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HOW TO MAKE LOTS OF MONEY…

1. Know your history and current events.
2. Take one excellent course in micro and macro economics
3. Remember economics is as close to a science as social studies ever got.
4. Learn as much as you can about Black Jack; it is excellent study of investor sentiment.
5. Never use options, hedges or anything too fancy. Universal life insurance is forthose under 18 only. Term life insurance should discarded (if you are NOT near death) by age 50. Annul the word annuity. In GOD you should Trust; however, if possible avoid other types of TRUST. (Lawyers and their kin take a large slice.)
6. There is NO such thing as GOODWILL. There exist only tangible assets that depreciate. (Emergent properties and evolution do not describe any actual events. There are two proper terms for the real processes: adaptation and synergy. Economies of scale exist, but they are as rare as unicorns.
7. YOU need $200,000 to buy individual munis, and you can buy up to four insured AAA bonds.
8. OWNING LAND IS GOOD; owning buildings is bad. UNLESS the buildings on that land are houses or barns in which your family lives in or uses for storage is risky. owning buildings is bad. As a boat is a hole in the sea in which you pour money, commercial real estate is a hole in which you pour even more money.
9. DO NOT INVEST IN YOUR PROFESSION. DO NOT BUY COMPANY STOCK. A PHYSCIAN SHOULD OWN HIS INSTRUMENTS, BUT NOTHING ELSE. DIVERSIFY!
10. TRY FIND INVESTMENTS WHICH ARE LESS DEPENDENT ON PSYCHOLOGY THAN ON TANGIBLE ASSETS.
This is the first time in since the middle 19th century that bonds have beaten stocks. MY view is that this will continue for at least three more years but eight more years is also reasonable ( 1980 to 2014 or 2019). 1981 marked the initial appearance of the devil (REAGAN) and his voodoo economics. Bush the first continued this path as did Clinton. My fortune was built on the errors of these three. Bush the second set back my peers: they lost, I gained, both in a relative and absolute sense. Obama cannot fix any of this: he lacks the will, the economic acumen, and the political base to do it.

The world is not as it was in 1917, nor in 1929, nor in 1974; people have other places to go besides gold or dollars. My dear reader, you need to realize that the defense department is just another welfare state program. I realized that defense spending is no different other transfer payments (e.g., welfare). Sales taxes are regressive. Lotteries are regressive. Social security is a refined Ponzi scheme. I knew all this in 1980. And no, the government of these United States cannot keep printing dollars. (Bill Gross dumped his Treasuries for this very reason). Investors will, at the first sign of late hours at the mint, bail out. Misery loves company; the euro zone, devastated Japan, and bloated China either know or will soon learn the lesson that Iran taught us thirty years ago. Hard currency buys anything that the Koran demands; however, wavering currencies provide nothing except high interest rates. The divine Koran is an excellent economics text.

The nature of God according to Dostoyevsky

The other side of Dostoyevsky: the sinner has a chance to be saved(himself). God allows no evils; man does evil things (sin). Father Zossima exits this part of reality , not through his frail body , but through his faith, his soul. That's why he decays; the body itself is the coffin separating Zossima from God. The paralyzed Locke had faith; MIB choose him for his faith. MIB needed faith. He had none himself. That's why I have maintained that Ben could have destroyed MIB at any time. The danger was Locke's blind determination. ( Remember MIB said of all of the losties, Locke alone had faith). As for Hugo, the very opposite of Alexy: he was born with the power over death. He did not have faith until the last season. He was running from his gift; It is he who walks among us, but is not like us.
Ah! The grand inquisitor: the devil explains the temptation of Christ in most unique manner. You need to know of the influence Spain had over Portugal, the legends of St. James living and dying in Spain, the importance of 1492: genocide in the New World and mass expulsion of the Muslims and the Jews from Iberia. Read it yourself -- the case against God. He is real but worthy alone of a second executiom. Would you burn Him?
In this passage, the reader is asked to make a choice. Dostoyevsky makes a first argument that all things (the way things are now) depend on what Christ did when he was tempted. If you care about religion, it really does not matter. What matters is if you want freedom and knowledge. the author's case is simple: freedom and the ability to learn depend on God's choices, the choices He made in those 40 days in the desert.

