A Non-Supernatural Account of "The End" (therefore good) by Mario

If you were anything like me you were wholly disappointed with the supernatural quasi-religious ending of LOST. Essentially, it was a cop out. However, I reject fan’s supernatural interpretation of this ending; instead, I will offer an argument against the supernatural ending and advocate a more logical interpretation while still maintaining a poetic harmony.

For those of you who don’t quite remember, LOST ended with everyone in the alternate-universe (altverse) meeting in a church and transcending into a new life. How so? Once everyone was able to disassociate themselves from their past and/or emotional attachments could they then “move on together.” Hence, the common theme running through the show, “live together or die alone.” After the Losties disassociate from their individuality and associate with togetherness could they be able to all walk into the light. A cliché, right? It’s almost as bad as when your brain actually becomes oxygen deprived and sees a whole lot of light. Nonetheless, this ending was interpreted by many viewers as being a folksy way of “walking into the gates of Heaven.” However, that is at best a superfluous interpretation and at worse a highly unparsimonious one. Here’s why…

Let’s recall that final scene wherein Jack and his dad are speaking. The pane glass window in the church had 6 symbols on it: an Om, a cross, a yin-yang symbol, a Star of David, and a wheel – perhaps the wheel of life or a representation of the actual wheel located on the island, when turned, would combine electromagnetic energy with water to create a release of energy. Regardless, if we interpret the church as actually being a type of purgatory, Heaven’s lobby, or limbo then that would suggest that the afterlife (something that is by very definition not natural) is nothing more than a human-constructed grand arena. Thus, we have taken a supernatural afterlife, made it subject to our rules, and thereby becoming natural.

Supernatural or not, can it not be said that this altverse is still the “afterlife”? Initially, no, but it could be yes. An afterlife is that which follows life thereby being dependent on life having to end, or not be alive. In that sense, there is no afterlife. In contrast, it could be an afterlife if we define it as being a result in a change of consciousness in your life, much like childhood into adulthood (childlife to adultlife). Nevertheless, these are physical and natural phenomenon and to understand them as being supernatural is elementary at best.

But we know that the altverse actually exists, so if the altverse is not supernatural then what is it? As I promised, here’s a logical yet poetic answer. As we saw in LOST’s best episode, “The Constant”, someone’s consciousness can travel not only in time, but also in space (space= location, not space as in Star Wars) insofar as the consciousness can be witnessed by another consciousness; in other words, consciousness is interdependent. Let me break it down: a conscious requires another conscious to address it (ex. conscious 1 is only conscious 1 because conscious 2 has an awareness of conscious 1 and vice-versa), so even if a consciousness dies the consciousness of others can still be conscious of the deceased; thus, only when someone’s conscious dies can it then become immortal and timeless— via memory, work, or idea— and exist in the consciousness of others. Only in that sense can it be said that the altverse is an “afterlife” which hammers in, once more, that the afterlife/altverse can only be actualized when we “live together or die alone.” After all, if no one can witness your consciousness (being alone), your conscious dies alone. If, however, there are many conscious’s aware of your consciousness then you live together. I think it would be safe, then, to say that everyone is each other’s “Constant.” This is why only the central characters, those who lived together, can be found in the church and not stand-alone characters. Therein lies the admittedly poetic ending, one that promotes the I that is We and the We that is I; an individual the becomes the World.

A possible rebuttal would be, “what was the bright light?” Well, besides being just a bright light, it could not be something supernatural. I can say that with confidence because if their afterlife- existence is dependent on each other (which it is), and they actually experience the light, the light, then, is the altverses version of the island’s Source (that which also is perceived as “the light”). Keep this in mind: seeing as how time is meaningless— since the past, present, and future are all arbitrary— life too is arbitrary since the Source is the cause of life, death, and rebirth. Hence, there is no life and death, only the process of becoming.

As a final thought, my interpretation of LOST’s afterlife is supported when Jack’s dad said that everyone in the church “has died or has yet to die; time here is meaningless.” Even if one dies in the past they are still remembered in the consciousness of someone in the present. And those who exist in the here-and-now will be remembered in the consciousness of the future, via Aaron and Jin’s daughter. So if a conscious exists in all of the past, present, and future then time really does become meaningless and what actually exists is a “here-and-now consciousness” which can only be experienced by those who are, in fact, conscious. Fortunately, this voids the crap ending of a supernatural/folksy afterlife and actually supports an intelligent ending wherein the afterlife is manifested as an interdependent consciousness (much like the phrase “the national consciousness”).

There, now the end of LOST is no longer a quasi-religious copout; rather, it’s a testimony of the beautifully complex human narrative. -M