Synopsis: Captain Lorca disobeys a direct order from Starfleet Command, believing that Discovery can defeat the Klingons without the aid of any other starships.
This episode can be seen as another illustration of what Carl (C.G.) Jung would call inflation, when the conscious ego identifies to closely with the god-like power of an archetype.
In “Into the Forest I Go”Captain Gabriel Lorca receives an order from Starfleet Command for Discovery to retreat to Starbase 46. Lorca decides that instead, Specialist Michael Burnham and Lt. Ash Tyler will board the Klingon Ship of the Dead to install sensors. Then Discovery will use her spore drive to make 133 micro jumps to reveal the cloaking technology. This works, although it endangers the health of Lt. Paul Stamets. Afterward, Lorca asks Stamets to make one more jump to the Starbase, but instead they appear somewhere else.
In this episode, Lorca is driven to do what he believes is correct, even though it goes against direct orders. Although there are several ways to analyze his actions, here I will focus on the idea of inflation. Lorca is so sure of the capabilities of Discovery and her crew to defeat the Klingon Ship of the Dead, that he defies Starfleet. This is what can happen when the ego identifies to strongly or for too long with the god-like power of an archetype. And while this ego identification is necessary for any sort of movement in the psyche toward healing or making it more whole, when it becomes too-one sided, the only place to go is in direct opposition, or deflation. At least in our universe.
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