The Compass Paradox and What it Points To: Something Beautiful by Michael Aaron

What the compass points to sure isn't North.

The existence of the compass is a physical impossibility; it's a time paradox. It has no beginning or point of origin, it is stuck in an infinite loop.

The ONLY way for the compass paradox to exist, is within the context of a greater paradox. Think of Russian Dolls, or better yet: fractals.

The existence of the compass illustrates that there is a greater paradox allowing for it.

The heartbeat or generator of this greater paradox is The Incident.

For the sake of my theory, I'm banking on the idea that, by detonating the bomb just as the drill is entering into the pocket of electromagnetic energy, the Losties cause the incident, which in turn eventually causes them to crash so that they can get to the island... and eventually detonate the bomb... so that they can crash... ad infinitum.

Further:
The Incident creates a scenario that allows Daniel to give the appropriate math to Desmond, so that Desmond can then give the appropriate math to Daniel in the past, which allows Daniel to set the stage for... The Incident.

In my view, the only way any of this can be happening, is if it is all bound to a greater paradoxical time loop; one that is infinite yet not bound to the greater, objective reality of spacetime, making it, in and of itself, a kind of "universe", which has its own laws (paradoxes exist) and Gods (Jacob, MIB).

Think of Ben's comment to Locke: "God can't see this place". Of course He can't; it doesn't technically exist, unless it "remains infinite". What do I mean by "remains infinite"? I mean, as long as it's forever there, it will have always been, but the second you end the loop, it ceases to have ever been. So you begin to see what is at stake here.

The island is a kind of staging ground for this paradox to express itself, to in fact exist at all; it's a "Oz", that can be accessed by "hidden portals" or "event windows" (as it were).

The Losties exist both within and without the paradoxical time loop. They were not born into this loop, and have a lineage that precedes their existence within the loop, and they have a passage forward which will take them beyond the loop. Imagine a line with a starting point that leads into a spiral or loop, and then continues out of the loop.

It stands to reason, then, that, while they are "bound" to the time loop, they are also in normal spacetime, and that this apparent split only exists during the course of the loop, said "course" being infinite. Well, if one half of the split party is bound to an infinite loop, how can he/she eventually "re-merge" with the other half? Through course correction.

Course Correction is the deadly beast which threatens the existence of the time loop.

The characters of Lost can be broken down into three catagories:

1) Born into the loop, indigenous to the loop (Jacob, Richard, Eloise?)

2) Born in "normal" spacetime, but swept up by and/or contributing to the existence of the loop (Oceanic Six for instance).

3) Born in both the loop AND "normal" spacetime simultaneously, indigenous to both simultaneously, but unsplit (Desmond); super-special.

The MIB and Jacob are at polar opposites stances in regard to what they want to have happen within the greater context of this paradoxical time loop: one of them wants to keep the loop intact; he is deeply threatened by the existence of the "guests" who come into the loop, until he determines that they are in fact contributing TO the very existence OF the loop. The other wants to ride on the coattails of the "guests", and break out of the loop into the greater, non-paradoxical spacetime, thereby erasing any history of the existence of the loop altogether, along with all of its indigenous people, save Desmond, who will be the only remaining vestige.

So the MIB and Jacob both need the Losties, but for reasons that are diametrically opposed.

One is the embodiment of "that which hides from God", the other is the embodiment of "Course Correction". One wants to ride the back of Aslan off into the sunset, the other wants a complete erasing of Narnia. One is the Man Behind the Curtain, the other is Dorothy awakening from the dream. One wants to keep the loop intact forever (the show must go on), the other wants a curtain call (a final, thundering applause).

As fans of the show, with whom do we side? None of us want the time loop to have "never existed", so that all that we have witnessed is "nothing"; on the other hand, we all want our heros to re-merge with their split selves, to not be "forever lost". We can have both: Desmond's Memories. To this end, it becomes difficult to assess which side is good, and which side bad, and that is beautiful.