Synopsis: Commander Chakotay and Seven of Nine discover a traditional native civilization on an otherwise technically advanced planet.
This episode illustrates how the Logos-driven rational conscious ego projects its Eros-driven irrational unconscious shadow onto another, without realizing that what it detests in another is something inside its own psyche.
In “Natural Law” Commander Chakotay and Seven of Nine are on a shuttle on their way to a conference on Ledos where Seven will present a paper. On the way to the conference, Chakotay takes the vessel on a short detour to take in the beauty of the planet. The ship’s sensors pick up an energy barrier below them, but not before it damages the shuttle, and forces it to crash, while Chakotay and Seven beam down onto the planet. They discover a humanoid species native to the planet, the Ventu, who’s culture appears traditional and in touch with the environment compared to the technologically advanced Ledosians. Yet using traditional methods they heal Chakotay’s wounds. Meanwhile, searching for Chakotay and Seven, Voyager locates the barrier, which the Ledosians are aware of. Captain Kathryn Janeway is told that there is no way to penetrate the barrier which was erected by another alien species to protect the Ventu from the Ledosians. Seven figures out a way to deactivate the barrier from the planet and she and Chakotay return to Voyager. However, now that the barrier is down, the Ledosians immediately send a mission to study the Ventu. Voyager intervenes to reestablish the barrier, and afterward Seven worries about them.
In this episode the way in which Seven and the rest of Voyager’s crew responds negatively to the actions of the Ledosians toward the Ventu, can be analogized to how the conscious ego projects bits of material from the unconscious aspects of its psyche onto another, without realizing that what it is perceiving is an aspect of its own. If the projection is of positive aspects of the unconscious, then friendship or romance can ensue; if the bits of material are of the unconscious shadow, then the projected upon person, or culture, is thought to be repugnant. Here the way in which the Ledosians immediately invade the habitat of the Ventu as soon as the barrier is down, can be seen as very similar to how Voyager’s crewmembers are also eager to study different life forms that they happen upon. But this does not seem to enter any of the crew’s perceptions, not even Seven, who senses how vulnerable the Ventu are. This shows how difficult it can be for the conscious ego to acknowledge bits of its psyche’s own unconscious material, let alone integrate them into itself. But when the ego does, it becomes stronger and the psyche more whole.
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