"Here is my best take on Ben, given what we know to date. I have a sneaking suspicion that what he meant when he said that he was born on the island was that he was REBORN on the island (more on this, in a moment....) According to this view, Ben was literally born on the mainland and was taken along with his parents to the island. One interpretation is that his parents were DHARMANs, and in the 5/9 episode we will see him as a young boy in the flashbacks of DHARMA arriving at the island and setting up their operations. If this account turns out to be true, we should expect to find that the person he is NOW was 'born' (reborn) through some trial or tribulation that he went through as a youth on the island. Indeed, this may have involved exposure to a 'great man' who subsequently took him under his wing and counseled the young boy (Alvar Hanso? Dr. Candle/Wickmund? Gerald de Groot? Or?) Did he learn to deal with his past through harsh but 'effective' means? This is certainly consistent with the 'mythological' practices he encourages among the Others, especially the rite of passage he (Ben) imposed on Locke: Killing his father in order to be 'reborn' on the island.... " (Source: 5/3/07 Lost HEMA Theory page- "DHARMA & GAIA.")
Of course, one easy surmise is that Ben developed multiple personalities as an effective means of coping with his troubled past. And that Jacob is merely one of these personalities. Hence, like Sybil and others with a multiple personality disorder, Ben truly did not hear what 'Jacob' said to Locke, and "Help Me" is a heartfelt cry from one of Ben's personalities, with obvious meanings. ("Help Me" also echoes what one of the alien-gestating colonists said during the classic movie, "Aliens". Was this meant to imply that there is an even more grotesque 'monster' waiting inside Ben to be unleashed?)
From a HEMA Theory standpoint, it would indeed be interesting to witness the consequences of a psychic with multiple personality disorder on an island whose unique energy properties could be leveraged to produce enhanced psi effects, including telekinesis.... Maybe Ben didn't cotton to "Carrie" because it hit too close to home?! So one possible explanation for the 'Jacob' scene in last night's episode is simply that Ben does indeed have multiple personalities and he is also psychic (able to see his mum, too!), and what we witnessed in the cabin was his alter ego 'Jacob' lashing out in a Carrie-like manner.... Later on, when 'Jacob' receded into the background, and Ben came back into the foreground of his consciousness, Ben was genuinely terrified and not aware of what had happened, including what Jacob said to Locke (reminiscent of NEO visiting the oracle, in The Matrix, of course....)
Of course, things are not usually so 'easy' or simple on the island.... Alternative explanations for the Jacob/cabin sequence will follow, below....
Be Here Now, And Now, And Now, And Now: Richard Alpert's 'Taste Of The Honey' Of Everlasting Life....
In last week's (DHARMA & GAIA) commentary I proposed that Ben would be put in a position to choose between life with his parents and life with the Others and would be reborn on the island through killing his parents.... What I did not foresee (and who could have done so?) was that the one who would counsel young Ben and help him become reborn on the island would turn out to be one of the Hostiles/Others, namely.... RICHARD ALPERT! Of course, I am not alone in noting that Alpert does not appear to have aged much, if at all, from the time he met young Ben in the 1970's, to the present.... This observation has some very interesting implications for Lost theorizing....
Who are the island's original inhabitants? Did they arrive on the 'Black Rock,' and are Richard Alpert and some of the Others the remnants of the 'motliest' (mittelos) crew of that ship? Have the inhabitants lived on the island for centuries, or even millenia, their lifespan extended by the island's unique powers? Why do some people (like Ben) age, while others appear to not age (like Alpert)? What was up with that bright white light we saw in the closing credits of the 5/2 episode? Go back and look at that sequence, frame-by-frame, and you'll see a portion which shows Richard Alpert bathed in a glowing light, focusing intently on something.... Is this the yet-to-be-revealed 'fountain of youth' energy source from which the island's vital regenerative and age-slowing powers flows? Is periodic exposure to this energy source required, to slow or forestall aging, on the island? Is this a key part of the initiation process, into the band of the 'Others'?
Will Locke recover from the gunshot wound, crawl out of the pit, and find this source of vital energy? And who will he see at this location.... maybe a reanimated/regenerated Christian Shephard, whom he will bring to the island beach fight site in the season finale... Setting up a zero-sum choice.... Leave the island and return to 'normal life' (aging, disease, slower healing, infertility, etc.) OR stay on the island and remain in 'magic time' (profoundly slowed aging, speed-healing, hyper-fertility, etc.) Per my 5/3 commentary, the theme of 'should we stay or should we go', involving some sort of zero-sum dilemma, may play out in the season 3 finale....
