Reciprocity: Why the Island needs the Losties by Locke's disciple

This theory is quite long, but I think it's rather interesting. It really only makes sense in it's entirety, as the condensed version was more confusing. I'm sure most of the thoughts are nothing new, but it's what I got out of watching Lost. Hope you enjoy.

The Island is an attempt by a higher intelligence to create paradise for humans. All evidence points to this, from it's physical attributes (tropical setting and healing powers) to it's philosophy of how it conducts itself. What is paradise? The state of nirvana or enlightenment. How do you achieve this? Thru coming to terms with your life, atoning, and adopting a constructive, peaceful, limitless attitude and lifestyle. This is the process of redemption that is the foundation of Lost. This is the purpose the Island seeks to reveal to all of it's inhabitants. RECIPROCITY

The Island institutes a policy of reciprocity in order to achieve and maintain nirvana. That is to say, it reacts to and is subject to your attitude and behavior. Metaphorically speaking whatever action you do to/for the Island, it will do to/for you in return. To reach paradise you must first make peace with yourself in order to open your mind to the possibility. Then it must be maintained thru your actions, hence the need to protect the Island after you've arrived. This entire process is what is meant by the seemingly cryptic phrase, "you've got work to do." What is the point of having the Island solve all the problems for you and then keep them solved without your involvement? Nothing. You have to continue to choose the right behavior to follow. So the policy of reciprocity makes sure that if you go back to your old ways you will endanger your environment and others in it as well. If one of us in the community causes suffering, then we all suffer the same for it. (Example! : Desmond's lack of focus causes the entire Royal Scots regiment platoon to be accountable and run in the rain.)

Upon the opening shot of the show when Jack woke up in the trees he had done things he needed to be redeemed of. From Jack's POV (point of view) it was his obsession to fix failed marriage/relationships and his unresolved issues with his father. But what else had Jack and company also done prior to that opening shot of the pilot? It helps to look at things from the Island's POV.

Imagine you are the Island and have attained a state of nirvana by the work you've done and continue to do. Naturally you want to offer others the way to paradise yet they always bite the hand that feeds them. How do you show them how to attain this state of being? We'll get back to that. First, a little history... Examine things in a chronological order from your (the Island's) POV. This is just an oversimplified, real general history.

In 1954, after centuries of failed societies of your inhabitants, the US army comes to your shores with the intent of blowing up a H-bomb. You communicate to Jacob (who has also attained the nirvana mind state) to instruct Richard to offer them a chance to leave, but they refuse. A bald guy shows up out of nowhere saying he will be a future leader and do something important, and a guy in a tie says to just bury the bomb. Then they disappear. Richard and your people are intrigued.

Jump to 1970 you encourage Richard to negotiate a joint venture partnership between Mittelos/Hanso and the Dharma Initiative. They claim they want to study you and use what they learn "for the betterment of mankind." They set up a community and a truce is negotiated after some dubious first encounters. Not a great start but you give them a chance.

Move on to 1974-77. A group of people literally appear out of thin air and infiltrate the DI. One of them shoots a 12 year old boy, another denies that boy medical attention to save his life. Then they conspire with your people (Other's) to recover and detonate the H-bomb and rationalize that this destruction will absolve them of everything they've done!? These acts are inexcusable and there must be punishment, but absolute reciprocity means you would need to kill them all as well and this destroys everything. Your inhabitants need to be made aware they can't blow things up to become blissfully ignorant. So you limit the damage to a electromagnetic leak (like a bleeding wound of the Island) and prohibit childbirth until those responsible make amends and "fix" it. Now Ms Hawking's demeanor and story makes more sense. She was partially responsible for the childbirth prohibition. She was pregnant and left the Island to have Daniel but later had to "persuade" Desmond, assemble ! the Ajira 315 folks and sacrifice her son to make her amends. For his over zealousness Radzinksy was forced to monitor the hatch until finding a replacement. "A sacrifice the Island demanded." (Note the phrasing Juliet used to describe the pregnancy issue. "the mother's body treats the fetus as a foreign invader eventually killing both of them") The mother = the Island. The foreign invader = humans. RECIPROCITY. No one survives if we both attack each other, the only way is to reconcile.

