Let me begin by saying a few things in introduction. The reason for my posting of everything lying herein, is not to convince a single soul of anything. In all honesty, it is something I need to do, in order to medicate my escalations of pained conscience. Frankly, I would count it a failure on my part, to have watched LOST for six years, only to huff, puff, and gripe about the conclusion that everyone loves to hate. Instead, I have meditated for many hours, and come to conclusions, and concrete they are. I want to share it/them with my closest of fellow LOST connoisseurs, all of which I consider friends. I thank you in advance for reading.
To begin, I think the finale needs to be revisited. Then, key questions involving the universal plot of the show. Finally, reactions and lessons learned.
THE END OF THE END OF THE LAST EPISODE
Consider an illustration. There is a small square of soil, in which a single sunflower grows. For the sake of the illustration, we will ignore the presence of any person/animal that may tend to the crop.
Imagine as this sunflower grows in the richest, most nutrient-filled soil to ever exist, watered by pure rainwater, and given the perfect amount of sunshine. It rockets out from the soil, centimeter by centimeter, day by day. It is perfectly sheltered from any harm, and after a period of time, it towers above the soil as a mature sunflower, bristling with bright yellow petals and myriads of seeds.
Until, one day. A well-meaning grasshopper strikes the flower, yet almost unnoticeable. A single seed is jostled from the flower, and lands in the soil next to its stem. It quickly harnesses the perfect, yet random circumstances, and begins to grow. Within maybe just a few days, a new flower emerges its tiny little green leaves from the soil. It even begins to flourish, just as the first sunflower did.
Until, yet again, one day. The little flower's tiny leaves have grown tall enough to be in the shadow of the looming huge flower. The originally-perfect amount of sunlight is removed from it. It slowly begins to wither.
Finally, the little flower that sprang up dies. And, yet, the large flower converts the dead matter into compost, and even continues to mature. Who will mourn the loss of the tiny flower?
Well, you would say that flowers don't have feelings. If they did, they'd be gay. But, yet, there is a certain balance that the natural environment of the flower adhered to. Does that mean it has a personage? A system of reconciliation? Won't the large flower die one day? Where do babies come from? Does this shirt make me look fat?
The large flower in this illustration means the concept of moving time that we experience. The soil, or environment that it lived in, can be rendered as the concept of raw existence. The raw power that constitutes matter, space, and anti-matter. The small flower? I think it can be affectionately referred to as the "Flash Sideways".
Before continuing, it should be noted that the audience must allow two things to slide to reconcile the plot.
1) Multiple layers of existence/time are happening at any given moment.
2) The human psyche can exist among all these many layers of existence, and unknowingly transfer consciousness between them.
As students of the Bible, we know both of these to be beyond us. Only one Being can completely and entirely transcend the concept of time and existence. But, the producers don't know that. We'll let their ignorance slide.
SO.
THE ISLAND AND ITS "LIGHT" VS. TIME
Imagine as this sunflower grows in the richest, most nutrient-filled soil to ever exist, watered by pure rainwater, and given the perfect amount of sunshine. It rockets out from the soil, centimeter by centimeter, day by day. It is perfectly sheltered from any harm, and after a period of time, it towers above the soil as a mature sunflower, bristling with bright yellow petals and myriads of seeds.
Until, one day. A well-meaning grasshopper strikes the flower, yet almost unnoticeable. A single seed is jostled from the flower, and lands in the soil next to its stem. It quickly harnesses the perfect, yet random circumstances, and begins to grow. Within maybe just a few days, a new flower emerges its tiny little green leaves from the soil. It even begins to flourish, just as the first sunflower did.
Until, yet again, one day. The little flower's tiny leaves have grown tall enough to be in the shadow of the looming huge flower. The originally-perfect amount of sunlight is removed from it. It slowly begins to wither.
Finally, the little flower that sprang up dies. And, yet, the large flower converts the dead matter into compost, and even continues to mature. Who will mourn the loss of the tiny flower?
