The Obligation Cage

Metaphorical Narrative

Picture a cage that doesn’t lock from the outside. Instead, every bar is carved with a rule: Serve or be cast out. Give or be nothing. The cruelest trick is that the door is wide open — but you never step out, because the script convinced you exile is death.

Core Insight

The Obligation Cage isn’t real steel. It’s an idea — that belonging comes with debt, that connection equals endless service. That belief steals energy before you even act. But the truth is sharper: care is choice, not obligation. Freedom is already in the doorway.

Saturday Experiment

1. Write down one “bar” of the cage you’ve lived by (e.g., “I must serve to belong”).
2. Cross it out with a thick marker — deliberately, like scratching graffiti.
3. Place the page somewhere visible today: proof that bars vanish when named.

Sunday Reflection

• What happens when they step out of the cage instead of serving inside it?
• How would they reconnect if belonging didn’t mean debt?
• Who would they be if freedom was assumed, not earned?