Australia's the Key to the Whole Game

When the latest Ajira Airways link came out, I took the time to look at the website closely - hoping for clues.  There may be many, but the one I settled on was the scroll in the middle of the page where it says we can discover characters and ancient secrets in the Outback.  That led me back to the S4 episode where Hurley, Sawyer and Locke were playing RISK (I think) and where Hurley said "Australia's the key to the whole game."  The 2 things seemed to related to leave alone, so I did some research into the matter.

To me the Ancient Outback would be before the British colony, so I settled on the Aboriginies.  So it seemed to me, being a fan of the mythological aspect of the show, the best research would come from searching for Aboriginal Mythology.

Aboriginal mythology is somewhat diffferent from what we understand as mythology.  Gods and humans, struggles, wars, conquests, incest - that's not really what this mythology is about.  It's more about the land and how everything is connected through the land.

To relate this to LOST I'll insert notes along the way of what I found in Wikipedia.

Aboriginal Mythology describes the journeys of ancestral beings, often giant animals or people, over what began as a featureless domain. Mountains, rivers, waterholes, animal and plant species, and other natural and cultural resources came into being as a result of events which took place during these Dreamtime journeys. 

Note - The journey of ancestors could be the father figure element, giant animals or people could relate to 4-toe, and the landscape features pretty much describe the island. 

Dreaming is a common term for a personal or group creation, and for what may be understood as the "timeless time" of formative creation and perpetual creating, as well as for the places and localities on Indigenous Australian traditional land where the uncreated creation spirits and totemic ancestors reside. The Dreaming can be seen as an embodiment of creation which gives meaning to everything.

Note - timeless time?

One could say that the Dreaming is a spiritual realm which saturates the visible world with meaning; that it is the matrix of being; that it was the time of creation; that it is a parallel universe which may be contacted via the ritual performance of song, dance and painting; that it is a network of stories of heroes – the forerunners and creators of contemporary man.

Note - this could tie in the parallel universe theory without there actually being a parallel universe.

During the creation period, the ancestral beings made journeys and performed deeds; they fought, loved, hunted, behaved badly or well, rather like the Greek gods, and where they camped or hurled spears or gave birth, tell-tale marks were left in the earth. While creating this topography, they were morphing constantly from animal to human and back to animal.  At the end of that epoch, exhausted by their work, they sank back into the ground at sacred sites, where their power remains in condensed forms.

Note - different locations with special powers?

It is not quite right, however, to say that the creation period is in the past, because it is a past that is eternal and therefore also present. In other words, an ancestor's journey, or story, became a place, and that place holds past, present and future simultaneously.  Time sinks into place, into Country.

Note - a place that holds the past, present and future simultaneously?  And that place holds the secrets to our ancestors journeys?  Sounds familiar to me. 

Of the Murrinh-Patha people it's been observed the Dreamtime is in fact a religious belief equivalent to most of the world's other significant religious beliefs.  In particular, it has been suggested the Murrinh-patha have a oneness of thought, belief, and expression unequalled within Christianity, which sees all aspects of their lives, thoughts and culture as under the continuing influence of their Dreaming.

Within this Aboriginal religion, no distinction is drawn between things spiritual/ideal/mental and things material; nor is any distinction drawn between things sacred and things profane: rather all life is 'sacred', all conduct has 'moral' implication, and all life's meaning arises out of this eternal, everpresent Dreaming.

Note - so we are to learn from all things sacred and profane...such as a con man, a defeated criple or a priest impostor trying to regain his lost way.  

Animating and sustaining this Murrinh-patha mythology, is an underlying philosophy of life that has been characterised by one of Australia's most influential writers as a belief that life is "...a joyous thing with maggots at its centre". Life is good and benevolent, but throughout life's journey there are numerous painful sufferings that each individual must come to understand and endure as they grow.

The Dreaming provides a moral authority lying outside the individual will and outside human creation. These human creations are objectified into principles or precedents for the immediate world. Consequently, current action is not understood as the result of human alliances, creations, and choices, but is seen as imposed by an embracing, cosmic order.

Note - fate = imposed cosmic order.

If we are to believe this is the show's prime directive, and we can all agree fate versus choice has been a constant theme, it would seem that my comment of "we are who we are due to the choices we've made" might not be correct in the show's view.  It would seem they are trying to tell us we are fated to become who we are regardless of the choices we make.  That destiny supercedes chance.

We know those that left the island are destined to go back, and that's a good show theme.  On a personal/reality level, I hope they are wrong.