Synopsis: The crew of the Enterprise is assigned to trace the origin of a mysterious alien space probe.
In this episode, when the crew of the Enterprise discovers that the source of the alien space probe is an entity known on Earth as Kukulkan, an Aztec and Mayan deity, I am reminded of an episode from the second season of Star Trek: The Original Series,” “Who Mourns for Adonais?”, in that the crew of the Enterprise is confronted by a vision of a god-like alien who considers humanity its children.
One way to look at these episodes from the depth psychological perspective is to understand Captain James T. Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise collectively as representing the Logos-driven conscious ego, the aliens that they encounter can be considered embodiments of the unconscious elements of the psyche. In both these episodes, Kirk decides that the human race no longer needs the guidance of these species, and in “How Sharper than a Serpent’s Tooth” he tells Kukulkan “we’ve grown up now. We don’t need you anymore.” This is indicative of how the rational ego feels toward the unconscious after having integrated one piece of it, but that is a mistake. For in depth psychology, healthy psychic life is an ongoing interaction between the conscious ego and the unconscious through complexes.
But the conscious ego cannot know what it doesn’t know. This is a blind spot, and Kirk gives an example of this when he states at the end of the episode: “It’s sad. Think what we could have done with his knowledge, but the price was just too high.” The price, in depth psychological terms would be the ego releasing some of its control in the psyche. Ironically, it is not doing this, and leading to one-sidedness, that is the price the ego pays for neglecting or ignoring the unconscious.
Original post created 28 April 2021
mydailysoultrek 