Jack Shepard's five seconds to fear

[mrpsbrk]

Hey, you Losties, do you remember when Jack Shepard says to Kate something about fear? That when he was scared during an operation he gave himself 5 seconds to be terrified and then he just did his job?

Well, how do you feel about it and the "Litany against Fear"? Do you think there is some sort of relation? Do you think it's actually a reference by Darlton or is it just a similar concern given a different spin? Or do you not even think it is similar?

And also, when faced with fear, which do you suppose would be more "useful" to a, like, "normal" person?

[Drunken Idaho]

I've noticed the similarity before, and I've seen similar mantras elsewhere. Jack even says that he let the fear "take hold" of him for those five seconds, which sounds a lot like letting the fear pass over you and through you. Either J.J. Abrams was indeed referencing Dune (pretty likely, considering his affinity for sci-fi) or both Frank and Abrams are perhaps alluding to the work of some philosopher or writer.

Funny thing about the 5-seconds speech is that it was inspired not only by Dune (potentially) but also Matthew Fox's shoulder tattoo. Instead of trying to cover it up, Abrams chose to incorporate it and he came up with the speech that Jack tells Kate. And what was the tattoo based on? Party of Five! That's right, Fox has possibly the worst tattoo based on a show of all time!

"Like angel-hair pasta..."