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They live quietly: in unread emails, muted meetings and the slow drift from meaning. They surface as burnout, misrecognition, performative belonging. Beneath metrics and mission statements lies a quieter grief — the loss of presence, purpose, connection. These aren’t just workplace woes; they’re emotional residues of disenchanted ritual. What we call professionalism may be the mask we wear to mourn what work no longer offers.
Work feels modern, but its patterns are ancient. Beneath corporate rituals and institutional rhythms lies a landscape shaped by instinct: alliance-building, status-seeking, survival stress. It’s not metaphor, it’s memory. Evolutionary psychology reveals the ancient beneath the modern: not just how we behave, but what we’ve inherited. The office isn’t new — it’s the savanna, reframed in fluorescent light.
