Synopsis: The Doctor’s program is transmitted to the Alpha Quadrant in an effort to save the life of his creator.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of Archetypal Psychologist James Hillman’s acorn theory, that just as an acorn has everything it needs inside it to become a tree, humans have an inner daimon inside them with all the information they need to become who they were meant to be.
In “Life Line” Voyager’s crew gets a message from Starfleet through the efforts of Lt. Reginald Barclay’s Pathfinder Project, that they will be able to be in contact with the Alpha Quadrant once every 32 days. Also, in the first batch of messages The Doctor receives notice that his creator, Dr. Lewis Zimmerman is dying of an illness that no one in the Alpha Quadrant has been able to cure. The Doctor believes he has a treatment for Zimmerman’s condition. He begs Captain Kathryn Janeway to use the ship’s monthly transmission to the Alpha Quadrant to send his program to Zimmerman, so that he can treat his illness. However, when The Doctor arrives, he finds his creator, who has made the Emergency Medical Hologram in his own image, is every bit as stubborn as he is, and refuses treatment from The Doctor; telling The Doctor that his programing is obsolete. The stalemate is so great that Barclay brings in Counselor Deanna Troi. Troi asks The Doctor how he would feel if an engineer from one hundred years ago wanted to fix his program, and she asks Zimmerman how he would feel if he was in The Doctor’s position. Even this does not work, so Troi and Barclay alter The Doctor’s program so that Zimmerman will be forced to fix it. This creates the desired bond between the two and Zimmerman allows The Doctor to treat him. The treatment is successful and The Doctor returns to Voyager.
In this episode, when The Doctor returns to the Alpha Quadrant to treat the individual who created his program in his own image, he is shocked that Zimmerman is as resistant to his treatment as The Doctor is insistent upon giving it. That the two share the same traits can be seen as an illustration of Hillman’s acorn theory, in that they both are acting in line with their shared inner daimon. Intuiting this, Troi and Barclay are able to create a situation in which they can each feel what the other feels in line with this inner daimon and come to a place of understanding. Accepting the traits of one’s inner daimon is a way for an individual to become more psychically whole. This is another way to explore Hillman’s acorn theory.
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