the devil according to dostoyevsky

My former employer gave Faraday my appearance; the music of the spheres that was even worse: Book 5, chapter Smerdyakov with guitar. Three times Dmitri (Sawyer) threatened to kill me (Ben) says Smerdyakov. But I must congratulate my enemy for selecting Chopin, the first of the moderns. Usually it is no one born after the deaf German with his to Ode to Joy, that the Lord of heaven picks. Chopin was a surprise 1 hour ago by Past recaptured
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That's better. No, the other demon, that Lord of the Flies: pig heads and children: those are his calling cards. Me, no, I would give up my craft if I could only do what he does. Mass murder, inquisitions, generations corrupted. Jack, like Ivan, was special. And I lost him in his last few days. Faraday and his puppet Hume, they had lots of help from my "old boss". Then Faraday turned Ben against me. And finally, that Latino lardo, Hugo. My former master made sure I never saw Ben because I am the one who turned him; he would have known far sooner that the unitary spirit who tossed me down to hell was behind it. Reyes, now he would smell me a mile away and laugh at me. That greasy Mexican knew how it would end. I could never get near enough to Jack except when he had escaped. We flew over the Pacific almost a hundred times to convince him that none of what happenned was real. I was close. Then Hume shows up that one day on our last flight together. What they showed you was out of order. Hume got to Jack before 316 (that cursed number). Enough, I have said too much. 5 days ago by Past recaptured
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I have no demons. I am one of two spirits left. The other one gets involved in those silly parties and clownish activities. But I do not. I brought the disease to the island through my clients (that's my term). Read Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus or Camus' The Plague. I used Ivan's tactics for those people. The tactics worked.
Dostoyevsky is right. My nemeis does not permit evil. His human creations do that. They have choice. I give them the dignity of selecting their fates. That merits respect. Jacob never gave anybody any choices. There is no attempt, on my part to hold people, against their will. As the Rolling Stones sang of me: I am a man (sic) of grace and style. Just as Christ is the seldom seen protagonist of Paradise Lost, I am the spirit behind this novel.I have to stop; I typed the holy name and am not well at this moment. It happens too often. I ought to know better. 5 days ago by Past recaptured
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He just forgot about Dmitri. And I can live with neglect. The neglect of parents drives their children to me. If these progeny get too difficult , I can make them sick . Doctors call it mental illnesses , infections, exposure to radiation. It is all me. I can make this difficult group infertile. If they want to know too much, if they trick me, if they do not live up to their contracts: to paraphrase some old poet -- those I wish to destroy, I first make mad (as in crazy). 5 days ago by Past recaptured
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Now you know I am an honest spirit. I am not so demanding as that other Spirit. Begin with the very first chapter. I tolerate both virtue and vice. Read how honestly I describe how old papa K forgot about his 1st son. 5 days ago by Past recaptured
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Wait a minute here. This is Alyosha and like Richard (until the End), I never aged. Unlike Richard I never killed any doctors, I was a slave only to GOD. I hardly ever left my little circle of land. But like Richard, I saw everything. When you meet me in this book, I am the same age as Walt. Let me tell you, I do not want to be God or a demon or a person blessed by God with special powers. My ambition is to serve God and die. Let my body rot, Let my soul raise itself by its lightness to heaven. Now I will tell you MiB was right: we are all sinners. Jacob was a fool to believe in redemption without God. Faraday was God's agent, but such a strange choice. He looked like a younger version of a man I saw Ivan with before his fatal illness. I pray for Ivan, for them all. You know your Gospels. You know that thousands of children died because of Herod's decree in the two yearsafter Christ's birth. Walt was the chosen one. Michael had to kill those people, so Walt could take possession of his little circle of the world. You would not believe who told me this story. The incidents of those thousands of years were recounted by the fattest monk I have ever met. He told me he can to settle my doubts. He promised me that God wanted me to be exactly as I am. Brother Hugo told the whole story over days, but only to me. And he brought food. Everyday crates, huge and many: we feed ourselves and the needy for two years. He would appear at dawn standing beside the crates. It was as if they (both Hugo and the food) had fallen from the sky. But that would have been impossible. 6 days ago by Past recaptured
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Why? Book 11 : Ivan chapter 8 page 573. If there is no God, all is permitted. Ivan taught Smerdyyakov well. Straight from St. Augustine, this truth justifies the devil's latest strategy. This chapter contains a version is a lie that identifies the true killers, yet everything else is fiction. The truth is Book 12: A Judicial Error in chapters 10, 11,&12. While all of it is important, (and true), chapter 13 speculates on the question of why a mother would murder her children (are you listening Claire, Eli Widmore Hawking Faraday?). Now I, being the the devil, always tell the truth. I know it well. It's my former "employer" that keeps slandering me. This idiot Stephen King, that faker Jack Lewis, all the others: they are liars. I am as described in Book 11, chapter 9, I am a well-dressed spirit of business. The moderator asks for respect for all points of views. Well, let me say, that I deserve respect. I am a self-made entity, tossed out of paradise over some trivial disagreement. I started with nothing (just like Sawyer, Kate, Locke, Ben, Jacob) and imposed my will upon the world. Now just because I killed this Ivan off and took his ideas as my own, you all think I am some kind of monster. (Ben did not lose any fans when he hung Locke; Ben did the honest thing. He could have allowed a fruitless immoral suicide. Instead he made Locke a great martyr to Faith.) My former "employer" keeps painting me as some goated headed creature with a tail. No, I tell you I am an honest being of business. You cannot fault me anymore than you can fault Ben or Charlie Widmore for eliminating the competition. Ivan had to go; I honor his memory by following his plans. Before I go, I have to tell you who really let me down. Ben cheated me. He was as smart they come. He played me like a violin. That last bit with Widmore, I really thought he had come to his senses. No, he goes off and helps this overpraised Deity. Just when you can trust somebody... 6 days ago by Past recaptured
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The Y in Fyodor. Here's the Y 6 days ago by Past recaptured
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COWBOYS

Cowboy in Siberia. so what's a landowner's son doing in this place? The police arrested him for subversion. He was facing a firing squad when the Tsar pardoned Fodor. People will tell you that his doctor father (Christian) murdered one of his serfs among other excesses of emotional behavior. After Siberia, there was the army for four years Fodor (perhaps like Desmond) Fodor was unhappy). Freud would say he had a reaction formation. Fodor became a champion of the Tsar and the Orthodox Church ( just as Sayid followed Saddam when it fed his passions). But there were other passion- whores, drinking, gambling (remember Charlie, there are more vices than heroin). There was a conversion reaction. Fodor began to have those seizures (the divine disease of epilepsy) soon after his father died. You know about those. It is like somebody who loses the ability to walk, is locked in wheelchair. The trigger was the father. Fodor had a son; the gossip is that his son died of a seizure disorder. Some people think that the little boy (in this book) who dies is a representation of Fodor's son. Some people do not believe the boy in the novel has anything to do with Fodor's son. He dies at twice the age of Fodor's son. The boy in the book is about Ben's age. Do you remember? Sayid shot Ben. Some people that think Dostoyevsky thought his illness killed his son. ( Of course, the syntax is twisted. Can you draw a straight line?) You could say ( if you were poetic ) that evil within the father killed the son. Or you could think Fodor's father molded the man who was everyman. Yes, Fodor was also a man of many twists. But he had no kingdom, but he confronted many more perils than Odysseus. And they were inside himself. That reminds me of a story about two brothers. One thought that all men were evil. Fodor knew that. The other thought that he would find good persons somewhere if he tested enough people. These good people would redeem themselves. Fodor tried to believe this. However, there were too many temptations, too many memories of the few months when he was playing the nihilist, the rebel, playing He who denies (Goethe's term for the devil). Power, having the power to erase God, there's the only real pleasure. Ask Ben Linus or Charles Widmore or MiB or Jacob. They will tell you. 16 minutes ago by Past recaptured
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from russia with love

