In the last episode "The Substitute," a lot of significance happened, but I'm just going to jot down a few things here.
How many are with me in thinking that the boy following Locke around and being chased by him is Aaron. Yay! Since season 1 we've been waiting to learn why Aaron is so important and now we’re going to finally find out. Yay!
But wait…Aaron was left in LA. If that’s the case, what’s he doing on the island? Unless, he can teleport (or bilocate) just like Walt! Double triple yay! So the unanswered questions about "supernatural Walt" are actually going to have relevance again and maybe get answered! Maybe somehow Walt and Aaron are members of the same class, or order, or whatever. My son has the theory that they will be the new Jacob and Man in Black.
Also (from the cave where Locke took Sawyer):
4 John Locke
8 Hugo Reyes
15 James Ford
16 Sayid Jarrah
23 Jack Shepherd
42 ?Jin-Soo/ ?Sun-Hwa Kwon
What, if anything, is the significance of this order of names. And what does it mean that Kate’s name is not included, even though she was touched by Jacob?
Well that's all for now. More later.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
The reclamation of Benjamin Linus
Ben is one of Lost’s most interesting characters. Sociopath, mastermind, manipulator extraordinaire, pathological liar, Ben is so interesting largely because he is not what he seems to be most of the time: he is not unadulterated, irredeemable evil. He does care about something.
Ben was tragically abused by his father because of something that was no one’s fault: his mother’s death in childbirth. Ben’s deep wounds coupled with his brilliant mind make him potentially dangerous, but he is still trusting and hopeful of a better life for himself when he trusts Sayid to take him to the Others. Somehow, Sayid’s deception and attempted murder of Ben (and perhaps his experience in that pool in the temple?) put Ben over to the dark side. But it’s instructive that his evil results in large measure from injustices against him.
The only three things or rather the only three people he cared about were his mother, Juliet, and Alex. But they did not love him back: his mother, who gave him his name, died giving birth to him. Juliet did not love him, but loved Goodwin whom Ben set up to get killed as a result (which didn’t help to endear Juliet to him), and Alex hated him as a teenager as she came to understand how evil Ben was. Juliet betrayed the Others, and Alex was killed because Ben chose to use strategy rather than give himself up to save her life. After her murder, Ben seems to wake up for the first time in his life. First blaming Charles Widmore, he ultimately takes full responsibility himself for Alex’s death and submits himself to judgment by the smoke monster. The monster, instead of executing Ben, lets him off with a very emotional slap on the wrists and simply uses him to accomplish his (the monster’s) agenda of killing Jacob. It’s not hard to do: Jacob brings out in Ben all the longing that perhaps Ben himself didn’t know was there. Ben had a longing to see Jacob, a longing for Jacob to be the loving father he never had. When Ben confronts Jacob about his absence in his life with the words, “What about me?” and Jacob responds, “What about you?” that easily pushes Ben to stab Jacob repeatedly and fatally in the heart.
“What about you?” Ben thought that Jacob was blowing him off, but there’s something more to that question, I think. A lot more. It goes back in part to Alex’s death.
The death of Alex, the only person left that Ben actually cared about, reminds me of a play that hasn’t actually been referenced on Lost, but is instructive nonetheless. It’s Jean Anouilh’s play Becket, about Thomas Becket, a figure not unlike Ben Linus. Becket at the outset of the play is the cold, calculating, Machiavellian right-hand man of England’s King Henry II. In the first Act of that play, the boorish King orders Becket to surrender to him the woman who loves him. Becket hesitates and the King says,
“You care about her then? Can you care for something? Go on, tell me, tell me if you care about her?”
Becket almost does, but not enough to cross the king. He surrenders the woman who soon afterward kills herself.
The king is shocked by the suicide and says to Becket, “You loathe me, I shan’t even be able to trust you now.”
But Becket reassures him,
“So long as Becket is obliged to improvise his honor he will serve you. And if one day he meets it face to face….But where is Becket’s honor?”
Ben likewise serves the forces of death because he has no honor and “improvises from day to day.” “How many times to I have to tell you, John,” Ben told Locke at the end of season 4. “I always have a plan.”
