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other-richard_l
NESTOR CARBONELL as immortal Other Richard Alpert

Name Games: Richard Alpert links to New Age enlightenment guru Ram Dass, the current name of a real Richard Alpert who once hung with hippie honcho Timothy Leary. And it's almost impossible to resist the provocative scholarship posted last week by Lost theorist J. Wood on Powells.com. Recalling how Alpert quizzed Young Ben on his understanding of the word ''hostile,'' Wood pointed out that ''hostile'' is connected to an older word, ''ghos-ti,'' which looks like ''ghost.'' Actually, the definition is akin to ''guest''; it refers to ''hospitality,'' not ''hostility.'' Still, Lost loves its multilayered wordplay, so I think it's more likely that the show would want to consider multiple applications. Richard is a ghost — and, like Casper, a friendly one at that, despite appearances to the contrary. But what's his mission? To help his fellow undead pass on. Here, I appeal to four sources:

1. Lost cited philosopher Anthony Cooper (the name given to Locke's father), who famously wrote: ''Our antagonist is our helper.''

2. Lost season 4's most conspicuous literary reference, C.S. Lewis. In The Great Divorce, Lewis offers a parable for life on earth by presenting a vision of Heaven in which the newly departed MUST leave their earthly baggage behind if they wish to enter paradise — or, decoded, to grow spiritually. They are helped in this endeavor by ghosts who've preceded them in death, though initially, these ''shining beings'' come off as tough-love antagonists. ''Others,'' if you will.

3. Jacob and Esau redux. In the coda to their story, we learn something very interesting. We learn that following his betrayal, Esau's life proceeded along the same exact spiritual arc of your typical Lost character: family-inflicted damage leading angry self-destructive behavior; a lost-years period of exile leading to (hopefully) the safe harbor and happy ending of spiritual renewal. The Jacob/Esau tale ends with the brothers holding a summit meeting many years later. Jacob expects Esau to seek vengeance against him. Instead, he forgives. For Esau, living free of earthly attachments — be it his anger or materialism — and in restored relationship with his brother is riches and recompense enough.

4. Finally, Lost's author-in-spiritual-residence, Stephen King. His book Pet Sematary is a proverbial Book of the Dead for Lost: doctor protagonist; enchanted wood with the dark power to bring the dead back to life, albeit in truly inhuman form; a ''dark territory'' marked by ancient mythology and guarded by a man-eating, shape-shifting, wolf-headed monster called the Wendigo. There is also a fixation with The Wizard of Oz...but we'll get to that next week. If there is a profound point in Pet Sematary, it is the same one that that permeates much of Lost: the idea that our earthly attachments — to things, to loved ones, to ourselves, to our mortality — actually get in the way of true happiness. In the book, a character tells Louis, ''Sometimes...dead is better.'' King writes in the 2000 edition of the book: ''That lesson suggests that in the end, we can only find our peace in the universe in our human lives by accepting the will of the universe.'' Sounds like a lesson a lot of Lost characters would be wise to learn.

Doc Jensen


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Posted May 07, 2008 | Order Article Reprints
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