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June 29, 2009

...And yet we keep playing it.

Let’s talk about LOST!   ...And Yet We Keep Playing It.






The puzzle game.

Could we be involved in a “Cyber Drama”?  Sure, why not?    I sure as hell know we’re participating in one long con.   Maybe there’s a fine line between a long con and a magic trick; or maybe we’re involved in a little of both.


Let’s be honest here, we have witnessed some great feats of magic with LOST.  The writers have spun an incredible story using misdirection and deception.   It’s as if they are following the basic rules of being a magician.  We have been watching this story unfold for five seasons and I can’t believe that there are still so many varied theories out there. It seems that we all can’t agree on a singular concept as of yet, and I find this fascinating.  How else would that still be the case unless we were being bamboozled?  Are we just the observer here or are we a victim of the con.

You know how high in esteem I hold this creative team of LOST, so please don’t take my angle on this post as negative in any way shape or form, because in reality it is just the opposite. I honor their brilliance.  There has never been anything like this experience before and we all know it.

I’m sure you’re asking, "Why is Karen bringing up magic and cons again?"  Because I must, it’s that simple. In the writer’s genius, I believe they very, very cleverly are performing their magic in the perfect situation.  Their magic has twisted our minds in confusion and amazement, and they’ve made it look so damn easy that we’re not even seeing the “con” of it all.   After all, to quote Jack’s grandpa Ray, “But what will I do without my magic shows?” lol
 First let me acknowledge a few things that I do believe are going on:
First and foremost the island residents are very deeply emotionally lost and are trying to find themselves.   The story is showing us this in a metaphoric fashion.  I believe their growth is evolving under the guise of this adventure.
I believe things are being experienced in their consciousness/mind while they are in an altered state, sleep state or at least the sleep state has something to do with this all.
They’re never out of the confines of the “Island”.
Since the very beginning events we’ve seen seem out of order.
We constantly see at least two versions of items/props, scenes and dialog.
We’ve seen much of the same clothes shirts and shirt patterns repeat themselves on island and off island.
Perception and perspective. Things/words/titles have two meanings.  Things and events are blurred together.
I believe once someone finds what they are looking for, or even may be at risk of unseating a leader, they are removed from the playing field. In other words they move on.
It's all in the details, and they’re wrong!

Keep in mind these are only a few of the many, many layers that make up the whole of this story. We will tackle other layers over the hiatus.

I know I’m going out on a huge limb here, but I am just going to tackle a few thoughts on the story thus far.  I really took some shit this season for bringing some of my “outside the box” thoughts to the table.  Don’t get me wrong, there are many of you who were open minded to some of the observations I addressed, and you know I truly appreciate that.  I still don’t know if my way of detective work is the right way to solve the puzzle, and I’m always the first to say I could be wrong about everything, but there are reasons I entertain other options to the story.  I’m not just pulling shit out of the air as some would like to think I am.
I mean… if a magician never reveals the secret, why would the writers {who by the way work very hard to tell us NOTHING} lead us to believe certain things when they are working very hard to keep the “reveal” until later……………They’re not pulling the rabbit out of the hat just yet.

Lost has shown us a changing four toed statue, a smoke monster, walking dead, people who die over and over, Others and "Hostiles" who wear makeup and fake beards, things being faked, decoy villages, travel by freaky illusion submarine, drink spiked OJ and sleep for "however long", time travel, astral projection, teleportation, replication, supernatural happenings, two dudes who appear to have been around for forever, ghosts, and Vincent the wonder dog.  Yet I’m considered crazy with trying to rationalize just a few of those fantastical things.  I’m just curious why my possible alternative viewpoints are so much more ridiculous than what we’ve seen.  I must keep in mind at all times that there is a con going on, so why would I think certain things we see are the whole truth.

I’ve been asked where I “conjured up” the concept of the Castaway's being in some sort of “sleep state”.  That one comes from many clues right in front of our eyes.  We began the journey with Jack waking up.  We see them all in various “wake up” situations, we hear people being told to “wake up”, we’ve seen them be confused about either dreaming or hallucinating visions or experiences, so many things seems to revolve around sleeping and the need to "wake up".  I’ve also been able to note the “sleeping” motif out of  a few of the classic books and movies that are prominently hinted within the LOST story.
An important bit of insight I will share with you comes from a manual called The Psychedelic Experience, where Richard Alpert, Timothy Leary and Ralph Metzner used the Tibetan Book of the Dead as a guide along with psychedelic drugs to test and teach subjects to free their minds and experience altered states of higher consciousness. One of the goals was to "let go of ego/self". There are so many parallels to the LOST story with that manual.