Eventually, Becket does find his honor. If you don’t know the rest of the story, read the play (or see the movie version with Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton; a remastered re-release just came out on DVD). Long story short, when Becket finds his honor, he does a complete about-face spiritually, and opposes the forces he was working for.
Could a change like this take place in Ben's life? I think when Jacob died, Ben at least began to feel his lack of honor as in the scene from Becket. In the sneak preview of one scene from the first episode of the sixth season, Ben says something that was cut from the episode as it aired. In the preview, Ben stares at the fire where Jacob has burned up and asks, “Why didn’t he fight back? Why did he just let me kill him?” Something seems to break in Ben at that point. Later at Locke’s burial, Ben is the one who offers a eulogy: “John Locke was a believer. He was a man of faith. He was a much better man than I will ever be. And I’m very sorry I murdered him.” These words are remarkable. First that Ben voluntarily speaks the truth and confesses his crime. And second that these words are spoken with an obvious profound sense of remorse, not just for what he has done, but for who he is. Everything he has ever done has been about “me”. Everything except sparing Alex as a baby, and even her he allowed to be killed to save his own neck. Ben’s whole life has been “me, me, me”. I wonder how many times since Locke’s funeral Ben has been haunted by Jacob’s words “What about you?” Ben seems to be really answering that question now, and he’s finding that the answers aren’t pretty. And if one day Ben meets his honor face to face, what then? But where is Ben’s honor?
Maybe it’s at the temple.
Ben was tragically abused by his father because of something that was no one’s fault: his mother’s death in childbirth. Ben’s deep wounds coupled with his brilliant mind make him potentially dangerous, but he is still trusting and hopeful of a better life for himself when he trusts Sayid to take him to the Others. Somehow, Sayid’s deception and attempted murder of Ben (and perhaps his experience in that pool in the temple?) put Ben over to the dark side. But it’s instructive that his evil results in large measure from injustices against him.
The only three things or rather the only three people he cared about were his mother, Juliet, and Alex. But they did not love him back: his mother, who gave him his name, died giving birth to him. Juliet did not love him, but loved Goodwin whom Ben set up to get killed as a result (which didn’t help to endear Juliet to him), and Alex hated him as a teenager as she came to understand how evil Ben was. Juliet betrayed the Others, and Alex was killed because Ben chose to use strategy rather than give himself up to save her life. After her murder, Ben seems to wake up for the first time in his life. First blaming Charles Widmore, he ultimately takes full responsibility himself for Alex’s death and submits himself to judgment by the smoke monster. The monster, instead of executing Ben, lets him off with a very emotional slap on the wrists and simply uses him to accomplish his (the monster’s) agenda of killing Jacob. It’s not hard to do: Jacob brings out in Ben all the longing that perhaps Ben himself didn’t know was there. Ben had a longing to see Jacob, a longing for Jacob to be the loving father he never had. When Ben confronts Jacob about his absence in his life with the words, “What about me?” and Jacob responds, “What about you?” that easily pushes Ben to stab Jacob repeatedly and fatally in the heart.
“What about you?” Ben thought that Jacob was blowing him off, but there’s something more to that question, I think. A lot more. It goes back in part to Alex’s death.
The death of Alex, the only person left that Ben actually cared about, reminds me of a play that hasn’t actually been referenced on Lost, but is instructive nonetheless. It’s Jean Anouilh’s play Becket, about Thomas Becket, a figure not unlike Ben Linus. Becket at the outset of the play is the cold, calculating, Machiavellian right-hand man of England’s King Henry II. In the first Act of that play, the boorish King orders Becket to surrender to him the woman who loves him. Becket hesitates and the King says,
“You care about her then? Can you care for something? Go on, tell me, tell me if you care about her?”
Becket almost does, but not enough to cross the king. He surrenders the woman who soon afterward kills herself.
The king is shocked by the suicide and says to Becket, “You loathe me, I shan’t even be able to trust you now.”
But Becket reassures him,
“So long as Becket is obliged to improvise his honor he will serve you. And if one day he meets it face to face….But where is Becket’s honor?”
