Synopsis: On the planet Pollux IV the Enterprise comes across an alien who claims to be Apollo.
Myths are said to be both true and false at the same time, and this description also applies to “Who Mourns for Adonais?”
It seems logical, and indeed working out of Logos, the conscious ego wants to find empirical truth of ancient sacred narratives. This is reflected in today’s Western culture in searches for Noah’s ark, and has been the subject of centuries of lore surrounding the Holy Grail. Similarly, in trying to make sense of an alien who calls himself Apollo, in this episode Captain James T. Kirk puts forth a hypothesis that aliens from Pollux IV traveled to Earth 5,000 years ago, landed in the Mediterranean region, and because of their powers and advanced technology were mistaken as gods. This literalization of the myth of Apollo is a disservice to it and negates what a myth really is. Gods are the myths, the stories at work in our lives. Gods and goddesses are mirrors of the human condition, they are movements of consciousness, personification of deep psychological instincts – but not physical beings.
There is however a kernel of true mythology in this episode; the Apollo of Pollux IV has needs: “A god cannot survive as a memory. We need love, admiration, worship, as you need food.” And indeed, we need to take care to honor the gods of our psyche, or they will rise up and take the attention they crave – they just won’t do it in the forms of aliens coming from a faraway planet.
Original post created 6 February 2021
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