Tonight's Episode of LOST...
You know, I really can't understand folks who don't know how to think non-linearly. Hurley really couldn't get the concept of time being relative to the observer? Really?
OK, here's a simple way of understanding what Miles was trying to explain. "The Timeline" may be a constant of the universe, but there may also be timelines that are relative to the observer and have nothing to do with this universe. In other words, there could be an absolute time reference to this universe, and also a relative time reference that only you observe and live with. This means that, in the unlikely event that you find yourself back in the past, in the absolute timeline you went back in time, but in your relative timeline you are still very much moving forward in time, regardless of what the absolute time reference is.
If, IF, this is how time really works (and the only way to prove that it does is by actually traveling in time) then that means that you can go back in time and kill your grandmother, and you would still exist, no problem. In your personal timeline, you were still born, lived, became an adult, traveled back in time, killed your grandmother, and continued on through time sans grandmother.
"Aha!" you may say. "Then how could you possibly exist if your grandmother was never born?". On the surface, we seem to have a paradox. When you really think about it, though, there may be no paradox at all. Let's revisit the "kill grandmother" scenario:
You were born.
You grew up and became and adult.
You traveled back in time somehow.
You killed your grandmother before she had a chance to give birth to your parents.
You continue to follow through in time to see what the outcome of your deed would be
You get away with the murder, and make a fortune from sports betting.
You move to Argentina and marry there, have kids, and grow old.
The time when you were supposed to be born comes and goes without you being born
The time comes when you were supposed to have traveled back in time, but didn't
You die, eventually, surrounded by loved ones.
So, logically speaking, what happened? In this "present time" you didn't make the jump back through time because you didn't exist. Clearly many things are not the same now in this "present time". So logically speaking, this is not the "present time" you went back in time from. This has become another "present time". Many things appear to be the same now because of the short time that has elapsed, but as time continues little differences (like the fact that you were never born) become larger and larger until, many thousands of years from now, this new "present time" has given birth to an entirely different universe from the one you originally left.
I hope you caught that. Traveling back in time doesn't mean that you traveled backwards in your own timeline. If you did, you'd scroll back through your own relative past. College, high school, elementary, kindergarten, all the way back until you weren't even an embryo yet. No, you didn't travel backwards through your timeline, you jumped to another reality entirely. One where it appears you have travelled back in time, but in fact was a mere universe change. Since the universe you came from still exists in all it's static glory, it doesn't matter if you kill your grandmother in another universe because your grandmother is safe and sound in the static past of the universe you originally came from.
Meanwhile, time continues to move forward for you. You killed your grandmother, got away with it, made a fortune betting on sports games you knew the outcomes to (Or did you? Does each universe come with it's own set of underlying probability factors, thus changing all sports game outcomes? Who knows!), and moved to Argentina to grow old and die surrounded by your new family and friends. Time moved forward for you. It never went backward, regardless of the time/universe change. You still grew old and died.
See? Easy to understand!
Of course, everything I just wrote above doesn't seem to apply to the LOST universe at all. As I predicted, the magical island is going to miraculously save Ben, thus preserving the timeline as it is supposed to happen. I personally think that, consistent to what we've seen so far, the LOST universe would rather change the laws of physics and nature than to allow for a change in the timeline. My wild theory is that there is someone among the island folk (Richard?) who is actually from the future. A future that is supposed to be playing out with, for example, Locke to be alive. So when Ben kills Locke and is brought back to magical island, the LOST universe breaks it's own laws to bring Locke back to life so that events pan out as they are supposed to. In fact, I think that all the "miracles" we've seen so far throughout the series are somehow the LOST universe's way of furiously trying to "correct itself", and damn the laws of physics and nature if need be.
My wife made the observation that Jack's inaction this time caused Ben to become who he eventually became. I think Ben would have become the Ben we know and love regardless. The universe just had to find a more "creative way" to correct itself this time because of the unexpected refusal of help from Jack. Either way, time will still play out exactly as it is supposed to.
