(3/4/07) HEMA Carrie Sean McCarthy recently asked about the HEMA implications of the Others including "Carrie" in their book club.... 1. The obvious non-HEMA response is that this is a fleeting reference or homage to Stephen King, cited as an inspiration for the series. (Other notable examples of acknowledged sources of inspiration include-- Alan Moore's "Watchmen" and the British TV show, "The Prisoner". Of course, a myriad of additional sources have been identified, to date....) 2. From a HEMA standpoint, the telekinetic ability of Carrie raises some interesting issues, especially given the explicit inclusion of parapsychology as one of the six factors under investigation, in the DHARMA project. 3. One event, previously noted on the Home page of this site, provides us with a fairly clear-cut example of telekinesis-- Charlie loudly and fervently proclaiming he is a "Rock God", precipitating a quite literal and real Material Application, in the form of a cave-in, trapping himself and Jack in the process. This example illustrates how a telekinetic form of HEMA is possible through concentrated, focused attention (Heuristics) with a strong emotional component, leveraging Energy available in the island's weird electromagnetic field, can produce tangible effects on the physical world (Material Applications), displaying a telekinetic form of HEMA. Note that "Carrie" also involved a strong emotional component as part of the focused attention, leading to the telekinetic event. This may be an inherent component to producing telekinetic phenomena in general, and telekinetic forms of HEMA on the island, in particular. (I will be posting another page on this web site in the near future, addressing this and other forms of HEMA....) 4. In a follow-up to his original question, Sean McCarthy raises some interesting additional points. Quoting Sean: "The Others Book Club noted that Ben said he hated this book. Juliet responded that that's why 'Carrie' is her favorite book. My thought is that if you're right about HEMA, then this is a subtle reference to an earlier incident on the island. Maybe it's one of the major incidents. And maybe someone with major HEMA powers, a la Carrie, was responsible. And maybe, just maybe, this ties back to Aaron. And that's why Ben doesn't want the Others even reading this book." 5. Yes, I would be very surprised if telekinesis is not one of several HEMAtic forces studied by DHARMA on the island. This study is continuing, perhaps with new overseers (the Others?), but continuing, nonetheless. (Please see the Aaron/Entity Theory page link, located directly below the HEMA Carrie link, for more on the potential "Aaron" connection that Sean is referencing, in his quote above.) 6. Other examples of HEMA include effects of focused attention on the weather. Meteorology is one of the six factors DHARMA was investigating on the island (see point #1, in the Hurley/van posting below, for a list of those six factors.) DHARMA's studies were not limited to examining these factors in isolation; combinations of factors were studied, to yield information on interaction effects (for example, the potential uses of parapsychology to influence the weather/meteorology.) Of course, these experimental and observational efforts were focused on identifying potential ways to help delay or avert the end of humanity.... 7. And what about the seemingly 'magical' ability of the Others to appear and disappear 'out-of-nowhere', such as the case of the spot where 'line was drawn in the sand', the line that Jack, Kate, and Sawyer were told to not cross? Are the Others able to leverage the island's energy field to achieve some form of teleportation? Is that why they are so difficult to track? Or are they able to leverage the energy field to affect light, thereby influencing whether or not they are seen (ala "Predator")? Or is it simply a "Prisoner"-like set of transport tubes, opening in the ground, with lifts elevating the Others (ala Number 2's circular, psychedelic 'office'/control station? Or, on a lighter note, do the Others simply have a set of 'aim-a-flame' quick on/off torches? (I'll be addressing these questions in a new page to this site, in the near future.) Shifting gears, from Carrie to Hurley.... With regard to last week's Hurley/van episode, my brother Dean wondered: "Why the van didn't "HEMAtically" start for Hurley when he was so desperately praying for it to start. It only started when they pushed it down the hill and he screamed, "There is no curse!" A good question! This one will prompt me to complete a page I've been working on, a week earlier than I had been targeting, but here is an advanced look at what is going on: 1. Consistent with the scientific paradigm, and the DHARMA agenda, the observers use a range of techniques to introduce new stimuli in order to examine how the dynamics subsequently play out. The techniques and resultant dynamics involve one or more of the following factors: * Psychology * Parapsychology * Electromagnetism * Meteorology * Zoology, and * Utopian Social.... (order, organization, etc....) Sound familiar? 