LOST: the manifesto theory

LOST: the manifesto theory

Live together, die alone
live together as one

It was all Jack's awareness and his coming to grip with his own death and the relationship between him and his father...the time changes were his fading consciousness. He never got up from the plane crash...he died right there, in the bamboo forest. The other characters were mechanisms for finding faith and peace in death.

There was no heaven, no hell, and there was no purgatory....just life and then death.

This all comes to fruition at the end, when none other than Christen Shepard exits the 'church' - a ode to Plato's cave allegory as the 'remaining' characters were staring at the back wall while the light cast behind them. These characters together at the end represent none other than parts of Jack. Characters developed in his consciousness to reconcile with his own life. All of the main characters Syide, Hugo, Kate, Sawyer, Sun, Jin, Locke, Claire, and Charlie (even Shannon and Boone sort of) had father issues - however, ultimately each of these characters were different parts of Jack coming to terms with his own father. Also, this comes to play in the flash side-ways as Jack has his own son. Christian in the last 5 minutes of the finale says that these people (the ones in the church) are the most important people to Jack's life - as a facet of different parts of Jack.

Now, the island - what do we make of this? The island represents the creation story and this is where the Darma Initiative comes into play. They were Jack's consciousness of science trying to disprove faith. The 'others' are actually characters that were never developed, because they did not need to be. The magnetic field represents a deity (or perhaps a force) controlling (compass bearing, etc.) and creating, one only Jack could interact with. It was Jack's idea to set off the atom bomb, this was Jack coming to terms with faith. But Jack's acceptance of faith came when he came back to the island.

Now, what about the smoke monster...Smokey, or as I called him Eli (would have been a fitting name eh)? Well, we see the smoke monster as Jack's father at first, well before it turned into John Locke. Both though, counter-view points to Jack's own. The smoke monster had to be John Locke representing the counter to Jack's life of science, faith. And as Jack went on he found that John was right, the climax Jack's realization that he must kill the smoke monster.

Wait a minute...what about Jacob and the candidates? Jack had to the Jacobs successor, it was his story of reckoning. This is also why Jacob did not choose, Jack had to choose.

Kate had to be Jack's love interest because in Jack's real life his love interest was lost to another man. In this consciousness this would have been Sawyer. Hugo existed so that Jack could fully learn to trust others - it represents Jack after his acceptance of faith. The ancillary characters were never fully developed. Their development was centered around a single facet of human personality. This speaks to their simply being facets of Jacks personality or psyche. Kate represented the urge to escape from responsibilities and repercussions. Sawyer was the bitter child still stuck in his own disillusioned childhood unable to let go of the past. The only time the characters weren't at odds with each other was in some way or another was the finale this symbolized Jacks fragmented psyche finally uniting and being able to "let go". Further support for this theory is illustrated by Jacob and "Eli". They represented the good and evil in Jack's own psyche. This is indicated by their having the same mother (the same source) and all being part of Jack.

To add creditability to his theory is in the flashbacks. In every character's flashbacks there are references or images of other characters - except for Jack. Jack's flash backs were his real life, at odds with his father and with faith. The character that appears in a Jack flash back was Desmond, who was not on the plane and this examples why Desmond is on the island. Also, Jacob did not appear in a Jack flash back instead Jack appeared in Jacob's when he aided Jack in obtaining the candy bar.

The eye is the key to this theory and to lost, we begin the pilot with Jack opening his eye and awakening and we end in the finale with Jack closing his eye. In the moments between Jack's eye opening and closing, the island life with all the mythical creations and spiritual metaphors is just Jack's reckoning, his awareness, his ability to let go and move on...leave. Die.

Good bye.

Lost represents life and death, science and faith.

Lost is literature for those that do not read fiction.

With no heaven, hell, or purgatory we have a conclusion of science and faith, life and death - without religious repercussions.

To note: the entirety of lost was an ode to Charles Dickens. The book for which Desmond saved until the end was entitled, "Are Mutual Friend". The character development and the writing style of the writers was in homage to Charles Dickens. The series finale was a nod to Dickens, as it ended giving viewers two ways to view it; a more palette ending for those that wanted a good cheerful ending and a bitter one, in that all those lovable characters were not real but rather part of Jack and it was just about Jack dying and letting go.

This theory was constructed by Nathan Shepard and Adrian Yirka