ISLAND VISIONS

Boone had a vivid, "real" vision of his sister Shannon being killed by the smoke monster. It was so real that Boone blamed Locke by attacking him with a knife. Locke explained that he drugged Boone in order for him to have his vision, so he could understand the island better.

Locke was apparently one of the first survivors to make a "connection" with the island. But he was not alone in the island creating visions.

The series is littered with hallucination episodes.

In Season 1:
Jack repeatedly sees his dead father, Christian, in the jungle.
Claire has a dream about looking for her lost baby, encountering Locke, and finding the crib filled with blood.
Boone has an illicit dream with Shannon, later to find her killed by the smoke monster.
Locke dreams of a Nigerian drug plane crash on the island. He also becomes wheelchair bound again. He also sees a blood covered Boone blankly repeating "Theresa goes up the stairs, Theresa goes down the stairs."

In Season 2:
Shannon has three visions of Walt: a) while searching for Vincent, she sees Walt speak in gibberish to her (backwards: "Don't push the button. Button bad."), b) in her tent, Walt speaks backwards again "They're coming, and they're close," and c) while searching for Walt with Sayid, both glimpse a vision of Walt in the jungle.
Hurley dreams of gorging on food, speaking Korean to Jin and sees the mascot for Mr. Cluck's.
Kate and Sawyer sees Kate's horse in the jungle.
Mr. Eko sees flashes of his life when the smoke monster confronts him.
Charlie has two dreams about needing to save Claire's child, which include images from his childhood and a painting by Verrocchio.
Hurley has visions and conversations with his imaginary friend, Dave.
Mr. Eko has a dream featuring Anna Lucia and Yemi in which they tell him to help Locke, and instructions from Yemi to look for a question mark.
Locke has a dream from Eko's point of view, where he climbs a cliff and meets Yemi.

In Season 3:
Locke goes on a "vision quest" in which is is guided by Boone and instructed to save
Eko.
Desmond has a series of mental flashes in which he sees future events: a) Locke giving a speech about going after kidnapped Jack, Kate and Sawyer; b) Lightning striking Claire's hut, killing Charlie; c) Charlie drowning trying to save Claire; d) Charlie dying in the ocean while trying to catch a seagull for Claire; e) Charlie is killed by an arrow trap on a mission to find a parachutist; and f) Charlie drowning while flipping a switch in a hatch; Claire and Aaron then leaving the island in a helicopter.
Mr. Eko has a confrontation conversation with Yemi.
Young Ben sees his dead mother on the island.
Locke, after being shot by Ben in the purge mass grave, has a vision of grown Walt telling him to get up because he has "work to do."

In Season 4:
Hurley has several visions of Charlie: a) in a convenience store; b) in the LAPD interrogation room; and c) outdoors at the mental institution (where Charlie physically slaps him into conversation).
Hurley sees Jacob's cabin on the island, which follows him until he wills it to disappear.
Michael has two visions of Libby, once in the hospital and once before he tries to set off the bomb on the freighter.
Jack sees a vision of his father in the hospital lobby after hearing a smoke detector go off.
Claire talks to her dead father, Christian, on the island. Christian can pick up Aaron.
Locke dreams of Horace building a cabin for his wife. Horace tells Locke to find Jacob he must find Horace who has been dead for 12 years. (In this vision, the image of Horace skips and repeats like a broken record for a short time.)
Kate has a dream that Claire tells her she cannot take Aaron back to the island.
On the freighter, Michael sees Christian who tells him that "he can go now."

In Season 5:
Hurley has a vision of Ana Lucia, who stops him to tell him he has "work to do."
Locke is told by Walt that Walt had a dream about Locke on the island, in a suit, surrounded by people who wanted to kill him.

In Season 6:
Hurley sees dead Jacob, who instructs him to go to the Temple and the Lighthouse.
Sawyer and Flocke see a vision of young Jacob in the jungle. Flocke is surprised that Sawyer can see him.
Alpert sees his dead wife Isabella in the the Black Rock.
Isabella appears before both Hurley and Alpert on the island near where Alpert buried her locket.
Hurley sees dead Michael twice, first to warns him not to blow up the Ajira plane and second, to tell him to destroy the Black Rock. (In this encounter, Michael claims he is a whisper, a trapped soul on the island.)

Many of these visions or dreams involve interaction with dead characters. The acceptance of speaking directly to dead people freaks out only Hurley (momentarily).

What do many of these occurrences have in common? The smoke monster. The monster could shape shift and create human forms. It admitted that it was Christian on the island. As a result, it could be argued that the hallucinations and visions character had during the series were projections created by the smoke monster. The motivation of these visions is clear: to manipulate, confuse and create anxiety in the characters. It is like a person dangling a feather above house cats; a form of play. Many characters used their visions to guide them in their decision making process, usually with bad results.

There have been theories that the series was just a series of character dreams, individual or collective. But it is also possible that the dreams were actual programs or commands imputed by the smoke monster(s) to move the human characters around their game board (the island). Supernatural beings playing a supernatural game of backgammon.

This supernatural trick and manipulation also follows in the ancient Egyptian burial rites where the king must take a dangerous journey through the underworld. He may be tricked by the underworld gods, go through trials, and be judged by the decisions he makes during the course of finding a way to paradise. The Book of the Dead was a manual on how to traverse the underworld. It allowed the king to bring with him his servants, consorts, food, weapons, and magic spells to help in his journey. The underworld gods also had a childlike cruelty in their game play with lost souls.

Locke's "connection" with the island may have seemed real to him, but it was clearly a manipulation by higher forces. Locke believed in the island, but the island used him like a pawn.

But this raises an interesting question: if these "waking" visions of dead people were the smoke monster, could it also have controlled the characters dreams while they were asleep? Anything is possible, and based on the number of incidents, it is probable. Since Christian's body was not in the coffin, Smokey had to create his image from Jack's memories. In fact, the entire island may have been built upon the memories of those unfortunate souls who were shipwrecked on the island. Crazy Mother was a smoke monster when she destroyed the Roman village. Flocke turned into the smoke monster and attacked the temple. The smoke monster was not just a security system, but the entire island system. It created everything from the memories of human beings, including their feelings, emotional strings, their fears, their experiences and their goals. It "replays" those events to see how human beings react or change. It is not a moral, religious or redemptive series of tests. No, perhaps the smoke monster(s) are using human beings the same way our scientists use lab rats to run through mazes and tests. The whole series was data acquisition by the smoke monsters to understand the human condition.

But, then again, the ending seems to fall outside the realm of island experimentation. Unless, one believes that the smoke monster master(s) became "attached" to their pets in such a fashion to use their collective memories to give them a final illusion of happiness upon their mortal demise.