Synopsis: Major Kira travels to a Bajoran moon to convince a settler there to leave before the moon will become uninhabitable in an effort to provide power to Bajor.
In this episode Major Kira Nerys meets a crochety yet charming settler on the Bajoran moon, Jeraddo, and her compassion for him may well be because she is projecting bits of her own unconscious onto him.
In “Progress” once Mullibok and two other farmers are found to have remained on Jeraddo after it has been evacuated of all humanoid life, Kira is sent to rescue them. Yet, when she arrives, she finds that not only does Mullibok not need rescuing, but he refuses to leave. He charms and flatters Kira, and invites her to dinner. A bond is formed because there is something in Mullibok’s obstinance and resolve that Kira can relate to. She recognizes these traits as part of herself.
Carl (C. G.) Jung called this projection and described it as how our psyches project bits of our unconscious material which is normally hidden from our conscious ego onto another, so that the ego can be aware of it. Sometimes, it is our shadow, those aspects of our psyche that our conscious ego finds hard to accept we project onto others, which is often how the conscious ego is made aware of a complex. A complex being something that makes us feel one way or another and needs attention. Sometimes, it is our own ideal inner other that we are looking for in a mate that is projected onto another individual; this is what is meant by love at first sight. Here I believe it is a bit of both. Kira both admires Mullibok’s self-reliance and commitment, yet is frustrated by his obstinance. And Kira is changed by her encounter with Mullibok. She is now forced to see things within her psyche that she may have suppressed and come to terms with them, in order to make her psyche more whole. This is the goal of depth psychology.
mydailysoultrek 