Synopsis: In a mission to evacuate inhabitants of a planet that’s star is going nova, Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock, and Dr. McCoy are sent back into the past.
The most interesting thing about “All Our Yesterdays” from a depth psychological perspective, is that it gives us an idea of what Mr. Spock’s ancestors were like on Vulcan before they turned to logic and the suppression of emotion for their survival. But was being in touch with emotions so dire for them? That Spock should feel guilty about eating meat and loving a woman, and dealing with the emotions that humans deal with every day? Spock represents the conscious ego in our psyche, that part of us that wants control and strives for what it considers its ultimate goal of its best self. It is no surprise that Spock, a character that valued logic and non-violence while suppressing his emotions and violent tendencies became a cultural figure in a country where the monotheistic beliefs of a patriarchal society have devalued the bodily drives of the unconscious.
Yet, although Spock’s personality traits are so valued in Western civilization, a question does arise, was there some sort of psychotic break that caused the Vulcans to suppress all emotions in an effort to survive? If so, then Spock’s perfect logical mind, by his own definition would be most imperfect – or in depth psychological terms, less whole.
I believe that the composite of the crew on Star Trek: The Original Series, and specifically the characters of Spock, Captain James T. Kirk, and Dr. Leonard (Bones) McCoy, can be seen as a representation of a psyche. Spock representing the Logos, or rational logic, McCoy symbolizing the Eros, irrational emotion, and Kirk a physical manifestation of the union of these opposites. That Kirk, the figure in the metaxy between the two extremes, is in the position of the commander of the starship Enterprise, represents the idea that to acknowledge and accept all aspects of our psyches is the final frontier of inner and outer space exploration.
Original post created 2 April 2021
mydailysoultrek 