From THE MAN FROM TALLAHASSEE
Ben: Picture a box. You know something about boxes, don't you John? What if I told you that somewhere on this island there's a very large box...and whatever you imagined...whatever you wanted to be in it...when you opened that box, there it would be. What would you say about that, John?
This is Ben's explanation of “the magic box.” Recently, producers Damon and Carlton have confirmed that the whole Island is a “magic Box” (LOST: Answers show on ABC). I believe that the natural electromagnetism of the Island allows one to more fully use your mind. It can even lead to mind control. It is said that humans use only 8% of their brain. Here, on the Island, there is a natural property that allows anyone to expand the use of the mind. It allows one to project thoughts on to others and to manifest objects. I believe that when one can fully control this ability, they can influence the thoughts of others. Ben has mastered this. Many of our Losties have unknowingly tapped into the power of the magic box. Locke I believe, has knowingly tapped into this power. He had a grasp on the Island’s Magic Box very early on. Follow me and I will show you more…
Examples of the power of the box to produce objects:
In TMFT, Ben is taking Locke to show him an island secret. He says the above dialogue about the magic box. He also prods Locke's emotions about his father asking him what it felt like to have his own father want to kill him. Who appears, Cooper! Ben later insists twice, that it is LOCKE who brought Cooper there.
In “House of the Rising Sun” Locke finds out that Charlie is using drugs. He wants to help him. He prods Charlie’s emotions about something Charlie cares about very much, his guitar. He tells Charlie that the Island might just give him what he wants but he has to give the island something first. Charlie gives up the drugs and voila…there’s his guitar.
Examples of the power of the box to influence minds:
Ben telling Juliet that Rachel's cancer is back. He shows her "Rachel's chart" which we see is actually the EKG of a 187 pound male. Because Ben was prodding Juliet’s emotions about Rachel, telling her the "facts" about her cancer and was supposedly showing her proof, Juliet saw what Ben wanted her to see and what she expected to see.
Again, Richard gives Locke a file to offer an alternative to Locke killing his father. Locke reads the file, but we see (thanks to screencaps) that it's written in French. Richard wanted Locke to "make a connection" and suggested that there was another way to satisfy Ben. He prods Locke’s emotions by telling him that Ben is loosing focus and they need to get back to what’s important. When Locke goes to get Sawyer in “The Brig”, along the way he says that he read Sawyer's file, brings up Sawyer’s parents having been killed and then asks why he uses Sawyer as an alias. This elicits emotion in James about the real Sawyer. He gets into the brig, doesn't know what's going on until the word "conman" comes up. Then this icon from the magic box, starts becoming the real Sawyer, accent and all. If you watch, you will notice the Southern accent which was non-existent before, gets stronger and stronger when Sawyer arrives. This example shows both attributes of the Magic Box.
These are examples where the "magic box" is being utilized in control. I believe we’ve seen cases where it was not used with full control. Sort of like someone who gets into a moving car but doesn’t yet know how to drive. The first time we see a case of this is with Jack in White Rabbit. As he is chasing his he is desperately wondering if it is really his dad or if he is going crazy. Once Christian leads him to the caves and the water, Jack, who needs reassurance that he is not crazy…finds his fathers coffin which should not have been on the plane since he didn’t have the proper paperwork in Sydney. It is empty which causes Jack all kinds of emotional turmoil. Jack needed to see that coffin, and he was able to make that happen. Then there is Sullivan (a redshirt) in “Solitary.” Sullivan gets hives. Jack says he is a hypochondriac. Sullivan thinks it’s awful and that he’s sick etc.. They get worse and spread. He thought it into happening. I think that Dave is another example of someone unwittingly tapping in to the magic box. Dave shows up when Hurley is dealing with a very emotional issue for him. I want to add that Hurley did have the imaginary Dave in the institution, but on the Island he was real. He had a real slipper that Hurley touched and he made a real splash when he jumped off the cliff. Dave became real.
Locke learns about the magic box early. How I am not sure. Perhaps it had to do with his looking into the beautiful eye of the Island. Somehow I think it comes from his communion with the Island. In “House of the Rising Sun” he finds out that Charlie is using drugs. He wants to help him. He prods Charlie’s emotions about something Charlie cares about very much, his guitar. He tells Charlie that the Island might just give him what he wants but he has to give the island something first. Charlie gives up the drugs and voila…there’s his guitar. Locke knew what he was doing there.
Perhaps Locke learned about the magic box when they went boar hunting and he saw “the eye of the Island”. He looked into the eye of the island, saw something beautiful and then he came back with a big boar for everyone to eat. Perhaps this was the first appearance of the magic box.
Here are some miscellaneous examples of the magic box in effect:
Walts ability to roll his desired numbers when playing Backgammon. Claire when she was captured by Ethan. He obviously had a very good control over the box. Claire saw exactly what Ethan wanted her to see. Great mind control, like Ben!
Little Ben is sad and missing his mom. He looks at her picture and then BAM there she is! He unwittingly tapped into the magic box at a very young age. That is part of what made him special I believe.
The cherry on top, which of course means nothing really, but it interesting nonetheless, is the MRI sign in the hospital Kate's mom is in- Magnetic Resonance Imagining.