Of course Ivan is the main character of The Brothers Karamazov as Jack is the main character in LOST. I have been trashing Jack and Stephen King untilI could figure it out. The IT is what LOST is really about. Most of the mis-information and rudeness on my part has had the single goal of asking for the users to give me clues. The long bit about James the Minor Vs. James the Major was meant to see if anybody knew about Armenian Christianity which provides a different fate for the former. Dostoyevsky is Papa Karamazov and Dmitri. Ivan is a type of character who emerges first in Gogol's Dead Souls. This character is seen in a more "continental" (an insulting term used by both Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky to describe Turgenev). Turgenov presents the nihilist Bazarov in Fathers and Sons. After one has read these authors King's demons are mere puppets. The Grand Inquisitor (the best slam against Catholicism and at the same time the greatest defense of Christ in modern times) would stand unequalled if not for the conferences between the devil and Ivan and Smerdyakov. It gets no better than this unless you read The Idiot or The Devils. Crime and Punishment is Dostoyevsky medium dark. Milton's oxymoron "darkness visible" applies. I'll stop with this. King, CS Lewis, Et alia. are far less impressive than the "comical" protagonist of Dead Souls. Tolkien's Dark Mordor is less frightening than the waiting room where Ivan and the devil have their first little chat. LOST has its main texts the Odyssey, the Revised Standard Bible of Fundamental Christians, and the Brothers Karamazov. The shining light at the end is Solzhenitsyn's First Circle. Ben refusal to enter echoes Pasternak's Dr. Zhivago whose theme is there is no place for the non-political man in the Soviet Union. Irony: the great leader has no politics. MiB and jacob are gone. He has no position. darlton built better than they knew. I thank Just sayin', horrible eyes, balk of fame for their help. 2 seconds ago by Past recaptured
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The Fatal Shore is Australia according to Hughes' history of Australia. There is another fatal shore. It is life itself. The Island, flashforward, flash to the side, Flashback. Ben, the wisest of them, tells the secret (I have no idea if Darlton intended this. Ben says when The Brothers Karamazov is offered, he requests Stephen King. This is the obvious, outfront, not at all subtle key to LOST. I will not be long in my explanation point by point without explanation: daddy problems -- Dostoyevsky and his father, Dostoyevsky and young son; Most of the characters are inverted; however, Locke is Father Zossima,they are corrupted through no fault of their own. Sawyer is Dmitri except he loses his soul but escapes without scratch. Ben is Smerdyakov who chooses life. Ivan is the opposite of Jack. Faraday is the devil; it is he who leads the losties in Dante's First Circle of Hell. Hurley is Alyosha, but he need not strive for perfection. He denies his own perfection. The final twist is that Faraday is God's servant. All of Lost is a series of twists on Dostoyevsky except the daddy problems remain quite the same. 19 hours ago by Past recaptured
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In theology (the study of God), immanent: present in the material universe (the universe has 4 parts heaven, hell, purgatory (for some), earth) This belief is widely held (from orthodox Jews to radical Islamists to Catholic to conservative African Anglicans to the Russian orthodox primate). If this does not make sense, read Charles Peirce on how truth is determined. For about 40% of Christians, God made Mary before original sin took place. She was created and died and was assumed physically into heaven. She was created by God, is part of Creation, but she has a special set of properties but is fully human and not divine. In contrast Plato, Aquinas, Spinoza, Kant and plenty of other thinkers use the word Transcendental in the same sense: beyond human experience or knowledge. God (Christ) existed before Creation, is removed from it. he may or may not have assumed human form (completely human, completely divine). GOD is transcendental; he existed before creation; he will exist after creation is gone. But the same groups I listed above (islamic, christian, orthodox and conservative Jews) believe that God created all things. Einstein was working on this assumption for 35 years TOE (theory of everything). Clue: Stone foot missing TOE September 28 by Past recaptured
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no. from New Webter's Dictionary LEXICON publications --1993 immanent: theological definition --actually present through-out the universe page484 col 1.
Transcendental beyond the range of human experience to Kant beyond all possible knowledge bottom 1047, top 1048
transcendental outside the limits of possible human experience, Kant beyond the limits of possible knowledge: bottom of 1047, top of 1048.
For the catholic theologian Mary existed before original sin; she was part of creation (the material universe).
Christ is transcendent because he existed as God before the universe was created. the Immaculate Conception is accepted by catholics, orthodox, high church anglicans and many mainline Protestant sects. in order to have an immaculate concept, the vessel (and this term in most theologic texts) must without sin.
September 28 by Past recaptured
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Of course, I am mad. I believe that unleaven bread and red wine can become the body of God incarnate. I eat human and divine flesh. I believe that God came into this world for unworthy humans such as myself.
If i were not a jungian therapist, I'd be in the laughing academy September 28 by Past recaptured
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homer and hero