Ben likewise serves the forces of death because he has no honor and “improvises from day to day.” “How many times to I have to tell you, John,” Ben told Locke at the end of season 4. “I always have a plan.”
Eventually, Becket does find his honor. If you don’t know the rest of the story, read the play (or see the movie version with Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton; a remastered re-release just came out on DVD). Long story short, when Becket finds his honor, he does a complete about-face spiritually, and opposes the forces he was working for.
Could a change like this take place in Ben's life? I think when Jacob died, Ben at least began to feel his lack of honor as in the scene from Becket. In the sneak preview of one scene from the first episode of the sixth season, Ben says something that was cut from the episode as it aired. In the preview, Ben stares at the fire where Jacob has burned up and asks, “Why didn’t he fight back? Why did he just let me kill him?” Something seems to break in Ben at that point. Later at Locke’s burial, Ben is the one who offers a eulogy: “John Locke was a believer. He was a man of faith. He was a much better man than I will ever be. And I’m very sorry I murdered him.” These words are remarkable. First that Ben voluntarily speaks the truth and confesses his crime. And second that these words are spoken with an obvious profound sense of remorse, not just for what he has done, but for who he is. Everything he has ever done has been about “me”. Everything except sparing Alex as a baby, and even her he allowed to be killed to save his own neck. Ben’s whole life has been “me, me, me”. I wonder how many times since Locke’s funeral Ben has been haunted by Jacob’s words “What about you?” Ben seems to be really answering that question now, and he’s finding that the answers aren’t pretty. And if one day Ben meets his honor face to face, what then? But where is Ben’s honor?
Maybe it’s at the temple.
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
How to fail at religion by really trying, part 2
So Widmore and Ben both failed at the "religion" of the island for the simple reason that they didn't try. Didn't make the effort to control and submit their wills, didn't make the effort to control their own desires, didn't make the effort to channel their ambitions for good, didn't make the effort to do the hard work of telling the truth. They failed at religion by not really trying.
But that seems about to change this season. Already at the end of season 5, Charles Widmore appears to have had a change of heart, somewhere between the time he sent the ill-fated freighter with psychopathic mercenary Keamy on it and the time John Locke fixed the wheel and made it off the island in 2007. Then we found him pledging to do all in his power to protect Locke's life and get him back on the island with the Oceanic 6 because "there's a war coming." Something in that interval between the freighter and his 2007 meeting with John Locke pulled Widmore's head abruptly out of his powerful, hyperwealthy butt and made him "get religion": his eyes are open now to the real conflict and his past rivalry with Ben doesn't seem to concern him anymore.
But what, if anything, could pull Ben Linus' scheming, lying, sociopathic head out of his butt (especially with such a tight sphincter)? Amazingly, I think that's just what we're beginning to see unfold in the onset of the final season: Ben Linus' spiritual reclamation, maybe even his redemption. More on this next.
But that seems about to change this season. Already at the end of season 5, Charles Widmore appears to have had a change of heart, somewhere between the time he sent the ill-fated freighter with psychopathic mercenary Keamy on it and the time John Locke fixed the wheel and made it off the island in 2007. Then we found him pledging to do all in his power to protect Locke's life and get him back on the island with the Oceanic 6 because "there's a war coming." Something in that interval between the freighter and his 2007 meeting with John Locke pulled Widmore's head abruptly out of his powerful, hyperwealthy butt and made him "get religion": his eyes are open now to the real conflict and his past rivalry with Ben doesn't seem to concern him anymore.
But what, if anything, could pull Ben Linus' scheming, lying, sociopathic head out of his butt (especially with such a tight sphincter)? Amazingly, I think that's just what we're beginning to see unfold in the onset of the final season: Ben Linus' spiritual reclamation, maybe even his redemption. More on this next.
