First of all, where is "Where we belong"?
I believe where they belong is BACK in 2007. I beleive they cannot go any further forward than that because that is the present which they left.
Faraday's piece of string analogy is all well and good, but it completely destroys any hope that our Losties have any free will. I remain a very firm beleiver in WHH, but I think I can explain how this doesn't necessarily mean the total loss of hope for the free will of our heroes.
'Whatever Happened Happened' is only the case when it HAS happened. This does not necessarily mean that everything past, present and future, has already happened and that we have no control over our destinies. Not at all!
Allow me to explain further...
Imagine not a piece of string, but a BALL of string. The end of this string represents the beginning of time - The Big Bang - Ever since then it has been constantly unravelling at an unchanging speed. As the string unravels it leaves a trail. This trail can not be changed, because it has already been laid. This, is the basis for WHH.
The actual ball itself represents all that string which has yet to be unraveled, and the point at which the ball becomes unraveled is the frontier of time. This is where me and you are hopefully existing, because this is the point at which we have free will, and the power to determine what the future of the ball of string will look like.
The way I see it, in 2004 - after the crash and before anyone went back in time - the Losties were at the frontier of the timeline (the part of the ball of string which hasn't unravelled yet - that part hadn't been played out before and they had free will.
But as soon as they went back in time, they jumped back to a part of the string which has already been unravelled. This is where Whatever Happened Happened cannot be changed because it has already happened.
What the Losties need to do is somehow get back to the farthest point possible that has yet to be played... back to the frontier... which is now 2007, where Sun and Locke and co are.
We know that it is possible to move backwards and forwards along the peice of string, but it is not possible to change the string once it has been unravelled and it is not possible to move too far forward to a part of the string which has not yet been unravelled.
Therefore, I conclude, that when Jack speaks of going back to 'where they belong', He needs to get back to 2007.
But simply waiting 30 years for 2007 to roll along will not work... because by that point, the frontier at the ball of string will have unraveled as far as the year 2037 and they will always be in that part of the string which has already happened.
They need to get their present selves back to the frontier where then, AND ONLY THEN, will they have their free will back.
I believe where they belong is BACK in 2007. I beleive they cannot go any further forward than that because that is the present which they left.
Faraday's piece of string analogy is all well and good, but it completely destroys any hope that our Losties have any free will. I remain a very firm beleiver in WHH, but I think I can explain how this doesn't necessarily mean the total loss of hope for the free will of our heroes.
'Whatever Happened Happened' is only the case when it HAS happened. This does not necessarily mean that everything past, present and future, has already happened and that we have no control over our destinies. Not at all!
Allow me to explain further...
Imagine not a piece of string, but a BALL of string. The end of this string represents the beginning of time - The Big Bang - Ever since then it has been constantly unravelling at an unchanging speed. As the string unravels it leaves a trail. This trail can not be changed, because it has already been laid. This, is the basis for WHH.
The actual ball itself represents all that string which has yet to be unraveled, and the point at which the ball becomes unraveled is the frontier of time. This is where me and you are hopefully existing, because this is the point at which we have free will, and the power to determine what the future of the ball of string will look like.
The way I see it, in 2004 - after the crash and before anyone went back in time - the Losties were at the frontier of the timeline (the part of the ball of string which hasn't unravelled yet - that part hadn't been played out before and they had free will.
But as soon as they went back in time, they jumped back to a part of the string which has already been unravelled. This is where Whatever Happened Happened cannot be changed because it has already happened.
What the Losties need to do is somehow get back to the farthest point possible that has yet to be played... back to the frontier... which is now 2007, where Sun and Locke and co are.
We know that it is possible to move backwards and forwards along the peice of string, but it is not possible to change the string once it has been unravelled and it is not possible to move too far forward to a part of the string which has not yet been unravelled.
Therefore, I conclude, that when Jack speaks of going back to 'where they belong', He needs to get back to 2007.
But simply waiting 30 years for 2007 to roll along will not work... because by that point, the frontier at the ball of string will have unraveled as far as the year 2037 and they will always be in that part of the string which has already happened.
They need to get their present selves back to the frontier where then, AND ONLY THEN, will they have their free will back.
