the metaphysics of LOST
First off, here's my understanding of metaphysics, in a nutshell:
Our true existence happens at a much deeper level than our physical senses or waking brain can directly comprehend. While our consciousness resides in the clumsy medium of matter, all we can experience is symbols for that full reality. Our words are symbols, images on our retinas are symbols, temporal events and objects and places are all symbols of abstract and complex inner realities. Our physical brains can only work with reality when it is compressed this way. But symbols can never contain the multidimensional truths behind them, they are only shorthand to remind us what we may know directly on a deeper level. We share the understanding of most symbols with those around us because we are far less separate than our disconnected physical bodies imply. But when we mistake these symbols for the truths they represent it always results in suffering.
During sleep, free of the constraints of matter, we experience reality more directly. As we awaken we try to retain some of those experiences by encoding them in our own sets of symbols. Often the unavoidable shallowness of the symbols results in narratives that seem illogical. But sometimes we catch a glimpse of our real dream experience, usually through the purest aspect of the dream: the emotional content.
**
To apply that to the TV show LOST, all the main characters are wrestling with their own identities, which are in various ways severely challenged by their circumstances. They all come together as a unit in a setting that is new to all of them and which presents quite a few profound mysteries. As they are forced to plumb the depths of the island's meaning, they discover themselves on a deeper level as well. To varying degrees this applies to the entire audience as we explore the meaning of the island, the smoke monster, the statue, the "Dharma Initiative", etc. etc. The whispers, the glimpses of dead friends, the polar bear, and many more details are illogical in the same way dream imagery is illogical. They are symbolic of deeper realities that unfold slowly in the storyline.
As a work of fiction, the whole LOST series is strictly a metaphor and we all know it, but insofar as it inspires emotion, it reminds us of the reality that underlies our own conscious experience. It is a fitting meta-metaphor that today, post-finale, people are consumed with figuring out which parts of the characters' story lines were "real" and which weren't. There are many layers of "real", stacked above what is truly real for all the characters, actors, writers, producers & audience: the emotional content.
Our true existence happens at a much deeper level than our physical senses or waking brain can directly comprehend. While our consciousness resides in the clumsy medium of matter, all we can experience is symbols for that full reality. Our words are symbols, images on our retinas are symbols, temporal events and objects and places are all symbols of abstract and complex inner realities. Our physical brains can only work with reality when it is compressed this way. But symbols can never contain the multidimensional truths behind them, they are only shorthand to remind us what we may know directly on a deeper level. We share the understanding of most symbols with those around us because we are far less separate than our disconnected physical bodies imply. But when we mistake these symbols for the truths they represent it always results in suffering.
During sleep, free of the constraints of matter, we experience reality more directly. As we awaken we try to retain some of those experiences by encoding them in our own sets of symbols. Often the unavoidable shallowness of the symbols results in narratives that seem illogical. But sometimes we catch a glimpse of our real dream experience, usually through the purest aspect of the dream: the emotional content.
**
To apply that to the TV show LOST, all the main characters are wrestling with their own identities, which are in various ways severely challenged by their circumstances. They all come together as a unit in a setting that is new to all of them and which presents quite a few profound mysteries. As they are forced to plumb the depths of the island's meaning, they discover themselves on a deeper level as well. To varying degrees this applies to the entire audience as we explore the meaning of the island, the smoke monster, the statue, the "Dharma Initiative", etc. etc. The whispers, the glimpses of dead friends, the polar bear, and many more details are illogical in the same way dream imagery is illogical. They are symbolic of deeper realities that unfold slowly in the storyline.
As a work of fiction, the whole LOST series is strictly a metaphor and we all know it, but insofar as it inspires emotion, it reminds us of the reality that underlies our own conscious experience. It is a fitting meta-metaphor that today, post-finale, people are consumed with figuring out which parts of the characters' story lines were "real" and which weren't. There are many layers of "real", stacked above what is truly real for all the characters, actors, writers, producers & audience: the emotional content.