Well, you would say that flowers don't have feelings. If they did, they'd be gay. But, yet, there is a certain balance that the natural environment of the flower adhered to. Does that mean it has a personage? A system of reconciliation? Won't the large flower die one day? Where do babies come from? Does this shirt make me look fat?
The large flower in this illustration means the concept of moving time that we experience. The soil, or environment that it lived in, can be rendered as the concept of raw existence. The raw power that constitutes matter, space, and anti-matter. The small flower? I think it can be affectionately referred to as the "Flash Sideways".
Before continuing, it should be noted that the audience must allow two things to slide to reconcile the plot.
1) Multiple layers of existence/time are happening at any given moment.
2) The human psyche can exist among all these many layers of existence, and unknowingly transfer consciousness between them.
As students of the Bible, we know both of these to be beyond us. Only one Being can completely and entirely transcend the concept of time and existence. But, the producers don't know that. We'll let their ignorance slide.
SO.
THE ISLAND AND ITS "LIGHT" VS. TIME
It would be safe to say that time does not exist on the island. How? Well, technically speaking, time does not exist in a black hole, either. If a person could survive the vacuum of space, and the immense power generated by the anti-matter inside, they would technically never age.
The "Light" should be imagined as a well of insurmountable energy. Culminated from the force of gravity. The fuel contained inside the earth. Name it whatever you want. It is simply an energy well. And, it has been theorized that a presence of enough energy can actually bend the fabric of time, to the point of its non-existence. And, if time doesn't exist, then technically the Island exists in every year, era, and minute of the earth. But, what happens when you exit the range of this time-bending energy? Well, you are put back into normal existence, hence the flow of time.
The question is: does the Light have a butt? Or, an exhaust? YES. The pocket of energy that the Dharma Swan station (the hatch) was built on. The shear electromagnetic force created in this pocket is no mystery. It's just freakin' energy.
But, what happens when you plug the exhaust? By, say, triggering an atomic explosion at the core of this energy pocket? Maybe you should ask the grasshopper mentioned above.
The "Light" should be imagined as a well of insurmountable energy. Culminated from the force of gravity. The fuel contained inside the earth. Name it whatever you want. It is simply an energy well. And, it has been theorized that a presence of enough energy can actually bend the fabric of time, to the point of its non-existence. And, if time doesn't exist, then technically the Island exists in every year, era, and minute of the earth. But, what happens when you exit the range of this time-bending energy? Well, you are put back into normal existence, hence the flow of time.
The question is: does the Light have a butt? Or, an exhaust? YES. The pocket of energy that the Dharma Swan station (the hatch) was built on. The shear electromagnetic force created in this pocket is no mystery. It's just freakin' energy.
But, what happens when you plug the exhaust? By, say, triggering an atomic explosion at the core of this energy pocket? Maybe you should ask the grasshopper mentioned above.
SHATTERING THE MIRROR
Jack knows how to shatter a mirror. Lemme' tell ya! Lighthouses aside, though, the atom bomb explosion triggered a fragmentation of the once-smooth mirror of existence. A certain "shard", "branch", or "seed" of existence was spawned. It knocked a seed from the flower. And, that seed began to grow. It grew the same way as the original flower.
Ask yourself: Why were our characters in this slightly-different alternate reality still conscious of their entire lives? Why were they surrounded by a REAL world? That's a butt-load of extenuating circumstances that wouldn't be necessary to do a "Ehhh OMG we don't know how to end the story! Let's make it Purgatory!" ending.
Perhaps you've read the time-travel theories from Timeline by Michael Crichton. Maybe you've watched Fringe, another one of J.J. Abrams' creations that focuses on the traveling between parallel existences. We can well establish the fact that this is a motif favored by Abrams. And, this is comforting.
