Synopsis: When the Enterprise responds to a distress signal her crew comes in contact with the inhabitants of the planet Platonius, a society modeled on ancient Greece from the time of Plato.
Although “Plato’s Stepchildren” is most noted for being historic as containing the first interracial kiss aired on network television, that being the one between Captain James T. Kirk and Lt. Nyota Uhura (Wagner & Lundeen, 1998, p. 165), this episode also gives us two distinct reasons why it is dangerous to focus the development of ourselves solely on the rational Logos-driven conscious ego and ignore the needs of the Eros, the body.
In the first instance, the reason that the Enterprise was summoned to come to a previously unknown planet was because its Philosopher King, Parmen, was dying. The reason for his condition was that his body had grown so atrophied from non-use that a minor cut led to a major, life threatening infection. This is the physical result of ignoring the needs of the body. The agony was so great that mirroring Parmen’s physical pain from fever, his psyche perpetrated psychokinetic trauma on everyone on Platonius and on the Enterprise in orbit around the planet.
The second example of the consequences of privileging the rational above all else was what happened when Mr. Spock, the half-Vulcan First Officer of the Enterprise who consciously suppresses all emotion associated with his human half of his personality, was forced to express feelings. Parmen used his telekinetic abilities to unleash emotion in Spock, but once that wall of resistance was breeched, Spock stated that: “they have evoked such great . . . hatred in me. I cannot allow it to go further. I must master it. I must . . . control.” Dr. Leonard (Bones) McCoy tells Spock that it is healthy for humans to release their emotions, to which Spock replies that he has noticed that when humans release their emotions, it is frequently proven most unhealthy to those around them. Yet, as we, the viewers of this episode have learned since the time of its first broadcast in 1968, if we didn’t know then, that indeed McCoy is right, pent up emotions can lead to severe distress and to both physical and mental dis-ease – or at least one-sidedness in our psyches.
Reference:
Wagner, J. & Lundeen, J. (1998). Deep space and sacred time: Star Trek in the American mythos. Praeger.
Original post created 18 March 2021
mydailysoultrek 