Desmond takes a trolley to the jeweler's store by Michael Aaron

I'm going to pose two questions that are nagging at me (they're related to Desmond) and then offer a dual-theory and a prediction, respectively, in response:

Question 1) In the episode "Flashes Before Your Eyes", when Desmond first meets Eloise in the jeweler's store to buy the ring, is this an event taking place in objective reality, or is it something happening in Desmond's mind? If it's real, are we to assume that Eloise either owned or was employed by the jeweler's store? Is Eloise, in fact, a Jeweler? If the event wasn't real, but some kind of consciousness journey or a mind-trip, then how did Eloise manage to insert herself into it? Whether real or a mind-trip, do Eloise and Desmond share a "memory" of their exchange? To wit: when they see each other again in the Los Angeles Dharma Station (The Lighthouse), do they recognize each other from this previous experience? If they do remember this shared experience, is it the writers' intention for us to assume that their initial meeting took place in real time, or is it their intention for us to assume that they somehow shared a mind-trip?

Theory: If "Flashes Before Your Eyes" didn't take place in objective reality, then Eloise and a few select "others" have the capacity to PROJECT onto/into the conscious experience/minds of certain human beings. What Desmond experienced was this phenomenon of "Projection", with him being a receiver and Eloise either the projector or a projection of the projector. If "Flashes Before Your Eyes did take place in objective reality, then Desmond was afforded an opportunity to change his past (hence the future), literally, and Eloise discovered this via something similar to an Event Window, and made an appearance to keep things "as they should be". Chess match analogy: Desmond was a white pawn being used to set up a future move, and Eloise was a black queen, moved in due to white's intentions having been anticipated by black.

Question 2) When Desmond's consciousness time travels from the past to the future, in the episode "The Constant", what happens to Desmond's current consciousness? We are clearly experiencing, as viewers, the conscious vantage of an earlier Desmond, even during the scenes where we see the body of the current Desmond; so where IS current Desmond's conscious vantage during this? When he "comes to" (after making the phone call to Penny's flat), does he recall the whole experience that just took place, or is being on the helicopter the last thing he remembers? Conversely, what happens to past Desmond after leaving Penny's flat? He gets that little smile on his face, indicating he knows that the nightmare is over, but does he go forward with all of this "future content" (being on a freighter and calling Penny in 2004) embedded in his "memory"? Further, does the Desmond we see leaving Penny's flat recall having met Eloise in the jeweler's store? (In my view, the Desmond we see leav! ing Penny's flat doesn't recall meeting Eloise, because that's the Desmond Eloise is REFERRING to (in hindsight) when she says "you don't take the ring, Desmond". To wit: he hasn't yet had the experience of meeting Eloise, even though said experience takes place chronologically "before" he joins the army.)

Prediction: understanding what happened to Desmond during "The Constant" will help us understand what is going to happen in season six, because the mechanics of whatever happened to Desmond will be on full display for the entirety of the season. Imagine if "The Constant" was a full season instead of just one episode, that's what season six will be like.