Synopsis: Commander Sisko and his son, Jake, take a journey on a solar sail ship while Dr. Bashir confronts a former classmate visiting Deep Space Nine.
This episode can be seen as a series of illustrations of what Carl (C. G.) Jung would call projection. Projection being the way that one projects bits of material from one’s Eros-driven irrational unconscious onto another, in order to make it visible to the Logos-driven rational conscious ego. Or another way to explain it is the expectations that we place upon others before we really know them.
In “Explorers” Commander Benjamin Sisko and his son, Jake Sisko, go on an adventure into space, but really discover more about their relationship. Initially, Sisko is excited about the opportunity to share an adventure with his son Jake, but is then disappointed when Jake initially doesn’t want to go. But then Jake changes his mind because of something he wants to share with his father. In the meantime, back on Deep Space Nine, Dr. Julian Bashir prepares for the visit of Dr. Elizabeth Lense, who beat him out as graduating first in their class in medical school. Bashir is surprised that Lense doesn’t recognize him, but when he confronts her, he learns that she had never seen him and had been under the assumption that he was an Andorian, an alien species that has blue skin and antennae.
Both these examples of interactions between the two pairs of people illustrate how placing and withdrawing projections, or expectations, upon others are the way in which individuals relate to each other while at the same time learn more about themselves. This is because generally when we place a projection upon another, what is really happening is that we are putting upon that other individual bits of material that are from our own unconscious. This can be anything from projecting our own inner ideal mate, which leads to love and infatuation, to projecting our inner shadow upon another, causing us to despise that aspect of the other’s personality because it reminds us of something we loath in ourselves.
The relationship between Sisko and his son is an example of both of them expecting a different reaction from the other, but when they finally engage with each other they withdraw their projections and expectations and deepen their understanding of each other’s point of view. When it comes to the relationship between Bashir and Lense. Bashir was disappointed that Lense did not acknowledge him, projecting aloofness and disinterest upon her. However, when he actually speaks with her, he learns that she had no way to know who he was, in fact she thought he was an individual from an entirely different race. When the two talk, they both are able to withdraw their initial projections and become acquainted to the actual person they are in the presence of. This is analogous to how the conscious ego is able to acknowledge projections from the unconscious, because once one sees a trait in someone else, and understands that the attraction or repulsion is because one is reminded of something from one’s own psyche, this now conscious attribute of the unconscious can be integrated into the ego, to make it stronger, and make the psyche more whole.
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