Alice in Wonderland: Alice’s experiences of falling down the rabbit hole and her adventures there are being lived out via a dream.
Another example is the movie and the book, The Wizard of Oz/The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Again, Dorothy has a wonderful adventure trying to find her way home while she is in an unconscious state. Another book that hints to this is A Separate Reality, where one of the concepts is about dream states and reaching higher consciousness.
Another direction I will bring up later comes from one of my favorite books, The Invention of Morel; a story about a fugitive who hides out on a deserted island.  I know many people felt that is the reason that book was shown to us, and it very well may be. I looked at what the book was about; the actual invention created by Mr. Morel.  He created a series of projectors that turned on with the wind and tides. These projectors projected images of people, items, and scenes that seemed so real within the physical environment, that the fugitive couldn’t tell these people and things were not real. With that I think it’s fair to inquire about this very thing in the LOST story.
On to the matter at hand… What the hell is going on here?  I think that we’ve been so preoccupied watching the part of the illusion the writers are directing us to look toward that they’ve been able to conceal crucial information by throwing broad generalizations at us in order to keep us from focusing in on the truth. They stay one step ahead of us by purposely keeping us engaged with things like mythology, statues, hieroglyphs, time travel, space, etc.

These layers are very cool and I love them tremendously. But I will not ignore what else we witness; Juliet’s ex Edmund being hit by a bus after she mentions such an event should happen, Ana Lucia shows up to Hurley while he’s on the run with sleeping Sayid, major hints to things being faked, the set altitude gage on the aircraft carrying the Oceanic 6 back “home” displays all zeros, changing roles, and the at least two versions of things and details that are wrong. With those types of illusionary bits going on, and there are many, many more than that going on, what could explain such things; more on that in a minute.

I’ll begin with a term used in the show… the “real world”.  When this term is referenced it forces me to acknowledge that they are indeed in an “unreal world”.  So where are they? I know I’ve gone on and on for years questioning what/who is “real” and what/who is “not real”, so let’s start with the possibility of their location.  If we take purgatory off the table and if we put the worm hole, another planet, and parallel universe on the side just for the next few minutes, what other possibilities could we explore?
We need to start with what we know:
* We have “planes” that make constant returns to an “Island”.
* There is a “way” to go back and forth to this special place.
* "This place" gives people the chance to learn, grow, reflect, and start over.
* Oh, and by the way, they are not strangers to the “Island”; they’ve had to have been there more than once.
Are they on an “Island” or is it an illusion of an island? Are they in a bloody snow globe or a metaphor for a bloody snow globe? Could they not even be on an island and are in some sort of Panopticon type of facility?   Maybe they are in a building far far away.
Yes, that’s what I said, 'cause I'm crazy like that!  But I do have a few "locations" rattling around in my head.

I have examined the following ideas based solely on the clue words that have presented themselves over and over since day one.  Yep, those very words and phrases I obsessively bold type in my notes.
Through this adventure of storytelling the goal of the Castaways' experience seems to be “Enlightenment”.   The adventure seems to be playing a part in their rehabilitation; so that may be considered a form of therapy in a sense. {We have  constant clues to crazy, insane, certifiable, Schizophrenia, auditory hallucinations, depression, addiction, post-traumatic stress disorder, catatonia, insomnia, Clonozapam, and Santa Rosa.  {More on this contributing factor in another post.}  Who knows, maybe they are the original test subjects and or patients to this experience.  They are being educated, tested and yes, they are being observed.  The challenges and quests they are faced with may be helping them find what they’ve lost…themselves.

Are they wired to a computer or some other device that sends a simulated environment and/or information to their brains while they are sleeping?  Don’t laugh! It could happen. Let me explain…

I often wonder if the “Island residents” are in a “Merged Reality".  I have felt much if not all of their experience is happening in their minds/conscious level.  Maybe they are physically running around an island but things are merged with elements of their minds being manipulated with the use of drugs/hallucinogens, sleep, dreams, hypnosis, illusions, mnemonics, manipulation, magic tricks, mind tricks, projected images, holograms, simulated and/or virtual environments, and the use of a script is involved in this adventure game.  The “Islanders” seem to be detached from the real world and truly submerged into this "fantasy island".
After all an altered state of consciousness is any condition which is significantly different from a normal waking beta wave state.
Let’s explore this option further. Remember these are only an alternative approach to the possibilities.

