Synopsis: When the Enterprise arrives early for a rendezvous with another Starfleet vessel, Lt. Commander Data and Lt. Commander La Forge decide to use the time to solve a mystery in the holodeck.
The holodeck in Star Trek: The Next Generation I can see as a physical manifestation of the place that James Hillman called the metaxy, that place between consciousness and unconsciousness where soul is made. Here, the holodeck is an in between place between reality as we know it and fantasy or illusion as we envision it. In both, there can be danger.
When Chief Engineer Geordi La Forge orders the computer to create an opponent that can defeat Lt. Commander Data when perhaps he meant could defeat Sherlock Holmes, he places the entire Enterprise at risk, because the computer that creates the images in the holodeck obeys commands exactly, rationally. Therefore, to create an opponent who would be superior to the rational Logos driven, Data, it creates the irrational, but brilliant, Eros driven, Professor Moriarty, and gives him powers that other holographic images do not have. This was similar to when Carl (C. G.) Jung delved into the depths of his unconscious, not knowing what would happen or if he would return.
In “Elementary, My Dear Data” Moriarty wants to stay alive. At the end of the episode, Captain Jean-Luc Picard comes to address Moriarty, and in acknowledging his existence, and that he will not be deleted, the two are able to come to an arrangement to proceed forward. This is what happens when the conscious ego, acknowledges a bit of unconscious content, and works to integrate it into itself. This is an ongoing process throughout our life, what Jung called the transcendent function or the union of opposites.
Original post created 9 June 2021
mydailysoultrek 