The Light Connection by Jhisc9999

I've been on vacation and had some time to reflect on this for a while. Sorry if someone's already posted something similar.

I think the light is a gateway to another dimension that we pass onto when we're ready. Being ready implies a sense of purity that religions have tried to understand and explain for millennia. Lost has suggested this throughout the series. Eko was killed for not repenting. Charlie had visions that led him to believe that Aaron needed to be baptized. Richard was told he had to do penance and even Jacob could not absolve him of his sins. Lost souls, like Michael surround the light but cannot enter because they are not pure. Some have asked how can Ben be pure and not Michael? We don't know what pure is. Perhaps Michael could not forgive himself, despite his sacrifice. Jack seemed like a good and pure person throughout the series, but he had to do a lot of letting go.

The light needs not only to be protected, but it needs to remain pure. When MIB was thrown into the light, an impurity was introduced and a monster was created, one that the protector was not allowed to kill because of rules created by the previous protector.

How can the protectors make their own rules? As I mentioned, I think the light is a connection to another dimension, one that may not be subject to rules as we know them (physical laws). The properties of the light (the powers) are shed upon the island to some extent and onto the protector most of all. The light is also inside each of us and connects us. The protector has power over those connections. The protector can bind people's fates to one another and to him/herself as a means of bringing them to the island. The protector can also prevent one person from killing another because taking a life also involves the connection to the light. Aging also brings someone closer to the light. Manipulating the connection of someone's light to THE light could stop the aging process.

One final note. When Widmore said that we would all simply cease to be, which I assume he heard from Jacob, I think he was referring to the inability to pass on to the afterlife through the light. Our souls would cease to be when we died. This hints back to the religious importance of baptizing babies.