* Mixed reality: (Augmented reality) refers to the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualizations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time. A mix of reality, augmented reality, augmented virtuality and virtual reality.
* Magic: is the art of entertaining audiences by performing illusions and tricks. {Smoke and Mirrors.}
* Pepper's ghost: is an illusionary technique. Using a plate glass and special lighting techniques, it can make objects seem to appear or disappear, or make one object seem to "morph" into another.
* Musion Eyeliner: Using high definition video projection or LED screens to allow moving images to appear within a live stage setting.
* Holography: is a technique that allows the light scattered from an object to be recorded and later reconstructed so that it appears as if the object is in the same position relative to the recording medium as it was when recorded. The image changes as the position and orientation of the viewing system changes in exactly the same way as if the object were still present, thus making the recorded image (hologram) appears three dimensional.
* Tomography: is imaging by sections or sectioning.  A device used in tomography is called a tomograph, while the image produced is a Tomogram.  The method is used in medicine, archeology, biology, geophysics, oceanography, material science, astrophysics and other sciences. {X-rays, CAT scans, MRI}
* A house of mirrors or hall of mirrors: is a traditional attraction at carnivals and amusement parks. The basic concept behind a house of mirrors is to be a maze-like puzzle.  In addition to the maze, participants are also given mirrors as obstacles, and glass panes to parts of the maze they cannot yet get to. In fiction, battles sometimes take place within a hall of mirrors. This is a great way to symbolically show the trickery potential of a villain.
* The Invention of Morel.

Important Note: We have witnessed ALL of the following in the story.  There is no doubt that when Eko was having his experiences in the Cost of Living we can see he is in an REM sleep state. We’ve seen Claire see herself from outside her body and we’ve noted when Jack can’t call Colleen’s time of death because there is no clock, and we’ve seen time on clocks change. Also artwork appear backwards, misspelled words on posters, and so many more hints to these types of things. 


* Lucid Dreaming: Is a dream in which the sleeper is aware that she/he is dreaming. When the dreamer is lucid, he or she can actively participate in and often manipulate the imaginary experiences in the dream environment.  Lucid dreams can be extremely real and vivid depending on a person's level of self awareness during the lucid dream.
A lucid dream can begin in one of three ways.  A dream-initiated lucid dream(DILD) starts as a normal dream, and the dreamer eventually concludes that he or she is dreaming, while a wake-initiated lucid dream (WILD) occurs when the dreamer goes from a normal waking state directly into a dream state with no apparent lapse in consciousness.  A mnemonic initiated lucid dream (MILD) can happen when the dreamer intentionally affirms him/herself that they will become lucid that night.
In lucid dreams things are wrong. Signs are misspelled, there is no sense of time, and items in a room are in the wrong spot or backwards.  
Powerlessness — There is a sensational loss of bodily strength.  This can mean being unable to move entirely, simply that you are unable to run away from something you otherwise would. This can also include a loss of senses, such as severely limited vision or hearing.  
Context — The place or situation in the dream is strange and includes fictional characters or places. Form — The dreamer, another character, or an object changes shape, is oddly formed, or transforms. This may include the presence of unusual clothing or hair, or a third person view of the dreamer.  Time- The dreamer looks at a clock or watch, looks away, and then looks back, and the time could have changed, unintelligible symbols appear on the watch face or even the watch can be gone all together.  
Fingers — The dreamer seems to have an abnormal number of fingers (e.g. more than 5 on a hand). Action — The dreamer, another dream character, or a thing does something unusual or impossible in waking life, such as flying, jumping or running great distances, walking through walls, teleporting/changing the dream setting, or noticing photographs in a magazine or newspaper becoming three-dimensional with full movement.
* An out of body experience: is an experience that typically involves a sensation of floating outside of one's body.
* Autoscopy: refers to an experience in which a person, while believing him or herself to be awake, sees his or her body and the world from a location outside his or her physical body.
* Heautoscopy: is a term used in psychiatry and neurology for the reduplicative hallucination of "seeing one's own body at a distance".   It can occur as a symptom in schizophrenia and epilepsy.
During REM sleep the body is theoretically paralyzed by the brain in order to prevent the movements which occur in the dream from causing the physical body to move, and wake itself up.  However, it is possible for this mechanism to be triggered before, during, or after normal sleep.  This can lead to a state where a person is lying in his or her bed and they feel paralyzed. Hypnagogic hallucination may occur in this state, especially auditory ones.

