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Post by Irina-cat lover on Jun 15, 2010 6:40:54 GMT -4
I'm still going through this entire conversation and drafting my responses, but I have to jump in at this point and say this: calling the sideways world "purgatory" is driving me mad!!! It isn't a purgatory; purgatory is a place of punishment, and that's not what we saw in the sideways world. What we saw was a limbo, as I've written elsewhere, "a world between worlds, an antechamber to the afterlife." Purgatory is a (now defunct) Christian concept, but the ending did not give us a purely Christian afterlife - it is an afterlife intended for all faiths. The writers created their own afterlife conception that should be regarded as distinct from the Christian purgatory. It's more of a holding tank for these connected souls to awaken and find each other again. Christian terminology simply does not apply to this concept, and especially the torments (because it IS a place of torment) of purgatory. There. Said it. Feel better now!! More responses to come... Yes! The sideways world was not Purgatory in any way. This is the definition. "All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven ... The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned." Catholic Catechism 1030-1031 However, as far as I know Purgatory is not a Christian concept, it is a Catholic. And it is not defunct. Purgatory is a current doctrine. I know this because I'm a religious ed teacher and I taught my class about Purgatory just few weeks before the finale aired. yes, you are right, it`s not a Christian concept as Orthodoxy denies Purgatory. |
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Post by tigerlily on Jun 15, 2010 11:31:10 GMT -4
Yes! The sideways world was not Purgatory in any way. This is the definition. "All who die in God's grace and friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation; but after death they undergo purification, so as to achieve the holiness necessary to enter the joy of heaven ... The Church gives the name Purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely different from the punishment of the damned." Catholic Catechism 1030-1031 However, as far as I know Purgatory is not a Christian concept, it is a Catholic. And it is not defunct. Purgatory is a current doctrine. I know this because I'm a religious ed teacher and I taught my class about Purgatory just few weeks before the finale aired. yes, you are right, it`s not a Christian concept as Orthodoxy denies Purgatory. Exactly - the Catholic Church invented Purgatory in the Middle Ages to deal with the problem of where souls might go if they were neither very good nor very bad, and also to make some money off people who would pay for masses/prayers etc. to shorten a soul's duration in purgatory. The concept stuck. The Vatican quietly disowned this conception within the last twenty years or so - although nobody bothered to tell my highly religious mother!! |
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Post by Edith S. Baker on Jun 15, 2010 12:14:46 GMT -4
yes, you are right, it`s not a Christian concept as Orthodoxy denies Purgatory. Exactly - the Catholic Church invented Purgatory in the Middle Ages to deal with the problem of where souls might go if they were neither very good nor very bad, and also to make some money off people who would pay for masses/prayers etc. to shorten a soul's duration in purgatory. The concept stuck. The Vatican quietly disowned this conception within the last twenty years or so - although nobody bothered to tell my highly religious mother!! Getting back to the sideways place, it was really a holding place for those who died earlier to wait for those who were going to die later. I guess Hurley, being that he was guarding the island was the last one to die. (That's just my theory.) So, till then, those who died earlier were living a fictional life awaiting the time they could move on together. I still have troubles with this storyline. I mean why make up a totally false life. Why not continue living the life you had? I like my theory that the sideways world was the "Rainbow Bridge" for humans. For those of you who don't know the concept of "Rainbow Bridge," it's a place wherein our pets await for us. As they die early than we do, they wait by the Rainbow Bridge. They sick ones are restored to health and the older ones are rejuvenated. When you die, you find each other and cross the Bridge together. |
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Post by tigerlily on Jun 15, 2010 12:22:05 GMT -4
I don't actually think that when a person died factored into their sideways life - Christian told Jack that "there is no now, here." Meaning, it is a place without time. It wasn't when they died that mattered - what mattered was when they became aware. Jack, as we saw, died before Hurley, Ben, Kate and Sawyer etc., yet he was the very last to be "enlightened." I think they simply had to spend time in this world until the moment they were ready to move on. Jack being the stubborn pain in the ass that he is (and I mean this lovingly, of course!) was the last one to let go of his "real" life. Because it is a world without time, they were actually all living the sideways lives simultaneously. I don't think any one of them was waiting any longer than the others.
Holy cow - these are really difficult concepts to write about coherently!!
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Post by bobdoc on Jun 15, 2010 12:28:54 GMT -4
The false lives were needed because they centered around their last remaining demons and issues. Although Jack overcame a lot of things before he died, he still didn't resolve his daddy issues, settle things with the real Locke, and obviously carried guilt over leaving behind all his friends and loved ones to save the island. The sideways world let him fix those final regrets.
It also helped Locke finally overcome his crippled physical and emotional state, which he couldn't do before Ben killed him. It also gave Ben one more chance to atone, and let all those who lost loved ones find them one more time.
Although these characters overcame so much, they still died with unresolved issues and emotional wounds. Even those who left on Ajira and had long lives, like Kate, Sawyer and Claire, likely still felt empty because of who they lost. Since they weren't all together in the end in life, they couldn't resolve that emptiness - but they did in this world that gave them a final chance.
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Post by tigerlily on Jun 15, 2010 12:41:02 GMT -4
Nicely said, Bobdoc!! ;D
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