Friday, February 12, 2010
How to fail at religion by not really trying
Throughout the series, we heard about the man who was in charge of the island, the one even Ben answered to. His name was Jacob. He was given as the one ultimately responsible for everything done by the others. But was he? Some things attributed to the command of Jacob:
Killing 18 soldiers who attacked the others
ordering the murder of Danielle Rousseau and her baby Alex.
abducting various survivors of Oceanic 815
Ben claimed to get his orders from Jacob, but only later after falling from power, he admitted that he never saw Jacob. So how much of what Ben did was from Jacob? It's likely, given that Ben manipulated things to make him self God/cult leader of the island, that very little of his administration had anything to do with Jacob.
The lists -- yes. Jacob is in the habit of choosing people. He hand picked -- literally -- Kate, Sawyer, Jack, Jin (and maybe Sun, though I didn't see him touch Sun), Locke, Hugo, and Sayid. My guess is that those names were on that piece of paper in the big wooden ankh. And the tailies who were taken based on lists -- they are now seen at the temple and they seem to belong there -- so it seems those lists were really Jacob's choices.
But how they were abducted is another matter. We know, for example, that Ethan and Goodwin deceived the Survivors at Ben's command, not Jacob's. Ben even mandated the over-extension of Goodwin's assignment to ensure his death at the hands of the survivors to remove competition for Juiliet's affections. That's about as far removed from Jacob's lofty big-picture aspirations as you can get.
The point here is that just as countless ungodly things are done in the name of God, so Jacob;'s name is invoked for many things unrelated, or even contrary to his purposes. Recall also how, when Locke met Richard Alpert in 1954, he said, "Jacob sent me," when no such thing had happened. It was just the obvious way to get the stamp of approval. Replace "Jacob" with the name of any popular deity and it sounds a lot like much religious history.
Also note that Ben thought Jacob lived in a cabin when all along he lived in that statue. It now appears that Jacob's cabin was a kind of holding cell for Jacob's Nemesis. So whoever was getting directions from "Jacob's cabin" wasn't getting directions from Jacob at all, but from his nemesis in Jacob's name. Recall how this was shown explicitly when Christian Shepherd said that he spoke for Jacob when he is either on the side of Jacob's Nemesis or IS Jacob's Nemesis.
Now notice that Charles Widmore is opposed by the Man In Black implicitly (his dupe John Locke opposes his arrival as a threat to the island, the smoke monster directly attacks Kemy's men (though sparing Kemy himself, presumably to allow him to strap on the device that will destroy Widmore's freighter and virtually everyone aboard it). But Smokey is opposed to Ben as well (think of his judgment under the temple wall).
At the same time Charles Widmore is not favored by Jacob, either. This is evidenced byu the fact that Ilana & Bram who are on Jacob's side, are opposed to Widmore (Bram tells Miles that he is on the wrong side by working for Widmore). Ben was not favored by Jacob, either: Ben was never allowed to see Jacob and in fact never seems to have known where he lived. Then there's Jacob's famous (and fatal) response to Ben: "What about you?"
So Ben & Widmore were fighting each other for power and mastery, completely apart from the rivalry between Jacob and his Nemesis. This seems analogous to political struggles that take place in the name of religion, but really have nothing ot do with said religion(s) at all. Ben & Charles seem almost completely oblivious to Jacob and 100% ignorant and oblivious of Jacob's nemesis -- they don't even seem to know he exists. And that's why Jacob's helpers see Widmore as if he's working for Smokey: by being wrapped up in their own egos Widmore & Ben both become unwitting tools in the hands of evil. By ignoring spiritual reality, we become evil's greatest patsy.
Not that Smokey has any regard for them. As shown above, there's ample evidence of Smokey being opposed to Ben & Charles. "You're cheating," Locke (the real one) tells Ben. "If you had any idea what this island is capable of, you wouldn't have chicken in your refrigerators." Those words came from the real John Locke, but they seem inspired by the being that influenced Locke's mind all his life and ultimately copied his body.
(to be continued)
Killing 18 soldiers who attacked the others
ordering the murder of Danielle Rousseau and her baby Alex.
abducting various survivors of Oceanic 815
Ben claimed to get his orders from Jacob, but only later after falling from power, he admitted that he never saw Jacob. So how much of what Ben did was from Jacob? It's likely, given that Ben manipulated things to make him self God/cult leader of the island, that very little of his administration had anything to do with Jacob.