Cabin Fever, Part Deux: Poltergeist, Anyone?
I'm sure I'm not the only one who chuckled a bit when Ben remarked "We're here!" in a tone not unlike the famous line uttered by Heather O'Rourke in the classic Tobe Hooper/Steven Spielberg movie, Poltergeist: "....They're here!" One possible alternative explanation for the Jacob/cabin sequence in the 5/9 episode is that Ben is not a psychic with multiple personality disorder, but instead, the island is really an island of Lost souls, in the specific sense that it is a place in which the presence and effects of spirits are manifest in a more extensive and pronounced manner, due to the island's unique energy properties....
This second explanation for the Jacob/cabin sequence focuses less on the role of the island as a psychic battery used by the living, and more on its role as a source of energy that may be leveraged by deceased spirits, persons who have passed on to another PLANE of existence on the island....
This would explain the disembodied voices heard in multiple episodes, including last night, when Ben heard whispering voices as he neared the SONAR fence.... This could show how concentrated energy fields may enable spirits to manifest physical effects (sounds, etc.) on the island.... This would not exclude the use of the same energy fields by living persons to augment their psi abilities to achieve impressive psychic feats such as remote viewing, telekinesis, and more....
So a second interpretation of the Jacob/cabin sequence is that Ben was really right when he said that Jacob is real, and was there in the cabin.... From this second view, Jacob is not an alter ego of Ben, but is instead a separate, disembodied spirit of a 'great man' who lived and died on the island... (Hmmm.... who might that be?) Is this connected to the grey material Locke found on the ground as he and Ben approached Jacob's cabin? Was this grey material ash from the cremated remains of humans, potentially including the ash from a deceased and now-disembodied Jacob? Why did this material appear to be spread in a ring around the cabin?
An intriguing related question is whether or not this person chose to die, on purpose, to get to this higher plane of existence on the island.... Are the telekinetic events on the island due to the thoughts/feelings of living people, channeled through the island's energy field? Or are these events caused by some disembodied spirits, perhaps even the Lost souls of the dearly departed DHARMA purgees, loyally continuing the purpose and mission of the Initiative, leveraging the island's power to this end, albeit from a higher, non-corporeal plane of existence?
On a related note, given Ben's less-than-stellar track record of truth-telling, I would not be surprised to find that there really is at least one 'great man' still there on the island, perhaps even in corporeal form.... I'm betting that at least one of the following people is still alive, somewhere on the island, housed in a protective bunker or hidden compound, still plugging away exploring the DHARMA agenda, experimenting with DNA, psychic powers, electromagnetism, etc.: Gerald de Groot, Thomas Mittelwerk, and/or a regenerated/reanimated Christian Shephard....
It's Alive, Part 2: Surface vs. Deep HEMA Theory, With GAIA Redux-
1. 'SURFACE HEMA THEORY': The island's unique energy properties have some very interesting effects, including speed-healing, enhancing psi powers, and lifespan extension. This view is what I'm now calling 'surface HEMA', namely a more or less conventional view of the island's magic as arising primarily from physical-energetic properties, some of which we may not yet be able to fully understand through our current scientific paradigms. In short, a 'surface HEMA' view is that the island is one big electromagnetic anomaly, a place on the earth with unique properties, per Dr. Candle/Wickmund's comments in the tape playing on the TV when young Ben and his father were being processed upon arriving at the island, shown in the 5/9 episode. These unique properties enable seemingly 'magical' phenomena, but these phenomena are directed by and through the thoughts and emotions of the people in contact with the island (HEMA.) So according to this view, the island does not have to be a living or conscious entity; it merely(!) serves a source of unique and vital energy, producing a range of effects, including allowing Richard Alpert and others to exist in a state of very slow aging... (Was Richard Alpert a crew member on the Black Rock? Or has he been on the island even longer than that?)
