Cal's 'Lost' Marathon Analysis - Part 5 (Episodes 1-14 - Season 3)

I am into season 3 now of 'Lost' and I have seen nothing so far to dissuade me from my theory that most of the crazy stuff is just balloon juice. A distraction.

The 'island' is not real. The characters are all dead and in some type of spiritual 'waiting room' where they are forced into trials of character that may or may not lead to their eventual redemption. When they fail in their test their lives are often 'rebooted' to go through everything again. That is why John is so sure that the island is an 'entity' and why Desmond has the ability to remember events from his previous 'lives. Both have gone through all this before.

Everything is one big head game played by 'god' or whatever 'higher being' you want to envision. Here is my list of things I noticed from only the first half season three. Any one of which I can use to bolster my argument.

*Desmond tries to sail away from the island but is brought back to it even though he said continuously in one direction. It would be impossible for him NOT to hit some land other than the island.
*Locke going mute mysteriously without any physical reason for it.
*Dead characters routinely show up again to give guidance to the people responsible for their deaths (intentional or not).
*The escalators in John's sweat lodge experience are three UP escalators (trinity)
*Words/lines from the past keep being repeated to characters by other characters who could not possible know how significant they are (for example, when John rescues Mister Echo from the Polar Bear he says he knows John will save Kate, Sawyer and Jack because he is a 'hunter' the same thing the sweat lodge at the dope farm told him in his past).
*Desmond's accurate precognition.
*The smoke monster - 'nuff said
*"Don't mistake coincidence for fate." - John Locke
*"Two days after I found out that I had a tumor on my spine a spinal surgeon falls from the sky" - Benjamin Linus
*Mister Echo is taken by the smoke monster (the Devil perhaps) because he failed in his quest for redemption by not asking for forgiveness (a major tenant of religion) because he believed he did nothing wrong.
*Desmond's experience with the 'ring lady'
*A flock of seagulls and a Billy D Williams cameo always mean that some heavenly force is involved.