Unlocking the mysteries of time travel on LOST by Joshua S. Smith

Please consider this..."whatever happened, happened"...a statement made by Daniel Faraday. This statement makes everything stand in a line of perfect sequences. Considering the "Incident" and the 815 Losties and their influence on the DHARMA Initiative, it should be understood that this was all done in line sequence. Although all this time jumping is going on between characters...please consider Faraday's emphasis on constants. Faraday made it known that one who is a constant can influence time in one way and then affect the future of the person later on such as he does when he has Desmond find him in 1996. Although he says "whatever happened, happened" and then seems to contradict himself with the idea that he can influence Desmond outside the Swan to tell him he is his constant, he is indeed not.

What he is inferring is that there is a time line that stays consistent, but it is not one that necessary moves thro! ugh the same sequential time pattern. It merely stays with the constants who move "through it". Consider this...As the people move through time they are stil aging, they still have memories of previous times that are in the future and past. Some big clues to this are how Desmond has a dream theoretically that is 8 years later after Faraday appears at his door of the Swan, and remembers Faraday's visit and then it dawns on him that it is real. Other important aspects, Desmond being able to see Charlie dying, may indeed not be him seeing it with psychic powers but with the possibility that he has been through this time iteration before and merely something "dawns" on him once again. That is why Faraday tells him he is so "special" because he has already seen the time line from different perspectives, as the sequence of events are changing through the "constant's" time lines.

And now some of Losties are moving through there own little constant time line that will bring on new events that may lead to ultimately new outcomes on that island.

This "constant" idea in which all the Losties are hinted at already with people having the same "dawning" occurrences that Desmond has experienced. For example, when Faraday is crying when he is watching the 815 plane underwater, he doesn't know why. This is because he has already experienced new things regarding the island because of Desmond being his constant. When Desmond finds him in 1996, there may be a few things they haven't showed us additionally that he may have learned. When Jack looks in the mirror on the plane and sees a cut on his neck, he is very confused. And he also had longer hair on the plane and looks a little older in 2004 now in the supposed "alternate" reality (a term Lindeloff and Cuse refuse to use). Jack once again clues us in by looking in the mirror by staring at his appendix scar. And them makes note of confusion by asking his Mom when he had his appendix removed. Which she answers that he had it removed when he was a child, which leaves a concern! ed look on his face. Jack is going through the same things that Desmond and Faraday went through.

And something else to understand...the ISLAND is a CONSTANT too. There have been several times that there have been clues that the island is incapable of "moving" in fact, at least in the way that people think. The Black Rock diary had the coordinates to where the island is. These coordinates were depended on for the Freighter team to go back and forth to the island. Several characters also made note that maybe it isn't the island that is moving but it is them moving in time with the island...this was a HUGE clue. This means that the people on the island who have experienced time travel and different paths for people as a result of their actions, are all constants who move through iterations of different outcomes and small or big changes to environments. The island is no different, it is a CONSTANT too. It moves through time and adjusts to new environments.

And like I was saying the island not moving in the way people thinks means, it is a constant, that deals with new environments. When Lepidus is flying the chopper and he can't find the island, it is not because it moved to different coordinates, it is because when Linus moved the donkey wheel he set off a new sequence of events that lie on their time line. These events lead to an island that is underwater in 2004! Just as we have seen with the "alternate reality" flight 815 over the island while it is underwater. All the characters are still moving in the same time line, or maybe characters is a bad word to use...their matter is the same matter through the same timeline. A body which contains a brain that is altered with every new state of mind and new memories that may have not occurred specifically to that personality in their own sequence, but indeed to the matter involved. Which leads to some very large confusion if the constant time line is not supported such as it was ! with Farraday helping Desmond. And which then makes you wonder, was Desmond on that plane with Jack for a reason? Is Desmond now Jack's constant? I strongly believe that the reason for the "alternate reality" is indeed not because of the "incident".

Many people will then say "well, what about Claire, Smokie,Jacob, and all those people on the island in 2004? Remember people, when Linus turned that donkey wheel it moved everyone through time that was left on the island. Not just the one's we followed. This is kind of shown as a confirmation when Bernard and Rose were met by Sawyer and Juliet. We had kind of forgotten about them, but guess what they were going through all the headaches, flashbacks, and pains that the rest of the characters went through. Which also means...so was Claire and Smokie and Jacob and anyone else on the island.But one huge question is...was Jacob even on the island at the time? Or is he someone that is in his own constant time line that travels back in time and has influenced events to create new iterations for his own benefit or the island's benefit to stop Smokie?

The HUGE thing is not thinking about things in terms of one fluid consistent time line with the same sequence of events...but as a Constant changing sequence of events moving through an ever changing time line but nonetheless has to follow some rules of time when there is no constant to alter that path.