Wading in the Velvet Sea

Surely the second coming is at hand.

This episode really disappointed me because of the hype. I probably would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't waiting for them to answer questions. I wish I could sit back and enjoy the show this season, but the network's persistence to over-dramatize for people to tune in has been distracting me. I will continue to take the abuse and watch the show until the end, but I'm worried about the show’s ratings when viewers who won't tolerate playing these games give up.

Anyways, I have really enjoyed your blog. I discovered it through iTunes at the beginning of this season and have been listening / reading since. Thanks for giving me a chance to revisit my book of modern poems. Who says TV makes you dumber?

—Adam

please tell me someone is going to mention when ben said that we are going to go home now to where we live. does this mean back to regular cicilization or does it mean another island? is there three islands? i'm getting way too old for this stress. they very obviously got on a boat which means back to home has to involve some sort of water travel. Or is their actual home on the same island as the losties. I know for a fact that this show is going to kill me. When the rest of the losties go to rescue jack are they going to find an empty island?

Hey, Ryan - thought that you might find this little dissertation I compiled of various posts concerning 'SIASL' of some interest. Really liked your connecting aspects of it to the Yeats poem and can see most of your reasoning, but as my efforts suggest, it's Jack who is the bird-figure.....let me know what you think for sure!

James

This may have been the most revealing episode of all this season, building as it does upon the previous two - let me know all your thoughts as you care to share them!

Jim

For your consideration.....

The Expanded Meaning of 'NAMASTE'

'The Spirit in me meets the same Spirit in you.

I greet that place where you and I are one.

I salute the Light of life in you.

I receive the free spirit in you.

I recognize that within each of us is a place where peace dwells, and when we are in that place, we are One.

My energy salutes your energy.

The life in me sees and honors the life in you.

May the life within you be strong.

The light within me sees and honors the light within you.'

So Candle/Wickman's blessing, like so much on LOST, was hardly frivolous or an exercise in
pleasantries.....

1st post, Thursday:

Last night's episode seems to be provoking the most polarized reactions yet. Personally, I feel that it might be the season's best (yes, just a little bit better than 'Flashes....." - don't hate me!) and I enjoyed this Jack-centric installment more than any other. There was a great deal revealed, some of which fueled my growing suspicion that the island's original
inhabitants were one of Israel's Lost Tribes - we got a good look at how the Others dispense justice, and in a way, I see Juliet's branding as a way of freeing her up to leave by making her persona non grata. Karl yet again recited a very specific line from Scripture, too.....(NOTE: to wit, 'God loves Jacob as He loves you', which had already appeared in a behavior conditioning video).

As for the foreshadowed consequences of Jack being
'marked' by Aschara, he violated her every bit -
betrayed her trust - as surely as if he had resorted to sexual assault, denying her the opportunity to give him 'the gift'. Jack demonstrated his thoroughly disturbing tendency of demanding what he wants regardless of the outcome - and yes, there's no doubt that a lot of his resolve was as a result of pent-up frustration at Sarah's refusal to tell him anything. That said, at its heart this was a clash between 2 people who instinctively need to maintain control and Aschara got even in the end with the help of her family.

2nd post:

Just posted this, my final take on "Strangers In A
Strange Land", to thetailsection.com; don't expect it to change anybody's opinions if the other boards are any indication.....

The real-world Chinese meaning behind Jack's tattoo is not, 'A stranger walks among us, but is not OF us' but rather, 'Who masters Fate's rise and descent'? A good question for this show, and the answer is, of course, we all do as ostensibly possessing of free will. Far more meaningful than another interpretation. 'Eagles fly, cleave the sky' - or IS it? What that expression may be trying to convey is that Jack, or any person
believing that Fate/Destiny can be controlled (the
eagle) succeeds on the strength of that belief - but, as Aschara portends, there are consequences,
frequently unknown, that come with doing so. If
Fate/Destiny is but a flight plan for one's life that can be rewritten simply when one realizes as much and has some subconscious knowledge of, then following one's free will can be seen as 'flying by the seat of your pants' in comparison - so often we don't know what the consequences will be but it's still essential to risk them for a life meaningful to us personally, what we learn about Faith as a result of our choices. Ultimately, faith is knowledge of our true dynamic nature and the universal power available to us all.

