Minor differences, Major implications?

Written 4th February

Alright, if you haven’t seen the season six premiere then please do not read on further as this will get rather detailed.
By now I think we all agree that we are witnessing multiple realities/split realities as a result of the Losties ‘success’ in detonating the bomb. Oceanic flight 815 does not crash but lands safely in LAX. But.. and here’s where things start getting weird. The new reality in 2004 with the Losties having never crashed is not the same as the previous 2004 Oceanic flight we saw in the first season.
Now perhaps I’m just nitpicking, but there were several subtle differences:
– In season 1, Jack’s hair is shorter, almost shaved. But in the season 6 premiere, his hair is a little more grown out.
– Rose’s outfit is slightly different (this is a stretch). Perhaps the wardrobe team did their best to make it look like Rose’s initial outfit, but it’s not the same. At least from what I remember.
– Shannon is not on the plane. For whatever reason, she stayed in Sidney. This may mean that she and Boone never slept together, and that they’re ‘relationship’ is a little more severed than it used to be.
– Jack’s neck is bleeding. I don’t remember Jack having a bleeding neck in the first season.. so this is definitely new. And Jack seems to be confused by it as well.
– Desmond is on the bloody plane. Now there’s a man I dont understand as of yet. We’ll have to wait and see on that one.
– Rose is seemingly more confident and chipper on the plane than the first time we saw her in season 1. In season 1, Jack was comforting her during the turbulence. In season 6, she’s comforting Jack.
– Charlie tries to kill himself. Im pretty sure that Charlie didn’t try to kill himself on the plane in the first season. I know he goes in there to get his fix, but then he tries to hide/dispose of the heroin in the toilet (Am I right.. please correct me if I’m wrong).

That’s all I can remember for now. But as you can see – it’s not the same. Presumably when Jack and the crew detonated the bomb, they assumed everything would be exactly the same and that the plane would just land safely in LAX. The latter part is true, however, the bomb’s explosion has deeper implications that we have not been able to see pre-flight 815.
There are some things that are still the same, Jack’s father’s death, John’s paralysis, Kate’s fugitiveness and general lack of being able to think clearly, etc. But the differences are there.

Now, here comes the theory (sorry this is a little more long-winded than I’d like it to be). Since we have two realities, I’d like to posit that these realities will have to meet up at some point. Recall the reference to the title of a fabulous collection of short stories by Flannery O’Connor “Everything that Rises Must Converge.” These two realities must converge at some point.
I believe that the universe has a way of correcting itself or course-correcting. At some point, our Losties will have to become entangled with each other once again. And the outcome might be the same. Might. Charlie said on the plane that he was supposed to die – perhaps because he died on the Island, just like Desmond had said that he was going to die and that there was nothing he could do about it. And we might see Locke walk again after all – his meeting with Jack (a spinal surgeon) may result in his ability to walk again.
I could try to think of more instances, but you get the idea. Let me know what you think.