I’m not trying to frighten you, but only a fool makes predictions based on ignorance; I am not that sort of fool. - Robert A. Heinlein

Seems to be a deep instinct in human beings for making everything compulsory that isn't forbidden.

No philosophy that he had ever heard or read gave any reasonable purpose for man's existence, nor any rational clue to his proper conduct. Basking in the sunshine might be as good a thing to do with one's life as any other — but it was not for him and he knew it, even if he could not define how he knew it.

In the absence of clearly-defined goals, we become strangely loyal to performing daily trivia until ultimately we become enslaved by it.