In season four of Babylon-5, when Wade is preparing Michael Garibaldi to work
for William Edgars, he tells him that everything is an illusion; a metaphor. Part
of that was Ellison and Straczynski commenting on the medium, itself. But that
conversation also takes place at the same point in that series as to where we
are now in LOST.

We see Locke having a conversation with Horace, a mathematician who chose
that spot to build the cabin for a reason. The image of the tree being felled in
a loop shows its importance. Ben's relationship to Jacob parallel's Locke's to
Claire, which is why he can see her. It may be because of the tie between
Christian and Claire that we see him at all. There's as much good writing in
both of these shows : We just have to let it play out, and not take it too
seriously.