The explanation:
This is directly from PsychadellicRelic and since I cannot say it any better, here’s what he said: “ I ask, if psychokinetic ability exists, how does it work, and answer speculatively, that a common thread exists between the manipulation of matter and enhanced mind abilities. Electromagnetism provides the medium through which the mind emitting activity of thought, the production of brainwaves, can manipulate the wavelengths found in matter on a subatomic level. The mind thinks, produces these brain wavelengths, and matter resonates, responds automatically. Pluck one guitar string and the other adjoining strings vibrate sympathetically.”
Now, the Tesla connection:
Tesla in his never ending quest to better the world through his inventions, wanted to harness natural, renewable energy. He knew this could replace the use of coal and oil. At any given time there are tens of thousands of lightning strikes on our planet. Tesla invented a device in his photographic mind, that would be able to harness all the energy from these lightning strikes around the world. When he started to think about the device he invented. He realized that it operated at ELF. The human brain works on ELF’s and Tesla grew concerned that this device might be used for mind control.
From Wiki:
“Extremely low frequency (ELF) is the band of radio frequencies from 3 to 30 Hz. ELF was used by the US Navy and Soviet/Russian Navy to communicate with submerged submarines.”
“Naturally-occurring ELF waves are present on Earth, resonating in the region between ionosphere and surface. They are initiated by lightning strikes that make electrons in the atmosphere oscillate.”
“Tesla researched ways to transmit power and energy wirelessly over long distances (via transverse waves, to a lesser extent, and, more readily, longitudinal waves). He transmitted extremely low frequencies through the ground as well as between the earth's surface and the Kennelly-Heaviside layer. He received patents on wireless transceivers that developed standing waves by this method. In his experiments, he made mathematical calculations and computations based on his experiments and discovered that the resonant frequency of the Earth was approximately 8 Hertz (Hz). In the 1950s, researchers confirmed that the resonant frequency of the Earth's ionospheric cavity was in this range (later named the Schumann resonance).”
The human brain operates in the ELF range. There are those today (conspiracy theorists) who worry that the Schumann resonance could be used for mind control. Anyone able to tap into this frequency and transmit at it would have an open door to the minds of others. Find out a persons specific frequency and you have a door that opens only to them.
Upon thinking of his device to harness lightning energy, Tesla became concerned that his device could be used for mind control. He destroyed the device and the blueprints. Our Island has some very “unique electromagnetic properties” that DHARMA wanted to study. Could part of that been mind control? Does Ben have a grasp on that skill? Are other Losties unwittingly using the ability to manifest objects, think things into happening? Furthermore, what better place to setup a scientific endeavor than a place where thoughts become reality? Think of a solution…and it is. Department of Heuristics and Material Applications. I think the very name of DHARMA fits with the magic box.
One more connection that goes back to Tesla
There are also many ties to the Monatuk Project which of course has its roots in Tesla as well. This is an application which derives from the works of Tesla, which again, I believe influence the plot of LOST.
“Over the years, the Montauk researchers perfected their mind control techniques and continued to delve further into the far reaches of human potential. By developing the psychic abilities of different personnel, it eventually got to the point where a psychic's thoughts could be amplified with hardware, and illusions could be manifested both subjectively and objectively. This included the virtual creation of matter.” (The work referred to here is achieved with high EM fields.)
SPONTANEOUS OBJECT CREATION
By this point, all of the experiments and tests involving the Montauk Chair used Duncan Cameron. Duncan was a powerful psychic used in many phases of the Montauk experiments. His "true history" (as well as a possible HERO System character sheet) is given below. The main reason why he was used so often in the experiments dealing with the chair was due to some form of "special training" he had undergone (the book gives the CIA and/or the NSA as possible candidates) which allowed him to reach an "altered form of consciousness." What this means, is basically his conscious mind would be suppressed and a more primitive mind would be allowed become active. This primitive mind was highly suggestible, very controllable, and tended to act by focusing all of its power on a subject, allowing much greater displays of power than if the conscious mind acted.
After about a year of tests, the Montauk Chair was shown to be working flawlessly. Now, instead of transmitting thoughts, the researchers wanted to try something new: creating solid objects. The idea was for Duncan to visualize an object and, provided there was sufficient power coming from the transmitter, materialize it somewhere on the base. This process was not exact, however, as some objects remained intangible and others faded as soon as the transmitter was turned off. But, if given sufficient power, Duncan could create permanent objects. The size and type of object seemed only to be limited by his imagination, and it is said he materialized entire buildings during the course of these experiments.
Following the success of the object creation experiments, the researchers at Montauk began to step up their tests by looking into manipulating the human mind directly. The first such experiments involved what was called "The Seeing Eye." (the eye of the island?)This was where Duncan was given a lock of hair (or other object) and concentrated on the person the object had come from. He could then see and hear everything that person could see and hear, no matter where that person was.
After the Seeing Eye was perfected, the tests were taken one step further. Now, instead of simply looking though the eyes and ears of another, Duncan tried to actually influence what the person was thinking and doing. By pushing out with his thoughts, Duncan could take over someone else's mind, making them do what he (Duncan) wanted. People could be virtually "programmed" to do almost anything. Further experimentation showed that large groups of both people and animals could be affected, making them behave in a variety of bizarre ways.
With time, it was discovered more than a person's mind could be controlled. Electrical devices could be made to malfunction, short out, or otherwise rendered useless. Telekinetic effects were discovered, where Duncan was able to move objects, shatter windows and wreck entire rooms.”
*Thanks to PsychadellicRelic for his help as well as Brylyant for her added info.
Theory by LostMommyof3