On to the other topic that seems to get people annoyed with me; the game layer. Of course I always keep close at hand that this ingredient could be perceived as a metaphor, but in many ways it is shown to us literally. I often use the game or even the video game/rpg/larp "concepts" as a means to explain certain things we see, so that the LOST viewer can have something to easily relate it to.   

We know in an adventure game/video game the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story that is driven by exploration and puzzle solving and can also contain physical challenges such as missions and combat.  If we are dealing with a simulated environment, it seems to be weaving elements of mythology, complete with a monster, religion, music, famous literature, philosophy, science fiction, astrology, astronomy, and magic.  These would be all the things “people” know, love and can relate to in real life, therefore giving us the things that make up the background environment of the adventure or even possibly showing us different levels.  Does that make any of that less important to the story? Absolutely not!

LOST shows us clues to a script, back stories, stages, backdrops, sets, costumes, decoy buildings, caves, tunnels, barracks, weapons, items, health, sick, death, changing roles, reset, and even reanimation of a character.  I mean, come on, we’ve even seen Jack return to the "Island" and have to start from the same exact starting position he did before (or again).

These concepts are basically like playing role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons, but now let’s add a bit of simulation into the mix.   There are times in real life when simulations are used for various purposes:  Scenario analysis, training, analysis, or prediction or in the case of our Castaways, for their eye opening wakeup call or of course, for the benefit of (what they believe) “saving the world”.

In their conscious mind/altered state while in a merged reality or simulated environment, they are learning to find themselves and enlightenment under the guise of a game.  In a simulated environment we could easily explain ageless people who are advisor's and guides, the same person who shows up in other roles with a different identity, {Randy Nations, ticket agents, Priests, etc.} the same props, similar scripted dialog, leaving the playing field via a portal, etc.

The stories in RPG’s usually involve a group of characters who join forces in order to accomplish missions or a “quest”.  Along the way the adventurers face challenges and enemies (such as monsters, science fiction and classic mythology).  I can see examples of this happening on the “Island.”

I did extensive research on how simulated reality, virtual reality, video games and board games are created and specifically how role playing games are written and structured.  I'd like to probe the following information and see how it may possibly connect to our story.

You can read through the researched items or jump down to pick up after all that from  "Here are a few additional thoughts."





Health is a game mechanic used in computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPC’s, and related objects.  This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar.  Included in this idea is vulnerability.
Example: We’ve seen Castaway's get shot and blown up and end up fine, specifically Locke.  He has been thrown out of an 8 story window, shot by Ben, shot by Ethan, fell down the well, was imploded in the Swan Hatch, car accident, and yet he comes back just like Super Mario in the video game.  He seems to have acquired enough "health" or “vulnerability” points.

A kill quest sends the character out to kill either a specific number of named creatures, or a specific non-player character or NPC.  These types of quests often require the character to bring back proof of their work, such as animal fangs for a creature kill quest, or the head of an NPC. Can include going to a destination and then killing in that area.
Example: Locke killing Anthony Cooper,  Ben killing Jeremy Bentham, they both brought back their “kills”.

Delivery quest, also known as a FedEx quest or fetch-carry quest. This involves the character being sent to deliver an item from one location to another.  Sometimes the character may need to collect the item first instead of being handed the item to deliver when starting the quest.  These quests are made challenging by asking the character to journey through unfamiliar or dangerous terrain, sometimes while facing a time limit.
Example: A Hydrogen bomb, a casket, a dead body, a guitar case, a gold watch, Aaron. And don’t forget about the “timed” mission to render the gas inert at The Tempest.

Gather quests, also known as collection quests, require a character to collect a number of items. These can either be gathered from a location or environment, or require the character to kill creatures in order to collect the required items.   The quest may also require the character to collect a number of different items, for example to assemble a device.
Example: We've seen the Castaways have to gather items such as: hairbrush, guns, Haliburton case, medicine, guitar case, toy airplane, batteries, etc.. But it seems that the hairbrush was never found. As far as assembling a device, that seems to fit the retrieval of the hydrogen bomb and Sayid re-rigging it and even the assembling of radios and transceivers.

