Volume One
Chapter Seven — Steps to Authenticity
April: Role-playing
1. Characters in the earth drama play roles, just as actors play roles on TV and in films. There is no difference except that some of the actors are paid large amounts of money. Characters are another aspect of the human illusion, as is role-playing. The character thinks it is real, and role-playing helps to confirm this in the mind. Characters play the roles of oldest child, the one who does well in school, the one who can't do anything right, the leader of the team, the pretty one, the nerd, the athlete, the strict parent, the permissive parent, the one who isn't good with money — the list is endless. Someone could play several different roles in one day. It is tiring to contemplate it, but that's what characters do. It is why human relationships are so fragile. Ego-dominant individuals depend on others they are in relationship with to play their roles to hold the relationship in place. Even relationships are part of the illusion.
2. There is a phrase in the collective that is being used more and more and is taking on meaning for more and more ego-driven characters. The phrase is "let's get real" or "keeping it real." This is a way that more and more characters are discovering how fake others are when they are strictly role-playing, or when they themselves are caught up in the illusionary web of role-playing. They feel like they can't be honest unless they break away from the trap of thoughts and move to more heart-based feelings. Remember, ego or soul is a moment-to-moment choice. But if realness is part of someone's mantra, it can help to remind a character to be real more often.
3. Role-playing is always done from ego, and therefore the ten dilemmas are at play. Soul has no use for any kind of playing or pretending, as souls only serve with love. Some of the ego-level dilemmas that make themselves known are being special, pretending to be powerful but actually being powerless, being arrogant, being defensive, being greedy, and being grandiose. Being nice falls in the latter category. Playing a character and role-playing are forced on all who come here. That is, until they start to listen to the soul and realize that there just might be another way.
4. Guidelines:
Pick a time of day that suits you best and read the step that corresponds to the appropriate month and date. This is your starting point. Simply reflect on what the step means to you and ways to put it into practice. Accept whatever feelings come to the surface as you work your way through the steps. These steps are the beginning of a transformation where love replaces fear, which is no easy feat. Be patient with yourself. You are doing what few have ever been able to do. Now you have the means. Just add a little willingness and you will be a more soulful and less ego-driven being in just a year's time. Godspeed.
5. April 1
What has been the hardest element about the roles you have played in this current lifetime?
6. April 2
What has been the easiest element about the roles you have played in this current lifetime?
7. April 3
Have your roles each been distinct, or are there commonalities threaded between each of them?
8. April 4
How do you play your roles? With a firm upper hand or with compassion?
9. April 5
As you have matured, has the way you have played your roles changed at all?
10. April 6
How have you played roles usually reserved for later in life (caregiver, retiree) or ones from earlier in life (child, one who is cared for)?
11. April 7
If souls do not play roles but serve a function, who in your current lifetime do you feel is operating with a dominant soul?
12. April 8
What influence have soul-dominant individuals had throughout your current lifetime?
13. April 9
What percentage of relationships in your current lifetime do you feel involved characters who were strictly role-playing?
14. April 10
Were these relationships from April 9 easy or difficult to maintain?
15. April 11
If you look back at favorite characters from your current lifetime, would they be classified as role-players or free spirits?
16. April 12
If a free spirit is defined as someone who cannot be defined, how do you feel they function in a world that expects role-playing?
17. April 13
What expectations do you have for yourself in regard to how you play various roles that have been assigned to you?
18. April 14
Are you aware of any expectations that people who interact with you have about the roles you play?
19. April 15
Is it important for you to feel as if you are meeting explicitly stated expectations for your role-playing?
20. April 16
Is it important for you to feel as if you are meeting implied expectations for your role-playing?
21. April 17
How do you feel when others express feeling let down by your role-playing performance(s)?
22. April 18
Reflect on a recent time when you felt that you were not living up to your potential.
23. April 19
Do you understand that the phrase used in April 18 - "living up to your potential" - refers to external or internalized role-playing expectations?
24. April 20
If all role-playing and all external and internalized expectations for role-playing come from the ego, would it be possible for you to allow unconditional love to fuel how you play your roles?
25. April 21
What fears do you have about playing your roles with less fear and rigidity and more love and openness?
26. April 22
Reflect on a recent time when you encountered someone who was in a role but played it with compassion and understanding.
27. April 23
Reflect on a recent time when you yourself played a role with compassion and understanding.
28. April 24
Describe your own role-playing in a recent relationship that you consider to be closely personal and emotionally intimate.
29. April 25
Moving forward, can you commit to using less rigidity in your relationships?
30. April 26
Moving forward, can you commit to using more fluidity before deciding what to do or say in your relationships?
31. April 27
Can you understand that role-playing is rooted in the past and is not centered in Now time - the only time there is?
32. April 28
Are you willing to risk having your relationships change if you move away from role-playing?
33. April 29
Are you willing to experience more freedom and less stress if you shift from fear to love?
34. April 30
Can you let go of your attachments to role-playing in order to become a more soul-driven character?
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