Why does Ben feel the Temple is only for the Others? Why does Ben permit Rousseau to escort Alex and Karl to the temple if it is only for Others?

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I'd guess he sent Karl and Danielle so they could be killed, just a ruse so that Alex wouldn't be suspicious of his motives (which she still was but having two people she trusted with her maybe swayed her enough to actually go). As to why it's only for the Others, I think we'll see that at a later date - regarded as Holy Ground maybe?

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Go then, there are other worlds than this.

yes, i was curious about that. ben said something like "the temple is not for them, it's for us." possible like previously said, it's their holy ground and they don't want other people there who don't understand the importance of the island. and ben insists on calling Alex his DAUGHTER. does he really care about her that much? or is it a question of possession, such as in the case of Juliet, where he says she was HIS.

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I love my beautiful turnipheads...

The temple seems to be another example of the oddities of the others.

The losties have had several of their group die and so they have a very conventional graveyard where they bury their dead.
BUT Ben's group deal with their dead in different ways.
They just left Goodwin in the jungle.
They apparently dumped all the Dharma purge victims in an open pit.
They had some kinda ceremony for Colleen Pickett during which all of the mourners wore loose white clothes. Brenda Lee's "I Wonder" played on a speaker system while Colleen's body was released to the ocean on a funeral pyre, and was set on fire.

I think that Ben's group are following the traditions of some ancient civilization that once inhabited the island. On the one hand they are very much people of the 21st century, and use alot of technology. But they also mark Juliet, take orders from Jacob, (whatever Jacob is), have burial ceremonies (sometimes), and now have a sanctuary that is the temple where they do..... something.

Charlotte is a Cultural Anthropologist so maybe she will be able to give some information about the islands history. That is if she can stay alive to actually get to the temple or one of the other ancient ruins on the island, like the foot statue.

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Doctor playing golf. Woo, boy howdy, now I've heard everything. What's next, cop eating a donut?

Looking at Lostpedia, I see not much of info has been made available on the Temple thus far in the show (thought I might be missing/ forgetting something but no..) So with reference to the name only, I'm assuming it's a communications-related station, but not necessarily in the sense of some station with com. gadgets. A temple is where believers gather to reflect and hope in the light of their faith, so it always has some transcendental quality with reference to some higher power. Probably a far stretch but could the temple be some place where departure from the island could be arranged somehow..? Or a significantly safer place for islanders in the sense of being a place with exceptional qualities, protection etc...? I'm aware that's somewhat obvious, but I wonder what exact qualities a place as such might have..?

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"Bear...? Is that you?"-- Hurley S03E4

I've been dying to know exactly what the temple is since they brought it up last season. If they don't show it next episode I'm going to freak out. Great thoughts Flaneuse You've really got me thinking in a different direction now!

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" We kinda like knew that forever ago." -Hurley SE4EP8

Hope we can make more sense of this Temple thing soon (disavowing the 5 week season break here). Now, Lostpedia entry mentions the Temple as some yet-unseen location but not explicitly as another station, though its name is mentioned among possible other stations elsewhere on the site... Yes, some temple might work well with I-Ching mystery with the Dharma Logo- but I can't quite decide whether a temple-like place would fit into Dharma's scientific utopia in the first place.. It may just as it may not..Maybe it's called 'temple' simply for the geographical qualities of its location- like height etc..?Dharma logo for the place seems to have some balloon-like thing going on in the middle though..

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"Bear...? Is that you?"-- Hurley S03E4

Maybe the Temple is both an ancient ruin on the island and a Dharma Station.

The DI may have built a Station around or in the Temple ruins itself.
They could have done this to explore, experiment, or exploit some unique property at the location of the Temple?

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Doctor playing golf. Woo, boy howdy, now I've heard everything. What's next, cop eating a donut?

lost treasure ,
pirate ship,
mysterious happenings,
ghosts or whatever
"mad" scientists
strange experiments
hidden temples
sex in the sand
anger and betrayal

Heroes and Villains

"Maybe the Temple is both an ancient ruin on the island and a Dharma Station"

oh yeh!!

and now a last fortress

I agree folie a deux- that'd be some good raison d'etre for Charlotte's part in the freighter mission. I'm also thinking she might be there for a forensic search on the remains of earlier settlers of the island. Not necessarily criminal forensics a la CSI fashion, but more like the old-school anthropological forensics perhaps..

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"Bear...? Is that you?"-- Hurley S03E4