As I continue thinking about the possibility that LOST is exploring issues of the meaning of life and morality in an infinite multiverse, I find myself compelled to conclude that this universe has a balance of good and evil, as well as of order and chaos. In the Star Wars universe the thinking seems to be closer to Taoism, in which there are two fundamental principles, the light and dark side of the force, which need to be kept in balance because both are necessary, and it is extremes, the dominance of either, that is bad.
LOST seems more like the outlook of Zoroastrianism. There are two opposing forces, we are told in the pilot episode of LOST, light and dark, but these really do represent the forces of good and evil. There is the hope, indeed the expectation, that good will in the end be victorious.
In a multiverse scenario, presumably there will be a universe where good and evil are finely balanced, which could go either way (perhaps, more problematically, there will be an uinfinite number of such universes, but that is not a scenario we can explore in the present context). If that universe did move in a slight but decisive way towards one or the other, and if universes can intersect and influence one another, then the fate of that universe could determine the fate of the entire multiverse, as slowly but surely the influence of good (or evil) spreads and becomes dominant. Somewhat like the Popcaps game Pax Galaxia.
It is plausible that the “Others” really are trying to be the “good guys”, to ensure that good triumphs. But of course the question that is then raised is whether the ends justify the means, whether goodness can be spread on our planet or across infinite universes using means that are not themselves good. Battlestar Galactica has explored the same theme in its recent special: if the military become a razor that does whatever necessary to make it possible for themselves to eventually be merely human again, do they lose their humanity in the process in an irretrievable way? On Chuck too the scenario is explored in a more comical way, as undercover agents give up on the American dream so that others can have it.
But perhaps this is too deep a topic for a weekend post. So let me share the understanding one college student had of Zoroastrianism as written on an exam – and shared with a wider readership in Anders Henriksson’s hilarious book Non Campus Mentis
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