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All my life until recently, when alone in public, I'd seek out the least conspicuous, most sequestered place to sit. Now I'll take whatever most resembles a throne.
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Like when interacting with a domineering person who takes up a lot of space, tries to get into superior positions a lot. See how they react if you just don't allow this to happen (match body language, claim space assertively...)
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But on a higher level of abstraction than that, people always, always, always expect participation in their games. Even games you never signed up for. This can often be safely ignored.
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People are conditioned from birth to internalize norms and other people's expectations. These are presented as natural law, rather than the shared fictions they represent.
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It becomes easy to live in a sort of twilit reality, where any deviation from expectations gives you a feeling like the walls are closing in. But the walls are pure illusion. There are always consequences, but no laws. It's all just play-acting.
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People can put you in chains, shun you or shoot you. But all of these oppressions are like nothing compared with accepting the illusion of laws, rules, limits.
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