Welcome to Lost HEMA Theory!

Yes, you read that correctly... ASC does indeed stand for ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS....!  Dennis' article draws heavily on ancient Jewish mystical texts-- HEKHALOT or "Divine Palaces" texts-- to draw out a range of insights regarding the prominent roles of water, producing a veritable wellspring of relevant insights into Lost's conclusion ala Lindelof's cryptically cuing clue.  Of course, beyond the 'Jack peering into the pool' rather overt nod to Hydromancy, the real pool of insight for thirsty Lost souls may lie just beneath the surface of the crucial link to ASC, reverberating in a deliciously pond-rippling manner back to the CARLOS CASTANEDA Easter Egg of previously encoded Viral Learning matter: 

"...these [Hekhalot text] accounts correlate with ASC practices identified in the literature and additionally suggests that although the mystical texts are written to resemble biblical accounts of revelatory experiences, the texts under consideration are more than works of fabulous imagination; they are literary artifacts of an actual ecstatic ASC praxis among the Jews of Late Antiquity.... water is an important element in the visionary experiences sought and described in early Jewish mysticism, multivalent in both its meaning and its roles: it is a means of purification; a matrix in which an ASC experience can occur; and even a portal through which visions of heaven and its angels may be perceived."  [Source: Dennis, G.W., (2008)]

While Dennis documents the important role of water in Jewish mystical practices, enquiring minds (and Lost NERDS) want to know if there is an actual scientific basis for these practices.  Interestingly, enough, the answer is in the affirmative:

"Laughlin et al. (1990) note that the nature of what one experiences while in an ASC is in part culturally determined: the product of what they term neural ‘‘entrainment,’’ which translates experiences, cultural myths, and symbols into memory structures....  Numerous experiments in ‘‘sensory deprivation’’ were conducted during the 1960s and 1970s, which yielded reports of meditative and altered consciousness in the subjects, as well as auditory and visual hallucinations. Many of these experiments included having the subjects float in water. More germane to the conditions described in these ancient texts, a study of an Indian spiritual practice of repeatedly dousing a person’s head with water reveals that this procedure can trigger epileptic-like brain activity, indicating that something less than total sensory deprivation can bring about trance-like states of mind (Winkleman 1986:184). Other meditative practices using cold water, such as Japanese misogi practice and Tibetan tummo disciplines, produce neurological responses (Fisher 2004:194; Benson et al. 1982: 234–236). Laughlin et al. report that at times it is only necessary to be in the presence of water, experiencing its visual and auditory effects, to induce alterations in consciousness (1990:131–132; 136)."  [Source: Dennis, G.W., (2008)]

From William Hurt in ALTERED STATES-- riffing on the sensory deprivation studies of the 60's and 70's-- to a range of cross-cultural historical examples mirroring the same reality of WATER-INDUCED ASC, we can see how this theme may well indeed figure into the conclusion of Lost, from more literal applications as a means of enabling Jack and others (who will it be, as the CHOSEN one?) to see beyond the envelop of our 'standard model' perceptual realities, to more creative possibilities such as the Jacob's Well immersion/submersion/dissolution/ transmutation of the new island 'chosen one' protector, outlined above.

Lost fans interested in the theme of MEMORIES will no doubt focus on the first sentence in the above excerpt from Dennis' article; Will we learn that some WATER-BORNE, water-enabled process holds the key to achieving the cross-'verse communication that may be so necessary in producing the promised 'verses merger?  And, is the fact that the island/pocket/verse is floating on a sea of saline-infused, electrically-conductive WATER important to understanding how the GAIA/VALIS/ISLANDMIND can serve as a basis for enabling a cross-'verse 'piercing of the veil', with both MEMORIES and MESSAGES moving between the 'verses.... yes, even ACROSS THE SEA.... (hint-hint...)

"In the past 40 years anthropologists have devoted considerable attention to the cross-cultural phenomenon of trance states or ASC and their role in religious experience. Laughlin et al. note that the phenomenon of ASC is integral to all human neural activity: ‘‘Current evidence suggests that our dream and fantasy cycle continues through the day, whether or not we are conscious of it’’ (1990:134). In his studies of brain function, the neuropsychologist W. Penfield found a phenomenon he labeled ‘‘dual consciousness.’’ By stroking exposed areas of the cortex on conscious surgery patients, Penfield could trigger ‘‘dreamy’’ and ‘‘flashback’’ states in those patients even as they were in a high level of conscious alertness and aware that they were undergoing surgery (1975:21–22). Laughlin et al. identify the experience of lucid dreams with Penfield’s state of ‘‘dual consciousness’’ and note, ‘‘When the . . . experience occurs spontaneously, it may manifest a distinctly numinous quality, often having profound religious significance for the person having the experience’’ (1990:135).  [Source: Dennis, G.W., (2008)]

Yes, we may indeed serve witness to a Lost denouement involving some form of water-induced ASC enabling Jack (or whoever the Chosen one turns out to be... the LAST RECRUIT= DESMOND...?) to enact the FINAL MERGER through leveraging Penfieldesque 'flashing', dual-consciousness states to establish communication with the other 'verse, subsequently opening an ALEX LUTHOR-like portal among the verses, culminating in the final merger....