The lists -- yes. Jacob is in the habit of choosing people. He hand picked -- literally -- Kate, Sawyer, Jack, Jin (and maybe Sun, though I didn't see him touch Sun), Locke, Hugo, and Sayid. My guess is that those names were on that piece of paper in the big wooden ankh. And the tailies who were taken based on lists -- they are now seen at the temple and they seem to belong there -- so it seems those lists were really Jacob's choices.
But how they were abducted is another matter. We know, for example, that Ethan and Goodwin deceived the Survivors at Ben's command, not Jacob's. Ben even mandated the over-extension of Goodwin's assignment to ensure his death at the hands of the survivors to remove competition for Juiliet's affections. That's about as far removed from Jacob's lofty big-picture aspirations as you can get.
The point here is that just as countless ungodly things are done in the name of God, so Jacob;'s name is invoked for many things unrelated, or even contrary to his purposes. Recall also how, when Locke met Richard Alpert in 1954, he said, "Jacob sent me," when no such thing had happened. It was just the obvious way to get the stamp of approval. Replace "Jacob" with the name of any popular deity and it sounds a lot like much religious history.
Also note that Ben thought Jacob lived in a cabin when all along he lived in that statue. It now appears that Jacob's cabin was a kind of holding cell for Jacob's Nemesis. So whoever was getting directions from "Jacob's cabin" wasn't getting directions from Jacob at all, but from his nemesis in Jacob's name. Recall how this was shown explicitly when Christian Shepherd said that he spoke for Jacob when he is either on the side of Jacob's Nemesis or IS Jacob's Nemesis.
Now notice that Charles Widmore is opposed by the Man In Black implicitly (his dupe John Locke opposes his arrival as a threat to the island, the smoke monster directly attacks Kemy's men (though sparing Kemy himself, presumably to allow him to strap on the device that will destroy Widmore's freighter and virtually everyone aboard it). But Smokey is opposed to Ben as well (think of his judgment under the temple wall).
At the same time Charles Widmore is not favored by Jacob, either. This is evidenced byu the fact that Ilana & Bram who are on Jacob's side, are opposed to Widmore (Bram tells Miles that he is on the wrong side by working for Widmore). Ben was not favored by Jacob, either: Ben was never allowed to see Jacob and in fact never seems to have known where he lived. Then there's Jacob's famous (and fatal) response to Ben: "What about you?"
So Ben & Widmore were fighting each other for power and mastery, completely apart from the rivalry between Jacob and his Nemesis. This seems analogous to political struggles that take place in the name of religion, but really have nothing ot do with said religion(s) at all. Ben & Charles seem almost completely oblivious to Jacob and 100% ignorant and oblivious of Jacob's nemesis -- they don't even seem to know he exists. And that's why Jacob's helpers see Widmore as if he's working for Smokey: by being wrapped up in their own egos Widmore & Ben both become unwitting tools in the hands of evil. By ignoring spiritual reality, we become evil's greatest patsy.
Not that Smokey has any regard for them. As shown above, there's ample evidence of Smokey being opposed to Ben & Charles. "You're cheating," Locke (the real one) tells Ben. "If you had any idea what this island is capable of, you wouldn't have chicken in your refrigerators." Those words came from the real John Locke, but they seem inspired by the being that influenced Locke's mind all his life and ultimately copied his body.
(to be continued)
John Locke and Judas Iscariot
Now that it's official, and we know that Locke isn't really Locke, let's take a break from time travel. I'm interested in some insights from Locke, Flocke, Ben, and Charles Widmore. First Locke. It impressed me how there seem to be parallels between John Locke and Judas Iscariot. Both were chosen by their Masters whom both later betrayed. Both hanged themselves or at least tried to, and both were possessed in a way. John Locke had Jacob's nemesis sort of in John Locke's mind, influencing him until Locke's death, when he made his own copy of Locke's body and thus in a sense possessed him. It was then that he killed Jacob, or rather used Ben to kill him. Likewise, although Satan influenced Judas to sin before the Last Supper, at the Last Supper "Satan entered into him" (John 13:27) and he betrayed Jesus to his enemies.
