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'Lost' Numbers, Hexagrams, The i Ching And The PointPrevious Lost posts:
>: 4 8 15 16 23 42 aka The Ba Gua in Desmond's Hatch
>: More Lost, More 23 and More I-Ching
The emergence of i-Ching imagery on ABC's smash hit TV show Lost begs a question which I and others have been considering for some time: Are Hurley's numbers best interpreted as an i-Ching sequence?
I think you can make an argument that the i-Ching hexagrams associated with each number might have something to tell us about the nature of what's happening on the island -- possibly in terms of its season by season story structure. Let's take a look at each in turn. There are numerous versions and intepretations of the i-Ching. After looking through my library, I've chosen to go with Ritsema's hugely detailed I-Ching concordance and translation (out of print now, but the most current edition is found here ). In my own life, I usually prefer to work with the Taoist i-Ching, a later text translated by Thomas Cleary, but I think the Ritsema edition seems like a better match. The Taoist i-Ching is a much more sophisticated view of reality, but the Ritsema translation is extremely true to the oldest tradition. While it's not easy reading, it does provide exhaustive connections and content for advanced i-Ching readers.
4
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Enveloping: According to Ritsema, "This hexagram describes your situation in terms of concealment and clouded awareness. It emphasizes that actively accepting this concealment in order to nurture growth is the adequate way to handle it. To be in accord with the time, you are told to: envelop!
The text of the hexagram indicates that the reader must "find his or her allotted destiny," which is clearly the focus of Lost's Season One. (Just ask John Locke if you don't believe me.) The hexagram is also seen to refer to young people -- specifically, to people between the ages of 8 (!) and 15 (!).
The two trigrams making up the hexagram are Mountain (Bound) above, with Gorge (Water, Danger) below. One way to look at an Island is to see a mountain protruding from water. Constriction and limits representing the state of self (upper trigram), while danger and "dissolving forms" are represented by the other (lower trigram, world or environment).
Enveloping in this context is the process of absorbing, learning and understanding, literally wrapping your mind around the problem.
8
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Grouping: "This hexagram describes your situation in terms of how you categorize people and things and how you relate to these categories. It emphasizes that joining people and things through recognizing their essential qualities in the adequate way to handle it."
Ordering things and putting them into classes leaders to the experience of meaning. In other words, the process now becomes one of taking clues and information and assembling them coherently. The process of grouping includes making such distinctions as "Man of Science" and "Man of Faith." By ordering the elements of the group, we can begin to find their meaning as an aggregate whole.
This hexagram also involves tracing a process back to its beginning, to the first stage of a "time cycle." The flashbacks on Lost are clearly pertinent to this concept and we'll probably see (as in the first episode of the new season) that the flashbacks will become increasingly relevant to understanding the castaways' current situation. "Crowds" are also indicated. Certainly, there is every reason to think we will be meeting many new faces in the weeks to come.
But the hexagram also contains a warning -- at the end of the process, danger awaits, and the danger leads away from meaning.
The top trigram is Gorge (water) from the 4 hexagram, below is Field (earth). This suggests that the survivors will try to penentrate to a deeper level (literally underneath the island) in their search for meaning. "The relation to the outer world dissolves and changes," according to Ritsema. A significant trial is met.
15
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Humbling: "This hexagram describes your situation in terms od the necessity to cut through pride and complication. It emphasizes that keeping close to fundamental things through keeping your words unpretentious is the adequate way to handle it."
Obviously, the further we travel into the future, the more difficult to estimate the plotline implications of the hexagrams, so these intepretations will get shorter as we go. The thurst of this hexagram is twofold -- first, keeping words simple and therefore close to the truth, and second, success through a sacrifice and the beginning of a second stage in the time cycle.
