Synopsis: The Enterprise is sent to investigate a powerful new life form.
In “Tin Man” the alien in question turns out to be a living space vessel that had a symbiotic relationship with its long dead crew. The Enterprise is sent to investigate, being aided by a very powerful Betazoid telepath, Tam Elbrun. This vessel, named Tin Man, can also be seen in depth psychological terms as analogous to a human psyche, and the relationship between the conscious ego with the unconscious that occurs within the psyche.
In a human psyche, the Logos-driven rational ego is that which we are consciously aware of. The Eros-driven irrational unconscious, by definition is not accessible to our conscious ego, unless little bits of it break off and rise to the level of consciousness. This often happens in what Carl Gustav (C. G.) Jung would call a complex. And although in common parlance this word has negative connotations, to Jung a complex was not negative, it was an opportunity to learn more about ourselves, and to integrate unconscious bits of material into our conscious ego.
In this episode the deceased crew of Tin Man can be seen to represent the conscious ego and the ship itself representing the unconscious. The long-gone crew was able to communicate telepathically with the vessel Tin Man and they had a symbiotic relationship. Both needed each other to survive, and after many millennia of roaming space without its crew, despondent and suicidal, the Tin Man now headed into a super nova in order to kill itself. This movement is unexpected picked up by a probe and came to the attention of rational ego driven humanoid species. In other words, moving toward the nova allowed Tin Man to come into the realm of the conscious, just as a complex allows a bit of unconscious material to surface and therefore come to the attention of the rational ego in an individual’s psyche. When Elbrun is able to communicate with Tin Man he is able to integrate its unconscious aspects into his ego, and they once again become a whole mechanism. This is much like how when unconscious bits of our psyche come to the attention of the conscious ego through a complex, when acknowledged and integrated, the psyche becomes more whole.
Original post created 14 August 2021
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