One definite difference between them is that Locke was hanged before "Satan" entered into him, Judas hanged himself afterwards. Maybe there's an insight here: Locke was strangled and hanged by Ben, who is also a kind of Satan figure* and then the smoke monster Nemesis was able to totally take him over. Perhaps before Judas' physical hanging, we could say there was a spiritual strangulation wherein he crossed a line and let the devil kill, him, making ti possible to take him over completely.
*compare these two statments: John 8:44b "When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." Ben: "I lied. It's what I do."
One definite difference between them is that Locke was hanged before "Satan" entered into him, Judas hanged himself afterwards. Maybe there's an insight here: Locke was strangled and hanged by Ben, who is also a kind of Satan figure* and then the smoke monster Nemesis was able to totally take him over. Perhaps before Judas' physical hanging, we could say there was a spiritual strangulation wherein he crossed a line and let the devil kill, him, making ti possible to take him over completely.
*compare these two statments: John 8:44b "When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." Ben: "I lied. It's what I do."
Monday, February 1, 2010
Time after time
When Einstein developed his special theory of relativity, and later his general theory of relativity, he did not address the implications of this theory for the existence of time. Indeed, he seemed somewhat averse to doing so. But mathematician (and Einstein’s close friend) Kurt Gödel, did not have such apprehensions. His view can be summarized this way: If time is really just another physical dimension (the fourth dimension of space-time), then time as we understand it, can’t exist. Time as a river that flows along just doesn’t exist, because a spatial dimension doesn’t flow, just as width doesn’t flow, height doesn’t flow, etc.
The question is, how is that we do experience time as something that flows (what Gödel referred to as “intuitive time”)? One way of thinking of this is by analogy. Think of a strip of motion picture film. We watch the film shown through a projector, and it seems that things and people are moving on the film. But of course, they’re not. There are, on the film, a series of still two-dimensional photographs (length and width) arranged in order so that as light passes over the individual photographs in rapid succession through the third dimension (depth), they appear to us as movement. But the reality is they are static.
Now imagine this again, except instead of two-dimensional photographs, there are three-dimensional photographs (length, width, and depth) which are static; they don’t move. They’re arranged in a particular order and arrangement through the fourth dimension (time). Then, somewhat like the light in the movie projector, our consciousnesses pass through these static stills and this produces the impression or “illusion” of intuitive time.
The key point here is that it’s not our bodies or environment that’s moving. Rather there are countless copies or versions of our bodies and environment arranged in these 3D stills; it’s our consciousnesses that are moving through the stills.
This is exactly how time is presented on Lost. Brilliantly, when Daniel Faraday experiments with time travel, he doesn’t send the rat’s body back and forth through time, but her consciousness. Likewise in the episode “The Constant” Desmond’s body doesn’t travel through time, but his mind does. In effect what’s happening is his mind is passing through the arranged sequence of stills in his life then suddenly he skips back to a much earlier slide (in 1994?) and then moves along nicely in that part of the still arrangement, then jerks suddenly back ahead to a much later part of the sequence. In other words his body doesn’t move through time because it’s stuck in each of those slides; only the mind is free to skip back and forth between the slides.
On the other hand, on the island when Ben turns the donkey wheel and moves the island, the wheel gets off track and the people on the island move back and forth through different times; not just their minds, but their bodies as well. Remarkably Daniel Faraday describes this as being “unstuck”; that is, their bodies as well as their minds are unstuck from the stills and actually move to other stills in the island’s “life”.