The field (earth) trigram over Bound (mountain) signifies that the castaways, after delving deep in the previous phase, reach a limit -- the mountain, the island. There is no escape. "Articulating inner limits," as Ritsema writes, which in turn helps lead yin and yang into balance. The combination also suggests words that are actualized, i.e., words which become reality -- perhaps as an incantation, a verbalized wish or intention, or something more esoteric, like the concretized language of Terence McKenna or Grant Morrison -- two works that are deeply related to the i-Ching and identity.
The hexagram also indicates reducing the many to elevate the few -- could we see a substantial number of the castaways killed off?
16
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Provision: "This hexagram describes your situation in terms of what is needed to meet the future. It emphasizes that accumulating strength through foresight and prudence so things can be fully enjoyed is the adequate way to handle it."
Taking precautions in this context involves setting up formal lines of authority, such as a government or other structure. This could involve uncovering the outlines of a government plot -- a distinct possibility based on current storylines -- or the formalization of the community of survivors under clearly articulated leadership (as opposed to the ad hoc leadership of Jack, which is already under challenge by Locke).
The top trigram is Thunder, the lower is Field. This seems to suggest a step back from the exploration beneath (indicated in the previous trigrams) and an effort to rise above, to transcend or surpass the terms of the survivors' captivity on the island. New actions or strategies are initiated, literally things are "shaken" up. "Sprouting energies thrusting from below" and "a rousing summons to action that comes from outside." The world outside the island?
Alternatively, this could refer to the summoning of the island's strange power -- "thunder issuing forth from earth impetuously." Could one of our characters (perhaps Locke) intend to unleash the secret power of the island upon the outer world?
23
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Stripping: "...Eliminating what has become unusable." This hexagram is one of the best known i-Ching images, and both the number 23 and the hexagram have extensive significance (see previous post). Generally, this hexagram, the penultimate hex in the number sequence, represents a cataclysmic and radical change, the stripping away of all illusion -- in Hindu and Buddhist belief that includes most of what we consider "reality" on a daily basis -- dharma is what remains.
Before the final chapter of our story, in other words, all artifice is stripped away. We will see the final conflict as it truly is. (Or nearly so.) The trigrams Bound (mountain) over Field (earth) indicate that the effort to transcend has again run into a boundary or a final limitation that must be "bitten through" (another intepretation of the 23 hex) in order to be defeated. "Outer accomplishing strips away the previous cycle, while inner bringing-forth prepares the new."
The hexagram also involves "viewing symbols" -- revealing the invisble pattern or sequence that drives the process of reality. To blow your mind even further, click here for a visual representation.
42
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Increase: "This hexagram describes your situation in terms of increase and advance. It emphasizes that expanding the quantity and quality of your involvement is the adequate way to handle it." The final hexagram in the number sequence does not speak of completion. This may be significant, either heralding an inconclusive ending to Lost or suggesting that we may not have been given all the numbers yet -- there may be more numbers that have yet to be revealed.
This hexagram carries a connotation of crossing a body of water -- escape from the island is the obvious suggestion here. Ground -- penetrating and bringing together -- is met by the "shaking" of thunder to drive action forward.
The hexagram also -- significantly, I think -- carries a connotation of imposing a direction on the flow of time "from present to past." Given that the survivors are continually poised between past and present via the device of the flashbacks, I think there must be a meaningful conception of time embedded within the show. The relationship between past and present is not clearly established in the show prior to this. The concept of establishing that the "present flows into the past" suggests that the castaways are not currently entrained within the normal flow of time.
Ultimately, the i-Ching is entirely concerned with how events unfold in time. Although its parallels to the human genetic code are extremely interesting and may prove to be a major plot point in the weeks and seasons to come, I think the show is ultimately concerned with the way events unfold in time, and that its nonlinear (or semi-linear) storytelling is meant to evoke that concept.
There is one more way to extract a hexagram from "the numbers." I performed this calculation, almost as an afterthought. You can calculate each of the six numbers as a line in a single hexagram -- even is yin, odd is yang. The question is whether to build it from bottom to top, the traditional method, or from top to bottom -- on the theory that the numbers are meant to be read in a Western order, since they are (after all) presented in Western script and not Chinese pictograms.
