[D-Roc]

I'm thinking that the big cheese (Ben) in his own right, can also be added to this - "The Other Woman" pretty much confirmed that Ben has special abilities. Abilities which he might have had prior to coming to the island, which the island enhanced and made more apparant. Of course we know that Ben had to execute 'patience' before he came into his own, but even that first meeting with Alpert suggested that he immediately knew that Ben was gifted. The fact that he saw his dead mom was evidence of this, but moreso was the fact that his mom died 'off' the island - making Ben incredibly special..

We also have his seeming 'possession' over Jacob (my theory is tat Jacob exists partly due to ben's subconscious - a mind which at it's root is quite child-like and possessive), and of course his seeming communication to the island's dead (the whispers). Of course i'm assuming that Harper was dead - she might not be, but even so, Ben got the message to her somehow (unless it was pre-mediatated prior to him getting caught by Jack?) and the appearance of the whispers seem to further allude to their relationship (be it willing, unwilling or unknowing) to Ben and his gift.

So, we have quite a buch of gifted souls on this island don't we - souls who were in their own way gifted BEFORE coming to the island, but who have managed to excel their gifts via the island's conduit of enlightenment.

One has to wonder however, how powerful Ben's ability is back in the real world - whilst we saw a snippet of a powerful real-world Ben in the Economist, I believe the suggestion is that Ben has had to compensate his 'normalness' in a real world setting by becoming a powerful businessman, someone who maintains hierachy (and island protection) through anexing competition and threats. On the island his power is driven by his gift, but off island i'm assuming his power is driven by a business-like outlook, facilitated by his 'magic box' whenever he needs to be that extra yard ahead of the game.

To be updated.