In this splinter of new existence, there is a definite passing of time. The characters have lives. Slightly different lives. But, yet, they all seem to find each other? To go to Buddha Heaven Life Happy Hour? Gay. Personally, I will interject a certain point, that a wise man reminded me of.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The universe always finds balance. If you burn wood, do you destroy it? No. Matter itself cannot be destroyed. It can simply be transferred into energy. That energy will spawn the formation of new matter. This will ALWAYS create a balance to the existence of existence itself, regardless of time or its non-existence.
When the bomb went off, and the new shard of existence fell away, the universe itself (the soil of the flower) began to seek balance. Who were the people involved in this new reality? Well, it was everyone involved in the "time"-period of Oceanic 815 and subsidiaries. INCLUDING people that died ON the island, outside of the passage of time. So, to compensate for the chaos caused by the release of energy, the universe began to pull this new reality back into its origin. To do that, all of the people involved would have to allow their consciousness to "bleed" through multiple realities. This would have taken much longer, had it not been for Desmond. He is simply a one-in-billions (aside from Ms. Hawking) glitch. His immunity to electromagnetism allows him to be conscious of multiple existences at one time. Once he began "awakening" people, it started a snowball effect. The realities began to bleed together. Eventually to be absorbed by our favored existence. The one that the show centered on.
Ask yourself: Why were our characters in this slightly-different alternate reality still conscious of their entire lives? Why were they surrounded by a REAL world? That's a butt-load of extenuating circumstances that wouldn't be necessary to do a "Ehhh OMG we don't know how to end the story! Let's make it Purgatory!" ending.
Perhaps you've read the time-travel theories from Timeline by Michael Crichton. Maybe you've watched Fringe, another one of J.J. Abrams' creations that focuses on the traveling between parallel existences. We can well establish the fact that this is a motif favored by Abrams. And, this is comforting.
In this splinter of new existence, there is a definite passing of time. The characters have lives. Slightly different lives. But, yet, they all seem to find each other? To go to Buddha Heaven Life Happy Hour? Gay. Personally, I will interject a certain point, that a wise man reminded me of.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The universe always finds balance. If you burn wood, do you destroy it? No. Matter itself cannot be destroyed. It can simply be transferred into energy. That energy will spawn the formation of new matter. This will ALWAYS create a balance to the existence of existence itself, regardless of time or its non-existence.
When the bomb went off, and the new shard of existence fell away, the universe itself (the soil of the flower) began to seek balance. Who were the people involved in this new reality? Well, it was everyone involved in the "time"-period of Oceanic 815 and subsidiaries. INCLUDING people that died ON the island, outside of the passage of time. So, to compensate for the chaos caused by the release of energy, the universe began to pull this new reality back into its origin. To do that, all of the people involved would have to allow their consciousness to "bleed" through multiple realities. This would have taken much longer, had it not been for Desmond. He is simply a one-in-billions (aside from Ms. Hawking) glitch. His immunity to electromagnetism allows him to be conscious of multiple existences at one time. Once he began "awakening" people, it started a snowball effect. The realities began to bleed together. Eventually to be absorbed by our favored existence. The one that the show centered on.
THE CHURCH SCENE
Church = metaphor. Metaphors are used throughout the show to throw little pieces of easily-digested yum-yums to the simple people who don't care to think about the show. "Oh, they in a church. Grey-haired Jesus opened the door to heaven. Nerp." Lololol sike. The church is a symbol of faith, salvation, and redemption. All of which were needed to bring balance to the universe. Walking, talking Jack's dad didn't even happen until after people began altering their consciousness. He was put through airport security in the coffin. They would have seen him. He was dead. Yet, as the culmination of blending existences began, the Island began to seep through. One in which time could be transcended to bring someone from the dead. He doesn't remember dying. He just knows that somewhere, maybe in most places, he is dead.
*Note: In a later discussion, it will be focused on more that the "Christian Shephard" on the Island was indeed the smoke monster, and his interaction with Locke and Claire were only means to accomplish his plans.