Now it's 1988 and the choices of the leader of the people you have entrusted to protect you has become disconcerting. He orders an innocent woman and her baby to be murdered, yet he has left to start a family off the Island to sidestep the childbirth prohibition?! Years earlier you began the search for a new leader. Forever the optimist, you've had your eye on a young boy who survived an extraordinary childbirth, but sadly is abused emotionally and physically by his father. He deserves salvation so you attempt to show him he's special by working with the Universal course-correction process and setting up the circumstances to bring him to you. (Horace happening to be in the right place at the right time) Also you've reached out to him by using the image of his dead mother to tell him to be patient, his time will come. (Both Richard and his mother's apparition told him this)

1992 is another sad year for you, but is one of perhaps new hope and change. The DI has done little except further their own prideful agenda. All their "silly" experiments haven't shown them the "one true way" because they still can't even co-exist with your people. They still call them "hostile" and constructed The Arrow (defense strategies) and The Tempest (poison gas)?! They don't comprehend the ways to enlightenment. They're more interested in developing technology (that could destroy the world if unchecked) by harnessing your unlimited energy. So they must be purged, as does the man (Widmore) you've entrusted to lead the protective effort.

***Note the Purge is much different from the H-bomb reset. The Purge was punishment for destructive behavior. H-bomb reset is destruction in the attempt
to be absolved. That's why it won't work and the Losties will still be on the Island in season 6 in need of atonement. This is why season 6 will have the "feel" of season 1. , because we now know what they did to be brought to the Island. It was the H-bomb reset plan to forget their past. ***

By 2001-04 More of the same. Your peoples new leader has become a jealous, deceitful liar. The inhabitants are living in the barracks ("cheating" as Locke told Ben) and are in danger of forgetting the humility required to maintain the nirvana mind state. On a positive note the people responsible for the prohibition of childbirth have now been made ready to come and atone for their acts. You have Jacob use "lists" to instruct Richard to recruit Juliet, and again using Universal course correction you make sure the right people end up on 815, and get Desmond in the hatch to make sure it crashes. (This explains Locke's curious speeches in season 1. "Do you think it's an accident we landed here, on this place? Many of us with only superficial wounds? We were brought here for a reason, a purpose ... it's destiny!") Of course you had to ensure those responsible for the '77 bomb, survived the crash unharmed and are given a chance to atone! RECIPROCITY. If you don't show them mercy, ! forgiveness and offer reconciliation then what does that say about you? How can you (as the Island) maintain nirvana?

Unfortunately, as expected they want to deny their accountability. ("Forgive them for they know not what they are doing") From their POV all they are guilty of is their personal struggles before they crashed. From your POV they've already detonated a bomb to attack you because you wanted retribution in the first place, so you made their plane crash to bring them back. That last sentence is a little confusing so I'll rephrase: They blew up a bomb in '77 to forget. You crashed their plane in '04 to bring them back to remember. RECIPROCITY. (Locke made a curious speech in season 1, "They've attacked us... sabotaged us... murdered us!" What ignorance! From your POV "they" are guilty of the same thing! Hence the terms "other's" and "one of THEM" always being used. Everyone pointing the finger at everyone else.)

So back to original question: How can you show someone how to attain nirvana? They are blissfully ignorant of their misdeeds to you because from their POV it hasn't happened yet. The Monster can't extract memories from their minds to show them. When you speak it only comes out as "whispers" to them because they have no concept of what they've done to you. (Like trying to tell an alcoholic who is in denial to get help, they wouldn't HEAR the message). Also to tell them what they are going to do would be to unfairly influence their freewill. The only way is to communicate your desire to make peace and forgive if they are willing to make peace. RECIPROCITY.

There are many examples that show the Island's willingness to reconcile with the Losties well before they've considered the reset plan. Kate sees the stallion that (temporarily) spared her from incarceration which coaxes her to make amends to Wayne. Sawyer hears Frank Duckett's voice coaxing him to spare vengeance to the boar and hears the whispers of the Islands approval afterward. Sayid sees the cat that reminds him of when a woman he tortured chose to forgive him. On and on the Island has offered reconciliation for what has happened to it, to those who don't even know the damage they will (have already) cause(d).