2. 'DEEP HEMA THEORY': Last week I proposed that Lindelof, Cuse and crew may be viewing the island on a deeper, more literal level than simply that of the island as a 'figurative' character on the show.... In particular, in my 5/3 commentary I proposed that the unique electromagnetic properties of the island may ultimately be revealed to result from the island actually being.... the neural center of the great long con of the show.... that THERE IS NO GREAT MAN, but instead there is a GREAT WOMAN who is behind all of this, namely the vast, living, conscious, interconnected system regulating the entire planet earth.... GAIA.... According to this 'DEEP HEMA Theory', the island is more than just a psychic battery, more than just a 'speed-healing-ward', and more than just a place where one might actually be able to live nearly forever.... The island is a conscious entity that is actually the 'one' who is in control.... It is THE ISLAND that is bringing people to it, in order to examine whether or not it is possible to help Homo sapiens to change (DNA, thoughts, actions, etc) in ways that will forestall or delay the end of the world....
From a Deep HEMA Theory view, DHARMA, Mittelos, etc. are ultimately only instrumental in their value, a means to an end, human constructions that exist mainly to serve the island's agenda of saving the world/itself... This is the GAIA agenda.... GAIA is seeking self-preservation through bringing us to it, in order to avoid destruction.....
So why, then, would the island allow a 'purge' by the Others, if DHARMA had the potential to generate a solution for stopping the end of the world/GAIA? One possibility is that if you look at the timeline, DHARMA appears to have had between one and two decades to pursue its agenda.... It may be that the results were not forthcoming or promising, and the island decided a purge and 'rebooting' was in order.... And who are these Others? If Ben WAS telling the truth in some way/shape/form (hmmmm!), maybe he did give us a bit of a clue, after all, when he said in last night's episode that he brought them (the Others) to the island....
Did Ben mean this figuratively, in the sense that he helped them to become more fully REBORN in the arms of the island's energy/power? Or did Ben mean this more literally, that the Others are a manifestation or physical instantiation of his thoughts/feelings (HEMA)?
Hmmm.... Is Richard Alpert really real? Or is he a projective manifestation of a profoundly troubled youth-- Ben-- physically realized within (and through) the island's unique energy properties?
My best guess to date is that this possibility-- Ben's psyche, coupled with the island's unique energy as responsible for the Others, the black smoke, the popping trees, etc.-- will turn out not to be true, since it smells like a 'cheat,' and we were promised there would be no cheat.... Still, it is intriguing to consider the possibility that like the Billy Mumy Twilight Zone episode, Ben has pronounced psychic powers which allow him to channel the island's energy to realize thoughts and feelings as physical manifestations....
Did Ben coopt the DHARMA agenda to his own needs/ends? Is he using the island's energy to fuel his own twisted Skinner/sandbox, manipulating people, animals, weather, and objects to suit his childish and nefarious whims....? The more I think about it, the more I can envision someone thinking it might be a neat O. Henry twist to end the series by showing us how much we can learn about ourselves, each other, and the broader world in which we live, by viewing and contemplating what turns out to be 'child's play', in the form of Ben playing out his childish games in a Skinner/sandbox writ large, namely.... the island... Again, since this could be construed as a 'cheat', it is perhaps less likely as a series denouement in 2010, but it is interesting to consider, nonetheless.... And if Ben ends up getting himself killed in the season 3 finale, this possibility goes away for good....
Locke As Messiah: Setting The Stage For The Season 3 Finale-
Is a Locke/Jack showdown still in the offing for the season finale? I'm betting it is, and that we will see Locke recover from the gunshot wound, and appear in the finale, with messianic overtones.... Locke's appearance will, of course, shock people, especially Ben..... Hmmm.... Who will die in the finale? My best guess right now is that Locke will reappear and will end up killing Ben and taking the mantle of guiding the Others.
Per my commentary last week, one important line that will be drawn in the sand (echoing the one drawn previously in the jungle) is who wants to stay on the island, and who wants to go. Locke will lead those who want to stay on the island. Jack will lead those who wish to leave. A zero-sum situation will force a confrontation among these two camps. A fight ensues. People die.... We are shocked to see they would kill off such important characters.... Until....
The crowd parts, and a shrouded figure moves slowly forward..... Slender hands lift the shroud back to reveal.... a regenerated/reanimated.... Christian Shephard....
Then we get the entire summer to ponder and argue about how he came back to life, whether they should leave the island or stay, where and when and what the island is and, MOST importantly of course-- how our collective sense-making is informing and enriching our lives with each and every waking moment, here on planet earth.....
Copyright 5/10/07
by Dr. Todd J. Hostager