From bottom to top, we produce hexagram 39, which can mean limping, halting or defeat. Since we wouldn't wish this fate on our beloved castaways, I prefer to build the hexagram from top to bottom -- in keeping with the Westernized presentation. The result of that calculation yields the following reading:
40
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Taking Apart: "The hexagram describes your situation in terms of reflection and release from tension. It emphasizes that analyzing and understanding things in order to be delivered from compulsion is the adequate way to handle it."
If, God help you, you have read through this entire analysis, I can only assume that you do not need an explanation of the process of "analyzing things in order to be delivered from compulsion." If you've made it this far, you perfectly embody this hexagram. Congratulations for figuring out the real point of the Lost numbers without even knowing it! You may be relieved to know that the alternate translations for this hexagram's title include "Solution" and "Liberation." So take this solution, and be liberated from the numbers. I think I will... at least until Wednesday.
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8 Comments:
You are blowing my mind...
Thanks!
I saw the logo on Desmond's uniform last night and immediately knew that the numbers were connected to the i-Ching. Thanks for explaining their significance to the plot. I also heard that the same logo was on the tale of the Shark that was circling Michael and Sawyer. Did anyone notice that? I'll have to replay the tape tonight. I also noticed a word written over the Yin-Yang but I thought it said "Dynastar." I guess Dharma would make more sense. Are you sure it says Dharma?
You've done some amazing stuff with this analysis. My mind has been duly blown. Congrats.
Maybe this is obvious, but I'll bet you that each hexagram is intended to represent a different season of the show. Based on your analysis, "Enveloping" was a pretty good summation of Season 1, and I'll bet that "Grouping" will turn out to be the central focus of Season 2. If that turns out to be so, then we might reasonably expect the entire show to conclude in the sixth season--assuming the program doesn't jump the (Dharma-logo-tattoed) shark between now and then and tank in the ratings.
I am inclined to agree that the hexagrams seem like a natural fit with a season. You could, in theory, break the whole thing down further into each of the six lines spread (or cycling) over 24 episodes.
I am also concerned about jumping that tattooed shark... But they've earned enough faith from me to stick with and see where it's going. ("WHY IS IT SO EASY FOR ME TO BELIEVE?!?!?")
^^ That's me, by the way. Just fixed my profile display. gv
as said in another blog, if you were to take all of the numbers and post them as latitudes and longitudes, then it shows a small group of islands northeast of Austrailia. If you take that into consideration with the "orientation video" and the computer, when the group types the numbers and pushes execute, it could be sending a signal to whomever saying that there still are people pusing the button, furthering the research and observation.
My book defines trigram 40 as "Deliverance"
I don't know if that is good or bad.
I hope you are well!