It is Telemachus who is the obvious hero. james joyce refers over and over to his alter-ego Stephen as Stephen-Hero. But there is nowhere for either Stephen or Telemachus to go. If you put Daniel Boorstin's chapter 4 of The Creators(which explains Homer's place in Greek culture along side the complementary place occupied by Hesiod side by side with chapter 68 on Joyce himself. Stephen is Telemachus. They ended directly opposed. Stephen becomes the eternal exile, just as Joyce becomes. Telemachus becomes the king of Ithaca, wanders no more, achieves his identity. Jack achieves his maturity, finds his destiny. How does he does he do this? He has His Mentor (the godlike Hurley) and he has his father, Locke, to become king you must have a dead father. Of course, there is the other Telemachus, Ben, the man who needed no mentor, no teacher. he is the natural heir of Odysseus. Yet he chooses exile. Like Stephen, he deserts the Odysseus of Joyce's creation. Why? From the time we see Ben with Joyce's novel, we know that strange incarnation of Zeus that is Faraday is at work.. if you look at Zeus' parents and compare them to Daniel's, you might catch some similiarities. Then there is someone manipulating the LA flash sideways. There is pushing Ben one way and Jack the other. He has crew, chiefly Desmond,but also Minkowski, the world's most resourceful driver. He drives Desmond to the lotus eater, Charlie. He returns Desmond to Faraday. then Desmond becomes a demi-god, a Hermes with messages, powers, the final blow to Ben and the arbiter of the contest between the dutiful Jack and his possessed spiritual father. Locke made him a man of faith as did Desmond, Sawyer Faraday and Hurley. The final act of jack's life before dying is to kill the body of the person who began his salvation and relight the flame (Jack is much closer to Virgil's Aeneas at this point (see book 8 of Virgil's poem).
The saddest words are might have been. Ben chose prudence over courage. He should have faced MiB as soon as he he killed Jacob. Sad moment n.2: Ben was reluctant to kill Jacob. Ben knew from flight 316 onward, how things would end. Flashsideways was as much about preventing Ben from acting as about preparing Hurley and Jack for their fates. Jin, Sun, Sayid, Jack, many others would have survived. Ben would have surely died a horrible death, revenge from the higher power which I call Zeus.
Michael did what was required of him. The fact that he could not kill himself until his death was necessary to correct Ben's killing of Kreamy. The Zeus of LOST aint the Christian god. In the last episodes, Michael gave Hurley a push when he needed it. It was Zeus' will that Walt take command. Zeus makes the rules, and he tries to put the blame on humans

LOST RESOLVED2

1. Aeneas has several love affairs, but his is with Dido, queen of carthage. As commanded by Jove, he must leave Dido to go to Italy. Like Juilet, she perishes as a suicide in a fiery pyre. but in lost Dido ( who is Vergil's Penelope) and jack becomes more and more like Aeneas are set by faraday's sacrifice on their Journey. 2)One of the great scenes in the aeneid is the death at sea of Aeneas' pilot, he dies like Charlie drowning to atone for the error of the chosen ones (the surviving Trojans)3) the Hades of Vergil is much like the hall of mirrors that jack destroys. jack is not ready yet. He is not yet able to accept his mission. 4)The shields of Achilles, Aeneas, and Jack all show all the aspects of life. So where is jack's shield? This answer requires a very obscure response. Odysseus is awarded all of Achilles' armour including the shield. Who made these shields It was the blacksmith of the gods. who is lost's Blacksmith? our very own mib! And who turns the wheel most often. It is the man of many twists, Ben. 5) The engagement ordained by heaven is that between Penny and Desmond. Exactly the opposite of Vergil: the Queen (Eli Hawking) tells Desmond to leave Penny alone. The King has already tried to stop him. But Desmond assuming the role of Odysseus (Not the pious destiny of Jack, but the sailor separated from his constant love.) He cleverly captures his Penelope both in "reality" and through the direction of Zeus/Faraday in Flashsideways. And who has been rejected by Juilet (the Major Penelope) but loses the treasure of Widmore's empire. Surprise, once again it is the man of many twists, Ben. Desmond plays both Odysseus and Hermes. 6)Just as Jack turns into Aeneas, not Odysseus, and sacrifices everything for God. This is what they all died for. In virgil, it is the founding of Rome. In Lost, it for the sake of ordered pious universe. In the Odyssey, they did by the thousands to show the supremacy of the man of many twists. 7)But at very end of the Odyssey, there is a sign. It is a bit like the Church scene in that it ends all possibility of further action. But the poets from Homer onward never let the king of Ithaca rest. 8)Not even darlton allows the man of many twists any rest. He is Joyce's wondering middle manager and then Ben becomes the man of my twists to another Telemachus named Walt. Hurley gets the role of Mentor (the divine athena). 9)Ben will not be redeemed for long, Odysseus will never cease his voyages. when you get to the end of the Odyssey, you see that my endless fascination with two characters is the direct result of how the Odyssey ends. The end of Lost resembles Virgil's world. But the epilogue opens the door that Homer never imagined: a fictional character immortal as God Himself.

LOST RESOLVED

1)The scar: jack's scar sideways time Odysseus is identified by a scar made a wild boar. locke/Flocke is the hunter of boars and he becomes one himself(symbolic archetype the horned monster) 2)Who was Mib meant to inhabit? Frank J. Lapidus. Smokie was to have his escape with another Odysseus, the eternal captain. Jacob had meant for his brother to escape. Why? It was Ben that had arranged this, thinking that he was serving Jacob. This began the war between Ben and Jacob. Why was all this happening? All this because an alarm clock fails 3)What kind of God plays such games? It is the old man of the sea, Proteus (Book IV). Menelaus catches him with the help of the old man's daughter. Proteus can assume any shape, travel anywhere. Homer's digression serves to "steer" Telemachus toward his father. But the old man and his daughter are figures of Zeus and Athena. Athena is literally the product of Zeus's brain. (that's another tangent) Something that Darlton said about faraday's death. they protested too much. they made too much of his parting. Faraday was there from day 1. the alarm that did not go off. It is not Jacob that Hurley encounters, it is Faraday. Dogen is Faraday. the children are neither jacob or his brother, again Faraday. Finally, Christian is not in that Church. Again, Faraday. Where else would God live; He has to live in the City of Angels. Odysseus at the very end of the Odyssey defies the gods (i.e. zeus and his brainchild, Athena) gets a lightening stroke fired just next to Athena. Move one more step and the next bolt is for you Odysseus (Ben). Ben is too smart to walk into the church. He will wait It is the great contest the man of many twists versus the God of many faces. It is always Odysseus contra God. Ben and Faraday never meet because theirs is the endless struggle. Ben knows his limits, but there is always that envelope to push.