My personal favorite... Locke being healed. From Locke's POV the Island unexpectedly healed him and restored his faith. But this wasn't just "a good faith gesture." Look at it from the Island's POV. It was in return for when he showed up out of thin air back in 1954 and unexpectedly restored IT'S faith by assuring the people that one day a leader will show up and save it!! Remember back to 1954 when that bald guy walked into the Other's camp and said Jacob sent him, he was going to be the leader and had something important to do and then vanished? To Richard and those in the camp that would be quite miraculous and would be something to hope for. This explains the strange stares Locke always got when in the Other's camp. They had heard stories for 50 years that a man will come to lead them, then they find out he was crippled but could walk again on the Island? Of course they were excited!

All his life Locke mistook naivety for faith and he needed to be held accountable for that. The Island was communicating to him how faith is important but mistaking naivety for faith is foolish, dangerous and causes destructive acts to go unpunished. So Locke struggled with a similar problem the Island had been dealing with in having so much faith in people yet they continue to disappoint. Locke says in season 1 "This Island healed me, it made me whole again." Well you sir, Mr Locke helped heal the Island and made it whole again in the way you served it before you even knew it's plan or what was in store for you. You tried to mentor Jack and convince him to stay. You mentored Ben by calling him out on his lies and trying to show him the error of his ways of leadership. You did everything you could to keep people on the Island, you gave your life to convince them to all come back because you felt it was their destiny to protect it. RECIPROCITY. You worked on Jack for 5 seaso! ns to make him believe again, even in death. The letter -"Jack, I wish you had believed me." This process is what starts the chain of positive influence. (Locke in The L&D of J.B. s5ep7 "I only have to convince one of them, and if I can do that then the rest will follow.) -Jack to Kate in season 1: We're gonna have a Locke problem. He's crazy. -Jack to Kate in season 5: Maybe he was right.

The Room 23 video images... "Think about your life", "We are the causes of our own suffering", "Plant a good seed and you will joyfully gather fruit"

The examples are endless and I don't mean to say all the Island wants is for them to feel bad for the H-bomb. It's that the Island wants them to free themselves of all their burdens and do whatever is necessary to make amends so that they can have the paradise intended for their lives. How can you watch a person suffer and do nothing to help them when you know the answer to their problem? If the situations were reversed wouldn't you want them to help you? RECIPROCITY. Thru their collective actions they have caused the events leading up to MIB's escape from exile and Jacob's murder. The coming War is the attempt by MIB to end any form of balance. He wants to tip the scale of reciprocity. He doesn't feel they deserve it, they come fight, they destroy they corrupt. There is no yin-yang. MIB thinks, "We give, they take they don't give back."

The loophole was way more complex then just tricking time traveling Locke. "You have no idea what I've gone thru to be here." Jacob dead and exiled without a body means no more bringing people to the Island. The childbirth prohibition prevents anyone new from being born. The Island is boxed in. Its like burning all the trees on the planet in order to asphyxiate the world. It's why Jacob's defense to Ben was, "What about you?" As in, why are you so jealous? Why are you so angry at me? I helped heal and teach you and this is how you repay me? What about what YOU'VE done? What about what you're doing right now? Look inside yourself think about your life. "What about you?" By biting the hand that feeds you then how will you eat?

To conclude, why the six degrees of separation aspect? Why do all the characters interact in each other's backstories? Why are these "randomly" chosen people so important? RECIPROCITY. What I do in the world will affect you, which then affects him, which affects her, which affects them which then affects me and what I do next. CIRCLE was the original title of Lost not necessarily because of a time loop.

The answer to Ilana's question, What lies in the shadow of the statue? He who will save/protect us all. It's a metaphor. A rhetorical question. He who will save us all, means "the people that are willing to make a sacrifice for the good of the world will save the world." Jacob was willing and lies there. Locke was willing and lies there. Who else is willing?

RECIPROCITY