LOST Thoughts For The SOTL Blog
Hey gang, please accept my apologies for being M.I.A. lately. Here are some thoughts that will hopefully spur observations and reactions. I plan on staying more consistent as the season comes to a close...
THE MAN FROM TALLAHASSEE:
Locke: You're a hypocrite...a Pharisee
A major theme in the Gospels (first four books) of the New Testament is the opposition between law and love. Accordingly, the New Testament presents the Pharisees as obsessed with man-made rules (especially concerning purity) whereas Jesus is more concerned with God’s love; the Pharisees scorn sinners whereas Jesus seeks them out. Because of the New Testament's frequent depictions of Pharisees as self-righteous rule-followers, the word "pharisee" (and its derivatives: "pharisaical", etc.) has come into semi-common usage in English to describe a hypocritical and arrogant person who places the letter of the law above its spirit.
Locke's simple accustion implies that the Others have taken for granted the deeper and truer "faith-oriented" aspects of the island's power in exchange for a more empirical approach. As much as I've been annoyed by John's actions as of late I do have to acknowledge that he is walking and Ben is still in a wheelchair. May we never cripple ourselves by living our lives like the Others. What does it mean for you to "walk by faith" and not by sight?
EXPOSE:
Greed will come back to bite you. (Observation courtesy of Twinkle)
LEFT BEHIND:
Diane: You murdered him in cold blood.
Kate: I did it for you.
Diane: No. What you did, you did for yourself.
I love it. Have you ever been caught in your own self deception? Have you ever had a selfless deed exposed as selfish? Here's the real question I had from this episode...If Kate really killed Wayne for herself and not Diane, what was beneath that motive?
ONE OF US:
I believe that Juliet is truly "one of us". She is a civilian trapped on an island, longing to escape. However, she is not simply trapped. She is bound to the island in a way. She is also "one of them." Juliet embodies the dualism of Saint and Sinner. Don't we all have a little bit of both in us? She is a character in conflict with herself. I believe she wants so badly to be like Jack but she has sold her soul to Ben and her loyalty remains with him because she has seen his power at work. Reminds me of Romans 7:21 "So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me." All of us are trapped in this Saint & Sinner dynamic...Where do you have loyalties to the sinner side of you that are raging against your inclination to be a saint?
4 Comments:
What a post! So much to digest! I'm very intrigued by the Locke/Ben dichotomy TPTB seem to be setting up? Who is the real friend of the island? Locke's Pharisee comment and his observations about how Ben is not living in harmony with the island really blew me away.
For now I'll repost my observations from the last thread below and then come back when I have more time to digest Admin's observations. Also, thank you, Admin, for inviting me to be a contributor to future posts. I'd be happy to. SOTL community I pray we can serve you well. :-)
--Repost--
I just got caught up on my Lost episodes! I noticed similar themes in the Nikki/Paulo one and the Kate-centric one. Both of them are about how the things we do come back to bite us in the...uh...ankle.
Nikki and Paulo were an example of live by the greed, die by the greed.
Kate's seeking personal vengeance instead of turning her step-father into the law bit her with her mother and with the Others, as evidenced by her conversation with Locke.
The saddest example to me is Sawyer. He was just starting to believe he might become something different. Hurley got him being nice to people. He actually made a difference and people looked to him as kind of leader. You could see the incredulity mixed with dawning hope that he was being "decent" when he held Claire's baby. Then he looks up and Sun is scowling at him and he remembers what he's done and "who he is." Have to say that was the most poignant moment for me from these most recent episodes. Hope crushed.
The Sun/Sawyer thing also shows how not forgiving hurts both the perpetrator of the original offense as well as the victim. I'm not being hard on Sun that she should have been able to forgive instantly or shouldn't be angry with Sawyer or Charlie. But whether or not her anger is justified, that scene shows clearly how they are both bound by it. Sun had such a sweet spirit and now it's being corrupted by her anger. Sawyer isn't free to grow but is bound by the things he's done.
Good thoughts Twinkle! Both here and on the last post. I stopped checking that one, as it didn't change for a couple weeks.
Locke's criticism of Ben's life still really annoys me. He was slamming Ben for having a modestly comfortable home life and chicken in the fridge, while the very chicken that he is criticizing is digesting in his belly! Sometimes, as the saying goes, when we point one finger at another person we are pointing four fingers back at ourselves. Not always, but sometimes, and it seems to be the case here with Locke.
The island itself also seems to be the analogy that Jesus put forth in his description of hypocrites...beautiful on the outside and rotten and corrupt on the inside, like a beautiful mausoleum. We could say that about the Dharma Initiative as well, to the best of our knowledge thus far. The beautiful utopic life and altruistic endeavors that they purported to espouse, are rotten on the inside with deceit, self-importance, and corruption.
I'm still a bit stumped by what might have been the reasons for the blatant messages put forth in Expose'. But the one that really strikes me most (aside from all the obvious moral messages) is that obsessive self-absorption and living a totally self-centric life always seems to result in ruin. N&P hardly even seem to notice that there are other people on the beach, and they only look out for #1, only take care of their own perceived needs and wants, and never give one moment's thought to supporting any of the other Losties after the crash. They hardly even acted like they were just in a crash! They just resumed exactly what they were doing before they got on the plane, there on the island...that is, scheming their schemes and hiding their diamonds, oblivious to what was going on around them, or the needs of others.
Didn't we get a glimpse in a Kate flashback that Wayne was coming on to Kate? If he was also trying to be with her as well as her mother, that would be one of Kate's reasons for getting rid of Wayne. We can also probably assume that Kate might have been jealous of Wayne taking away the only real parent that she had left close to her, her mother, after the divorce from her "real" dad. Either way, I still find that kate was way too old and sane of mind (as she appears on the island) to have taken the actions that she did to eliminate Wayne. Very immature.
In One of Us, we see that Juliet finds out that her benevolent dream of doing good for the world with her scientific talent, has been corrupted by the dark intentions of Ben and his people, and she does not know how to fix it. She probably wishes that she could turn back time so that she could once again work for what could be good for humanity. I see it less that she is both saint and sinner, and more that she is stuck between a rock and a hard place. She was deceived and virtually kidnapped by Ben and Mittelos. I would like to think that Jules is doing a double-agent kind of thing on the beach. Going along with Ben's plan, but also having her own plan to save herself and redeem the dignity of her research. And that she will turn the tables on Ben and his plan if she finds a way off the island with the Losties. I still think that she has the good of humanity at heart and truly wants to help the Losties, as well as get herself back to The World.
Oh yes and, I agree Twinkle, I got a sinking feeling in my heart when Jack came back to the island after Sawyer invested all that effort in making people happy and actually finding out that it is fun to do so. I hope that he doesn't go back to his pouting, but at least now (maybe) he has Kate with him again.
Chuclez, I commend you on your thoughts of going back into the Marines. A truer vocation cannot be found. But don't go in for the wrong reasons, the last thing the Marines needs is someone who wants to blow themself up. And the last thing you probably need right now is another major upheaval in your life. Try to sit tight for a while to allow your emotions to level out from being so deceived by that girl, :-P and see how life looks on the other side of the situation. When you said that about her ex coming back into the picture, my heart sank for you because I went through something similar. A mysterious ex appearing, where there had been none before! How about that! There probably won't be any closure for you with her (I didn't get any either, that kind of person never fesses up and becomes honest overnight in time to allow you to heal)...except that you now close the book on that chapter of your life and start some forward-thinking for yourself and your plans for the future. Maybe you can concentrate on building bridges between you and your girls?
perhaps capcom.....perhaps.
thanks.
peace.
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