so...i read a lot of theories about lost online. because i'm a nerd and its an excellent way to procrastinate. i usually don't put too much thought into them but i really like this one
...he liked the idea of comparing the island to a cork because of its parallels with the whole button pushing exercise in the Swan station. His thought was that just as the button had to be pressed every 108 minutes to reset the system, Jacob and MIB are doing the same thing with people. Not pressing the button would destroy the world, just as letting MIB escape would destroy the world. After Locke lost faith, Desmond turned the failsafe key. This is like Locke’s downfall and Desmond possibly being a key to the island. So, is this all the same sequence of events, only one being through DHARMA and science, and the other being through Jacob and faith? Immediately, I realized he was onto something, and based on what we learned this week, really feel he’s onto something.

While I don’t remember where I heard it, about a month ago, Damon Lindelof (I believe) mentioned that we’ve already seen the scenario that’s now being played out in the final season, we just don’t realize it yet. Lost has been about the dichotomy of science and faith since the beginning. Perhaps it is now beginning to illustrate the point it was making all along—that they are not opposing forces but one and the same. That for every scientific element we can recognize in the world, there is a spiritual one that represents it. As they say in kabblah, “As above so below.” This is exactly the sort of “bigger picture” element that I’m talking about that makes what we’ve been watching so much richer for me. Yes, the bigger picture has always existed within the mythology of the story, but I have really been hoping that at some point a curtain will be revealed on the show and we will finally get to see what has been behind it all along. We now have some solid clues.

Thinking back to the Swan station fiasco, Locke had lost his faith that the button had to be pressed because Ben had hinted that it was all pointless. The two of them then were responsible for causing the system failure that caused the pocket of energy in the island to begin to escape. Specifically, the sequence of six numbers were not entered into the computer after 108 minutes and this is what caused all hell to break loose. In the last moments however, Desmond decides to sacrifice himself by turning a failsafe key, destroying the Swan station and causing him to be reborn. This seems to be the exact same story we are seeing now.

Instead of six numbers preventing the energy of the island from escaping, we now have six people representing those very same numbers. The energy of the island is illustrated as the black smoke monster which has taken the form of Locke. During the Swan station failure, Locke had lost his faith and almost caused the energy of the island to escape. Now, Locke’s image has given Smokey a way to escape from his island prison. Jacob seems to represent the faith of pressing the button—that which had been keeping the energy of the island contained. But the combination of the soulless/fake Locke and Ben kill Jacob, just as the real Locke and Ben brought about the end of the button-pushing. This led to releasing the energy pocket that would’ve destroyed the island had Desmond not stepped in. Desmond did however, using a failsafe key.

read the whole thing here.