Something "beautiful" by Desmond'sConstant

Hello...

I'm a long time lurker on this site, but this is the first theory I've posted. Please keep in mind that I'm spoiler free, and therefore don't have any information about anything that hasn't yet been shown. Anyway, on to the theory.

There has been some talk about the idea of two smokeys--one dark and one light, which would help explain what Locke said he saw when smokey showed itself to him. But for the sake of argument, I'm going to say there is only one smoke monster.

Locke said "I've looked into the eye of this island, and what I saw was beautiful." He also mentioned seeing a bright light, to which Eko responded that was not what he saw. We've seen other instances as well where the smoke monster did not exactly show someone something "beautiful". I believe Locke saw what he did because:

#1 - The bright light he saw was actually the monster scanning him, much like it did with Juliet when she and Kate were handcuffed together in the jungle. It could have been a longer, more steady "flash" of light if it was taking its time with him. But in either case, I believe that is the light Locke is referring to.

#2 - After the scan, I believe the monster recognized Locke as the right man/chosen one for the MiB's plan. At that point it's debatable as to whether the smoke simply left him or if it did indeed show him something "beautiful".

At this point, I believe the MiB's plan had already been set into motion. Whether the MiB knew that Locke was the kind of person who was easy to manipulate, or if there was some other determining factor, he chose Locke from the beginning (essentially trying to beat Jacob at his own game--if he was determined to bring people to the island, MiB would take advantage of that and use it against him).

I used to think that the MiB was the smoke monster, but now I'm more inclined to think that he's either working with smokey or controlling it. If the monster did, indeed, show John an image or images after the scan, it probably knew exactly what it
needed to show John to set into motion the thoughts/emotions/and actions within him that would send him down the right path to become a vessel for the MiB (i.e. being so intuned with the island, discovering the hatch, choosing not to press the button, etc, etc). We can't know for sure what smokey showed Jon, only that it pleased him in some way. It has shown several people things from their past; perhaps it showed John something from his or the island's future. Maybe it showed him in power. Maybe it showed him a peaceful life on the island if he just obeyed "its" commands. This future image may not have even been real, and could have been contrived solely to get John to do the MiB's bidding.

When smokey latched onto Locke in season 2 and tried to pull him underground, I believe it was planning on taking Locke to the temple to carry out MiB's plan right then and there. As we've witnessed with Rousseau's group and also with what Richard said about little Ben, the temple/smokey changes people. Whether it's actually possessing these people, it brain washes them, or makes a clone of them is yet to be seen (and like I said, I have no idea what the temple really is/does, and I prefer to keep it that way until it's revealed in season 6). In any case, I believe the MiB set into motion, and then witnessed John's transformation into a "man of faith" and deemed him ready for the process that would allow him to impersonate him.

When John told Jack to let him go, that he would be fine, I think he really believed that because of whatever it was that the smoke monster showed him. I think he believed the smoke monster was good, or that his being taken by smokey would result in a positive outcome--perhaps the one he was already shown.