What I Learned from Never Watching LOST

Over the past four weeks we've heard a lot about the popular TV series, LOST. The season finale, which aired on May 23rd, drew in 13.5 million viewers for an exciting 2-hour episode. In the days following, newspapers, blogs and internet buzz covered all things LOST, while dedicated fans re-watched the finale with the hopes of tying up the loose ends of a complicated, time-warping plot.

I was not one of those fans. Having never seen an episode of LOST I cannot add anything valuable to conversation about the series that captured millions. Nor can I answer any inquiries about islands, flashbacks, airplanes, or the Darma Initiative. However, as an outsider looking in, I would like to humbly offer my own perspective on how LOST has effectively demonstrated what I believe is an important and timely (although not new by any means) message for our world.

After dialogue with many LOST fans and reading a handful of reviews about the series, I have noticed one dominant motif. It seems that while LOST left many questions unanswered, ultimately the series was an extraordinary specimen of storytelling and character development. In short, it's all about the characters and their stories. The writers of the series brilliantly (I am assuming based on secondary sources) integrated philosophical, theological, and literary concepts into the plot. It even had a dash of quantum physics to chew on. All in all, LOST seems like a profoundly interesting TV show that did not pander to the lowest common denominator of viewers. This I like.

And what I really like is that the general consensus about LOST provides us with a fairly solid world view for "real life." That is, life is not as much about answering all questions as it is about the story and the characters. At the end of its story, LOST remains mysterious and somewhat confusing. At the end of the day, life is very similar: mysterious, filled with wonder, and often times downright perplexing. But what outshines these mysteries is the story - a story that is too good to miss. It is a story in which the interdependence and relationships between characters is what matters most.

As Jack said in season one, "If we can't live together, we're going to die alone." Characters, not answers, is what life is all about.

This became even more explicit in Jack's quest to solve problems scientifically [thank you Jesse O'Brien for this insight]. Ultimately, it seems that even science comes up short in explaining and solving the mysteries of the island. So too do science and reason fall short in explicating the wonders of life. At the end of the day it is faith - in story and characters - that give us ground to stand on. In my experience, it is faith in a grand narrative and my place within that story that allows me to appreciate the interdependence of characters and the beautiful mysteries of chapters yet to be told.

There is something more beautiful, more true about life when we humbly admit that we cannot explain everything and we resort to having some kind of faith. A great example of this is found in Job, a man who suffered many inexplicable things and wondered much about life's mysteries. But at the end of his journey, Job concludes, "Therefore, I have uttered what I did not understand / things too wonderful for me, which I did not know" (Job 42:3).


Having never seen an episode of LOST I am just that - lost. But I do see an interesting - and not coincidental - philosophy driving what makes this TV series such a "true" story about life. Perhaps someday I will find myself stranded on a desert island with a TV and the entire LOST archive and I can watch this interesting story for myself.

Psalm 26

Neighbor as Self: Oh What a Revolution

What would happen if people simply followed the Golden Rule? What might be the result of people treating people as they themselves would like to be treated? This morning I saw yet another example of why this simple yet revolutionary philosophy is urgently needed in our world.

Philabundance is non-profit in Philadelphia that helps collect and distribute food donations to the greater Philadelphia area. I was volunteering there this morning with some friends when I learned of certain haphazard practices by such corporations as Wal-Mart, Target, and Shop-Rite. It all came about when I noticed that most of what Shop-Rite had donated was really just trash. That is, canned goods that were so severely damaged that not even Philabundance, a food bank that aims to end hunger, would distribute them. I realized that what Shop-Rite was doing was simply sending their trash to Philabundance instead of disposing it themselves.

But why? Ohhhh right. Capitalism makes anything that can be categorized as "smart business" okay.

Shop-Rite donates the items that they themselves refuse to sell to Philabundance instead of disposing of them properly. By doing this they can write off a ton of products for tax deductions and also look good in the process (by claiming "We donate 'X' amount of products to Philabundance per year!"). And not only does Shop-Rite receive a tax credit for this donation to the non-profit sector, but they also spare themselves the cost of having a trash company collect their un-sellable goods.

This practice is not uncommon. I learned that Wal-Mart also does this. In fact, two years ago Wal-Mart donated 4 pallets* of expired condoms to Philabundance. Why would a food bank need condoms? And expired ones? Because it's cheaper than having to dispose of them. Evidently Target is also notorious for this behavior.

If we play this out logically it looks like this: for-profit companies use the system to have the government take care of responsibilities that belong to the private sector. How is this at all ethical? This is, in my opinion, one of the flaws of capitalism (I'm not "anti-capitalism," but every system has flaws). The all-too-common problem in capitalism is that unethical behavior is justified by that which may bring about greater profit.

But what strikes me the most is the lack of the Golden Rule in these business practices. Why on earth would you donate a product that you yourself would not sell or buy? The all-too-common answer is that "it's good enough for them." Who is them? The entire point of the Golden Rule is that you are them!

Jesus summarized the entire Law in two commands: Love God above all and love your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:29-31). What would happen if people embraced this? What would happen if even companies and corporations embraced this? What if corporations refused to treat other corporations any other way than how they would want to be treated? Sure, the "competition" of capitalism might decline. But what is the potential result?

If you read this post, I challenge you to write three possibilities that might occur as a result of corprrations treating one another as they would like to be treated.


* pallets are the wooden platforms that are used in warehouses for stacking and storing products. A typical pallet can hold around 1 ton of product.

Werner Herzog Reads Where's Waldo

Consider Anew...

The Kingdom of God
Transcendent and immanent
Redeeming the now