Synopsis: On an away mission Commander Riker becomes infected by a deadly alien microbe.
In “Shades of Gray” in order to fight off the infection caused by a deadly alien microbe that is attacking his nervous system, Commander William Riker is forced to relive many of his past experiences in order to halt the progression of the microbe. In many ways this resembles how in depth psychology our dreams may be the key to understanding what is going on in our psyches, and how to best heal an injury to them.
In Sick Bay, Riker is doing his best to set an example for the crew with an aura of bravery as he is facing his own death because of this alien infection. Then Dr. Katherine Pulaski stimulates Riker’s memory center, and he first relives all his scenes of companionship and love, but this only increases the speed at which the infection grows. Pulaski then recalibrates the stimulator she is using on Riker and his dreams turn to relive times of fear and sadness. These feelings stop the spread and lead to the destruction of the microbe itself.
This reflects the teachings of Carl (C. G.) Jung’s analytical psychological branch of depth psychology, and his concept of the transcendent function, or the union of opposites. In this process sometimes one needs to acknowledge and accept those parts of our psyche which under normal circumstances we would deny. Here, Riker needs to accept those parts of himself that are sad and fearful in order to defeat the microbe. In the reliving of these less favorable moments of his life he is able to fight off the microbe. This is analogous to when we need to acknowledge and integrate those repressed bits of our unconscious, called our shadow, in order to become more whole.
Original post created 19 July 2021
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