One special quality of acting is that when a person comes close to being in contact with the environment, he “comes out” of his current problems and qualities.

Suppose I am experiencing some personal drama. To position myself correctly in relation to the environment, I must be in a different state. This means I have to “come out of myself,” forget about my own worries, and “put on” a different role. And in that new form, I proceed to work with the collective.

By working this way, I will gradually be able to resolve my conflicts to some extent and understand their cause, and absorb or add to myself the desires and aspirations of other people, which caused the conflict between us. The conflicts might remain for some time, in which case at some point in the future I will remember this conflict and will be able to understand it, to become included in it, and to experience the state of its participants.

A person can “come out” of his nature and enter another role. He can literally dissolve in it, completely detach from the troubles for some time, however tragic. These are the opportunities we can learn from actors.

The above points were taken from the book The Psychology of the Integral Society by Dr. Michael Laitman and Dr. Anatoly Ulianov. Also available as eBook (PDF, Kindle & ePub formats).