The cult in your head — and you call it work
You think you’re working. But you’re serving.
You believe you’re part of a company. But you’re part of an ideology.
And you feel it every Monday morning — that strange pressure in your chest that no amount of caffeine or task lists can soothe.
It’s not your workload that’s exhausting.
It’s the tension between what you’re supposed to think — and what you actually think.
Because companies today don’t just want your skills.
They want your identification.
Your emotional loyalty.
Your inner submission to “purpose,” “team culture,” and “shared values.”
And while you think you belong,
part of your thinking already belongs to them.
Purpose is not meaning — it’s mental ownership
You want to believe in something. You want your work to matter.
And they know that.
So they sell you purpose like a holy drug —
measured, uplifting, wrapped in inspiration.
But purpose that’s prescribed
is not purpose.
It’s coercion disguised as clarity.
It’s emotional manipulation packaged as higher meaning.
You think you have a mission.
But what you really have is a mental obligation.
Belonging as a cognitive prison
“We’re one team.”
“We pull together.”
“We believe in each other.”
Sounds harmless, right?
Sounds warm. Human. Noble.
But it sets the glue.
Because the moment you want to belong,
you start trimming your edges.
You bite your tongue when you should speak.
You nod when you disagree.
You adjust — not because you have to,
but because you want to stay in the circle.
Belonging becomes your fix.
And every fix becomes an addiction.
Mental colonisation begins with “We believe in…”
Whenever a company says:
“We believe in…”,
you should ask: Who’s we?
And whose belief is creeping into your mind?
When belief becomes mandatory,
thinking becomes betrayal.
Questions become dangerous.
Clarity becomes a threat.
You’re no longer an employee.
You’re a convert.
Feedback culture or conformity filter?
You think you’re allowed to speak up.
But you know what not to say.
You know the lines — unspoken, but enforced.
You’ve mastered how to wrap critique
so it doesn’t sound like truth.
Feedback is welcome —
as long as it doesn’t touch the sacred core.
You can suggest improvements.
But the moment you ask why things are the way they are,
you’re no longer constructive.
You’re radioactive.
Companies don’t want criticism. They want confessions.
“Show conviction.”
“Align with our vision.”
“Live the mission.”
You think that’s part of your role.
It’s not.
It’s part of your mental programming.
Criticism is only tolerated
as long as it’s embedded in allegiance.
Wrapped in loyalty.
Delivered in a tone of submission.
What they truly fear:
Independence.
Intellectual courage.
Cognitive autonomy.
When work becomes religion — thinking becomes blasphemy
You wear the logo like a badge.
You celebrate company wins like personal triumphs.
You defend decisions you didn’t make.
And you call that loyalty.
But it’s assimilation.
In a world where branding becomes identity,
work turns into worship.
And doubt becomes a sin.
The most expensive currency isn’t your time — it’s your mind
They take your ideas.
They fuel themselves with your energy.
But most of all:
They occupy your inner world.
They don’t just want you to work.
They want you to think like them.
Feel like them.
Doubt like them — or not at all.
While you think you’re developing,
you’re being reprogrammed.
Not because you’re weak —
but because they’re calculated.
Think back — before you were reshaped
Do you remember who you were
before the moulding began?
Before you “aligned”?
Before you started filtering your words,
your thoughts,
your instincts?
Maybe you were less polished — but more alive.
Less corporate — but more conscious.
Less belonging — but more whole.
That’s the cost of inclusion:
You give up your mind
for a safety that was never truly yours.
Time to exit — without quitting your job
This text is not asking you to leave your job.
It’s asking you to reclaim your mind.
Not all companies are toxic.
But many thinking patterns are.
And as long as you don’t notice
that your thinking is no longer yours,
you’re working —
not for money,
but for an idea
that has hijacked your cognition.
You don’t need to rebel — you need to think clearly
Clarity isn’t resistance.
Clarity is liberation.
And once you begin to see the matrix,
you don’t turn hostile —
you turn free.
Free to say no.
Free to ask questions.
Free to contribute — without conversion.
Work can be many things.
Just not a substitute for belief.
R2049 