The Layman's Answers to Everything

The meaning of life according to some guy who likes TV and stuff.

If you’ve read my writings about Lost, you probably know that I believe it’s more than just a show: Lost contains hidden messages about how the world really works. That’s right, I sincerely believe that a TV series is giving us clues that can help us understand the mysteries of life. Well, if that were true, shouldn’t Lost include this little tidbit within its own mythology? Shouldn’t it demonstrate how the media can provide answers to our own life challenges so that we’ll know to look there to find them? Yes, I believe it should, and to be honest, I’ve been wondering if it was ever going to do so. In “Some Like It Hoth,” I finally received my answer.

Perhaps the most ironic theme of “Dead Is Dead” is that it actually seems to imply anything but. The episode is more about the futility of death, rather than its finality, yet, I don’t think this is its ultimate message. The message in its fullest form is that dead is only dead if your services will no longer be needed.

Before I go to sleep at night, sometimes I ask the universe a question about my destiny. The answer, as bizarre as it may seem, usually comes in the form of a song that wakes me up on my clock radio the next morning. While I haven’t done this in awhile, last night I once again had the urge. I asked the universe (God, the light, soul guides, my future self, whatever you wanna call it) what is going to happen on December 22, 2012—the day after the Mayan calendar abruptly ends. The answer I received really surprised me.

As you’ve probably noticed, the title of a Lost episode often hints at more than just the episode’s story on a surface level. Many times, it provides a clue to its mythological messages as well. This was true of “316,” of “LaFleur,”* and now of “Namaste.” While Buddhist/Hindu principles pop up in Lost every so often, I was hoping that they might be a major theme of this episode due to its title, and I was not disappointed.

What is definitely no joke is what happens to the world in the Layman book during this timeframe. While I began writing the trilogy in 2002 and finished the first draft (of all three) in mid-2005, there is a lot in the story that is eerily prophetic of today’s situation: a collapse of the world economy, the emergence of the green revolution with a focus on reusable energy sources to replace oil, world floods, food epidemics and shortages and more. There are also a bunch of things in the books that are too fantastical to even speculate on. To be honest, when I originally wrote them, they were meant as more mythological metaphors, not really to be taken literally. Now, I’m not so sure. (Actually, around the time of Hurricane Katrina and the Indian Ocean Tsunami is when I became unsure.) Whatever happens though, whether it be tomorrow, in 2012, or if ever, I feel like the messages I received today are letting me know that it’s going to be all right. And I just thought I’d share that with all of you.

Something’s coming. Something big. I think whatever it is, if we…

The concept of taking a leap of faith has been covered many times on Lost. Locke had told Jack that he was taking a leap of faith by pressing the button; Hurley took a leap of faith by risking his life with Charlie to get the DHARMA van started as it sped down a hill; and in the episode titled, “316,” the theme shows up throughout. In fact, the title itself should’ve been the first tip-off.

While most mythological stories explore at least one or two truths about the way our world works, Lost is unique in that it explores hundreds of them. It’s almost as if Lost is a spiritual guidebook to life. While I sometimes joke around about it, I’m beginning to truly believe that fans of the show will be better equipped to handle the strange new world we are going to inherit in the upcoming years. Whether consciously or subconsciously, it is almost as if Lost is training us to be able to mentally handle the future. The Good Book says that the meek shall inherit the earth. Perhaps it was referring to Lost geeks.

We all know that Lost is filled with lots of hidden clues—everything from the books the characters read and the philosophers their names are based on, to the anagrams, whispers, and backwards-talk found in many episodes. While these hints can help us to understand the show, there is something else woven into its many mysteries that is far more valuable to our everyday lives…

Hello fellow fans of the mysterious universe!

So much has happened since my last Layman*/Lost** update, I don’t know where to begin. I guess that’s because for the first time since I began these updates back in January 2006, I now actually have a published book I can talk about! In typical Lost fashion however, let’s take a flashback first…

Continuing in the same vein as Part 1, Parts 2&3 was mostly action/adventure and little mythology. And what little there was still seems to support my theory.

For starters, at the end of the last episode’s update, I wrote:

In “Something Nice Back Home” Hurley even suggests that none of them made it off the island, and they were, perhaps dead. Not dead, just stuck in limbo between worlds. I feel like the season will end with the five of them not being rescued as we think, but getting hurt, and this whole flash-forward has all been in their minds.