[Note: A version without pictures was posted at 1:04pm Central-DST, on 5/25/10. This version was posted at 1:40pm CDST, on 5/25/10.]
AND THE ISLAND IS....
The island and its surrounding mythology are an inextricably interwoven tapestry of Science and Faith, as well it should be.....
1. The island originally was the Garden of Eden.
2. Satan and his evil minions were banished from Heaven-- the Fall of Lucifer-- and they were thrown into an 'evil bottleverse' dark/mirror matter prison. One wormhole entrance to this mirror matter verse is located on the island.
3. A 'cork' was set in place to block the wormhole portal to the evil bottleverse in the Light of Life cave. Corking the 
evil bottleverse prevented additional darkside entities from entering our lightside universe. A 'Cerberus' entity was chained to the portal, and this hellhound guard dog entity was revealed to us as SMOKEY when Jacob threw MIB's body down the 'rabbit hole'. Thus the clunking, metallic chain sound whenever Smokey's on the prowl, dragging his Cerberus chain along for the ride.... And yes, Smokey/Cerberus is in some ways the antimatter equivalent of Vincent the dog/god symbol.... 
4. Satan was somehow loosed from his imprisonment in the evil bottleverse-- a primeval precursor to the Desmond cork-popping scene?-- and he appears to Eve in the form of a serpent, tempting her to eat the forbidden fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Eve and Adam succumb to this first version of the island's game of trial by temptation. After this Fall of Humanity, Adam and Eve were banished from the Island/Eden.
5. After the Fall of Humanity, the island was moved from human access and became the THIRD HEAVEN. The quantumly chaotic movements of the island, the 'event horizon' turbulent zone around the island, and its 'cloaked' status are aspects of this 'removal from access'....1 Living human beings can still come to the Third Heaven island 'by accident' and by the designs of the Island Protector.... 2
6. Lessons learned (HEURISTICS) and choices made (MATERIAL APPLICATIONS) on the Third Heaven Island helped the castaways make sufficient progress to set the stage for 'moving the lessons learned' on the island to the FST 'Purgatory'. They learned these lessons while they were alive and kicking on the island. After they died they entered the FST Purgatory. Once they became aware of what they had learned on the island, they were then able to use these lessons to purge their souls and achieve DHARMA in the FST Purgatory, enabling them to finally 'let things go' and 'move their souls' on from the FST Purgatory to the Seventh Heaven.
7. Thus, the Department of Heuristics and Research on Material Applications acronym-- DHARMA-- was not far off the mark, after all....
8. After Jack died on the island, Hurley took over the Jacobian mantle of Protector, with Ben as his Number 2. They continued the HEURISTIC 'game' of Life/Afterlife by 'accidentally' bringing more people to the island, where each new band of castaways underwent their own adventures in collective heuristics, developing sets of shared lessons learned, setting the stage for subsequently using these lessons in an FST Purgatory of their own, to PURGE their souls of evil, unrighteousness, and bad karma, finally achieving dharma, enabling them to let go and move on from Purgatory to the Seventh Heaven....
9. Prior to his own death, Hurley (hopefully!) passed the baton of Island Protector on to another Candidate, drawn from one of the sets of castaway 'lesson-learners' who were 'accidentally on purpose' brought to the island for HEURISTIC goals, expressing MATERIAL APPLICATIONS through their choices and actions on the island, setting the stage for them to later (post-mortem) flash backward from Purgatory to become aware of their past lessons learned. These lessons played a crucial role in helping them to fully deal with their issues, pay their penance, let go of the 'old baggage', and walk the talk of dharma, enabling them to finally move into the bright white Light of Life of the Seventh Heaven.... This is the 'game' of Life Afterlife that has been playing out on the island since the very dawn of humanity, since our Fall from grace, from ancient times forward, through the present and into the future, for who knows how long to come....
10. Uncorking the evil bottleverse threatens not only the island's integrity, but also the fate of the world, as the Dark Matter minions spill into our verse through the wormhole portal in the deep recesses of the Light of Life cave. Had Flocke succeeded, a great darkness would have covered the land, annihilating our lightside world, spreading like a mirror matter cancer, ultimately transforming the very nature of our universe in a decidedly Anti-Monitor fashion ala Crisis On Infinite Earths.
Thank goodness he did not succeed....
Namaste
Dr. Todd J. Hostager
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ENDNOTES:
1. Please see the following for more information on the Third Heaven view of the island on Lost:
Endnote 5 of my 5/4/10 The Candidate posting-
Endnote 2 of my 5/11/10 Across The Sea posting-
My 5/18/10 What They Died For posting-
And Endnote 1 of my 5/23/10 The End posting-
2. Yes, Daniel Faraday's calculations did provide a means of probabilistically ascertaining the more likely locations of the island at given points in spacetime, showing how Science and Faith are, once again, inextricably interwoven in the tapestry of the show's narrative.... Whether or not the island was linked to other sites on Earth through a global 'mini-wormhole' transit system-- with key information contained in the Black Rock ledger won at the auction by Widmore-- remains to be seen, of course.... So many questions unanswered.... But as per the classic 1960s masterpiece, The Prisoner, we will find that questions without answers are not a burden to ourselves and others, but rather are a welcomed opportunity for us to re-engage the rich, complex, and exhilarating narrative brought to life for us in Lost....