♟ The final quest type is the Escort quest.  This type of quest is a combination of slaying monsters to maintain the well-being of a non-player character all while exploring an area alongside that NPC.  A typical escort quest would involve protecting a character as he or she moves through a monster-infested area.  A majority of the time the quest will demand of the player to slay multiple monsters to ensure the safety of the NPC. Escort quests can be beneficial, in forcing the player's focus to a particular area in order to play out a scene or reveal a section of the plot. They can also be used to funnel a character from one location to another, leading the player along a route or path. However, problems with this type of quest can occur if the artificial intelligence controlling the NPC causes them to behave in unexpected or unmanageable ways.
Example: We have seen many characters having to be “protected”. And we've seen "escorting" and "funneling" of characters.

A quest chain is a group of quests that are completed in sequence. Completion of each quest is a prerequisite to beginning the next quest in the chain. Quests usually increase in difficulty as a player progresses through the chain. The quests typically reveal a single plot line in stages that explain the reason for the quests.  Quest chains can also start with opening or breadcrumb quests, in order to encourage characters to journey to a new area, where further elements of the quest chain are revealed. Through mechanisms like these, the setting of a particular location is explained to the player, with the plot or storyline being disclosed as the character progresses.
Example: The next level. I can’t help but recall Boone in the vision from Further Instructions beckoning John up to the next level.  The Castaway’s have been “led” to other areas for missions/quests; the Dark Territory, Black Rock, the barracks, etc..

Simulated reality: Reality could be simulated—perhaps by computer simulation-to a degree indistinguishable from "true" reality. It could contain conscious minds which may or may not know that they are living inside a simulation. This is different from the current, technologically achievable concept of virtual reality.   Virtual reality is easily distinguished from the experience of "true" reality; participants are never in doubt about the nature of what they experience. Simulated reality, by contrast, would be hard or impossible to distinguish from "true" reality.

Types of simulation:
Brain-computer interface: In a brain-computer interface simulation, each participant enters from outside, directly connecting their brain to the simulation computer. The computer transfers sensory data to them and reads their desires and actions back; in this manner they interact with the simulated world and receive feedback from it. The participant may even receive adjustment in order to temporarily forget that they are inside a virtual realm (e.g. "passing through the veil").

Simulation-brain communications: If one were to effectively communicate with the brain, a code or sequence must be created/discovered to send information between the part of our brain that hears and talks.
Example: Could 4-8-15-16-23-42 be such a code or are these numbers really only about the Valenzetti equation?

Virtual people- In a virtual-people simulation, every inhabitant is a native of the simulated world. They do not have a "real" body in the external reality. Rather, each is a fully simulated entity, possessing an appropriate level of consciousness that is implemented using the simulation's own logic (i.e. using its own physics). As such, they could be downloaded from one simulation to another, or even archived and resurrected at a later date. It is also possible that a simulated entity could be moved out of the simulation entirely by means of mind transfer into a synthetic body. Another way of getting an inhabitant of the virtual reality out of its simulation would be to "clone" the entity, by taking a sample of its virtual DNA and create a real-world counterpart from that model. The result would not bring the "mind" of the entity out of its simulation, but its body would be born in the real world.
This category subdivides into two further types.
Virtual people-virtual world, in which an external reality is simulated separately to the artificial consciousnesses.
Solipsistic simulation in which consciousness is simulated and the "world" participants perceive exists only within their minds.
An emigration simulation, the participant enters the simulation from the outer reality, as in the brain-computer interface simulation, but to a much greater degree. On entry, the participant uses mind transfer to temporarily relocate their mental processing into a virtual-person.
An intermingled simulation supports both types of consciousness: "players" from the outer reality who are visiting (as a brain-computer interface simulation) or emigrating, and virtual-people who are natives of the simulation and hence lack any physical body in the outer reality.
A dream could be considered a type of simulation capable of fooling someone who is asleep.

Time:
Subjective time: A brain computer interface simulated reality may be required to progress at a rate that is near real time; that is, time within it may be required to pass at approximately the same rate as the outer reality which contains it.  This might be the case because the players are interacting with the simulation using brains which still reside in the outer reality.  Therefore, if the simulation were to run faster or slower, those brains could notice because they were not contained within it. It is possible that time passes slower or quicker for brains in a dream state (i.e., in a brain-computer interface trance); however, the point is that they still function at a finite, biological speed, and the simulation must track with them.  Unless those interacting with the simulation are augmented and capable of processing information at the same rate as the simulation itself.

