Synopsis: The Enterprise investigates why a relay station on the Klingon Border has gone silent.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of what the depth psychological concept of an autonomous complex would look like if it were physicalized.
Depth psychology is the field of psychology that has the exploration of the unconscious as its defining characteristic. Carl (C. G.) Jung taught that the way in which bits of unconscious material become conscious to the ego is through a complex. A complex to Jung being “feeling toned,” meaning that we can feel when we are in the midst of a complex, and we can’t control how it makes us feel, or what it makes us feel we must do. However, if the conscious ego acknowledges and integrates the bits of unconscious material in a complex into itself, then the ego is made stronger, and the psyche is made more whole.
However, if as here, the bits of unconscious material are suppressed or ignored, the complexes can become autonomous and even more powerful in their control over us. In “Aquiel” the coalescent entity which I am analogizing to a complex, completely takes over the body of an individual, much as a complex takes over the psyche. At this point, while just trying to survive, as the coalescent entity in the episode does, it becomes dangerous to our well-being.
Original post created 13 November 2021
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