There’s another application of this view of time that is demonstrated on Lost: the occurrence of event conundrums in the story. I mentioned one of these in my last post. Locke lands on the island and, long story short, meets Richard Alpert who tells Locke that he will be the leader of the Others. Eventually as the survivors skip through time, Locke meets Richard in 1954, two years before Locke will be born and tells Richard that he (Locke) will be their leader because Richard told him so. He also says, “May 30, 1956 I’m born….if you don’t believe me, I suggest you pay me a visit.” Then Locke disappears, an event sufficiently impressive enough that Richard takes Locke up on his invitation, goes stateside in 1956, and sure enough, there’s infant Locke. Richard is impressed enough that he visits Locke again in the early 60’s and even when Locke fails his test Richard gives him another try when Locke is a teenager. By the time Locke comes to the island, Richard is convinced that Locke is their leader and tells Locke so. So when Locke goes back in time to 1954, Locke tells Richard……
You see that there simply is no beginning or end to this loop. Which makes no sense because things have to have a beginning and end, right? Not according to Einstein’s and Gödel’s view of time. If all fractions of a second are 3D stills that are arranged in a sequence, maybe some stills are arranged in a circle and one consciousness can enter at any point and exit at any point. Richard’s consciousness entered that loop in the 1954 meeting, while Locke’s consciousness entered the loop in the meeting with Richard in 2004 after the crash.
Another example of this kind of loop is the connection between Sayid and Ben. Ben is a sociopath who commits atrocities and ultimately manipulates Sayid to kill many people for him. Then Sayid goes back in time and meets Ben as a child in 1977. Ben totally trusts Sayid and looks to him to liberate him from his abusive father. Instead Sayid shoots Ben in the chest intending to kill him. While Ben does not consciously remember the details of this event, the producers themselves have stated that this event was pivotal in turning Ben into the heartless sociopath that commits atrocities and ultimately manipulates Sayid to…..
Again, we can understand that all the moments in these events are arranged in one giant loop which Ben’s consciousness entered in the 1977 meeting with Sayid and Sayid’s consciousness entered in the first 2004 meeting.
All this seems very neat and tidy except for two things. First, even if all events are series of static motionless 3D stills arranged in the fourth dimension, our minds still move through them. And movement requires time. It’s like the sunrise: the sun doesn’t actually rise; it’s static; rather the earth turns. But something moves. Maybe the physical universe doesn’t actually move in the passage of time, but our minds do; something has to move for us to perceive movement and time, even if, as with the sunrise, what seems to be moving is static and what seems to be static is moving. This is what’s wrong with Justin Barbour’s thesis in his book, The End of Time: in this treatise on time, similar to Gödel’s, he nevertheless makes the further claim that Gödel never made: there is no movement at all. But that is clearly impossible. Movement may be different than what we perceive, but it can’t be altogether absent. The sun may not be actually moving, but earth and sun can’t both be still. Likewise, the physical universe may not be moving, but our minds are. And that means there’s still time. Only that time, i.e. intuitive time, is a spiritual, not a physical phenomenon. And that in turn opens up the possibility for what Faraday considers the great revelation: that we are the variables in the equations of relativity. Our free will allows us to make choices and therefore to move to other series of events. This seems to resolve the dilemma of destiny vs. free will. Destiny is where you end up if you stay on a given track of stills, but one can, by choice move to another series of stills. This seems to be what lies ahead for those who blew up the nuclear device in the finale of season 5.
The question is, how is that we do experience time as something that flows (what Gödel referred to as “intuitive time”)? One way of thinking of this is by analogy. Think of a strip of motion picture film. We watch the film shown through a projector, and it seems that things and people are moving on the film. But of course, they’re not. There are, on the film, a series of still two-dimensional photographs (length and width) arranged in order so that as light passes over the individual photographs in rapid succession through the third dimension (depth), they appear to us as movement. But the reality is they are static.
Now imagine this again, except instead of two-dimensional photographs, there are three-dimensional photographs (length, width, and depth) which are static; they don’t move. They’re arranged in a particular order and arrangement through the fourth dimension (time). Then, somewhat like the light in the movie projector, our consciousnesses pass through these static stills and this produces the impression or “illusion” of intuitive time.
The key point here is that it’s not our bodies or environment that’s moving. Rather there are countless copies or versions of our bodies and environment arranged in these 3D stills; it’s our consciousnesses that are moving through the stills.
