Synopsis: Captain Burnham goes to the Eternal Gallery and Archives to seek the final clue to the location of the Progenitors’ technology.
This episode can be seen as an illustration of what Carl (C. G.) Jung called the union of opposites.
In “Labyrinths,” the U.S.S. Discovery arrives at the Eternal Gallery and Archive, where Captain Michael Burnham is welcomed to consult the Labyrinths of the Mind while Cleveland (Book) Booker is invited to come down to identify a relic from Kwejian. They both beam down to the archives and Hy’Rell, an archivist escorts them to their respective viewing rooms. Book identifies the Kwejian relic as a piece of the Kwejian World Root, the Tuli tree which symbolizes the heart and unbroken chain of ancestors. He is moved to tears and Hy’Rell tells him that he can take it with him. In her viewing room, Burnham finds a metal plate with a button on it inside Labyrinths of the Mind. Burnham pushes the button, which sends her to the mindscape within her psyche. Realizing that this is a test, Burnham tries to rationally think her way to the location of the clue. This proves ineffective. It is not until she admits to herself, and to an Avatar appearing to her as Book, her fears and failings that she passes the test, and is told the location of the clue.
In this episode, when Burnham uses logic to try to figure out the location of the clue this can be compared to the conscious ego, believing that because it is rational it is all that is important in one’s psyche. But when Burnham admits her fears and other weaknesses, this can be analogized to when the conscious ego acknowledges and integrates bits of unconscious material into itself, to become stronger and make the psyche more whole.
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