The Nature of Reality and the Illusion of Time
LOST: Reality in Lost is a reality in which time can be altered, islands can move, and reality is not always what we expected it to be.
ACIM: According to the Course, the world as we know it is NOT our true reality. It is a place that we have chosen to come to live in, and live according to our OWN will, while seemingly being able to tune out God’s will at our discretion. It is a place where our egos rule and where we seem to be limited to the body. It is only once we awaken to the truth that we are all connected, and that our true will IS God’s will, that we then begin to find peace. Also, according to the Course, time is an illusion. It is something that we made to make it seem like there is a big gap between where we are and where God is.
The Church and the “Real World”
LOST: In LOST, we had the reality on the island, and then the “parallel reality,” which was a place where everyone was playing out their stories as things would have been, had Oceanic Flight 815 never crashed. Ultimately, we learned that this “parallel reality” was a place where the characters came to after they had already died, to “remember and let go.” This was a transitory place (as Christian Shepard said, “there is no now, here”). It instead was a stepping stone where everyone came to enter the light together.
ACIM: According to A Course in Miracles, before we return to our True Reality (call it Heaven, Oneness, etc.), we awaken to what the Course calls, “The Real World.” Since “God created only the eternal, and everything you see is perishable… there must be another world that you do not see” (Text Ch 11, Section VII, Para. 1). The real world is just before the gates of heaven. It is a borderland that we will actually see when we have the willingness to look past what the body’s eyes tell us and have truth be shown instead. Kind of like the church in LOST.
The Stained Glass Window
LOST: On the stained glass window in the church, symbols of all of the worlds major religions were represented. This indicated an openness to everyone being able to get to Heaven when the time comes, no matter what system of spirituality one may follow.
ACIM: The Course supports the idea that there is more than one way to God. God’s teachers come from all over the world – “They come from all religions and no religion” (Manual, Section 1).The Course states that it is just one form of a universal course and that there are thousands of forms, each leading to the same place – the realization that we are Love.
The Experience of “Waking Up”
LOST: So one by one, each member of Oceanic Flight 815 “Wakes up.” Desmond, Sun and Jin, Hurley, Sawyer and Juliet, Sayid, Claire, Charlie, Kate, etc., and finally Jack. When they remember their former lifetimes, and where they are now, each becomes peaceful, certain, and unafraid.
ACIM: This perhaps is what it is like when we “wake up” to our true reality, realizing we have never really left our Source. This can be compared to what the Course calls, “The Holy Instant.”
Finding our True Will
LOST: There are countless examples through the series of how Jack’s ego thought he could control things. On the worlds terms, he was well off as a respected, intelligent doctor. Yet he wasn’t happy because he was only filling his ego’s function, by playing God and reversing the seemingly irreversible as a surgeon. His ultimate purpose was not decided by him. He only found true peace when he listened to what his purpose was and followed it.
ACIM: The Course says that we will not be happy until we are fulfilling our function. This means that we have to learn to listen to our Inner Guide, and begin to trust it. The good news here is that, according to the Course, there is no sacrifice. We can’t lose anything. We are never asked to suffer, because suffering is of the ego (and we are not our egos).
Free Will
LOST: In the final episode, Ben chose not to enter the church with Hurley because he didn't feel ready to move on or cross over.
ACIM: The Course repeatedly emphasizes how we have free will, in that we can delay choosing for God as long as we'd like. One lesson in the Course is "Heaven is the decision I must make" (Workbook Lesson 138) and it highlights that Heaven is chosen consciously.
We don't lose anything
LOST: In the church, everyone was all together again. Although they had all died, they did not lose the sense of who they are or the love that they share.
ACIM: This again ties in with the idea that we do not lose a sense of being when we leave the body.
We need each other
LOST: Christian Shepard told Jack that "This is a place you all made together so you could find one another. Nobody does it all alone. You needed them and they needed you."
ACIM: According to the Course, the world exists in the "Separation," a state that we "made together" and agreed upon coming to, in order to experience being the "creator" of our own separate little universes. Also according to the Course, the Holy Spirit uses everything we have made by reinterpreting it as a means of finding our way Home. This means that the "light" was placed in our "brothers" so we couldn't fully lose it (even though we chose to throw it away). When we recognize Spirit in our brothers and sisters, we are reminded that it exists in us as well. We need them and they need us.
I've read a number of blogs that indicate how many fans feel a deep sense of loss that the show is now over - like we're losing friends that we've come to know well. This comments on a need that we have for spirituality in our lives even if it is in a pop culture, mass media venue. If we focus on the fact that all of the characters died in the show, the ending is certainly sad. Yet, if we focus on the fact that everyone IS, and everyone IS together, despite having moved on from their physical existence, it is certainly a happy ending.
Bravo! Very interesting. I had stopped watching "Lost" but your comparison has renewed my interest. Now to wait until it shows up in the library :)
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed your comparison. It is well done and it illustrates that whether we are exploring ideas as a form of entertainment or as spiritual discipline we are opening to the same truth in our minds, as we are growing to the same place, a place of realizing the fullness of being in a deeper state of mind.
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