The Approval Slavery

Metaphorical Narrative

The cell door creaks open.
Not to free you — but to send you back inside.

Ego stands like a jailer, keys dangling, whispering:
“Go back. Ask them again. Maybe this time they’ll bless you.”

And the faces appear — the very ones who wronged you, who denied you before.
Terror rises. Frustration burns. The loop demands humiliation:
“Return. Beg. Relive the scene.”

This is not healing.
This is slavery.
The most anti-human trick ego knows.

Core Insight

Ego’s desperation is to force you to seek dignity from the same hands that betrayed you.
It weaponizes memory to replay the worst scenes, pushing you toward humiliation as if approval could set you free.

But no stamp of approval will ever arrive.
The game is rigged.

The witness does not return to chains.
The I holds dignity already.

Saturday Experiment

When faces of the past appear with the demand to “ask again”:

1. Say: “Approval slavery detected.”
2. Expose the lie: “This is ego’s desperation, not my choice.”
3. Refuse the jailer: “I do not return to abusers for approval.”
4. Anchor in truth: breathe into your chest, stand tall, and affirm:
   “My dignity is non-negotiable. Space is mine.”

Sunday Reflection

• When did ego try to drag you back this week?
• What phantom approval was it chasing?
• How did you cut the chain?
• In third person: “He/She saw ego’s jailer, refused the return, and walked forward free.”