Things Change by Scott Gingold

I had a Calculus teacher once who said that two words could easily explain Calculus: Things Change. Calculus is the basis of Physics and Daniel Faraday's physics of variables and constants is a big theme of this show. For that past few months there have been heated debates between "Whatever Happened Happened" and an alternate timeline, spurred by the decision of Faraday and Jack to drop a hydrogen bomb at the Swan station site, to negate the energy caused by Radzinsky drilling into a pocket of electromagnetic energy. But we already know that it is not a clear case of one versus the other. In fact Eloise Hawking already told us how the universe works. According to her, everyone follows a path, and where that paths ends will always be the same, but how you go about getting there is what can change. "Because it wouldn't matter. Had I warned him about the scaffolding tomorrow he'd be hit by a taxi. If I warned ! him about the taxi, he'd fall in the shower and break his neck. The universe, unfortunately, has a way of course correcting. That man was supposed to die. That was his path just as it's your path to go to the island. You don't do it because you choose to, Desmond. You do it because you're supposed to."

So, that is how Charlie died in several different ways. Just because he ultimately died in the Looking Glass Station, does it mean that he didn't die on the rocks or by lightning? No, he did, but then something else happened, causing the universe to course correct itself, allowing him to still be alive to speak with Hurley. "I am dead, but I'm also here."

So Jack dropped a bomb and thinks it will stop Oceanic 815 from crashing and he may be right, or maybe he just won't be on 815 but it will crash anyway. Whatever happens, it's still Jack & company's path to go to the island. He tried to change things and then the universe will have a way of course correcting things.

Desmond turned the key, which allowed him to go back and change things with Penny. But the universe course corrected by sending Eloise to divert his path back to the island and to have Jimmy Lennon hit him with a cricket bat to send him back to the island.

It's all of the character's destiny to wind up on the island. They're supposed to be there, as Locke said, because the island needs saving. There is a war coming and the war is bigger than themselves. The island is a place where the universe comes together. Where time can change. Where the course correction happens. We've seen it. Isn't Smokey a course corrector? Isn't Jacob a course corrector? Hasn't the island been able to heal the sick and punish the wicked? All of these people have been selected by the island to help it in its time of need, so whether or not we've seen them die over the course of the show, the universe will find a way to bring their path back to the island.