So the Island is a character in and of itself, with its own desires and designs; and Dogen says that for every man there is a scale and on one side of the scale there is good and on the other side evil. Doesn't this mean that Jacob and the Man in Black are just incarnations of the good and evil of the Island itself? Meaning to say that neither Jacob or the Man in Black need be looked at or talked about as human/people. Of course at one time they were human/people, but have not been for a very long time. Seeing as how one candidate will replace Jacob, doesn't that mean whoever that ends up being would simply be restoring balance to the Island?
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