Mcgarret has not been cast as of yet… With all our castaways taking jobs on new shows it solidifies the reality of the end of LOST.

Whats worse is that none of these shows can really give us LOST fans what we’ve been obsessing over about LOST. Let’s hope Disney doesnt make a mockery out of the best show in TV history when LOST is over- and lets also hope we can watch our Lost actors play parts that wont disappoint simply because they aren’t on the Island…

http://www.TheSanatorium.com

So ponder this…. In the first few seasons we had several references to Alice and Wonderland….
In “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland” the story was meant to symbolize a game of cards, different scenes signifying different cards in a deck….

In “Through the looking glass” Lewis Carrols sequel to Alice’s adventures in wonderland, everything is mirrored. While ALICE opens outside on a sunny day in summer THE LOOKING GLASS opens indoors on a cold winter night….

The book then goes on to symbolize a game of chess, each scene in the book signifies a different move on the chessboard including Alice (a pawn) taking two spaces on her first move. This is also depicted by Alice crossing rivers in the book symbolizing advancing into a new square on the board. The book concludes with Alice placing the King in checkmate, who hasnt moved throughout the book…

I wonder what we’d find if we analyzed lost in this sense or if Lost producers even used this as a device. Interesting either way…

http://www.TheSanatorium.com

My first thought was that Jack’s plan will have failed, and that the X stood for an error—that the Losties would not be getting back to LA (as in LA? Survey says: X!) Then I thought that maybe both possibilities would exist—that an alternate reality could occur where the Losties both would and would not get to LAX (theory #3 of the “Season 6 Spoiler-Free Theories” post). This twin realities possibility has been a popular theory for the last nine months and did seemingly come to fruition with this episode. Still, I think the genius of the title name is that it has many meanings and that it’s main implication is not quite as apparent as the others.  I’d also thought about the possibility of LA X, translating into “The X”—as in X marks the spot, or “the wrong choice” for Jack.

Now that I’ve seen the episode however, I think that the true meaning of the “X” is that of a variable in an equation. It is the unknown. A possibility that can go multiple ways.  Thinking back to “The Variable” episode, what was it that Daniel Faraday said that the variables were in the equation of life? He said that they were us. And what do we now see in the “LA X” episode? We see two versions of the characters. One version where they were able to resolve their issues and one where they haven’t. One where they are struggling with challenges, and one where they have overcome them. One where they are motivated by greed and one by good. One where they are consumed by dark, and the other by light. One where they are dead, and another where they are alive. One where they have had it easy, and one where they have had it hard.

The message here is clear. Each of us has the potential to become the best version of ourselves or the worst…or, somewhere in between. This is our freedom of choice. Yet, while it is our choice, we are also often the victims or benefiters of our circumstances. So both fate and freewill have a hand in our destinies.

The duality theme has run through Lost since the beginning, and I’ve written about fate versus freewill and the good versus bad aspects of ourselves numerous times in relation to Lost and other recent films. The theme of whether or not we are actually the bad guys, or the dual sides of our personalities has been especially popular in films lately. District 9, Avatar, and other films have all explored the possibility of us being on the wrong team or learning to revaluate who we think our enemies are.

One version of this theme also explores the dark sides of our personalities—the beast within us so to speak. Surely, there will be those who saw the many trailers of The Wolfman that aired during this episode of Lost as a complete coincidence and those of you who, like me, saw something more. (There is also the fact that this episode came out on Groundhog’s Day, the day when a hibernating animal affects the future positively or negatively depending on whether or not he can see his shadow self.) Yes, I’ve been accused of being a bit apophenic in my world view, but I’ve just experienced far too many serendipitous occurrences in my life to believe they are completely random. There is something bigger going on. Something that the universe is trying to tell us, or that our collective unconscious is trying to tell ourselves. It almost seems that much like the Losties, we too may be given a choice about who we want to be, and there may not even be a right or wrong answer. So far, which reality is the better one for the Losties—the one where they are on the island or the one where they are in LA? To some extent, it depends which character you’re talking about, but even still, some of the answers aren’t so clear-cut.

