In the ancient Greek theater, actors wore a mask that was called a ‘persona’ — they would don a persona to play their part in stage performances.
In a somewhat similar way, the One consciousness, dons all personas and plays all roles on the stage of manifest life. In other words, this one that we all are at the core of our being, loves to experience, and through the awesome power of mind, plays as all life forms in this multidimensional experience.
In this grand drama, we humans lose sight of this fundamental truth and believe, “I am this person and this is my life”. All the harm and suffering in the world happens because the One behind the mask is not recognized — and the play becomes less a comedy and more of a tragedy.
Through some amount of suffering, there arises the desire for freedom from this human condition and to awaken out of the dream of separate self existence. This desire gives us the capacity to consciously reflect and shift our attention or ‘pull back’ deeper than the persona and become aware of our natural Being — that is aware of the body, sense perceptions, emotions and thoughts. We can ‘float' here and rest as that One. Which is to say, the open mind enables the realization of who or what one is — boundless consciousness itself. From this realization, we are free to play our part in this grand drama, with compassion and a confidence that all is that formless One.