[Note: This was completed and posted to the internet at 12:38pm CST, on 2/18/10. A version with pictures will be posted a bit later today.]
[6:32pm CST, 2/18/10 Update.... Yes, LAX-landing reality inversions would fit with a Mirrorverse interpretation, including Hurley's luck, etc.... And when unLocke says he wants to go back home, is he looking to recruit Sayid, Sawyer and others as candidates to return with him to his home... in the dark, mirror-matter Mirrorverse....? And if so, which 'verse is which? Heh-heh-heh....]
[10:54am CST, 2/19/10 Update.... Yes, if the island does turn out to be a special place where beings may access light and dark mirror matter, then we may learn that unLocke's shape-shifting to Smokey (and back) may involve leveraging the island's unique energy properties to shift to a Dark Matter (DAMA) form (Smokey).. This may help explain why the light-grayish 'Jacob's Powder' cremata can function as a barrier to a DAMA Smokey unHoly Ghost, as well as the sonic fence, which appears to disrupt the light/dark matter movement capabilities on the Mirror Matter Nexus that is the Island. While beings like Jacob and unLocke-- 'playing on higher game level powers,' having gone through more death/rebirth cycles-- appear to have access to light/dark shape-shifting abilities, unLocke appears to not be sufficiently 'evolved/enlightened' ('endarkened'?) to open the portal he desires, to return to his 'home.' Ala Crisis On Infinite Earths, it may take a 'hybrid' being like Aaron to open such a portal, in Alex Luthor fashion. Hmmm.... per my query at the end of the 6:32pm Update last night (see above), what if the bulk of what we've seen on Seasons 1-5 (Flight 815 crash-landing on the island, etc.) has really been happening in the Shadowlands of the mirror world of dark matter, with the Swan Hatch pulse triggering not only the plane crash, but landing the castaways on a Mirror Matter dark/light nexus of an Island, and the 'real' light-side reality is the LAX-landing 'version' in which Hurley is lucky, and the dark-side Mirrorverse reality is where Hurley's cursed.... Time will tell....]
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MIRROR MATTERS:
MOVING SIDEWAYS THROUGH CASIMIR,
THROUGH A SHADOWLANDS MIRROR, DARKLY
PAOLO, FOOT, AND THE DAMA INITIATIVE
Yes, the final clue may now be in place, to locke in the identity of the form and mechanism associated with the J2 Incident/Casimir-enabled sideways shift bridging the Season 5 finale and the Season 6 premiere. And this clue was handed to us in the trailer for the upcoming "Lighthouse" episode, due to air next Tuesday, 2/23.
With Hurley looking on, Jack smashed what appeared to be a MIRROR, and a mirror-matter Shadowlands form of our everyday world is one prominent candidate for understanding the sideways shift. If this does play out in accordance with the "Lighthouse" trailer clue, then look for Darlton to locke in a MIRRORVERSE interpretation of the sideways move, with all the attendant theoretical and practical 'baggage' associated with that approach, including intriguing implications for what we may and may not be seeing in the shadow of future plotlines to come....
What Lies In The Shadow Of The Statue? Why, A Foot, My Dear Paolo!
Along with other Lost pundits, I've been writing about dark matter/mirror matter interpretations and applications for several years now. What are the clues that we've all assembled to date, hinting at and pointing toward a Mirrorverse interpretation?
1. Joley Wood and others have been spearheading a 'mirror twin' interpretation of Lost character and plot developments over the years. And the lostisagame site has been documenting predictable patterns of personality/behavior flips or inversions, associated with the beginnings and endings of new 'game levels' on the show.
2. Doc Jensen astutely noted the R. Foot connection among: (a) the Four-Toed Statue ''foot' remnant, and the fact that R. Foot is a widely-published scientist studying the potentials of Mirror Matter as a 'candidate' for Dark Matter, helping to explain where this vast mass lies 'hidden' in the shadows of our universe.
3. Unfortunately, the Four-Toed Statue Foot is a Left foot, so it is does not fully complete an R. Foot connection in a thoroughly gratifying directional manner. (Maybe we'll see a Right foot statue remnant in some Mirrorverse.) But yes, the missing toe can be read to symbolize the ongoing search for remaining elements required to complete the Theory Of Everything (TOE). Depending on where you are sitting in this search, what is missing can include: (a) Dark Matter; (b) LHC confirmation of the existence of the Higgs Boson, completing the Standard Model and the search for symmetry, and more...
4. The "What Lies In The Shadow Of The Statue?" query certainly can be reasonably interpreted to mean not only what we've observed as residing literally beneath the foot, but it also can be figuratively read as a sideways clue by Darlton to look into the Shadows in order to understand not only the sideways move, but also the intriguing reality of Mirror Matter and a Mirrorverse for the vast terrain of our everyday lives... What lies in the shadow of our own lives here on Earth, and in the lives of our cherished castaways in the coming weeks?