To me, the island seems to be the version of life that explores fate, whereas LA seems to be more about free will. And something tells me that these two dichotomies will be merging together. After all, the LA Losties are in 2004, while the others are a bit over three years ahead of them (so technically, it isn’t really a flash-sideways, more like a flash up-and-over—like a knight move in chess). Regardless of whether or not the timelines eventually merge however, the dual timelines offer all kinds of juicy possibilities.

For most of Lost, many of the so-called “shippers” have wondered who Kate will end up with—Jack or Sawyer. Perhaps the answer is both—Jack on the island and Sawyer in LA.  Will John Locke end up dead or alive? We can see both. We can see two versions of Jin and Sun’s relationship. A bad luck Hurley versus a good luck Hurley. A Jack who was a man of science who converted, and a Jack who was mostly a man of science but open to faith (he tells Locke in LA that nothing is impossible, so perhaps this Jack was more swayed at having fixed his former wife’s spine?) We might also learn if Shannon was better off using men, or getting to know true love before dying, and if Charlie would be better off as a living drug addict or a dead man who sacrificed himself for others.

Speaking of sacrifice, one new question that Lost presents us with in this episode is why didn’t Jacob fight back? Ben asks Smokey the Locke, “why did he let me just kill him?” To which his manipulator replies, “I guess he knew that he was beaten.” Deep down, all of us know that there is something more going on here. Why did Jacob let Ben just kill him? Let’s refer to our old friend mythology for a clue.

“If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine” Ben “Obi-Wahn” Kenobi tells Darth Vader in Star Wars. Once in his spiritual form, Obi-Wahn is able to guide Luke to destroy the Death Star. In The Lord of the Rings Gandalf the Grey sacrifices himself to save his friends and is transformed into the more powerful Gandalf the White. So, knowing how muchLost pays tribute to Star Wars and other mythology, it is highly probable that Jacob is sacrificing himself for the greater good and will eventually be returning in a more powerful form as well. The message for us (as discussed in “Choosing to Sacrifice for the Sake of the Island”) is that by challenging ourselves we grow into stronger people, better able to handle the challenges of the future.

While Jacob’s enemy has certainly come up with a long con to find the loophole that could defeat Jacob, perhaps Jacob’s con is even longer, or at least, more involved. Perhaps the reason why Christian’s body is missing in the alternate timeline is because Jacob plans to beat his nemesis at his own game—taking Christian’s body from that realm in order to put his plan in effect.  Whatever the details, it’s probably safe to assume that Jacob’s story isn’t over. And that he has a plan too.  And that his plan will likely work. Maybe this is what Juliet is referring to when she posthumously tells Sawyer that, “It worked.” Yes, the implication is that Jack’s plan to prevent Oceanic 815 from ever crashing worked, but perhaps the real meaning refers to the bigger picture. In fact, perhaps the alternate timeline isn’t happening alongside the other, as their juxtaposition would suggest, but will happen after.

After Jacob wins, he may offer the Losties a chance to have lived as though none of this ever happened. Certainly, he will allow them to choose for themselves, as seems to be his modus operandi. And perhaps, we will never know what choice they make, for that will be the moment that Lost will cut to black for the last time—leaving us to spend the rest of our lifetimes pondering over which realities would be better for which characters. Will fate be better for the Losties or pure free will? This is one of the major questions of the show and the crux of the argument between Jacob and his nemesis. With this kind of ending, I can see why Lindelof and Cuse do not want to do a movie or spinoff series. The rest of the story will be up to us—both to discuss, and incorporate into our own lives. We will still be a bit lost, but at least we’ll be able to see the many paths before us, and hopefully chose them more wisely this time.

Marc Oromaner is a New York City writer whose book, The Myth of Lost offers a simple solution to Lost and uncovers its hidden insight into the mysteries of life. He can be contacted in the discussion section of The Myth of Lost Facebook page.

The Myth of Lost is available on Amazon and barnesandnoble.com.