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More 'Lost'... And More 23Other Lost Posts:
>: Hurley's Numbers Intepreted As i-Ching Hexagrams
>: 4 8 15 16 23 42 aka The Ba Gua in Desmond's Hatch
Damon Lindelof, Lost co-creator and executive producer, recently made some comments on E! Online about "the numbers." I won't give away the whole of his comments, you can read them yourself on the prececding link, but one particular thing he suggested was to look at the number 23 in the context of Robert Anton Wilson. I certainly can't summarize RAW's vast mythology here, but after reading this, I pulled my copy of Illuminatus! off the shelf and opened it to page 23. What I found was particularly interesting in light of the newly revealed i-Ching connection (see previous post). Here's the passage that begins on page 23 of my edition:
Hagbard Celine's gigantic computer, FUCKUP -- First Universal Cyberkinetic-Ultramicro-Programmer -- was basically a rather sophisticated form of the standard self-programming algorithmic logic machine of the time; the name was one of his whimsies. FUCKUP's real claim to uniqueness was a programemd stochastic process whereby it could "throw" an i-Ching hexagram, reading a random open circuit as a broken (yin) line and a random closed circuit as a full (yang) line until six such "lines" were round. Consulting its memory banks, where the whole tradition of i Ching interpretation was stored, and then cross-checking its current scannings of that day's political, economic and technological eccentricies, it would provide a reading of the hexagram which, to Hagbard's mind, combined the best of the scientific and occult methods for spotting oncoming trends. On March 13, the stochastic pattern spontaneously generated Hexagram 23, Breaking Apart." FUCKUP then interpreted:
This traditionally unlucky sign was cast by Atlantean scientist-priests shortly before the destruction of their continent and is generally connected with death by water. Other vibrations link it to earthquakes, tornadoes and similar disasters, and to sickness, decay and morbidity as well. The first correlation is with the unbalance between technological acceleration and political regression, which has proceeded earthwide at everwidening danger levels since 1914 and especially since 1964. The breaking apart is fundamentally the schizoid and schismatic mental fugue of lawyer-politicians attempting to administrate a worldwide technology whose mechanism they lack the education to comprehend and whose gestalttrend they frustrate by breaking apart inot obsolete Rennaisance nation-states.
World War III is probably imminent and, considering the advances in chemicalbiological warfare in conjunction with the sickness vibrations of Hexagram 23, the unleashing of plague or nervgas or both is as probably as thermonuclear overkill.
General prognosis: many megadeaths.
Given the quarantine sign on the inside of the hatch, Desmond's medicine cabinet with the numbers on his injection vials, the rather ancient computer (Illuminatus! was first published in 1975) and the i-Ching logo detailed elsewhere, I'd say a theme is starting to emerge.
(By the way, this isn't supposed to be an "All-Lost" blog, I'm just going where the spirit is moving me, for the moment.)
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Please don't stop, this is fantastic!!!!
You may recall that Locke types in
4 8 15 16 23 32 at the end of the last episode.
Jack arrives before he presses "execute" and tells him the last number is 42.
In the i ching, the interpretation of #32 reads:
"Avoid recklessness and listen to the advice of others."
Locke does and disaster is averted, for now....
^ Nice catch... Don't worry, I can't imagine I will stop any time soon...
Very, VERY kewl my fellow writer/radio friend!
This is SO much up my alley.
Heya...
with your site on chaos, what do you think of the show "Threshold"?
Neat stuff in it but I think it needs more. If they were smart and did like "Lost" with clues and web sites it could grow.
When Jack & Locke have the stand off & the #'s count down to 0's, was it just me or did anyone else hear an explosion in the distance? This is just moments before the red hyrogliphs start rolling.
If it was, where is it that it detonated?
Walt says that the #'s are bad, when he visited Shannon. (You need to play it in reverse to hear it)
What's the go there?
Thanks for your gr8 work, this is fan-bloody-tastic.
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4 8 15 16 23 42More Lost:
>: Hurley's Numbers Intepreted As i-Ching Hexagrams
>: More Lost, More 23 and More I-Ching
"The numbers" were all over "Lost" Wednesday night. (If you don't follow the show, none of this will make any sense, so feel free to move on.) (Even if you do follow the show, it may not make sense.)
During the opening sequence, an arrangement of i-Ching trigrams (three-line groupings) was shown on the medicine cabinet in the hatch, presented as a logo. As you might expect (see my previous articles), I have a few thoughts on this. Someone over at Lost TV kindly did a screen cap, and the result was pretty interesting:
A more enhanced version of the logo has been posted here. You can see the word "DHARMA" (or not) written across the central motif. It's not clear whether the yin-yang has been modified to resemble a swan's head (or something else). Could be a trick of the light. Guess we'll find out soon enough.
There are two standard arrangements of the trigrams, the Earlier Heaven Sequence and the King Wen sequence. The Lost diagram is neither of these. It is a variation on the King Wen sequence used in Feng Shui (see below), and it also appears on a historical version of the Korean flag (click here), leading some forumers to suggest a connection with Sun's father.