5. In addition to the R. Foot connection, all of you PAOLO-playa-haters out there will be interested to learn that one of the scientists studying Mirror Matter is one Paolo Ciarcelluti...!
6. As I and others have documented over the past several years, the Casimir Effect is intimately linked to mirror-based phenomena, and in my prior postings this season I invoked the Casimir Effect as the basis for the sideways shift, with the J2 Incident as a precipitating factor, producing a large, splitting result revealing that not only can the Casimir Effect be leveraged to achieve time travel, but it can also contribute to weird SPATIAL effects, in this case the sideways shift/phenomenon.
7. Of course, it remains to be seen how many times this has happened before, and if it is possible to split into multiple Mirrorverses through leveraging the island's unique energy properties and the Casimir Effect.... Also, there is the nontrivial plot element of how, and whether, a Mirrorverse may be merged back into that 'verse from which it has been 'split'. Indeed, from a technical standpoint, one could well argue that no such split has actually occurred, since the J2 Incident/Casimir Effect-enabled sideways shift may have actually 'only' opened up a PORTAL for us to visit the SHADOWLANDS of the Mirror Matter Mirrorverse that has always existed within the shadows of our everyday lives....
8. And now, in the trailer for the upcoming Lighthouse episode, we see Jack smashing what appears to be a mirror, while Hurley views the proceedings. We'll have to wait and see if this is intended as a final clue that the sideways shift involved some opening of a portal to a Mirror Matter Mirrorverse. And yes, it would be interesting if we learned it were possible to use a literal Casimir-based 'mirror' to actually 'see' what is happening in another Mirrorverse....
What Lies In The Shadow Of The DAMA Initiative: Who Is He Who Will Save Us?
Hmmm.... If Alpert was right in his response to Ilana's query regarding what lies in the shadow of the statue, then "He who will save us" takes on some interesting implications within a broader Mirrorverse interpretation....
1. Is the more 'standard' model interpretation-- Jacob-- correct? Is Jacob embracing game-level-shifting cycles of death/rebirth to climb his own (Jacob's) Ladder to higher planes of enlightenment, further freeing his MIND from the fetters of MATTER-bound existence, HEMAtically enabling him to perform increasingly 'magical' feats, on the island? Is this Samsaric evolutionary progression equipping Jacob with the ability to cross over or establish a bridge between the two (or more?) MIRRORVERSES?
2. Or, as per a 'mirror-inversion' effect, are the dark/light associations-- the 'spins' of the very particles of matter comprising the two 'verses-- flipped/reversed, in the Shadowlands? Is Jacob on the light side in one 'verse, and the dark side in the Mirrorverse? How interesting this would be, complicating one's calculus as to who is on whose side, to be sure....
3. As per my 2/3/10 Crisis On Infinite Earths (COIE) interpretation, Aaron and Ji Yeon are unique in the Lost 'verse of characters, owing to their special ontogenetic status as the only two beings we've observed to date as having spent time in the early years of their development on both the Island and the Mainland.... Aaron's In Utero development was split between the mainland and the island, as was his Neonatal development. Ji Yeon's In Utero development was split between the island and the mainland, with her Neonatal development appearing to have occurred solely on the mainland. As such, they share a common ontogenetic heritage/bond with ALEX LUTHOR of COIE, as 'hybrid' beings whose development spanned different spacetime realms, affording them with unique abilities to bridge these realms through opening connecting portals among the 'verses. Of the two, Aaron's ontogenetic heritage as a FULL HYBRID-- with both his In Utero and his Neonatal development split among the Island and the Mainland-- may confer Aaron with greater powers over those of Ji Yeon, in terms of being able to serve as a means of opening a portal connecting the Lost Mirrorverses. Is it AARON, therefore, whom Alpert is referring to as the 'He' who will save us....?
4. Last but not least, how interesting it is to learn that one of the key lines of research in which R. Foot has been engaged while researching Mirror Matter phenomena involves a DAMA experiment to confirm the existence of Dark Matter:
And how interesting to note that more recent DAMA/LIBRA experiments have led to a position invoking what is called a "DAEMON CONCEPT"....!
Hmmm.... Was that 'evil Smokey force moving through the underbrush' sequence in The Substitute not only an homage to dark, demonic forces as similarly depicted in Twin Peaks (Bob) and Evil Dead 2, but also an oblique nod/reference to yet another integral component in the sideways Mirror Matter Mirrorverse shift... a literal DAEMON?
Yes, DAMA stands for DArk MAtter, and the DAEMON moving in BOB-like fashion around the island is unLocke-cum-Smokey. All along, has the DHARMA Initiative contained a double/mirror-meaning, not only denoting literal and figurative connections to paths of enlightenment, but also to the search for dark/mirror matter, ala DAMA? A dark/mirror matter unHoly Trinity, anyone?
Next week's episode will be very interesting, indeed....
Time will tell,
Dr. Todd J. Hostager