How to fail at religion by really trying, part 2

So Widmore and Ben both failed at the "religion" of the island for the simple reason that they didn't try. Didn't make the effort to control and submit their wills, didn't make the effort to control their own desires, didn't make the effort to channel their ambitions for good, didn't make the effort to do the hard work of telling the truth. They failed at religion by not really trying.

But that seems about to change this season. Already at the end of season 5, Charles Widmore appears to have had a change of heart, somewhere between the time he sent the ill-fated freighter with psychopathic mercenary Keamy on it and the time John Locke fixed the wheel and made it off the island in 2007. Then we found him pledging to do all in his power to protect Locke's life and get him back on the island with the Oceanic 6 because "there's a war coming." Something in that interval between the freighter and his 2007 meeting with John Locke pulled Widmore's head abruptly out of his powerful, hyperwealthy butt and made him "get religion": his eyes are open now to the real conflict and his past rivalry with Ben doesn't seem to concern him anymore.

But what, if anything, could pull Ben Linus' scheming, lying, sociopathic head out of his butt (especially with such a tight sphincter)? Amazingly, I think that's just what we're beginning to see unfold in the onset of the final season: Ben Linus' spiritual reclamation, maybe even his redemption. More on this next.