When I woke up at 8 AM to go to class on Friday morning I realized something as I walked out the door:

There is no inherent punishment if I don't go to class, but I still went.

But if there is no punishment, then why do I go? Why do I follow this strict schedule that is based on time that humans made up that doesn't exist or have meaning unless we decide it does?

It is because we care what others think, we don't function in individual vacuums, we are all existing together in society and community. I go to class because that is how I will get my good grade because my professor decided that attendance is part of grading and schools decided professors needed to teach people and people decided that everyone needs degrees to make money and also that money is required to get anything and also that everyone needs everything all of the time so therefore everyone needs the money/degree/attendance/schedule to accomplish all their goals.

So yes, nothing will punish me if I skip class. I will risk my professor not liking me and giving me a bad grade but at the end of the day that too is meaningless unless I decide to place weight on it. In fact, everything is meaningless unless I want it to hold meaning. If I truly don't care about anything anyone else thinks then I am free to do whatever I want want because the only power anyone has over me is the power that I believe them to have (except of course if they choose to exert physical power).

The problem however, is that if I do go rogue, live my life however I want with no rules and no concerns, that doesn't mean anyone else will also do so. Everyone will continue to live in our structured society and that leaves me out. With no way to do anything if I don't play by the rules too.

I don't believe that this is inherently wrong either, it is just important that we know the power we are giving up, that the true control in interpersonal relationships lies within ourselves. If we know that, then we can consciously choose to live in our rigid society, and that itself is a freedom.

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