2. Not every stimulus introduced by the observers involves all six of the above factors, but the stimulus may incorporate different combinations of factors. The latter approach enables the observers to investigate interaction effects among the factors, in an experimental paradigm. 3. In addition to studying HEMAtic phenomena, at times the observers may resort to low tech, 'unmagical' approaches to manifesting and inserting a new stimulus. The observers appear to have the ability to plant and/or extract thoughts from the people they are observing (e.g., Kate's horse, Sayid's cat.) A low-tech, 'unmagical' explanation for how to obtain access to these thoughts/images is that the observers may have simply interviewed persons associated with Flight 815 passengers, but while this might help to explain the appearance of Hurley's friend Johnny's van-- finding out about it through interviewing Johnny or some other friends/neighbors, back home-- it is harder to explain how they found out about Kate's horse, unless they interviewed the marshall (prior to the flight), or saw it referenced in a file on Kate's prior escape from the marshall, on that dark, rainy night.... 4. A low-tech, 'unmagical,' non-HEMAtic approach to using these thoughts, in an observational/scientific paradigm of investigation, would be to simply identify the key image, and have it 'flown' or transported in, to the island. This may have been the case with Kate's horse, and Johnny's van. (Actually, given the driver's state of decay, this is likely not Johnny's van, after all....) In some instances, the observers may be relying primarily on low-tech, unmagical techniques; at other times, they are leveraging the electromagnetic and psychic factors to play a key role in manipulating stimuli, observing how Flight 815 passengers respond to these stimuli, and learning more about the dynamic interplay of the above six factors, in the Skinner Box experimental/observational site that is.... the island.... 5. So, back to my brother's question regarding "Why the van didn't "HEMAtically" start for Hurley when he was so desperately praying for it to start. It only started when they pushed it down the hill and he screamed, "There is no curse!" * The non-HEMA answer, for anyone familiar with combustion vehicles of this sort, is that they succeeded in using that old trick, an incline, to turn the engine over and get it running (pop that clutch!) This may, indeed, have been the case. If so, it proves that not everything is 'magic', and that everyday dynamics still operate on the island. Faith can be adaptive even in the context of everyday dynamics, by helping us persist in our efforts, and helping us see new options, in pursuit of a solution. --> Of course, there have been several other events on the island that are not so easily explained by everyday dynamics! HEMA theory is one approach to helping us explain some of the seemingly 'magical' events on the island, helping us extend the range of our conceptions of the 'natural', outward, encompassing more of the seemingly supernatural/magical in the realm of our natural/everyday understanding. And it is through examining the confluence of interrelationships among psychology, parapsychology, electromagnetism, and more that we can begin to see how some of the seemingly supernatural/magical phenomena in our lives, have natural explanations. (More on this later, on a page to be posted soon....) * If it turns out that it was not possible to start the van by turning the engine over, going down the hill, from the HEMA perspective, one possible answer is that it the engine did HEMAtically start, but not until Hurley's attention was properly focused (a concentrated burst) at a sufficient level, to produce the desired HEMAtic effect, i.e., starting the van. This is just like what happened when Jack was trying to bring Charlie back, after Ethan hung him up for dead... It took a while for Jack to build up the concentrated burst of focused attention, necessary to produce the HEMAtic effect. (Please see the Home page, in this regard.) * (Noodle-cooking time....) Considering the role of the observers in all of this, some very interesting questions begin to emerge, indeed.... Was this event merely an instance of harnessing gravity's natural forces to turn the engine over and start the van? Or did the observers pull a low tech trick by observing Hurley hurtling down the hill, then they flipped a switch, sending a signal to some device implanted within the vehicle, starting the engine? If so, is this part of an experiment to examine the role of faith/belief in using focused attention (Heuristics) to leverage Energy to achieve Material Applications? Are the observers at times using low tech approaches to create the appearance that thought can produce material effects, in an attempt to study the extent to which it is possible to actually create and develop this ability, through nurturing a faith/belief in Hurley and others, that they really can do these 'magical' things? Copyright 3/4/07 by Dr. Todd J. Hostager |