Synopsis: When Voyager comes across a group of Talaxians, Mr. Neelix must choose between staying on Voyager, or staying with them.
This episode illustrates Archetypal Psychologist James Hillman’s acorn theory. This being that just as an acorn has everything it needs inside it to become a tree, we all have an inner daimon that has all the information we need to become who we were destined to be, if we only pay attention to it.
In “Homestead” Voyager’s sensors unexpectedly pick up Talaxian life signs in an asteroid field. Mr. Neelix, Lt. Commander Tuvok, and Lt. Tom Paris take the Delta Flyer to find them and crash land on an asteroid, where hundreds of Talaxians have established an underground community. Neelix wakes and meets Dexa and her son, Brax, who have been tending to his needs while he was unconscious and bring him back to the Delta Flyer which Paris and Tuvok are repairing. Meanwhile, Voyager is hailed by Nocona, the commander of a mining expedition who claims ownership of the asteroid where the Talaxians live which he intends to mine for its minerals. Nocona tells the Talaxians that he will give them three days to evacuate, then he will destroy their civilization to mine the asteroid. Tuvok has an idea of how the Talaxians can protect themselves by creating a shield to protect themselves from Nocona, but because of the Prime Directive, he cannot act on it. Neelix goes to the asteroid and convinces the Talaxians to try to protect themselves with the shield instead of being forced to move. While all this is going on Neelix has been spending a lot of time with Dexa, learns that her husband died trying to fend for his family, and falls in love with her. Given an opportunity by Captain Kathryn Janeway to be a Starfleet Ambassador in the Delta Quadrant, Neelix decides to stay on the asteroid with Dexa, Brax, and the rest of the Talaxians.
In this episode, while Neelix feels love for Dexa and Brax and listens to the rational insights of Tuvok and Janeway about his options, he already knows what he needs do in this situation. Neelix knows that his destiny is to stay with Dexa and Brax and the other Talaxians, protecting their home in the asteroid. This can be analogized to when an individual listens to their inner daimon, which already knows even before we are born what our fate can be, if we listen to it. Everything that Neelix has experienced has prepared him for this decision, and he listens to his inner daimon. Because this choice is made in earnestness, he is honored in his departure from Voyager, even though the crew will greatly miss him. This is the same way that loved ones will support an action made in line with the knowledge of our inner daimon, even if it is not what they would have chosen for us.
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