A simulated reality need not run in real time. The inhabitants of a simulated universe would have no way of knowing that one day of subjective time actually required much longer to calculate in their host computer, or vice-versa.
Example: There are many times we see the Castaways have no sense of time. Time seems to be a major screwed up component in everything we see.   We also gets hints to "timer" and "time limit", "time's up", etc.

Software bugs- An interesting question is whether knowledge of bugs or loopholes in a sufficiently powerful simulation are instantly erased the minute they are observed since presumably all thoughts and experiences in a simulated world could be carefully monitored and altered. In fact, any simulation significantly determined to protect its existence could erase any proof that it was a simulation whenever it arose, provided it had the enormous capacity necessary to do so. To take this argument to an even greater extreme, a sufficiently powerful simulation could make its inhabitants think that erasing proof of its existence is difficult. This would mean that the computer actually has an easy time of erasing glitches, but we all think that changing reality requires great power.
Example: Many times you’ve heard me say, “Glitch in the Matrix” or a “Bug in the System”. Couldn’t that cause the “time” and “levels” to glitch and skip… not time travel.  There is no doubt we witnessed Jack in a hurried mission to "erase" the past.  As far as additional "glitches", we've witnessed "on Island events" and "off Island events" out of order.   How about when we saw John dream that Horace was chopping a tree down and that footage looped, could that count as a glitch or just a dream, or both?

Remorting (aka rebirth, ascending or reincarnating) is a technique within some role-playing games, notably MUDs, whereby once the player character reaches a specified level limit the player can elect to start over with a weaker version of his or her character. The term's origins are unclear but are thought to distinguish re-mortals (reborn characters) from mortals (normal characters) and immortals (game administrators).
Example: John Locke, Charlie and Jin. (To name a few). How about Mikhail?

Power-leveling is the process of sustained, fast leveling in CRPGs. Many role-players disdain the practice, believing that this attempt to "beat" a game misses the point of role-playing.
Example: There are levels, stages, codes, rules and cheats. There’s even an escape hatch. Are they all “getting the point” to this adventure or are some just on mission to get to the end? Jack perhaps? Hmmmm. Have any used the ESCAPE HATCH?

Magic points are units of magical power that are used in many role playing, computer role playing and similar games as an expendable resource that is needed to pay for magic spells.
Example: The Magic box. Lol. How could magic points be accumulated?

Non-player characters or "bots". Some of the people in a simulated reality may be automatons, philosophical zombies, or bots added to the simulation to make it more realistic or interesting or challenging. Indeed, it is conceivable that every person other than oneself is a bot.
Example: This would mean even though we see Charlie's experiences on the island, the people who he is interacting with would be physical image clones of the other people who are actually on “the island”. In other words, the only constant in each person’s experience is themselves.
Could Non-Character bots be people like Richard, Dr. Arzt, Danielle, Mikhail, Ethan, Horace, Amy and Lenny?  How about the many hats we’ve seen Pierre Cheng wear? {Yes, I know…Miles’ dad, but come on, Cheng has many identities} But is he acting in each Dharma video or cloned?

Here’s a few additional thoughts:

Guides- Richard, Abaddon, Danielle, and of course Christian. Or is it possible that they’ve all taken turns as the “Guide”.
Leader- There is only one leader at a time. Of course there is - if it’s a game.
Backwards dialog- We’ve heard voices speak and the words come out backwards. Couldn't this be an issue with bugs in the computer, projected images and audio, or the simulation?













With the possibilities I mentioned is it conceivable that the whispers are the voices of the people outside of the experience.  Imagine that you are in a half awake half sleep state but you can still hear the voices of family down the hall or a song that’s clicked on the radio’s alarm, only you believe those things are in your dream. In reality they have become part of your dream state but it’s the audio that has bled into your sleeping mind from the part of your brain that is half awake and hearing those sounds.

All this brings us back to “Guys, where are we?”  If and only if the story contains elements of simulation, where could this experience be originating from?  If they are on a real island then the location is kept secret for obvious reasons.
If the “island” experience is happening exclusively in the mind is it an option to suggest that maybe these people aren’t even in the same room, maybe even in different parts of the world brought together by technology.   I ask because of things like Kate saying “We’re on the same plane, Jack. Doesn’t mean we’re together.”
Are they connected by the “mind” but physically and maybe even geographically are apart?  Are they on a ship?  Could they be in a hospital, institution or a prison?  Maybe they’re in their own living rooms. The reason I say this is because when Ajira airways became part of our vocabulary, it was interesting to read everything on their website. It could read as if those trips and destinations are part of a virtual experience or something like that.   Here take a look: (Click to enlarge or go to Ajira)
Even the postcards abc.com gave us a few months ago are very telling.




















