The island is “home” to extra-dimensional entities who have the ability to manipulate Fate and “Coincidence.”

Some recent, tantalizing clues:

• The four-toed statue
• The man who recruits Juliet and possibly engineers the accident that kills her ex-husband.
• (most notably) The “shop owner” who convinces Desmond that he should not try to change his Path

The fact that “The Others” always seem to know a great deal about the Losties -
and [more importantly] the fact that coincidence is such a major theme of the show.

I posit that the four-toed statue is an indication that the island was once the home of an ancient race of four-toed entities who perhaps gained the ability to exist outside of time and space - and thus the ability to travel within time - and thereby manipulate fate and coincidence.

The best evidence for this notion is the “recruiter” and the “shop owner,” both of whom convey an otherworldly presence and seem to be aware of fate and even able to control it.

You could rebut that Episode 8 (Flashes Before Your Eyes) could have happened entirely within Desmond’s mind, but I disagree — you can peruse my reasons by checking out my posts in reference to that episode by visiting the Lost Forum.

After seeing Enter 77 and hearing EyePatchMan’s story (though that certainly could be constructed of fabrications and red herrings), I have further developed this theory to explain The Others and The Dharma Initiative (and here I enter much deeper speculation).

I think The Others are the human agents of these Entities who have been recruited by them or ended up on the island by “chance” and The Others may even be somewhat in the role of worshipers of the Entities. Of course, a definite hierarchy exists among The Others, so only those close to the “top” may know the True Nature of their masters and have such devotion to them.

I believe what EyePatchMan said, that The Others were on the island before The Dharma Initiative — they may have been there for a long time in some form or another, and could even be half-breed descendants of the FateEntities.
On a bit of a digression, I think the reason The Others have apparent directives to kidnap children (and especially anyone born on the island) is that children would be less “polluted” by the thought constructs of the outside world (like Carl, they wouldn’t know what the Brady Bunch is — God knows I wish I could sometimes say the same) and more amenable to Indoctrination (unlike those pesky Losties with all their hangups and bad karma).

I think the Dharma Initiative are essentially what they claim to be — a group of Super Scientists with a Secret Society political twist who are on the cutting edge of reality, perhaps pushing into the Entities “territory” — I think they discovered the island and its unusual properties (such as the magnetic anomaly which the Hatch sat upon) and realized it would be the perfect place for their Secret Research — until they realized they weren’t alone, until they met The Hostiles.

It will be interesting to see how all these threads play out assuming that LOST will run for five seasons, we are right at the halfway point — we’ve already been shown quite a bit in the last five episodes — I think from this point forward, the story should become more and more fascinating.

For one thing, there’s still that mysterious Sickness to contend with…

not to mention what effect Walt may have overall.

While looking up Dharma Logo’s this morning on Google, I came across a Buddhist symbol, called a Dharmachakra, or Dharma wheel.

The Dharma, is the teachings of the Buddha, so then I think it would be safe to say that the Dharma Initiative is a project intended to teach the beliefs of the Buddha.

I have a few pieces of evidence to support this fact.

Firstly, the Dharma Logo, it is a Dharmachakra, or Dharma wheel. The original Dharmachakra’s were circles within circles, much like the logo of Oceanic Airlines. Other Dharmachakra’s were spoked wheels, sometimes with what appeared to be beads or balls extending beyond the wheel, much again like the Oceanic logo.

Modern day Dharma wheels have 4 spokes symbolizing the 4 jinas, or moments in life; or 8 spokes, or octagonal in shape(like the Dharma logo) symbolizing the Noble EightFold Path of life.

Dharmachakra’s were sometimes placed on a statue of 4 lions facing the 4 cardinal directions. The statues of lions depicted the lions realistically with only 4 visible toes(like the statue foot on the island).

Another point about the 4 toes, in Buddhist beliefs, the dragon, when traveling east from their original place of existence, LOST a toe, and when traveling west, gained a toe. The further the dragon traveled, the more toes he LOST or gained. Korean Dragons have 4 toes, and Japanese Dragons 3 toes.

The Lotus flower, another Buddhist symbol, represents the Noble EightFold Path in life and the Eight principal acolyte deities of the central deity on the mundalas. When this flower is presented in a cup or on a tray, it is a symbol of homage to the person that it is presented to. Also, Kate was wearing a dress with flowers that resembled the Lotus in the first three episodes of this season.

Another Buddhist symbol, the Ritual Bell, can be 8, 12, 16, 18 or 22 finger widths in height. 8 Lotus petals on the bell represent the 4 mothers and 4 goddesses.

The Buddha Wheel can be seen in many places on the show, there are pictures of it all over the web where people compare it to the Oceanic Logo. Now we know why.

The Buddha symbolic colors and what they represent are:

• blue-Universal Compassion
• yellow-The Middle Path
• red-Blessings
• white-Purity and Liberations
• orange-Wisdom

The colors of the Oceanic Logo are red and blue. I don’t know how significant that may be, if at all. But you should try to keep an eye out for the use of these colors in other parts of the show, especially in symbols and icons.

Buddhist numerology:

• 42-the 42 peaceful deites
• 108-the number of beads on a Buddhist Mala
• 16-Arhants, whom the Buddha entrusted the care of his teachings during his para nirvana
• 16-Causes of premature death
• 16-Finger widths of the height of the Ritual Bell
• 8-Worldly Dharma’s
• 8-Auspicious symbols
• 8-Magnificent offerings
• 8-common abilities shared by all humans
• 8-freedoms
• 8-sub-continents
• 8-classes of Gods and Demons
• 4-Noble truths
• 4-Thoughts that lead the mind to Dharma practice
• 4-activities: pacifying, increasing, MAGNETIZING, subjugating
• 4-Meanings of Magnetizing: Generosity, uttering kind words, giving appropriate teachings and consistency in word and deed.