Synopsis: A Trill that was denied a symbiont host takes over Deep Space Nine in order to forcibly remove the Dax symbiont from Lt. Jadzia Dax.

This episode uses the Trill joined species as an analogy to how psyche – mind, and soma – body, are intricately related, but also how the rational ego feels that it is privileged above the body.

In “Invasive Procedures: the Dax symbiont is removed from Lt. Jadzia Dax, to be placed in the Trill, Verad, who initially was seen as incompatible to be a host body to a symbiont, but not happy with that judgment, and has hired a crew of various races to bring him to Deep Space Nine, so he can take Dax. We are told that after the separation Jadzia Dax will only live a few hours. However, the symbiont Dax is alive and well and easily made the transition to the new host body of Verad Dax and feels no remorse for the premature loss of the former host by unscrupulous means. Not only that Verad Dax does not believe that Commander Benjamin Sisko, who the symbiont Dax has known in now two past host bodies, will object to the change. But the symbiont Dax is wrong. Sisko risks injuring the symbiont by firing a phaser on Verad Dax, and the Dax symbiont is reunited with Jadzia Dax, saving her life.

The idea that one body can just be replaced by another body, as long as the consciousness of an individual remains, is an ongoing trope in many Star Trek incarnations, and reflects a split between the psyche and soma that goes back at least as far as the sixteenth century on Earth, when there occurred a division in academia of the study of the mind of human beings – psychology, for the study of the body – somatology  (Harley, 2004, p.11). This concept, as noted above, is illustrated over and over again in Star Trek, as well as how soma seems to be alienated in its depiction. By this I mean concerns of the body may be present in aliens but that rational Logos-driven Starfleet officers can almost always rise above bodily weaknesses.

An alternate to this perspective comes from Risa K. Kaparo, in her book Awakening Somatic Intelligence: The Art and Practice of Embodied Mindfulness. Kaparo used the term “somatic awareness” to describe a “nondual awareness” that is a blending of both the knowledge of the body and of the psyche (2012, p. 113). This is where I believe the future is heading, and indeed we see evidence of this kind of nondual awareness in some of the characters in the current series Star Trek: Discovery. As Captain Michael Burnham would say, “let’s fly,” with that idea (Paradise et al., 2021).

References:

Hartley, L. (2004). Somatic psychology: Body, mind and meaning. Whurr Publishers.

Kaparo, R. F. (2012). Awakening somatic intelligence: The art and practice of embodied mindfulness. North Atlantic Books.

Paradise, M. (Writer), Lumet, J. (Writer), Kurtzman, A. (Writer), & Osunsanmi, O. (Director). (2021, November 18). Kobayashi maru (Season 4, Episode 1) [TV series episode]. In A. Baiers, H. Kadin, A. Kurtzman, J. Lumet, O. Osunsanmi, M. Paradise, E. Roddenberry, T. Roth, R. Siracusa, & J. Webber (Executive Producers). Star trek: Discovery. Secret Hideout, Roddenberry Entertainment, Living Dead Guy Productions, CBS Studios.