Synopsis: A new crew member aboard the Enterprise overuses the holodeck.
In “Hollow Pursuits” viewers are presented with the rational ego’s perception of how the unconscious works to try to heal the psyche. If we understand that the holodeck creates a fantasy state, rather like that of our dreams; yet in this episode Lt. Reginald Barclay is programing what he wants to happen in the holodeck, and in human actual dream state, it is the unconscious that takes control. However, just the same, it does give an idea of what transpires in our psyche.
Barclay’s rational ego appears to his senior officers as muddled and inefficient. He stutters and has a hard time expressing himself in meetings. Yet in his program in the holodeck he is superior in all ways.
When Barclay finally does gather enough confidence to present a cause for the problem aboard the Enterprise, it is from a perspective completely different than that of the other engineers. The same imagination that he shows in creating the holodeck programs he uses to solve a life-threatening problem with the Enterprise’s engines. Barclay asks if it is not the crew that is causing the contamination of the Enterprise’s systems, instead of the ship’s mechanisms itself. This proves to be the case, the vessel is saved, and Barclay is praised by all, if only in the holodeck.
And while this is not a perfect analogy, it does show what can happen when the Logos-driven rational ego acknowledges a bit of material from the unconscious and use it to strengthen the ego and make the psyche more whole.
Original post created 16 August 2021
mydailysoultrek 