As you can see in the illustration (from The Numerology of the I Ching), there are numbers associated with the trigrams for each scheme.
The difference between the Lost/Feng Shui diagram, which is also used by Black Sect Tantric Buddhism (a very recent movement), is that the trigrams are depicted upside-down. Traditionally, the trigrams are "down" oriented as if they were standing on a globe represented by the center of the diagram. The Black Sect and others still designate the trigrams by name and number according to the Lo Shu, or King Wen layout. The King Wen numbering creates a "magic square" arrangement (with a "5" in the middle, perhaps Jack's tattoo will come back around for this purpose):
King Wen:
4 9 2
3 5 7
8 1 6
Each row and column in the magic square adds up to 15. Purists argue that "flipping" the trigrams is incorrect. If you view the "flipped" trigrams as having different values based on a "down" orientation toward the center, it produces different numbers for the square (which then loses the "magic" quality of producing the same result in every direction). If you assign the numbers to the "Lost" I-Ching diagram, you get the following squares (depending on whether you use the King Wen or Early Heaven number scheme):Lost diagram
via King Wen:
7 9 2
8 4
3 1 6 | Lost diagram
via Earlier Heaven
2 3 8
7 5
4 6 1 |
The Earlier Heaven version is the more interesting of the two in terms of the numbers -- 4 in the lower left, 8 in the upper right. From the lower right, extending up 1,5 and extending left, 1,6. From the upper left, extending right, 2,3. The only problem then becomes finding the 42 and the appearance of the 7 in the middle row left. Seven is notably missing from the digits of "the numbers."
The King Wen values applied to the Lost diagram numerology create problems if you take the purist approach to the magic square.King Wen:
4 9 2
3 5 7
8 1 6 | Lost Diagram
7 9 2
8 5 4
3 1 6 |
The "Lost" version of the diagram (with the trigrams flipped "upside down") is sometimes used for feng shui. Feng shui is not my area of expertise, but the King Wen diagram is used for a "feng shui compass," a tool for organizing your environment to encourage positive energy flow. (Ordinary compasses had a nice cameo in Season 1.)
There is controversy over how to apply the feng shui compass in the southern hemisphere (where our island presumably is located). Some traditions flip the trigrams "upside down" (relative to the center, as if they stand on a globe) in order to produce a compass that is essentially the same as the "Lost" diagram. There is a school called "Black Sect Tantric Buddhism" which also uses the inverted diagram (known as the ba gua, pa gua or bagua). The problem (and the source of the controversy) for purists is that flipping the trigrams wrecks the mathematical elegance of the magic square.
The original numbers themselves correspond to hexagrams, of course, as follows:
4. Childhood
8. Union
15. Humility
16. Delight
23. Fall Apart
42. Increase
I have some very specific thoughts about this hexagram sequence and the narrative structure of "Lost" which I will post after next week's episode. So come back and check that out, if you're interested in this topic.
Is all this illuminating? Well, probably not. This is "Lost" after all. It's going to take a while before any of this becomes clear, assuming it ever does. Maybe someone else can manipulate these numbers more effectively than I have. Please feel free to post your own thoughts in the comments section linked below.
One interesting element to consider, given the medical nature of the compound, is that the 64 i-Ching hexagrams correspond directly to human genetic sequencing, a extremely large topic which you can easily Google for more information. Since I hear the word "clones" bandied about a lot in reference to this show, it's worth keeping this in mind as we move forward.
Update: I've seen some postings around the Web speculating that this symbol is the eight-spoked Buddhist "dharma wheel." While the producers of Lost may well have intended to conflate the dharma wheel with the ba gua, they are two distinctly different symbols with completely different meanings.
The dharma wheel represents the Buddhist eight-fold path -- the principles of living on which Buddhism is based right views, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right intentions, right mindfulness and right concentration.