Ok, even though nobody asked --the information about faraday=zeus Chritian takes an ax in the deleted scene (Season 5)"sun and lapidus wonder abot Christian". Another god cracks Zeus head open and Athena emerges. (Hurley gets smarter) The absolute proof: Faraday describes the crash and the freighter to Jack, explains in pre-socratic pnilosophy, in the "pebbles and the boulders" scene the river of time. The boar reference in the deleted scene " hunting" All season 5 //Season 6 -- a deleted bit betwwen Desmond and Eli "Desmond's Task" and a bit between Ben and Desmond -- "epiphany"

matchless

The genius of Homer is matchless. His masterpiece, and this is saying a lot, is the man of twists. There is no character (not even Hamlet) who commands the attention of Odysseus. His flaw is the absence of piety. This is the opinion of Virgil who constructs his "homeric hero" in the Aeneid; however, all skill of the Roman poet does not make Aeneas interesting. Dante presents two stories of Odysseus in the Comedia. Dante prefers the Trojans for complex political reasons. There is the trickerster in Hell. Later, there is a story unique in Dante (a story not previously told in any other work). It is the only instance in which the order of heaven, purgatory and hell is broken. It is a second Odyssey that breaks the boundary between the living and the death. In Shakespeare's Trolius and Cressida, he is given a great speech in which he explains the order of the universe. He is a clown, boaster, a cold killer, a defender of his kingdom, clever and cautious yet is arrogant to think himself immune to the power of the gods. He is the subject of every poet. He is said by some to have reached Portugal and found that nation. By others he is said to be a Jewish advertizing salesman living in Dublin. Borges has said that all of Dante is empty of humanity except when Odyssues appears. He is matchless in arrogance and in caution. He swears to honor the gods (esp. Athena), yet insults them at every turn. He swears he loves peace, but he destroys Troy and almost turns Ithaca into a kingdom of heaping corpses. He returns nearly naked, a king who is fearful of finding no allies. Despite all this he is the mastermind, the leader, blessed with every talent. He has a dutiful son, a brave father, and has for a wife the clever and virtuous Penelope. In Homer's Fairy Tale full of gods, giants, seductive witches, there is at the center, the most fascinating character in all of literature and the most real character ever invented.

cards on the table

Ok, I am going to put my cards as much as I can on table. I am the part that the patient experience before people like Jack (surgeons). I am the guy that shows up about the operation fails, after the rehab. fails, after the emotional strength that people like Jack think everybody has fails.
I am the guy that gets called when the chemo is beginning, when the spinal intervention does not work, when demenza has set in. I do internal medicine, forensic medicine (I fall into that by accident), endocrinology less oftem than I like and psicoterapia using a theoretical paradigm, that is fundamentally European in origin with with North American trappings. I know Jack, Christian, Juilet better than any others. Juilet's a bitch, got no use for her. Jack and Christian are batting overall in the low 200's.
You are right: Igot no interest in talking to jack or christian or the real life counterparts; I am interested in their results. Miles, p. chang, sawyer, I met them all. And, if you ask them, even james bond, not mention 2 Cia agents. I know sayid and eli widmore (usually her hair is bluer. Folks like jacob and Mib, those I have known too many to count. I wish I had met someone like locke, ben, charlie, hurley, or faraday.
Oh, I knew Charlie. Charlie was the best teacher I had. In return for methadone, he taught how to be a therapist. I entered the lab when I was 18. I am trying to finish my 7 th book ( which I owe to you folks. I cannot tell you why but I find ... how can I put gently ... As in The Hounds of the Baskervilles, the dog did not bark. I am 53 now; american social security has set my date for retirement 02/23. I do not if i can i make that far. That's God's business. I kinda a small scale of Charlie Widmore. As you may since the election of Obama, American embassies have making of ex-patriots (Pun-Intention) who want to renounce their US citizenship. I am not looking for redemption like the suddenly silly Ben: I am not on that list. I play the cards I was dealt.

you must remember this

No, i do not want to direct you to a church or to belief in God (S). I want to direct you to my rude, pompous comments. I am happy to be ill-received. I am glad to be unsympathetic. I want you to go out, get library cards, and tell me how wrong I am. If you live in the US, you must know that your liberties are being destroyed in the name of wars that are impossible to win. If you lived where I do, where no vast public librariesstand open to the poor and rich, maybe you'd you wanted put freedom of expression above all else. I live in a country where a quarter of the population cannot read. No, my friends, I have profited greatly from our exchanges. It is shame that you do not remember that same man that wrote the Declaration of Independence, fought for a statute for religious tolerance ( while he personally despised the theology of mainstream Protestant faiths and thought Catholics were the servants of a foreign enemy),and gave (sold) his books to form the nucleus of the Library of Congress. I am old, rude,pompous; pick your adjective. But I know that those who do not test the limits of liberty will soon be without it.--

protagonist

I have not seen the epilogue. Although I am a Catholic, I object to the Christianity infused in THE END. There could have been a better ending. I have written multiple endings that are displayed in other places. Most involve Ben and Faraday. For me, the final episode of St. Elsewhere was perfect: it ripped your guts out, left you in mid-air without a parachute, yet made perfect sense in the context of the story. LOST failed. Sure, I will read about the epilogue. So far the only thing that pleases me is that Michael's actions are fully justified. With this we can see that Michael's appearance to Hugo was a test of Hugo's character. As for the Ben-centric epilogue, once more (by sheer luck and the incredible Emerson), Ben is the central character, the protagonist. Once more, when Ben killed Jacob, he gained all Jacob's powers. It was Ben's decision not to kill MiB. The flash sideways was a message to Ben not to kill MiB. For me, Ben should have continued to blackmail the principal, shot Ilana, and returned to Locke to kill him. The choice was explicit in Ben's history lesson: Napoleon at Elba. Ben should have wrecked the divine plan of whomever(God, Faraday, Jacob). Who has such will? Try the poem Invictus: that was Nelson Mandela's mantra during his years in prison.

past recaptured, present explained

Grammar is a great theory; it often serves expositonal writing. But the ear for human speech and the ability to put all pieces to build the marvel are the storyteller's gift. The workshop is the human heart in conflict with itself. The last phrase belongs to Faulkner. It is from his Nobel address; it rings through the ages. Grammar teaches us the rules to break. Huck Finn breaks them all. Moby Dick dumps digestion upon digression (yes, it's neologism at its worst and a pun). Darlton failed as storytellers. They went with the Christian (pun) ending. Instead, they could had Faraday arises from the shadow of the statue. He turns time back, everybody gets home safely: Richard with his wife, Ben cleaning the floor in Dharmaville as his father did. Faraday puts flowers on the graves of his parents. He turns to Jack and says: just having one God seems kinda boring. Why not two? Or Ben kills MIB: "You know old habits are hard to break. I let them die just to give you a false sense of security. It's just a courtesy, you die quickly. My name's Jacob. Bye-bye, brother." This would explain Ben's kung-fu fighting in Tunsia as well.