This is exactly how time is presented on Lost. Brilliantly, when Daniel Faraday experiments with time travel, he doesn’t send the rat’s body back and forth through time, but her consciousness. Likewise in the episode “The Constant” Desmond’s body doesn’t travel through time, but his mind does. In effect what’s happening is his mind is passing through the arranged sequence of stills in his life then suddenly he skips back to a much earlier slide (in 1994?) and then moves along nicely in that part of the still arrangement, then jerks suddenly back ahead to a much later part of the sequence. In other words his body doesn’t move through time because it’s stuck in each of those slides; only the mind is free to skip back and forth between the slides.
On the other hand, on the island when Ben turns the donkey wheel and moves the island, the wheel gets off track and the people on the island move back and forth through different times; not just their minds, but their bodies as well. Remarkably Daniel Faraday describes this as being “unstuck”; that is, their bodies as well as their minds are unstuck from the stills and actually move to other stills in the island’s “life”.
There’s another application of this view of time that is demonstrated on Lost: the occurrence of event conundrums in the story. I mentioned one of these in my last post. Locke lands on the island and, long story short, meets Richard Alpert who tells Locke that he will be the leader of the Others. Eventually as the survivors skip through time, Locke meets Richard in 1954, two years before Locke will be born and tells Richard that he (Locke) will be their leader because Richard told him so. He also says, “May 30, 1956 I’m born….if you don’t believe me, I suggest you pay me a visit.” Then Locke disappears, an event sufficiently impressive enough that Richard takes Locke up on his invitation, goes stateside in 1956, and sure enough, there’s infant Locke. Richard is impressed enough that he visits Locke again in the early 60’s and even when Locke fails his test Richard gives him another try when Locke is a teenager. By the time Locke comes to the island, Richard is convinced that Locke is their leader and tells Locke so. So when Locke goes back in time to 1954, Locke tells Richard……
You see that there simply is no beginning or end to this loop. Which makes no sense because things have to have a beginning and end, right? Not according to Einstein’s and Gödel’s view of time. If all fractions of a second are 3D stills that are arranged in a sequence, maybe some stills are arranged in a circle and one consciousness can enter at any point and exit at any point. Richard’s consciousness entered that loop in the 1954 meeting, while Locke’s consciousness entered the loop in the meeting with Richard in 2004 after the crash.
Another example of this kind of loop is the connection between Sayid and Ben. Ben is a sociopath who commits atrocities and ultimately manipulates Sayid to kill many people for him. Then Sayid goes back in time and meets Ben as a child in 1977. Ben totally trusts Sayid and looks to him to liberate him from his abusive father. Instead Sayid shoots Ben in the chest intending to kill him. While Ben does not consciously remember the details of this event, the producers themselves have stated that this event was pivotal in turning Ben into the heartless sociopath that commits atrocities and ultimately manipulates Sayid to…..
Again, we can understand that all the moments in these events are arranged in one giant loop which Ben’s consciousness entered in the 1977 meeting with Sayid and Sayid’s consciousness entered in the first 2004 meeting.
All this seems very neat and tidy except for two things. First, even if all events are series of static motionless 3D stills arranged in the fourth dimension, our minds still move through them. And movement requires time. It’s like the sunrise: the sun doesn’t actually rise; it’s static; rather the earth turns. But something moves. Maybe the physical universe doesn’t actually move in the passage of time, but our minds do; something has to move for us to perceive movement and time, even if, as with the sunrise, what seems to be moving is static and what seems to be static is moving. This is what’s wrong with Justin Barbour’s thesis in his book, The End of Time: in this treatise on time, similar to Gödel’s, he nevertheless makes the further claim that Gödel never made: there is no movement at all. But that is clearly impossible. Movement may be different than what we perceive, but it can’t be altogether absent. The sun may not be actually moving, but earth and sun can’t both be still. Likewise, the physical universe may not be moving, but our minds are. And that means there’s still time. Only that time, i.e. intuitive time, is a spiritual, not a physical phenomenon. And that in turn opens up the possibility for what Faraday considers the great revelation: that we are the variables in the equations of relativity. Our free will allows us to make choices and therefore to move to other series of events. This seems to resolve the dilemma of destiny vs. free will. Destiny is where you end up if you stay on a given track of stills, but one can, by choice move to another series of stills. This seems to be what lies ahead for those who blew up the nuclear device in the finale of season 5.
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