The island is indeed the Garden of Eden, but not in the simple sense we would originally think. It is the Garden of Eden in the sense that it is where civilization began, but there hasn't been just one beginning, there have been lots of beginnings.
See the island is the world's Constant, or the Universe's Constant or even Time's Constant, however you want to label it, but it is the one place that always remains.
Now here is how this relates to the show- at some point in history there is a major catastrophe, it may be a nuclear war that wipes out the planet or something along those lines. Due to the time-travel capabilities of the island the people on it are trying to change things in the past in order to prevent this catastrophe from happening. But here's the catch...they've already tried and failed, many times. Each time they fail it all starts over again, on the island, the Garden of Eden.
Here's where Richard and the native others come in. They are in charge of re-starting civilization each time. They are the only ones who remain throughout the many "rounds" of time. This is why they don't age. They are protected outside of the normal flow of time in order to preserve the opportunity for civilization to try again and again not to destroy itself.
As I said earlier the people on the island are trying to orchestrate things in order to prevent the catastrophe, but they of course are battling with the idea that "Whatever happens, happened." The thing that keeps them going is that they are able to see small changes in things that had happened before but ultimately it does not prevent the big thing from happening. These small changes however give them hope that eventually they can change enough to finally prevent the catastrophe.
Now what makes the current "round" special is that something has happened that had not happened in any of the other rounds of time, the island was found by outsiders. Someone on the island broke the rules in some way and as a result the island was discovered and infiltrated. So now a whole new problem has presented itself to the natives, a problem which they had never before been forced to deal with, the very existence of the island is at stake. Because of the "incident" whatever that turns out to be, Richard realized the kind of danger they were now facing from these outsiders, and this set into motion the events that led to the purge.
If the island is destroyed, then the world is effectively destroyed because it will no longer have a place in which to begin again, so this time when the catastrophe hits it will be the final end to civilization.
When Desmond was pushing that button in the hatch every 108 minutes he really was saving the world. When Widmore had his daughter Penny with an outsider he had compromised the island by creating a bloodline between the overseers of civilization and civilization itself which was strictly forbidden, and as a result he was banished (kind of a parallel with the Genesis 6 story of the sons of God having children with the daughters of men and creating the Nephilim).
As we've heard it said on the show, there is a war coming to the island. This war will not just be over the island, but it will ultimately be over the fate of civilization.
As a side note, all of the unexplained wonders of the world will ultimately be explained by the island. Places like Atlantis and Stonehenge and Easter Island, these places that have mysterious origins and in some cases seem to have come from advanced civilizations will in fact turn out to have come from an advanced civilization, our own civilization. They are remnants of the different "rounds" of history. Places that were purposely left as hints to the real history of the earth. Places that at least in some way help to keep a record of the things that were achieved by man, before they inevitably destroy themselves, time and and time again.
See the island is the world's Constant, or the Universe's Constant or even Time's Constant, however you want to label it, but it is the one place that always remains.
Now here is how this relates to the show- at some point in history there is a major catastrophe, it may be a nuclear war that wipes out the planet or something along those lines. Due to the time-travel capabilities of the island the people on it are trying to change things in the past in order to prevent this catastrophe from happening. But here's the catch...they've already tried and failed, many times. Each time they fail it all starts over again, on the island, the Garden of Eden.
Here's where Richard and the native others come in. They are in charge of re-starting civilization each time. They are the only ones who remain throughout the many "rounds" of time. This is why they don't age. They are protected outside of the normal flow of time in order to preserve the opportunity for civilization to try again and again not to destroy itself.
As I said earlier the people on the island are trying to orchestrate things in order to prevent the catastrophe, but they of course are battling with the idea that "Whatever happens, happened." The thing that keeps them going is that they are able to see small changes in things that had happened before but ultimately it does not prevent the big thing from happening. These small changes however give them hope that eventually they can change enough to finally prevent the catastrophe.
Now what makes the current "round" special is that something has happened that had not happened in any of the other rounds of time, the island was found by outsiders. Someone on the island broke the rules in some way and as a result the island was discovered and infiltrated. So now a whole new problem has presented itself to the natives, a problem which they had never before been forced to deal with, the very existence of the island is at stake. Because of the "incident" whatever that turns out to be, Richard realized the kind of danger they were now facing from these outsiders, and this set into motion the events that led to the purge.
If the island is destroyed, then the world is effectively destroyed because it will no longer have a place in which to begin again, so this time when the catastrophe hits it will be the final end to civilization.
When Desmond was pushing that button in the hatch every 108 minutes he really was saving the world. When Widmore had his daughter Penny with an outsider he had compromised the island by creating a bloodline between the overseers of civilization and civilization itself which was strictly forbidden, and as a result he was banished (kind of a parallel with the Genesis 6 story of the sons of God having children with the daughters of men and creating the Nephilim).
As we've heard it said on the show, there is a war coming to the island. This war will not just be over the island, but it will ultimately be over the fate of civilization.
As a side note, all of the unexplained wonders of the world will ultimately be explained by the island. Places like Atlantis and Stonehenge and Easter Island, these places that have mysterious origins and in some cases seem to have come from advanced civilizations will in fact turn out to have come from an advanced civilization, our own civilization. They are remnants of the different "rounds" of history. Places that were purposely left as hints to the real history of the earth. Places that at least in some way help to keep a record of the things that were achieved by man, before they inevitably destroy themselves, time and and time again.
