Life, death, redemption, rebirth and beyond by Imagination

I was a die hard fan of LOST from beginning to end. I watched every episode 2 or 3 times for six years. LOST was and will always be the most imaginative, creative, philosophical, and just down right greatest show of all time. Here is why: First off to really understand LOST you need to have at least a working knowledge of great literature, world religions, scientific phenomenon, philosophy, and theories of quantum physics. If you do not possess this knowledge you can still enjoy the show for all the adventure, suspense, intrigue and romance but you may not be as hooked as those of us who analyzed every detail from the start.

LOST was about the human condition--life. The characters represented parts of all of us. Together they encapsulated all the conflicts, trials and tribulations of mankind. Jack is the noble hero. He had strength of character and was driven by a desire to help others and pursue what is right and just in the world. He also was plagued by a deep seated fear of being inadequate. He had a need to prove himself constantly--mostly to his father who died before the crash. Jack was left with relief that his father died and thus he wouldn't have to try and prove anything to him, but also with guilt and a knawing pain of not being able to fix the relationship before his father passed on. This inner conflict left Jack broken despite his outward courage and ability to lead and heal. John Locke represented a man who had lost everything including his abilty to walk. He boarded the plane a broken man who lost his faith in life itself. Crashing on the island restored not only his ability to walk--it restored his faith. Locke and Jack represented that ageless war that sooner or later each one of us wages within ourselves: science vs. faith. Ultimately they each would have to find a balance between the two--individually their ideas were too extreme, too polarized--that is why they fought constantly. Each had a need to convince the other he was right. This battle is one we all have come face to face with in our own lives. In my opinion that is why the series so often focused on these two characters. All the other characters were important but Locke and Jack were destined to fight the ultimate battle (we had no idea in the first several seasons that they would indeed fight the last battle on the island: Locke representing the dark side (MIB) and Jack representing the light (Jacob). More on that later.....

Sawyer was the wounded angry bad boy who has to learn how to let go of his past in order to truly love. He carries the note he wrote as a child to the con man who destroyed his parents leaving him orphaned and lost. The note represents all the baggage and wounds we all carry around with us. We sympathize with Sawyer because he possesses so many of the qualities we all do. He is smart, fearless, determined, selfish,and he knows how to survive and has great passion. He and Kate are drawn together because they are so similar. Kate is also a survivor. She was abused and abandoned just like Sawyer. She conned people too and learned how to get by in life with lies and manipulation. Their love was passionate and fiery but immature and self indulgent. Eventually both of them would learn that love is more than chemistry and attraction. Sawyer's love for Juliet is different--he has matured into a responsible man. He has become a part of something by season 5. He has never been a part of anything that mattered to him but he has built a life for himself in the Dharma past and that is when he learns how to love. Kate was drawn to Jack and always loved him but she too had to learn how to forgive--not just those who had hurt her but herself. She watches Jack become a man of faith--he never gives up trying to help everyone, but by the end he knows who he is and why he came to the island. In season six we see how Jack and Kate's love has evolved into something everlasting.

All the characters have their own skeletons in the closet. Charlie and Sayid have major flaws that drive them into the dark. They torment and at times wallow in self pity but ultimately both characters redeem themselves by dying for a cause greater than themselves. Charlie does this in the Looking Glass station at the end of season three. Sayid does this in season six when he sacrifices himself in the sub to save his friends. Hugo (Hurley) is innocent, kind, humble, and selfless. He represents the best in us. But he also posesses great powers that he has no idea what to do with. We all do. The Bible tells us not to hide our light under a bushel but we all do. We are in fact afraid of our own power. In the end Hurley finally owns his power and his stength. That understanding like all the individual journeys taken in the show, is what being human is all about.

Jacob and MIB are the most symbolic characters in the series. They represent light and dark, good and evil, positive and negative--polar forces in the universe. The good and evil part is more philosophical than religious because we see that neither character is all good or all bad. So there is some ambiguity--such is life. If the series was simply a battle between good and evil then we could have resolved all the issues in one season--but life is not that simplistic. Jacob was more positive in that he believed people could change, hence he kept bringing them to the island. But he was jealous of his brother and basically was responsible for his brother's demise. MIB had once been very human but is reduced to an embodiment of all that is wrong with the world. He is pure anger, pure frustration, pure fear. And he is stuck. Both Jacob and MIB use our Losties for their own agenda. They are neither all good or all bad but they do represent opposing forces in the universe.

In the end, we all have to go through our own personal journeys of struggle and strife. We love, we lose, we suffer, we embrace, we find joy.....it is the human condition. When we know our purpose, when we finally discover who we are and how we fit in this universe, we have reached a point where we can commune with the light--some of us call this enlightenment--we are one with God.

The sideways reality was the last incarnation for our characters. They may have lived many lives since the island but the sideways was the last step on their journey. It was the place they would finally realize who they were, where they had been, and rediscover one another so they could move on. There were so many clues along the way--clues we never quite got. One such clue was the van that carried Locke's dead body in season five. I can't remember the exact wording on the side of the van but when you unscrambled the words they spelled out reincarnation. The sideways was not heaven--heaven was where they were headed in the church at the final scene.

The authors in the series: Charles Dickens, Carlos Casteneda, Henry James, etc. etc. were all mystics who wrote philosophically about the human condition. The names were all symbolic too: Locke was an English philosopher who basically created the idea of a social contract--Jack Shephard was just that--a shephard watching over his sheep (people and ultimately the island itself)Faraday was an actual scientist in the 19th century who discovered the dynamic connection between electro magnetism and navigation. The clues and icons went on and on--every episode was brilliant. The series was/is a masterpiece to be appreciated for all time.