So, what happens when Doctor Dad opens the door to the sun? Well, the universe mends its wound. Balance is found. The fully-awakened consciousness of all the people responsible for this new reality is re-united to its source. The small flower has failed to mature, and it is converted to compost. The original existence continues to flourish. The large flower continues to grow, unaware yet completely happy to accept the death of a similar entity as the means to survive.
The events on the Island happen. They did happen. They continue to happen. The "destruction" that Jacob was so afraid of is negated by the laws of the Universe. And, we watch as our favorite, most beloved characters fade away as the tiny flecks of molecular nutrients in the cells of a sunflower seed. Time continues, and the Island continues in its absence of time. Ben doesn't enter the church, because he is either the new protector of the island, or has just passed it on to someone else, but yet continues to live on the Island. Or, maybe he needed to be with Rousseau and Alex when they showed up to complete the cycle.
The end scene within the closing credits shows that the Island continues to exist, unmolested. Just as the monument to Anubis was left by Egyptians centuries ago, and the Dharma stations stayed intact, the original wreckage would stay for the next batch of people to "find" the Island.
This is where I close my theory for the final episode.
**Important quotes**
Jack: "Are you real?"
Christian: "I sure hope so!"
Christian: "Everything that happened was real. Everyone was real."
"There is no 'now' here."
"We're not leaving. Just moving on."
**People in the church**
Jack
Kate
Juliet
Sawyer
Sayid
Shannon
Hurley
Libby
Charlie
Claire
Aaron (baby)
Jin
Sun
Locke
Desmond
Penny (most likely born on the island)
Rose
Bernard
Boone
Christian Shephard
I will keep updated on what further ideas I have, as mentioned in the opening paragraph. General trivia, feelings, etc. I might remind anyone reading that I do not intend to argue, nor will I. I needed to type this all out, as I said, for myself. I would love to hear more ideas for pertinent questions to answer. (i.e. What is the Island? Who is Jacob? etc.)
I want to thank you for visiting and reading. Be assured that I have the same passion and desire for truth within LOST that you do. Expect more updates soon.
Namaste!
*Note: In a later discussion, it will be focused on more that the "Christian Shephard" on the Island was indeed the smoke monster, and his interaction with Locke and Claire were only means to accomplish his plans.
So, what happens when Doctor Dad opens the door to the sun? Well, the universe mends its wound. Balance is found. The fully-awakened consciousness of all the people responsible for this new reality is re-united to its source. The small flower has failed to mature, and it is converted to compost. The original existence continues to flourish. The large flower continues to grow, unaware yet completely happy to accept the death of a similar entity as the means to survive.
The events on the Island happen. They did happen. They continue to happen. The "destruction" that Jacob was so afraid of is negated by the laws of the Universe. And, we watch as our favorite, most beloved characters fade away as the tiny flecks of molecular nutrients in the cells of a sunflower seed. Time continues, and the Island continues in its absence of time. Ben doesn't enter the church, because he is either the new protector of the island, or has just passed it on to someone else, but yet continues to live on the Island. Or, maybe he needed to be with Rousseau and Alex when they showed up to complete the cycle.
The end scene within the closing credits shows that the Island continues to exist, unmolested. Just as the monument to Anubis was left by Egyptians centuries ago, and the Dharma stations stayed intact, the original wreckage would stay for the next batch of people to "find" the Island.
This is where I close my theory for the final episode.
**Important quotes**
Jack: "Are you real?"
Christian: "I sure hope so!"
Christian: "Everything that happened was real. Everyone was real."
"There is no 'now' here."
"We're not leaving. Just moving on."
**People in the church**
Jack
Kate
Juliet
Sawyer
Sayid
Shannon
Hurley
Libby
Charlie
Claire
Aaron (baby)
Jin
Sun
Locke
Desmond
Penny (most likely born on the island)
Rose
Bernard
Boone
Christian Shephard
I will keep updated on what further ideas I have, as mentioned in the opening paragraph. General trivia, feelings, etc. I might remind anyone reading that I do not intend to argue, nor will I. I needed to type this all out, as I said, for myself. I would love to hear more ideas for pertinent questions to answer. (i.e. What is the Island? Who is Jacob? etc.)
