Many people work full time as actors under the directing of their false egos. The false-self wants the person to be like somebody else whom it irrationally identifies with. So the person would act and convince himself that he enjoys and approves of things that his real self would actually disapprove of. He would get some sort of momentary pleasure out of his play, but would later regret it and experience guilt or some other painful emotion. The false-self wants the person to adapt to the social environments, no matter what, because the person was raised to tolerate and integrate. Or maybe the person idealizes some sort of an irrational philosophy, and in order to act upon his beliefs, he has to overcome his real self and be an actor.
"I like this", someone says. Okay, how do you like it? Is it that it satisfies your aesthetic preferences, or is it that it represents your values and you find it virtuous? I won't stop repeating that art often portrays the opposite of virtue. We find things humorous or entertaining when they are illogical and/or unusual. So which one is it? Do you like the Nazis because of your support for national socialism, or is it because you support war and murder? Or is it because you are entertained by their uniforms, slogans, and loud explosions? Or maybe it's because you identify with your Nazi uncle, because you think he is very virtuous. You want to be like him and you overcome your critical thinking to satisfy the needs of your false-self. You think you like something for A B and C, but the real reasons turn out to be X Y and Z.
You know you're in a character when you say something and you feel smug about saying it. You know you're in a character when you are in rapport with someone else, and you agree with his irrational point of view, just because you can look at the world through his eyes, like that somehow makes false things more true. You know you're in a character when you feel guilty about not being something that your friend wants you to be. You play a role when you troll somebody but you don't know that you're trolling them. When you look around for people's approval. When you convince yourself that the bad thing you did was awesome, just to dissociate from your rational sense of guilt and shame. You want to be this kickass person who has no feelings because you are a perfectionist who despises everything that you perceive as weak. That's why you identify with imaginary heroes who lack these emotions and you pretend that you are them.
You don't need idols to change your behavior. You need convincing truths.