The scripture tells us that Jesus wept as he look up upon The City of David (as in Jack's fictional son). Clue, somewhere the alternative ending that I (perhaps only I) saw in that moment and so many others. The manipulation of Desmond, the figure of Hugo, the fact that Faraday nevers meets Ben except through Desmond's fists. Ben, like Hugo, terrify angels, demons, and even God. Faraday glimpses Ben's soul and understands how much Widmore would do to keep Ben hidden from the world. The writers chose a different route, much to my displeasure.


In my myopic opinion, this is the key episode in the series. The End would have worked better without this episode. This episode sets us up for everything that needs to happen, but did not. Faraday is a divine figure, another Christ. the term has been applied to both St. Francis and Spinoza) His death at the hands of mother mirrors Christ's death. It was the proof that Jack demanded of God's existence. It sets up a three way conflict between the female goddess and Faraday and that character that is the true protagonist, Ben. (Please my comments on ben and mib in another blog concerning mr. sheep) The concept of sideways as Faraday's "kingdom come" springs forward from his death. It could have foreshadowed the final duel between Ben and Faraday's army to borrow a phrase from Harry Potter. Ben would have destroyed MIB. Sideways time would have become real as Ben is defeated. Jack lives, Locke walks, Sun and her husband live, Desmond takes over Widmore's empire. Hurley remains to give Ben a choice: go back to sideways time and take your chances OR remain here among the ghosts. Hurley remains explaining that he has learned that he can pass effortlessly between life and death. He must remain; the island is his kingdom. Finally, we say Hugo digging in the sand and Faraday appearing alive and well in the shadow of the statue. the final ambiguity: is Faraday living or dead or beyond such distinctions as Hugo is. BUT this was the road not taken.


Ms (Miz Wanda), I missed something in you comment: In no way do I seek to be a hero: nor a leader nor a demon nor an extra-terrestial! I seek to learn, and what I have learned I have down in books: I do not happen to live in the USA. I started my own publishing company to publish my work. In the same manner I started my new medical practice. I am closing my farms (on which people grow fruits and vegetables. By the end of the year, I will have but one "share-cropper" left.I have bought and sold houses for property. Now I am attempting to sue some folks who took some land from me. I work two jobs as a physician. I have no time to anybody's hero. I am all over the internet. My book titles are there. The scientific papers I worked on, the number of my infamous patent: they are all there as well. I am too busy minding my own business to be a leader or hero. My own to-do list is long.

little miss sunshine's uncle

--)There will never be another LOST. After the the failure of Flashward, I doubt there will be another attempt to construct another similiar paradigm: the world in peril, its salvation depends on a very few. LOST had everything except a clear vision from the beginning. The whole of Season 1 was a magnificient introduction to nearly all the protagonists. The device (unintensional) of introducing Ben in season 2 revealed the series' true theme. Then came Faraday. WHY WAS HE THERE? You need to decide that for yourself. Was he the shadow of things to come? Did he represent Christ? For me he did. All of season 6 was about saving Hurley and Ben, give Jack and Locke peace in their deaths: Faraday's instrument was Desmond. The male God replaces the female. What was missing a lot: Eli's death -- the last priestess of the female Mother. What we saw: Ben renounces Rousseau and begins his redemption. His cleverness and his cold-blooded ruthless in the service of Hurley (he who walks among us but is not one of us. What was missing? Faraday's return from beneath the shadow of the statue. Then he rescues Jack and Locke; the three walking into eternity. Here we place the final scene between Ben and Locke. The return of flight 316: Kate and Sawyer realizing that they have each their soulmates and parting. Desmond taking the shattered widmore enterprises and being re-united with Penny. Walt admitted that he killed Eli and swearing that he will never leave Aaron. Aaron's grandmother must accept this or die. "My father killed and was killed to preserve this child and myself. Many others died for our sakes, so that the world would continue. We were chosen by God. You have the choice that many others were never given. Choose life. Much of Fst could have deleted to make room for these extra scenes.

favorite things

I agree that the quality of priests varies widely. But, as you know, I look upon theology as an academic subject. it's about linguistics, anthropology, philosophy, physics. In fact I think such "atheists" as Stephen Hawking are far closer to God than most priests or imans. Those who study creation are studying; often they are so close to Him that they do not realize it. Newton, Clerk Maxwell (as important as Einstein to physics) and Einstein were profoundly religious. Newton was an opponent of many Anglican tenets. his theological tracts far outweigh his scientific works (measured in pounds). Maxwell was a fundamentalist Christian who wrote hymms. Einstein was consumed by the concept of design within the universe; he termed his later work "having tea with the old man" (God).
Religion is a burden. St Paul speaks again and again of his suffering and the difficulties encountered by the various early Christian communities. There is no greater tribute to a pedophile than Dante's canto 15 of Inferno. He places in hell his teacher and loyal friend Bruno Latini for sexual activities. But for the only time in all of the Inferno, Dante remarks that not only is he sorry (pity which always is a component in Dante's view of the damned), but he sees Latini, not simply as someone lost to God, but as a champion. My summary cannot do justice to Dante's admission that his greatest teacher is the paragon of the greatest sin (to us in our time). to read it is to understand something that CS Lewis said in The Screwtape Letters: side by side, we find the greatest virtues and the greatest vices; these individuals are Satan's favorite targets.
Read John Donne, George Herbert, Manley Hopkins, Francis Thompson, TS Eliot: each probes the pain of confronting the divine.
To lose the knowledge of God is a greater burden than the knowledge of God's manifold works. A final example: Wallace, Alfred co-discover of theory of evolution renounced his theory because he could not account for human virtue within the paradigm of evolution. His work as a biologist is great if not greater than Darwin's; however, he rejected his work because he could not bear the idea of man without the spark of divinity. Read SJ Gould's Mind and Supermind. Gould's Essay appears in The Flamingo's Smile to see the argument against evolution that Wallace advanced. He would overturn all of science if there was no room for God within it. Much of what he wrote was madness. He chose Christianity instead of acclaim. (His evidence for evolution was much stronger than Darwin's) His theory is far more difficult than special creation. It remains unproven. He chose God over his own fame; he chose ridicule over renown.

