Lost and Richard Alpert’s identity

As the Lost series comes to an end, Peter Leithart offers a very intriguing and possibly shocking look into the symbolic meaning of the series:

So.  I picked up a book the other day, The Harvard Psychedelic Club: How Timothy Leary, Ram Dass, Huston Smith, and Andrew Weil Killed the Fifties and Ushered in a New Age for America, a sprightly narrative about a group of Harvard professors from the 1960s/70s who experimented with hallucinogens by feeding them to students. Timothy Leary was the most famous. They got canned.

One of them went off to India, came under the influence of a Hindu guru, changed his name to Ram Dass, and came back to the States, touring the country and giving lectures on spiritual enlightenment, doing good, supporting charitable causes.  Ram Dass is still alive.

Now, the kicker:

Ram Dass’ birth name was Richard Alpert.