It hangs them up to see someone like you

[nailsinthenight]

Here's my Lost love review, and what a great treat that ep was for Valentine's Day, because I LOVED everything about it!

Standard Disclaimer Applies: I'm writing this before I've read anyone else's reviews. Sorry for any repeats!

Comments

Dharma

[711gambit]

Dharma seems to have a range of meanings, depending on which strand of eastern tradition you are drawing from. It can refer to an underlying order in nature that humans should try to align themselves with. That seems to be the idea behind the jewelry lady talking about a universe that “corrects course” and allows only limited amounts of free will.

Dharma can also refer to religious and legal duty. You have a duty to harmonize your personal nature with the underlying principles at work in nature. In that sense Desmond would have violated the dharma if he chose not to follow the path that leads to the island. The jewelry lady spoke as if he would be selfishly choosing his happiness over his duty if he married Penny. She would probably see his efforts to protect Charlie the same way.

On the other hand, there is also the eastern idea that time and space are illusory, and that we can achieve Nirvana, or liberation, that allows us to move beyond those illusions (but not for selfish, ego-bound reasons). That seems to be the idea behind what the voice in room 23 keeps repeating: “Only fools are enslaved by time and space.” (If this Youtube clip which plays that scene backwards is legit): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7swZaOWO3c

Re: Dharma

[nailsinthenight]

Wow, thank you! That's all really fascinating. You took all the stuff that sounded like gibberish at Wikipedia and made it all make sense!

I wonder if that youtube clip is for real. If so, that's an even bigger piece of evidence that we're on the right track in figuring out what Lost is about. Just think what it means for all of the characters if the Dharma Initiative has found a way to alter time so that past mistakes can be corrected. The possibilities boggle my mind. In the best of all possible ways!