My Proper Portion

I have written in Mr. Sheep's blog about my belief that there were better ways to end LOST. It is clear that if you say that you are a person of faith, I do not doubt you.
As for the ending, I would have changed the last ten minutes. Ben would have appeared at the concert to kill Mrs. Hawking: "Your son sent me, Mother." At most three minutes for that. Back to the island Jack is dead, but he is not alone. Faraday is standing over his body emptying his pockets of sand. "Get up, Jack. You have patients waiting." Jack is helped to his feet by Faraday and Ben. Jack is puzzled. Faraday cuts to the point. You are not dead; you were dead until I released you. Your life must go on. Your friends are not dead. Only Desmond, Ben, Hurley, and I know what you know happened here in the shadow of the statue. And you will notice as we walk to my plane that there is no wreckage on the beach. There is nothing here, just a fire, a couple of houses from the 50's. the American military built them Hurley and Ben have lived in them for a long time. It's 2004; I am afraid that you and I need to get back to LA. I have a lottery ticket and a dead father to bury. The last shot is Widmore's dead body on the cliff. (NOT LOCKE)! END TITLE:LOST. Ben's voice: Professor Faraday, I have had some experience with these coffins on planes. They get lost. How about cremation, economical and quick. FARADAY: That makes sense, Doctor Linus.
I regret that I prefer irony. Piety, Tragic endings or Comic finales need a stiff shot of irony to satisfy this man of faith. I have studied the Gospels too well to do without it. Who would thought that the King of Kings was a carpenter? A King who would be killed on planks of wood? I believe in impossible things: bread and wine are God incarnate and we eat Him. Truly, I am a fool to admit such things. And only a fool would believe a child could be conceived without intercourse. I am a doctor; I should know better. I have enough strange ideas in my head. I think of them as facts. Please do not ask to believe too much: my portion is ample.

Jack

[edit] NO NOT EVERYBODY IS DEAD
We are fooled into that concept of everybody's dead by Jack's reward. He is seeing his death in 2004 when really died in 2007. he is being given the gift of a life fulfiiled. His father was no wise, loving parent. He was a hateful, sloppy drunk. Jack redeemed them all. His action of extinguishing the flame ended Mother's rule. How do we know this? 1) The new "jacob" is Hugo, an infinitely more powerful being than Jacob. He who speaks with the dead is a person that mortality cannot touch. You know when he plays chess and thepieces move by themselves that he has achieved a higher state. His work in the world beyond the island is done. There is no place for him in the world of LA X. And he is not jacob. The flame that Jack lit was Hugo's. He held the fire all the time. But Mother and her children would have destroyed that Fire. He was the one above corruption. 2) Hume's refusal to answer Mrs. Widmore's question. I believe Hume said not this time. In other words, how many times must he die. He is the author of all this, culminating in the concert. Hume is also saying that Charles and Eliose have ceased to have any importance. This is Daniel's last word to his mother. The concert is the culmination of the sideways world for Daniel. He has prepared Jack for his mission. Even Jack's son is an illusion to provide him fulfillment as a parent. His last patient is a miracle. Faraday has tried to give jack some joy. 3) The sideways world exists because of the energy from the island. when Mother's light was extinguished. the sideways world became real. the energy from the island has been converted. 4) Ben is outside the church because he must return to the island to protect it. He is the King of trees and deserted houses.--the sideways world is only purgatory if you consider real life to purgatory. It may be. Marriage, children, jobs -- all may be considered purgatory. Christian Sheepherd is no more a prophet than Charles Widmore. He is a figment of Faraday's conjuring. Hume calls Jack. Hume picks up a coffin. It's all for Jack's benefit, the happy death. The reality is that Ben in his endless machinations taught Jack one thing. "Thomas is not remembered for his bravery, but for his doubt. You have chosen courage. I have chosen doubt. That's why I cannot enter. Look at us, you saved us all. I killed so many people for a good that never existed. You gave up your life, and you saved us all" I would liked that ending.

In the Gospel, there is a rich young man who comes to Jesus.
What must i do to be saved? You must give up what you have , leave your family, follow me. the rich young man turns away. my opinion is that this figure represents the Buddha. Outside the scripture, the young realizes that he has no choice. he has seen the suffering. Hurley is the Buddha . The male demi-god who has taken the place of mother. Ben is Napoleon who ends as the king of deserted kingdom. his two subjects, Rose and Bernard have no regard for him.
Jack joins Faraday as a shadow who appear, mumble a few words, and guide the world.