I still have many questions and comments to note. Here’s just a couple:
☯ How come Jack the alcoholic addict didn’t need alcohol or drugs while on the "Island" but people like Desmond and Charlie did?
☯ God loves you as he “LOVED” Jacob.  Why is Jacob no longer loved?
☯ Richard says that he's this way because of Jacob.  Well, what if Richard was designed by Jacob? What if Jacob and Mr. X are a few of the creators of this "Island" experience? I’m just asking!
☯ The spiral/cone symbol of The Orchid has been labeled as the time travel spiral but the spiral/cone is also a symbol of the form of human development.  With that info and knowing the metaphor angle, couldn’t that just a symbol for their “evolution” and not time travel?  There is more than few explanations for the spiral/cone symbol.  For me its the interesting "center" of The Orchid logo that gives me a bit more info.
☯ I still find it interesting that John Locke the “Boxman” seems to always end up in a box.
☯ The Dharma Initiative translates to the "start of the eight fold path". That brings us to "Enlightenment".

After all everything is connected. We watch LOST and participate in it by studying every frame, put puzzles with no pictures on the boxes together, play ARG's/ORG’s, book flights on phantom airlines, watch Missing Pieces mobisodes, gather our friends to play the LOST board game, collect trading cards, purchase action figures, own our own Dharma jumpsuits, wait in line for Apollo Bars, and flew through the video game Via Domus. Although the powers that be say all those outside elements are not “canon”, I call fucking shenanigans! Are some things a front, hiding one thing from another?  The con goes on! If everything is connected, THEN EVERYTHING IS CONNECTED.

A couple of my thoughts as we look forward to season six…
☯ Perspective and Perception is playing a huge part here. “Careful observation is the only key to true and complete awareness.
☯ I don’t think Jacob and Mr. X are the sole puppet masters, I think we will see an “outside” party involved here.
☯ I still believe things and people are not what you think.
☯ I do believe there really only can be one person in the lead at a time.
☯ We began this story with Jack and I think we may end this story with Jack.

Even with all the research here and possible connections, I’ll ask if it means anything or are we right back to it all being about them having been sucked in to a worm hole, alternate or parallel universe or stuck in the purgatory level of life and death. Are we still mystified between what are real clues and what are fun bits and pieces to send us on a wild goose chase?  I honestly don’t know. But one thing I do know about LOSTthere’s always a twist.

Damon, Carlton and the posse have created something that will always be remembered and I know they will leave us wanting more. I can only hope they have a few more aces up their sleeves. When all is said and done we will all have lived through an amazing journey ourselves. After all...we were all part of the plan too.

It really doesn't matter what I've written here or over the past few years.  It doesn't matter if certain clues played a part in all of this. It doesn't matter how much research we all put in to connecting the dots. It doesn't matter whose opinion was right or wrong or better or worse.It doesn't even matter how the Castaway's journey is happening. What does matter is "why" it is happening. What does matter is LOST is a metaphor for these "lost in every way" people. I believe when each has their eye opening moment of enlightenment, their awakening, to seeing who they truly are, to learn to love, trust and forgive themselves, and let go, then they will be able to move forward.   Each will finally be free. This is one thing I can be sure of.

With that said, in closing I’ll leave you with my metaphoric constant, the Castaways' are on a walkabout, it's just on this “Island”.

Love to all who are "Lost"™

Check out Damon and Carlton's DSA week 7 visit with us.


Disclaimer: I never claim to know everything about the show and my thoughts by no means make me right! The things I share here are my views and/or opinions. I don't claim to catch every single detail either! You all know I hate spoilers! And I stand clear of reading certain sites as to not take me off my own course of research. The one thing I don't need to do here is rehash all of the obvious clues from an episode; we all know what they are. Understood? Let the fun begin! I'll only note things that I know come up as clues later, but need to be noted when they first show up and things I find that will be of importance.

2 comments:

  1. I DIG IT! VERY enjoyable read

    remind me when the Invention of Morel book was shown

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you :)
    Sawyer was reading it in the barracks in Eggtown.

    ReplyDelete

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