Synopsis: The Doctor creates a holodeck family, to experience it and integrate it into his program, while Lt. Paris takes a shuttle into an eddy between space and subspace.
This episode contains illustrations of two different yet interrelated concepts from depth psychology. The first is the idea of how difficult it can be to work with what Carl (C. G.) Jung called a complex, which contains bits of material from the Eros-driven irrational unconscious that comes to the attention of the Logos-driven rational conscious ego. The second is the idea of what James Hillman called the metaxy, that in-between place where soul is made. And in some instances, the metaxy is a complex.
In “Real Life” The Doctor, always wanting to improve his programming, creates a holodeck program of a family. Initially, it is a “perfect” family where there is only mutual support and harmony. When he invites Kes and Lt. B’Elanna Torres to dinner, they let him know how unrealistic this is. Torres adjusts the holodeck program to add unexpected elements into it, as in real life, and The Doctor is forced to face a painful situation. He initially ends the program rather than face the dark emotions, but Lt. Tom Paris tells him that to do that is to miss the whole point of learning what humans face. Meanwhile, Paris pilots a shuttle into an interfold eddy between space and subspace to see if there might be a way to harness energy for Voyager. The Doctor returns to his program, in spite of the pain he knows he will be facing and learns about some difficult emotions that humans are forced to face sometimes. As for Paris, he barely makes it out of the eddy with his life, but also learns some valuable information.
In this episode the blending of the two plots highlights how psychic growth and/or healing is possible, but that it is not an easy process. Just as The Doctor had to face a painful situation, working with a complex involves uncovering the wound that created it. Also, just as Paris went into an interfold eddy between space and sub-space, sometimes the place of healing is between the conscious and the unconscious; but it is in this third in-between place, which Hillman called the metaxy, where healing takes place.
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