Synopsis: The station deals with figments of the inhabitant’s imaginations being caused by an anomaly in space as well as three visitors from an unknown place.
The confusion I have around making sense of this episode is comparable to how the Logos-driven, conscious ego has difficulty trying to integrate bits of material of the Eros-driven unconscious that come into its awareness.
In “If Wishes Were Horses” there are two layers of mystifying events occurring simultaneously, and its not really clear if they are linked, or something that Carl (C. G.) Jung would consider serendipitous. While we are told that half the population of Deep Space Nine is experiencing interactions with physical manifestations of their imaginations, the focus in the episode is on the three characters of Rumpelstiltskin, a baseball player from Commander Benjamin Sisko’s baseball holodeck program, and a duplicate version of Lt. Jadzia Dax subservient to the lascivious whims of Dr. Julian Bashir.
The subspace disruption, similar to the wormhole that exists near Deep Space Nine, can be compared to the concept of a complex from depth psychology. Depth psychology being that branch of psychology that is defined by its study of the unconscious. The crew aboard the space station can be compared to the rational conscious ego, in that their understanding of reality is what can be empirically proven. As such, they have difficulty understanding what they refer to as “figments of their imaginations” and believe that by not using their imaginations, not even to make speculations based on empirical data, will allow them to control these apparitions. And while in “If Wishes Were Horses” controlling their thoughts did allow the crew to bring order to the station, at least for a moment, it had no control over the three entities visiting from that unknown place. This reflects how the conscious ego believes that it has the ability to control the unconscious. And while it is possible for the ego to suppress bits of unconscious material for a while, those bits will erupt again, until the time when the ego is able to acknowledge and integrate them into itself to become stronger, and for the psyche to become more whole. The movement of the psyche toward wholeness is the primary goal of depth psychology.
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