Even Evil Incarnate Can't Destroy the World by Cynthia

So, what if there is no ultimate evil/chaos/destruction at the release of MiB from the island? What if the efforts of Jacob, Widmore, and everyone else who is now going to attempt to keep MiB trapped are pointless? What if he escapes the island and...the world does NOT end in death, destruction and chaos?

Perhaps both Jacob and MiB were brought to the island as a kind of test and/or punishment for the both of them (perhaps by their mother)? And they were told that they embodied these archetypes of good/evil or light/dark or fate/free will or life/death or whatever.

I think the sideways timeline is the world *after* MiB escapes and the island sinks into the sea. Life does not end, the world is not swallowed in evil. Instead, people continue to live out their lives battling (internally and externally) the forces of good/evil, fate/free will, and so on. There is no "winner" in that contest because there can't ever be. They must always co-exist in order for humanity to exist at all. We cannot rid the world of either good or evil.

It was when Jacob implied to Richard that humans could possibly be un-corruptable that was the most suspicious line in the episode. Does Jacob really think he can undo the corruption of humanity? To rid the world of evil and "prove" that humans are capable of living without any sin?? Even if you don't believe in the Christian notion of the Garden of Eden, the same principle applies across all mythologies. Humans are not fully good or fully bad. By nature, we are a duality. The fact that Jacob is seeking to upset that balance tells me HE has been fooled into believing it's possible by someone else. My guess is his mother.

There would be no light without darkness. Goodness cannot exist without darkness. And by the same token, where any light exists, there can never be total darkness. Jack, Hurley, and the others have shown that they are capable of being sources of "light" and "good" even when struggling with their personal demons. They KNOW how to do the right thing, even in the face of their greatest vulnerabilities.

The island is not necessary to the outside world, it's just that fearful humans believe it is. When MiB escapes, which I think he will, the world will continue on the way it always has. And the lesson will be: neither death nor life, neither goodness nor evil, and neither fate nor free will is conquerable. It is the lesson that not only everyone brought to the island, but Jacob himself had to learn.

Okay, flame away!