Richard and smoke monster

[Shivy]

Now that we know that Richard has known all along that the smoke monster is MIB, why would the others use the smoke monster for their benefit- i.e. Ben calling on the smoke monster for protection.  I'm trying to remember if there are other instances of the others using the smoke monster or showing that they are not afraid of it.  I would think they would stay as far away from it as possible if Richard knows that it is evil.

[grizn0]

I'm pretty sure that Ben was the only one who could ever call it like that. And I think the reason for that is because MIB knew someday he would use Ben to kill Jacob.

[MachThree]

How do we know what info Richard has shared with the other Others?  How do we know what the other Other's, like Ben, learned independently of Richard?  I'm just saying the fact that Ben knows how to summon Smokey might not be known to Richard and Ben might have learned it some other way than Richard teling him.  And as far as we know, when Ben summoned Smokey to take out the A-Team, that might have been the first time he ever did it, so Richard wouldn't necessarily even know that Ben knew how.

Heck, Richard's idea of summoning Smokey seems to be to shout out for him whenever he feels like it.

If you shout out in the middle of the jungle, and there's no one there to hear it, was there a noise???

[DirtyMaggieMae]

Question!

Lost has been all about the eyes since the very first episode.  Eye close ups, glass eye found on the island, eye of horus (or ra?).  So what is up with these interactions with the smoke monster?  I noticed that Richard snaps his eyes shut and starts praying while smokey is being all...smokey.  Juliet and Kate covered their eyes, Eko and Locke both stared down the monster.  Ben looked as images of his life flashed in the smoke before him.  Is there something to looking at the monster, or keeping your eyes closed?  Could this be a tie in with the reflections in the mirrors this season?