Forgiveness, Resurrection, and Course-Correction

If the Universe really does have a way of course correcting itself, as the creepy Ms. Hawking claims, then it seems inevitable that forgiveness would be a crucial part of its day-to-day operations. Sin, anger, pain, hurt, sorrow, guilt; they all seem to be signs of a world gone terribly wrong. Yet forgiveness has the power within itself to trump them all. It's like a reset button that helps us humans have a fresh start when we screw up and do harm to one another. Since we are all quite imperfect, it's really the only way we can continue to co-exist.

Forgiveness is an important element of what Lost is all about. As the characters deal with their past decisions (on and off the island), they often find themselves in need of forgiveness: Sayid, for his decisions to implement torture; Kate, for murdering her step-father; Jack, for the mistakes that led to his marriage failing; Charlie, for the many bad decisions he made because of his drug addiction; Desmond, for running from commitments and abandoning the women in his life; Sawyer, for the murder he committed just before boarding flight 815; the list goes on. Many of the characters not only need to receive forgiveness but to give it as well. The only way Sun and Jin can receive forgiveness is if they are both willing to grant forgiveness to each other. Jack needs to forgive his father. Claire needs to forgive herself. Locke's situation is obviously tragic, and one must hesitate to judge how he should deal with it, but maybe, just maybe, forgiving his father would have been a better solution to his anger problems than having him murdered. Perhaps the same can be said for Sawyer; once he finally got the revenge he sought his whole life, he didn't exactly seem all the better for it

Forgiveness, of course, isn't the only element of the course-correction that seems to be taking place on the island. The Losties must actually change and take actions to "clean up their own messes." But forgiveness must be both given and received if they are to truly grab hold of the opportunities afforded them on this island of second chances.

Yet another form of course-correction that I don't think has yet taken place literally on the show but has been hinted at, and is at least present thematically, is resurrection. The very idea of everyone getting a "new life" on the island is one way in which the theme of resurrection pervades the whole premise of the show, especially when we find out from Naomi that all the 815-ers are presumed dead to the rest of the world.

Aside from this overarching symbol of death and rebirth, there are also multiple instances of dead people appearing on the island in some form, such as Ben's mom and Jack's dad. The man Sawyer murdered even seems to manifest himself in a boar on the island, while Kate's stepfather speaks through a semi-conscious Sawyer. Also relevant here is Mikhail, who on several occasions appears to die, only to reappear, alive and well, shortly after.

Perhaps the most powerful image of resurrection comes in "Through the Looking Glass," when Walt summons Locke out of a pit full of Dharma skeletons, recalling the Biblical story of Ezekiel, a prophet who received a vision in which he prophesies over a valley of dry bones and raises them all to life.

I think course-correction, forgiveness, and resurrection all point back to the grand narrative found in the Bible of the Fall and redemption. Adam and Eve disobeyed God by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was not God's plan, and it set things off course. It brought sin and death into the world. Jesus Christ, to the contrary, brought forgiveness and new life/resurrection. It might be said that the work of Christ is God's way of course correcting. Perhaps the island is doing something similar for our Losties.

To end with a wild prediction about the future of the show, I don't think that, given the evidence, a literal resurrection somewhere down the road is entirely out of the question. Perhaps the Universe isn't done with Charlie yet. Or maybe, when the situation becomes extremely dire, Walt and Locke will truly follow in Ezekiel's footsteps and muster all of their island-communing power to raise a whole Dharma army out of the pit. I can only dream.