The Theology of Lost

The focus of most fans and viewers, when it comes to "Lost", falls on the more 'X-Files" side of its mystery, investigating the meanings of its numbers, studying satellite imagery and searching for hidden gateways into websites. Little of all the activity dedicated to penetrating the mysteries of "Lost" focus on a fundamental and pervasive aspect of the show, its religious theology. While religion plays a significant role on "Lost", it is also the most overlooked part of the series by those trying to understand it.

From Claire's baby's baptism, Eko's priesthood and staff and his attempt to construct a Temple, that Locke then employs in order to receive a vision of what to do next and Desmond's past as a monk; religious ideas pervade the series. These ideas are not window dressing, they form the substance of the spiritual side of the show.

The famous or infamous flashbacks that alternately frustrate and captivate viewers are at the heart of the series. Each flashback takes a character into the past as they confront their life in the present. While this is a timeworn dramatic device and has been a part of genre tv shows before, such as "Forever Knight", "Highlander" and a number of others, on these shows the flashbacks merely served to illustrate a path. On "Lost" the flashbacks represent choices. The most blatant example of this was the death of Eko which followed a flashback and a confrontation with the smoke monster that asked Eko whether he was prepared to repent. Rejecting repentance and blaming circumstances for his choices, cost Eko his life.

The leader of the Losties, the castaways of Lost, is Jack Shephard. The Shepherd is the Judeo-Christian archetype of the leader, ranging from Moses to Saul to David. The rest of the castaways form the "flock" of the shepherd. By contrast John Locke is named after the British Enlightenment philosopher John Locke Locke's empiricism prioritized learning from experience. On "Lost" as it is for the moment, it is Jack however who is the rationalist and Locke who is the "Man of Faith." This suggests the possibility that these two antagonists may yet switch positions realigning themselves with their names.

Where Jack views the island from a purely rational and scientific standpoint as an entity that follows natural laws which can be understood from experience, Locke views the island as a spiritual entity which can only be reached through faith. Jack serves as The Shepherd, the practical leader who sees to the physical welfare of his flock. Locke serves as The Pilgrim, the man of faith whose inner and outer journeys mesh as he pursues the painful progress of his faith. Representing the two extremes, State and Chuch, Jack and Locke frequently collide. Viewing the island in the fundamentally different ways that they do, results in the emergence of fundamentally different goals. Jack cares primarily about survival and rescue. Locke cares about finding the meaning of his life.

Like the rest of the characters though, Jack's journey is a spiritual one, in which he has the chance to depart from the crooked road he had walked in the past. The flashbacks are a tool for reorienting a character's life and achieving either closure or transcendence. Those characters who achieve some degree of closure in their lives, like Ana Lucia, die and move along to whatever post-mortal destination awaits them. The remaining characters have the chance to transcend their lives by embracing faith and choosing to change.

The "Lost" Island represents a kind of "Garden of Eden". Facing the destruction of mankind, the Dharma Initiative pursued a way to solve the equation that mandated mankind's destruction by returning to the Garden of Eden for a second chance. The original failure in the Garden and the Fall of Man came about because Adam and Eve had abused their free will and chose knowledge over life, power over faith in God.

The Garden of Eden of course inevitably has a serpent. To the DeGroots, who were the Adam and Eve of the project, the Serpent, which resulted in the creation of the Others, who are cursed with Eve's curse, the painful birth and outright death of their children. Like Adam and Even, the Others are focused on seeking knowledge, at the expense of faith and goodness toward others. Their pursuit of the Tree of Knowledge dooms their presence in Eden, which is why they made lists of the "Good" and the "Bad" among the survivors of Oceanic Flight 815, and select the "Good Ones" for the purposes. It is also who Ben needs Locke, the Man of Faith, to open the way for him.

The so-called Smoke Monster is the protector of Eden, the angel with the ever turning sword, who guards the Garden and tests those who wish to return. Stripped of the Pagan influenced imagery of angels as winged children, the smoke monster is a literal rendering of an angel with an ever-turning sword in all directions. The Smoke Monster's flexibility allows it to strike in all directions. Additionally during the Exodus of Jews from Egyptian, they were protected by a pillar of smoke. That is essentially what the Smoke Monster is.

The Angel tested Eko and found him wanting. By failing to repent, but merely treating his actions as inevitable and thus denying responsibility for them, Eko repeated Adam and Eve's sin, shifting responsibility and blaming others. Eko failed and despite his pursuit of religion and vision, he died, being no longer worthy of remaining in the Garden.

What is the Island or the Garden then? It is the core of the potential world. The potential that had been denied mankind when man originally abused his free will to choose knowledge over faith. Expressed as technology, that knowledge also threatened and threatens the ruination and destruction of mankind. Faith is the answer and as Lost creator JJ Abrams has often described the show as an experience in faith. The experience comes from the life lived, the empiricism of Locke, the choices of the flashbacks that resonate in the choices the castaways make on the island. By way of faith.