Ben's reading material...complicated

08:27 PM

Got alot of this from Wikipedia...

Apparently the book that Locke brought to Ben is VALIS, a 1981 science fiction novel by Philip K. Dick.

The title is an acronym for Vast Active Living Intelligence System, Dick's gnostic vision of one aspect of God.

Gnostic: refers to a diverse, syncretistic religious movement consisting of various belief systems generally united in the teaching that humans are divine souls trapped in a material world created by an imperfect spirit, the demiurge, who is frequently identified with the Abrahamic God. The demiurge may be depicted as an embodiment of evil, or in other instances as merely imperfect and as benevolent as its inadequacy permits. This demiurge exists alongside another remote and unknowable supreme being that embodies good. In order to free oneself from the inferior material world, one needs gnosis, or esoteric spiritual knowledge available to all through direct experience or knowledge (gnosis) of God.

Now, in the book, the narrator is in the search for a cure for what he believes is simultaneously a personal and a cosmic wound. Near the end of the book the messianic figure, incarnated by the child Sophia (a name associated with Wisdom in many Gnostic texts), cures him (temporarily)...

there's also stuff about memory retrieval...i don't know it's all very complicated...but the child saviour thing: i'm thinking walt/aaron...

All the books on the show seem important - and you just reaffirmed that with the information about the Valis book.

As James would put it "Ben's a complex guy sweetheart".

Apparently the book also has a portion that deals with the concept of unforgetting, which may explain Daniel & Charlotte's card experiment. From the scene, I believe Daniel had seen the cards at some point and then was trying to remember what they were. I do not believe it was as if she just randomly drew them face down and then he picked up on what two of the three were.

Perhaps someone has some good information on the concept of unforgetting as I do not. From my limited internet research it can also be called anamnesis. Essentially, everyone knows everything that they have learned in other lives and other times. The soul is reincarnated into a new 'host/body/meat' and has all knowledge of everything within them. However, this knowledge is forgotten when people are born. People spend their lives unlocking the knowledge that they already have inside them. They are not learning new things or events or anything. They are simply rediscovering it during their new life.

As time is not linear, it can also be postulated that we also already know what we will experience and learn in the future. So, we should also be able to unlock that. This concept of the loss of forgetfullness just allows the person to know/remember/recall everything at once. Perhaps the island has the ability to act as a conduit and unlock these experiences within a person. Perhaps that is why we are seeing these flashforwards and flashbacks as we are watching the characters have brief flashes of unforgetting.

Who knows? My brain hurts. Forget it, daniel and charlotte were doing magic tricks to pass the time and the Bens book Valis is just a meaningless work of fiction.

I guess if the time is not the same on the island as off, he may have seen the cards a very long time before or maybe even not "yet." I don't even want to try and figure that stuff out.

In regards to the book, on Thursday when they show the enhanced version of "Eggtown" they may address some of this. For last week's episode they explained how the name on Ben's passport is Dean Moriarty which is the name from Jack Kerouac's "On the Road." These episodes don't give many hints but you never know what may turn out to be important. I think they sprinkle in enough nonsense like the type of Helicopter, etc so that we are unable to distinguish the real clues from the fluff.

that was a really good post, beefjello. thanks for sharing that because it does shed some light.

pchee, I recognized this thread earlier & thought another book-related thread might be relevant. For those interested I'm referring to thread titled "what books Ben reads/ would read you think?" (3x19) There it was rather a number of philisiphical texts discussed, but hey- it might be related anyhow..Ben is one hannibal lecter after all..

When Juliet first appears on Lost, it's a flashback to when she's in her book club, just before the plane crash. They're discussing a book by Stephen King, but I can't see the title. I want to know which one it is, because one of the guys in the book club says that Ben would hate it. Anybody know what the title was?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Big E

When Juliet first appears on Lost, it's a flashback to when she's in her book club, just before the plane crash. They're discussing a book by Stephen King, but I can't see the title. I want to know which one it is, because one of the guys in the book club says that Ben would hate it. Anybody know what the title was?

Stephen King's Carrie

can we speculate on why Ben would hate it? Based on everything we know?