Synopsis: After Captain Picard receives a mysterious top-secret message from a fellow Starfleet captain, he orders the Enterprise to Earth to investigate Starfleet Headquarters.
The cause of the conspiracy at the center of this episode, can be seen as an illustration of Carl (C. G.) Jung’s concept of a complex. This idea is so central to his theories that Jung almost called his distinctive style of depth psychology complex psychology, instead of analytical psychology, the name it is known by today.
The basic idea of a complex is that it occurs when bits of an individual’s unconscious come to the attention of the conscious ego. Major archetypal complexes, we all share, others are personal to us, but although the name has a popular connotation as being negative, in truth a complex can be seen as learning opportunity. They afford us insight into parts of our psyche that need attention in order for it to become more whole.
The best way to know you have a complex is if you feel that you have no control over an action you take, that you can’t help yourself. That is when you are in the throes of a complex. In “Conspiracy” that means that the parasitic lifeforms invading the bodies of the Starfleet officers can be seen as a physical manifestation of a complex. They have no control over their actions. The parasitic lifeforms had to be dealt with in order for the Starfleet Officers, at least some of them, to become themselves and the Federation to move on. Had the parasite lifeforms not been confronted, they would have taken over the Federation. If a complex is not acknowledged, it can take over our psyche.
Original post created 3 June 2021
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