This is an inherently disturbing line of reasoning, as it suggests that resisting Fate is unhealthy - and Jack can certainly attest to that, what with the beating he received from Aschara's family! But it's the WAYS and battles we choose to resist Fate/Destiny that are important - some more effective than others, and the most interesting aspect of "Stranger In A Strange Land" is the power struggle between two people for whom control is everything: Jack, like most men of Science, believes that 'well-informed is well-armed'
and that specific knowledge will give him all he needs to succeed and rise up to cleave the seemingly immutable, eternal sky no matter what the outcome, finally feeling better about himself far above his father's boozy path. Aschara is very protective of her 'gift' because it is a source of power and control over how she views herself as contrasted against the seedy Phuket red-light district backdrop. When Jack forces her to tell him of what she sees and 'mark' him accordingly - deny her the pleasure of choosing to give it of her own free will, he in effect steals that
power and robs Aschara of her elevated self-esteem, leaving her feeling no better than the desperate, unseemly people just outside her sanctuary. It, and she, have been violated just as surely as if Jack had resorted to sexual assault, which is why she tells her brother and family of the experience and gets even when Jack the Eagle (also a superficial reference to his being American?) is, in a sense, struck down from
his sky, his own artificially higher station,
repeatedly, but perhaps he was sufficiently wounded by Sarah's defiance of his hunger for knowing and thus open to what will likely be a huge catalyst for transformative change, just as on the island (the Others have served to remind him in various ways of just who he really is). A further supposition about the complete tattoo: if the '5' does in fact represent those 5 fateful minutes when Jack's fear was kept at bay in surgery, then the starlike design may be
likewise something to guide this eagle by.....

NOTE: I seem to recall that Bai Ling was contracted for two more episodes, and suspect that there is much more to this story than we're told in Episode 3:09.....

3rd post, and previous replies:

Dear James--

You're right about all this, of course; but there is more lurking there. Aschara accepts her role, Jack accepts his beating, and the entire episode between them is a highly ordered ritual, a sacred act between two willing beings. Neither one is a victim. Aschara becomes a high priestess in the proceedings, and she does not say no or put a stop to it, when she certainly could have. The number five is highly numinous, relating to healing and transformation.

And a great part of wisdom is accepting one's own
personal "fate", "destiny", or whatever you want to call it. In Jungian terms it amounts to a mature accepting of one's role in everything, no matter how unsavory that becomes; of taking responsibility for one's acts; and of a withdrawal of projections on others. It's a huge undertaking and not easily accomplished.

In Christian terms it is called taking up one's cross. The "accident", and the Island, seem to be about Second Chances, of redemption, purgatory, whatever. These people, like all of us, have flubbed their lives up big time and need the chance, the space, to look at themselves and their actions from a bit of a distance, to acquire a new perspective. Also they all seem to be needing, or required, to care about some other person
more than themselves. So they are being given the
opportunity for self-sacrifice as a means to
redemption. As individuals, though, all of them react differently to this opportunity.

Bonita

Thank you so much for the added perspective, Bonita - so in essence, the sado-masochistic little dance between Jack and Aschara is but one more expression of NAMASTE's deeper meaning. While neither may be conscious of precisely why such consequences are visited upon them, their higher selves recognize that they must undergo - may even be ready for - their baptism under.....adversity - and accordingly provoke it as each other's catalysts for transformation despite seeming as but the perpetuation of an unhealthy belief system, bringing to mind the old adage, 'when the student is ready, the teacher will appear'. Or, to put it another way, a strange land is frequently the exact territory a stranger needs to explore and seeks to discover: who they are and why, which neatly links it to Desmond's reverie as
well. Concerning the 'taking up of one's cross', that can have both good and bad connotations if additional, more desirable potentialities fail to be recognized, but laudable if accepting it benefits the greater good - ultimately, it is each person's choice alone. Sidney Carton made it in "A Tale Of Two Cities". Hmmmmmmmm.....why does that title sound familiar?

Also, as in so many previous instances, LOST and the writers are again exhorting the viewer to identify the reasons for beliefs, about themselves, others and their environments (witnessed, of course, by Jack's retort to Isabel on the beach, "that's what it says, but that ISN'T what it MEANS" - which is entirely for OUR benefit, since the stated meaning is factually
false).

What could have provoked such a savage beating, for no readily obvious reason? This extremely subtle truth, that Jack and Aschara were merely fulfilling each other's deepest hopes (missed by so many blogging viewers) is hinted at by both Tom's sarcastic retort to Jack about stones for glass houses - i.e., the familiar admonishment of 'judge not - even those deserving of judgement - or arrive at and act upon partially-informed conclusions, lest ye be judged' and another Old Testament value, 'an eye for an eye', in
direct reference to Juliet's ORIGINAL fate and own
power struggle with Ben. Must the universe's seeming propensity for relative equalization - balance - be undeniable law? Just what all the reasons are for The Others' actions remains to be determined; another idea that we're being exposed to is that, whether we believe certain behaviors to be right - more accurately, 'rational' - or wrong, in the end others' beliefs about them are of far more importance.

Jack may then experience his Phuket flashback because he subsequently gained a deeper understanding of human nature and why he was beaten at Aschara's behest on the beach - he even EXPECTED it at his basest level, to serve a self-hating perspective. This time on the
island, however, he's able to recognize how resisting a seemingly immutable fate is a worthy risk, absolutely essential to save someone that matters to him - affects his fate, and likely that of everyone else, even if some of them may not realize it yet - in more ways than one. Again there are echoes of the decision that Desmond was led to make - rightly?

Sorry, Bonita - this show just has so many layers that it's hard not to find myself lost in them, and that can't be a bad thing! This episode was incredibly rich with insight. Thanks again.....

James

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