The "point" of LOST by LongLiveLocke

I think that many of those railing against last night's episode may have missed one of the major themes of LOST that has been developed throughout its 6 seasons. This theme is so central to everything that's happened that I would consider it to be the "point" of the whole show. It's the idea that in a universe that is actually far more mysterious than we can possibly imagine, what we're able to know and understand is actually very little, and those who often seem to have all the answers are really just stabbing in the dark like the rest of us. Last night's episode was simply the next step in developing this idea. Allow me to illustrate the way this has been built throughout the series...

First with Locke. Introduced as someone who seemed to have some deep connection to the island and as some kind of survival guru. Turned out to be a wheelchair-bound, fear-filled man who was desperately searching for a purpose beyond himself, and was ultimately just a tool to be used.

Next Desmond. Surely whoever was living in that damn hatch would have the answers to what was going on on the island! But no, Desmond was just as clueless as the rest of them, going only off the little info that Kelvin had provided. And even Kelvin didn't know if what he had been told was true.

Next Ben. Surely the leader of the Others would know what was going on! But no. Ben simply came to the island as a little boy and was only going off what little information he could glean from Widmore and Richard. (Just how much Widmore really knows is unclear, but I won't be surprised if it, again, turns out to be very little).

Well then, what about Richard? He's ageless and has been living on the island, best buds with Jacob, for who knows how long? Surely HE knows what's going on? Nope. He came to the island, was given two sides of a very incomplete story, and picked a side. He's acting mostly by faith and actually knows very little.

So last night we finally got to the two men with all the answers. At least, that's what we expected. But no... Turns out that Jacob and MIB were simply going off what their "mother" told them. Even they really don't even know what the island is and what it's either protecting or containing.

See a pattern here? And guess what? My bet is that their mother came to the island in a similar circumstance to them and is simply going off what little information she was told.

I'm laying this out for one major reason... To prepare those of you who are "answer hounds" for what I believe is going to happen. I honestly doubt we're ever going to find out exactly what the island is, what the "light" is at its source, or what the "darkness" is that its containing. I think that the take-home message of the show will be that we always have incomplete information and uncertainty about the world and our purpose in it, and that all we can do is try to make the best choices we can in the face of all this uncertainty. For the show to spell out the answers to these questions would be to take away the mystique of the story and to completely undermine this important theme that they've been building. My guess is that we will learn a little bit more, but that in the finale we will still have the Losties acting with a great deal of uncertainty, still not really knowing exactly what they're fighting for or whose side they should truly be on. But such is the nature of life.