I want to thank you for visiting and reading. Be assured that I have the same passion and desire for truth within LOST that you do. Expect more updates soon.
Namaste!
nicely done. although i also regret the symbolism of the church scene (and the subsequent conclusions by viewers that it has something to do with Purgatory/Limbo) I overall liked the way it ended IF these very interesting speculations ARE true:
ReplyDeleteThe Ending
The Rules
Sideways Flashes
Also a brief Quantum Theory Primer:
ReplyDeleteThis is an alternate timeline created by the Divergence of the bomb, but it's not a parallel universe but rather a macroscopic realm within our universe, a very small but important difference.
According to the Many Minds Interpretation (MMI) of string theory, which itself is a spin off of the Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI), states that each observer is connected to every possible macrorealm that they could perceive, but we only perceive this macrorealm because it is the one we are conciously aware of.
Let me back track here. Basic understanding of string theory is known as Copenhagen's Interpretation, which is what everyone subscribes to fundamentally. It states that for every possible outcome to an event, once it is observed one outcome remains while all others cease to exist, known as decoherence.
Shroedinger's Cat Paradox states that if you put a cat in a box with an isotope and a hammer, on a subatomic level that hammer will fall, breaking the isotope and killing the cat, or it won't break and the cat will be fine. Before you open the box to observe the result the cat is both alive and dead at the same time.
MWI states that instead of one result decohering and one remaining after observation, the result extends to the observer and the universe splits into two seperate universes: one where the observer views the cat alive, the other where he views the cat dead. These seperate universes continue on in their own direction continuing to split from there, making more universes all unique from each other. This makes an infinite amount of yous all unique from each other.
Now MMI believes that instead of creating new universes, they are all part of a Universal Waveform: one universe that contains infinite amount of macroscopic realms, or macrorealms. This essentially means that every you in every macrorealm is you. You are connected to every other you, you are only cognatively aware of the macrorealm you are currently occupying, as are every other you.
There is an interesting theory called Quantum Suicide. This puts the observer into the roll of Shroedinger's Cat. In this box is an isotope that may or may not kill the observer when struck with a baseball bat. The observer strikes the isotope. In one macrorealm he dies, in the other he lives. The living one strikes the isotope again. He again dies in one macrorealm and lives in another. As he continues to strike the isotope, there will inevitably be one observer that never dies. Circumstances will always end favorably for him. He becomes essentially immortal.
I believe that what we are seeing is another macrorealm in the ALT timeline. Not another universe, because we see that some LOSTies are regaining their memories from the Island macrorealm.
Desmond is unique in that I believe he has not just seen one other macrorealm as the others are, but he sees the Universal Waveform as a whole. In fact all the Desmonds are aware of the Universal Waveform. That's why he is no longer afraid of anything and he's willing to do anything. So long as he tries to accomplish something, in one macrorealm he will succeed, and since he is aware that he is concious somewhere else, he'll never really die.
I think Jacob is also Universal Waveform aware, and his touch can anchor a Quantum Suicide Survivor to a macrorealm. That's why they can't die. Every attempt at dying prompts a possibility for survival. Gun misfires or misses every vital organ. Dynamite fuse duds before exploding. It's all probability.
Good job Jordan! I think I will need to re-read this again to wrap my brain around it..but good job!
ReplyDeleteI gave up on LOST as I felt it could never be resolved satisfactorily... and I suppose because, at some point, I stopped enjoying the ride. It turns out I was wrong to think I would be left wanting... because all of the time I put into LOST has now been paid back... in full. All effort, in terms of time and thought, was repaid as I read this blog. The payout? A single quote:
ReplyDelete"...flowers don't have feelings. If they did, they'd be gay"
Thank YOU.