Synopsis: Lt. Dax participates in the Trill rite of closure that allows her to meet all the Dax symbiont’s past hosts.
This episode can be seen as a physical manifestation of the process by which the Logos-driven rational conscious ego is allowed to experience different bits of material from the Eros-driven irrational unconscious, by way of projection, and then how it is able to incorporate these aspects of the unconscious back into itself, to become stronger and the psyche more whole.
In “Facets” Lt. Jadzia Dax invites seven of her closest friends to participate in the Zhiantara, the Trill rite of closure, that will allow her to meet each past host of the Dax symbiont. When Jadzia Dax is able to speak with the prior Dax hosts that are temporarily embodied in her friends, she learns about herself, facets she is happy about and other things that she does not want to admit are a part of her.
What Jadzia Dax experiences in this ritual is a bit like how the conscious ego first becomes aware of bits of material from the unconscious, by projecting these traits onto others. On one end of the spectrum, if we are projecting onto another our inner ideal of the perfect mate, then we fall in love, or at least infatuation, with the recipient of the projection. At the other extreme, if we are projecting onto another those things we like least about ourselves, which Carl (C. G.) Jung called our shadow, then we tend to dislike that person. However, as with Jadzia Dax, once we see ourselves in others we learn to know ourselves better. And like Jadzia Dax the ego can incorporate these bits of unconscious material into itself and become stronger, and the psyche more whole.
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