Synopsis: Mr. Spock, who is experiencing the Vulcan pon farr must return to Vulcan to take part in the koon-ut-kal-if-fee mating ritual or die trying.
In my last post I commented on how in the first season of Star Trek: The Original Series one of two reoccurring themes of episodes was that of an alien presence of some kind taking over the mind and body of the crew of the Enterprise and forcing them to act out in a way that was contrary to Starfleet training. The epitome of this type of occurrence happening to Mr. Spock is “Amok Time.”
During pon farr Vulcans are taken over by a kind of biological imperative that requires them to go home and seek a mate, or to die. It is remarked that this is the price that Vulcans pay for being devoid of emotions the rest of the time. The Logos is forced into acting out Eros at its most primitive level. Spock is not himself throughout the episode, he disobeys orders, he is first unkind and then tender toward Nurse Chapel, and he asks Captain Kirk for help in the form of a leave on the planet Vulcan. This is particularly unusual as Spock does not ask for help, and it is at this point that Kirk suspects how serious the situation is. Once on Vulcan and going through with the koon-ut-kal-if-fee ceremony, Spock’s Logos persona returns to normal, after one final slip into Eros when he learns that he did not kill Kirk.
This scenario can be compared to the conscious ego creating a stoic and rational persona that does not allow shadow emotions to come through. Often, this type of persona can become one-sided, and if so, at some point the unconscious will find a way to break through to the conscious ego, often suddenly, in order to be attended to. This is what happened to Spock in “Amok Time.” And like Spock, once the unconscious element is addressed the crisis is over. However, unlike we see in Spock, at least on the surface, something inside us changes during the confrontation and we begin to move toward being more whole.
Original post created 5 February 2021
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