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• Some follow-up from last week’s reference to Thomas the Apostle, featured in the painting in Ms. Hawking’s church:
  

  As it turns out, Lost didn’t tell you the whole story about Thomas the Apostle. Those who know their Bible — or just know The Da Vinci Code — know that there are bunches of other ”books” which the Powers That Be chose not include in the Bible. One of these apocryphal texts, called Acts of Thomas, is a hardcore Gnostic tract. (Gnosticism is an unorthodox form of Christianity that says we are souls trapped in prisons of matter who require liberation.) The story follows the apostle Thomas to India (Hey, isn’t Ajira Airlines based in India?) and ends with his martyrdom. A demon named Abaddon makes an appearance. And in the middle of it all, you will find a yarn within a yarn — a proverbial island of parable — called ”The Hymn of the Pearl.” It tells the tale of a boy (the son of a king, so consider him…the Little Prince) sent on a mission to faraway Egypt to fetch a pearl from the mouth of a snake. Alas, he gets sidetracked, and eventually completely forgets his identity and his mission. Fortunately, the boy is saved when he receives a letter from his king, reminding him of his true nature and purpose. His memory restored, the prince snags the pearl and returns home.
  
  As Wikipedia notes: ”The hymn is commonly interpreted as a Gnostic view of the human condition, that we are spirits lost in a world of matter and forgetful of our true origin. This state of affairs may be ameliorated by a revelatory message delivered by a messenger.” [EW]

• More from Doc Jensen on Bentham:
  

  JEREMY BENTHAM COULD HAVE BEEN DHARMA’S ARCHITECT
  Bentham’s other great claim to fame was designing the Panopticon, which was a model for a new kind of prison. He envisioned a circular structure with a central guard tower that made it possible for a small number of jailers to keep an eye on all the inmates in the prison. Bentham seemed to think that such a structure could help rehabilitate the prisoners; since they were constantly aware of the possibility that they could be under surveillance (the jailers themselves could remain invisible to the inmates), they had an incentive to be on their best behavior at all times. From one point of view, the Panopticon is a metaphor for the obedience God can inspire when his presence is felt, if not seen — and the disobedience that can occur when he’s not. Consider the Bible story of the golden calf, in which the people of Israel decide to misbehave while God and Moses go camping in the mountains. From another point of view, the Panopticon is a metaphor for Big Brother-ish societies that promote civility and conformity by cultivating a culture of fear.
  DOC JENSEN ANALYSIS: Remember the map that Locke found inside the Hatch? Look at the design: It’s a Panopticon. That station smack-dab in the middle? That’s the Pearl, whose occupants were tasked with observing the action in all the other stations — but specifically, Station 3: the Swan, whose occupants were charged with pressing the Button.

  (You suddenly flashed on my ”Hymn of the Pearl” thing when you read that last sentence, didn’t you? Yes, I have a theory that connects… but again, that’s next week.) [EW]

• Faraday did indeed draw that time/space/island diagram I mentioned earlier.

  

  The page is from Faraday’s notebook. As we know, in the current timeline Jeremy has his notebook. This clears up the question of whether the 316 folks are in the same timeline as Sawyer, Jack, and company. The only question from here is, how far into the future are they? [DocArzt]

That’s all for this week. I get so bogged down in some of this analysis that I forget to say how much I’m enjoying the show. Tonight’s show was an all-timer; some great acting out of Terry O’Quinn. Keep it comin’ and good night!