It only ends once by Byron

Ok so here we go, as I am writing this I am still trying to figure this out.

I believe that the series of events that have unfolded since the pilot have all been pre-planned (to some extent) and what we would like to call fate.

Having watched avidly, and done some research, and read some theories on here, I am beginning to wonder at all if there is a bigger picture here, such as - the end of the world etc etc.
What if it really was as simple as what we already know - Jacob vs Man in Black, fate and free will, mixed together with the luxury of time travel!

How does the the lighthouse work? Well for Jacob to know the people on the list, and where they are in the world, he must have already known them previously to building the device. Amost like writing a teamsheet having already bought the players. For this to happen the plane must have always crashed on the island, the events happen in order for Jacob to know that when time goes back he can use the lighthouse to see where the candidates are, in order to go to them and touch them in their lives (as witnessed already)

Confusing yes, but not really!! In terms of an end result, we've seen that the Man in black and Jacob are human on the beach, they have something they want to prove (not winning a human version of bakgammon) nor whether or not they can win a war against good or evil, but to prove that when time resets itself that anything that happens in the mean time will ultimately effect the end result - the plane crashing and the entire cycle starting again.

The only rules that I think they made, is that they are not allowed to tell people directly what to do, just influence it. Having witnessed Jacob's approach he uses clever ways of gently pushing people in the right direction - as did MIB with getting Ben to Kill Jacob, however since then MIB is much more assertive. Perhaps not a coincidence that we see a young blonde boy in the jungle (possibly Jacob?) tell our suprised fakeLocke "you know the rules"

Here for me to conclude - It only ends once, and anything else that happens now is just progress? The series of events ends having always been the same - fate, progress being that the people have a new lease of life, decisions and emotions on the island. The flash sideways as you lot call it, is just a teaser for us to think that this reality might happen, when I think it is just a way for the writers to give the characters closure. A seemingly happy ending, when really this reality will never happen due to the ongoing repetitive time loop that they find themselves in on the island.

End of the world - I doubt it! No underwater island, just another teaser to a reality that will never happen!