The King Wen trigram arrangement (ba gua) is a Taoist concept. It represents the way that processes unfold over time. Each trigram represents a physical or behavioral law or principle based on the interaction of yin and yang. The ba gua is amoral.
Buddhism and Hinduism -- both of which have conceptions of dharma -- have integrated the i-Ching into their own spiritual paths, but the i-Ching is not a Buddhist or Hindu system. Although it derives from Taoism -- which is significantly different from Buddhism and includes nothing resembling dharma -- the i-Ching is considered essentially nondenominational. Buddhist readings of the i-Ching can include dharma as a component, but dharma is not part of the original i-Ching concept.
Thanks to ChrisBliss18 at the Lost-TV forum for pointing out the trigram flips.
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well thats some cool stuf u got there, good reading 2 :D
Saw your post at the LOST-tv board and came over to check it out -- all I can say is, wow. Amazing how all these little elements in the show have so much more meaning to them, (or supposedly could have more meaning to them). Thank you for posting this, us Lost fans need all the info we can to unravel the complicated mysteries of LOST.
You are very welcome... Thanks for the kind words. I was thrilled when I saw the design, since this is a longstanding interest of mine. I had previously speculated to myself that the numbers might have to do with the i-Ching. We shall see...
At first I thought the symbol in the middle might be a Yin / Yang, but it didn't look quite right. Being a comp. sci major from way back, I thought the solid / split bars were meant to be binary digits, and binary digits in groups of three - as in this diagram - can represent octal (base *8*) numbers - so after waisting a few hours trying to find some meaning in the diagram that way, I saw someone's post on aint-it-cool-news.com saying that the symbols reminded them of the Korean flag. So I looked up the Korean flag, found out that the symbols are called "trigrams", Googled for them and found a good explanation (though not nearly as thorough as yours, thanks!) here: http://fengshui.about.com/od/basics/a/fsnumberslucky.htm Was going to share my revalation with the Lost-tv.com group, but saw that you beat me to it! Anyway, thanks very much for your very thorough explanation of it. I can now, once again, get a good night sleep with the mystery solved - at least until next Wensday!
There are also directions associated with the trigram symbols.
|:| = south
::: = southwest
||: = west
||| = northwest
:|: = north
::| = northeast
|:: = east
:|| = southeast
Putting them into the Lost diagram produces a compass, with South at the top and North at the bottom.
this could explaine the difference from the King Wen diagram.
23 is a very charged number and with Jim Carey making a movie called The Number 23, plus the notes in The Davinci Code and Poker Without Cards about 23, well, I wonder if this is a political statement
Watch it 4+8+15+16+23+42=108
I think it can be interesting...
Great site! As someone with a passing familiarity with I Ching, AND the work of Robert Anton Wilson, as well as Discordianism and the Law of Fives therein, I'm amazed to see a mainstream, hit TV series touch upon this stuff. Imagine the surprise of my friends when I turn them on to this site and they see all this stuff -- it's like opening a door to a completely different world.
They thought they were just watching an interesting TV show...
4/8/15/16/23/42
8 and 15 = flight 815
23 = survivors in the tail portion
42 = survivors in Jacks group
4,15,16=???
It doesn’t sole anything, but it could be something.
there are a 108 movements in the Tai Chi Yang Long Form, the old classical style
Hey, you probably already know this but here goes, the sequence of numbers appear very sublte at times and others they stand out, 1 time I did notice was when Jack was talking to the girl at the airport, Jacks seat number is 23B and the girls is 42F. I really don't get these numbers but they sure do come across as important. Cool info by the way
8 and 15 = flight 815
23 = survivors in the tail portion
42 = survivors in Jacks group
15=??
16=years of danielle on the island
4=??
saludos desde Chile!!!!
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Visions and RevisionsAllow me to re-introduce you to Egoplex.com. I'm J.M. Berger, Webmaster and the author of most Egoplex content.
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