And, my conviction is becoming stronger that Richard is Ra. Who (or what) else but a creator deity can bring a dying human back to health? the answers will hopefully be revealed in the next episode!
OK, here's a simple way of understanding what Miles was trying to explain. "The Timeline" may be a constant of the universe, but there may also be timelines that are relative to the observer and have nothing to do with this universe. In other words, there could be an absolute time reference to this universe, and also a relative time reference that only you observe and live with. This means that, in the unlikely event that you find yourself back in the past, in the absolute timeline you went back in time, but in your relative timeline you are still very much moving forward in time, regardless of what the absolute time reference is.
If, IF, this is how time really works (and the only way to prove that it does is by actually traveling in time) then that means that you can go back in time and kill your grandmother, and you would still exist, no problem. In your personal timeline, you were still born, lived, became an adult, traveled back in time, killed your grandmother, and continued on through time sans grandmother.
"Aha!" you may say. "Then how could you possibly exist if your grandmother was never born?". On the surface, we seem to have a paradox. When you really think about it, though, there may be no paradox at all. Let's revisit the "kill grandmother" scenario:
You were born.
You grew up and became and adult.
You traveled back in time somehow.
You killed your grandmother before she had a chance to give birth to your parents.
You continue to follow through in time to see what the outcome of your deed would be
You get away with the murder, and make a fortune from sports betting.
You move to Argentina and marry there, have kids, and grow old.
The time when you were supposed to be born comes and goes without you being born
The time comes when you were supposed to have traveled back in time, but didn't
You die, eventually, surrounded by loved ones.
So, logically speaking, what happened? In this "present time" you didn't make the jump back through time because you didn't exist. Clearly many things are not the same now in this "present time". So logically speaking, this is not the "present time" you went back in time from. This has become another "present time". Many things appear to be the same now because of the short time that has elapsed, but as time continues little differences (like the fact that you were never born) become larger and larger until, many thousands of years from now, this new "present time" has given birth to an entirely different universe from the one you originally left.
I hope you caught that. Traveling back in time doesn't mean that you traveled backwards in your own timeline. If you did, you'd scroll back through your own relative past. College, high school, elementary, kindergarten, all the way back until you weren't even an embryo yet. No, you didn't travel backwards through your timeline, you jumped to another reality entirely. One where it appears you have travelled back in time, but in fact was a mere universe change. Since the universe you came from still exists in all it's static glory, it doesn't matter if you kill your grandmother in another universe because your grandmother is safe and sound in the static past of the universe you originally came from.
Meanwhile, time continues to move forward for you. You killed your grandmother, got away with it, made a fortune betting on sports games you knew the outcomes to (Or did you? Does each universe come with it's own set of underlying probability factors, thus changing all sports game outcomes? Who knows!), and moved to Argentina to grow old and die surrounded by your new family and friends. Time moved forward for you. It never went backward, regardless of the time/universe change. You still grew old and died.
See? Easy to understand!
Of course, everything I just wrote above doesn't seem to apply to the LOST universe at all. As I predicted, the magical island is going to miraculously save Ben, thus preserving the timeline as it is supposed to happen. I personally think that, consistent to what we've seen so far, the LOST universe would rather change the laws of physics and nature than to allow for a change in the timeline. My wild theory is that there is someone among the island folk (Richard?) who is actually from the future. A future that is supposed to be playing out with, for example, Locke to be alive. So when Ben kills Locke and is brought back to magical island, the LOST universe breaks it's own laws to bring Locke back to life so that events pan out as they are supposed to. In fact, I think that all the "miracles" we've seen so far throughout the series are somehow the LOST universe's way of furiously trying to "correct itself", and damn the laws of physics and nature if need be.
My wife made the observation that Jack's inaction this time caused Ben to become who he eventually became. I think Ben would have become the Ben we know and love regardless. The universe just had to find a more "creative way" to correct itself this time because of the unexpected refusal of help from Jack. Either way, time will still play out exactly as it is supposed to.
And, my conviction is becoming stronger that Richard is Ra. Who (or what) else but a creator deity can bring a dying human back to health? the answers will hopefully be revealed in the next episode!