"The neural-psychological effect of water on the human sense of sight, hearing, and—through them—the human mind has only recently come under scientific scrutiny, though water has long been recognized for its unique visual and aural qualities. Like fire, water has been noted for its mesmerizing effect on people. We now know this engaging aspect of water has its basis in human sensory perception. As an example of this, consider that we innately focus on moving and shimmering stimulus, which is a form of mental engagement that causes change in brain wave patterns (Schiffman 1996:179–180; 199, cf. Winkelman 1986:101). Strang presents a body of evidence establishing that water’s brilliant and flickering properties have a singular effect on human affect and concentration. [Source: Dennis, G.W., (2008)]

Many of us know this mesmerizing effect firsthand.... And as we watched Kate and Sawyer playing with fire in tonight's episode, in addition to flashing on their prior I Never exchange, some of us also were reminded of our own past experiences in sharing a mesmerizing fire with others, letting its lyrical flames lap away at the cold, brittle surface of our everday rational awareness, burning this dross and droll 'reality' away to reveal and unleash an oxymoronical wellspring of shared dual-consciouslike, dreamy intuitive insights into the deeper currents and eddies of our collective streams of consciousness....

And at the very end of our deep dive, we find what may well be the largest golden nuggets of wisdom, tucked carefully within the treasure chest we've been examining.... Yes, in Dennis' systematic study we see a final intriguingly portentious beacon of light shed upon.... the fundamental nature of the process through which the Chosen Lightside CANDIDATE may progress to assume the full and daunting status as ISLAND PROTECTOR:

"....water ‘‘serves as the abode of spirits or sacred powers’’ (1964:355). We have already seen this at work in the Jacob saga. Both Talmudic and Midrashic literature similarly regard water to be a likely locus for the manifestation of spirits and demons (Leviticus Rabbah water as a medium for ASC.  Aside from being a contact point for humans with numinous beings who convey divine knowledge, water itself is revelation; it ‘‘possesses wisdom and knowledge’’ (Eliade 1964:356). Schama observes that in the Western tradition, flowing water represents the acquisition of divine wisdom (1996:267). In Judaism, the sages explicitly link water to revelation in its most essential form. Thus water is both analogous to, and a symbol of, the divine word.... The early mystics seemingly extend the logic of the text described in Numbers 19 to their own project of encountering the divine; if one must be in a state of purity to enter God’s precincts here on earth, how much more so should one purify oneself with water if he wishes to stand in heavenly precincts or encounter the denizens that inhabit it? Thus we find in the Hekhalot text called Book of Powerful Names that in preparation for summoning an angel, ‘‘He should wear white and immerse [himself] in the river every day, eighty days, evening and morning, and become pure’’  Rabbinic tradition enshrines the concept of water as an agent of change and elevation in the complex of laws that require immersion for conversion to Judaism. This same logic makes water an appropriate agent of transformation for the adept, who seeks through dress, diet, and purification to temporarily elevate or ‘‘angelify’’ himself for an encounter with divine things. Focusing specifically the Hekhalot corpus, there are several texts in which the adept, in addition to immersing in water for the purposes of purification, is instructed to go to a body of water in order to perform the actual revelatory ritual. As Schafer (1981:191:489, 41:90), Lesses (1994:100), and Swartz (2001:344) all report, ‘‘on the last day he should take this book in his hands and go down to the river, to a place that is hidden from people. He should open [this book] and read in it.’’ In other words, this is sometimes a ritual for transmitting divine secrets, at other times for summoning an angelic presence."  [Source: Dennis, G.W., 2008)]

Accordingly, I would not be surprised to learn in the final Lost episodes that the Canditate-cum-Island Protector must be immersed (or more likely, subMERGED) in a pool of clear water.  If, as per the above, this place is "hidden from the people", then we may well see yet another, new location at which the lightside PROTECTOR-related initiation rite/ceremony/transformation takes place.  My surmise above is that one possibility is a Jacob's Well analogue involving a total immersion and subMERGING of the human/corporeal Candidate INTO and WITH the GAIA/VALIS/ISLANDMIND.... And yes, in addition to this phenomenal act of transformation imparting to the new Protector a Divine Knowledge borne from a higher plane of convergent Omega Point existence, this act may also involve the speaking of a key word or phrase to initiate the transmutation from human/matter-fettered mind to GAIA/VALIS matter-unfettered, energy-enabled ISLANDMIND, not unrelated to my Season 5 postings presaging the possible role that knowing and saying the NAME OF GOD may play in the ultimate resolution of Lost....