The Return of Shangri-La

Ok, things are starting to gel.

Charlie to Desmond: "We were in love, it was like we've always been, and always will be"

Isabella to Richard: "We are already together"

Pa to Laura (Sawyer watching little house): "people aren't really gone when they die."

Juliet to Sawyer (via Miles): "It worked"

I've said before in previous posts (here and here) that death on the island is not what it seems to be. I think that there is still yet another aspect to the island that we haven't seen yet, which is that it acts as a kind of gateway to a heavenly place, and death on the island might be one way to get there. Jacob, believer in humanity, is trying to help people get there, and Smokey, doubter of humanity, is trying to keep people out of it. Like the rocks on the scale, they are there to balance each other out. When Smokey says that he wants to go home, this is the heaven-like place he years to return to.