the magiffin

In nearly all Hitchcock films, there is an object that most characters chase. The famous Magiffen is Houston's Maltese falcon: As Bogie says this is the stuff that dreams are made of. The bridge over (on) the River Kwai, the two passports in Casblanca and the Pink Panther diamond are other examples. In LOST, there are two such items. One is the title of leader. There is a trap the real leader must protect the other MaGuffin called the Source What Mother says is a heresy to all Christians and probably to all Buddhists. The light within is divided among all. This is the Gnostic Heresy, i.e., God is within you from the start. Christians believe that the original sin is within the fetus at conception. From what I understand of Buddhism, the journey to light is harch and long. (Personally, I believe both. As I wrote to Mr. Sheep, religion is a burden. The final destination is a cross.) Here is the real choice. Salvation lies in giving back the Source to this all-subsuming physicist that we call God. Every knowledgable Christian, Muslim, Jew and many others especially Spinoza and Einstein know the all is of this male, jealous God. Everyone should know that energy and matter are interchangable. They should know that energy cannot be created or destroyed. The question is who knows this. I am sure Faraday knew this. Maybe he still does. I bet that Linus knows this. Jack, Juilet, Locke Lapidus, Miles, Chang (or Candlewax) should know this. (I had this drummed into my head at age 11 by the nuns). In other words, everybody knows this. So what's the use of all these words? This is Pentecost when Peter spoke to the crowds and each heard in his own tongue. You may believe it or not. But there need not be a miracle to spark such a debate. A simple phrase can ignite an even bigger debate. Christ said, but it could come from anybody's lips. "Render to Caesar what is Caesar's, and to God what is God's. I pay many taxes, but render little else to Caesar. That's the answer. The key to life (survival, happiness, return from the dead, true love....) lies in the shadow of the statue as well as in the hearts of some, but not so many, homo sapiens.

the glass bead game

So here we are: THE BIG QUESTIONS
1). Is Faraday going to reappear? Does he represent the Spinozan God who cannot interfere in the world because his intrusion is destructive? I would hope so. If he represented that whining ass jacob. I would be disappointed.

2).Will that 10 year brain in the kung fu body finally leave us alone (the viewers and the characters)? Killing this idiot was the best thing Ben ever did. Next Mib, then rid us of jack. Mail him back to LA, dead or alive. I am sure you can dispose of these idiots. then go ahead rule the island, the world: you deserve it, Ben. Or instead get with faraday, locke, and desmond for a spin-off Three nerds and a hunk (or 3 wise men and 1 wise ass; they could draw straws)

Of course, Ben, you need to make sure that Locke is safe. Mib will just grab somebody else; he needs an ashtray. Also make sure that Hurley does not get any smoke in his eyes. 3) Will Faraday be able to save everybody? Put richard and isabella in a condo far from the sea, next door to jin and sun. (spin-off) Bring back most of dead, not all of them? (Let Juilet go to Greenland. She deserves to live, but she is a bitch.) Faraday or somebody, send Claire (but not her baby) and Kate to torment Woman in hell. Will somebody (Ben or Faraday or Hume) stab Eli Hawking as MiB did Woman?


Across the sea was the episode that I was waiting for. I was intriqued by the archetype: the angel guarding the gate to Eden. THEN Darlton gave it away with Richard: the slave is the one is meant to kill the King of the Wood. The absolute clarity of the reference explains the infertility, the sickness, jacob's inability to function (he's the HAL of LOST). His very last scene in which he thinks he can appoint his successor was a real manifestation of his inability to learn his own mythology. he is Ben's opposite; Ben is the physically frail, but intellectual agile sociopath. Jacob is an example of the borderline personality.


Locke may have died without answers, but the audience has them. Explicit answers: from Ben, "he was a better man"; from smokie "of all of you, he alone had faith" then that ego-building lie to Jack: "he was a sucker" (translation: "You were always the smarter one, Jack, and I am trying to trick you, Doctor Dummy"). LOST has the subtle touch of a sledge hammer. My name is Henry Gale (Gee, I must be a liar just as the Wizard of Oz) Hi, I am Sawyer and just like my friend Huck, I do not like wearing shoes. I do like fooling people. But I am going to get civilized by a slightly older woman (Juilet = Becky Thatcher). Reference after reference given without much grace. Rousseau, Burke, Napoleon. Hume, Minkowski, Michael's son, Faraday. And over and over, the clue I missed until I saw Across the Sea. The madonnas filled with cocaine that killed every man who touched them. The only one who may escape is Locke thanks this year's HUGE CLUE: Elba, the one arm posture, the embrace from Rousseau. Linus was never "redeemed".


WHO IS BURIED OR RECLINES IN THE SHADOW OF THE HOUSE OF THE BOY WHO LIVED IN THE SHOE? COULD IT BE LAPIDUS, ALPERT, FARADAY, WALT? I would exclude Alpert; he was falling his new master, Ben. I would guess it is the same person who got Desmond out of the well. There were only four individuals with divine powers: MIB is just a ghost trapped between worlds. He can't run too far and he knows he cannot kill Ben because Ben is the true candidate. Alpert is immutable. MiB cannot kill him either. Jacob (now dead) gave Alpert a gift. So we got However, Hurley's power is far greater. He exists both among the living and the dead. Jacob once again was lying. Only a foolish demon would ever try to manipulate such a being. Desmond is being manipulated by either Walt whose youth makes it less likely or by Faraday. Daniel has appeared to only one person - Desmond. Alpert<< Hurley probably less than Walt's or Faraday's

Ben and Faraday

So here we are: THE BIG QUESTIONS
1). Is Faraday going to reappear? Does he represent the Spinozan God who cannot interfere in the world because his intrusion is destructive? I would hope so. If he represented that whining ass jacob. I would be disappointed.

2).Will that 10 year brain in the kung fu body finally leave us alone (the viewers and the characters)? Killing this idiot was the best thing Ben ever did. Next Mib, then rid us of jack. Mail him back to LA, dead or alive. I am sure you can dispose of these idiots. then go ahead rule the island or the world: you deserve it, Ben.

Of course, Ben, you need make sure that Locke is safe. Mib will just grab somebody else. Also make sure that Hurley does not get any smoke in his eyes. 3) Will Faraday be able to save everybody? Put richard and isabella in a condo far from the sea, bring back most of dead, not all of them? (Let Juilet go to Greenland. She deserves to live, but she is a bitch.) Faraday or somebody, send Claire (but not her baby) and Kate to torment Woman in hell. Will somebody (Ben or Faraday or Hume) stab Eli Hawking as MiB did Woman?