Stanislavski: Action

The third chapter of An Actor Prepares is about the action of acting. It speaks about how everything done on stage must be done with a purpose. I have heard this several times from several different directors and it makes sense; to make a play real you must pretend it is real, to a certain extent. The chapter begins with a day with the Director, in which he assigns some people to go onstage and merely sit in a chair. These people feel forced to make themselves look interesting to the audience, by switching their positions and moving a lot.
The lesson learned is that the actor must earn the right to sit onstage and they do not need to make themselves look interesting by adjusting their position, but by thinking that they look interesting.
The next lesson and my favorite, is digging into your past a bit to conjure up emotions. Now, this can be dangerous if people do it incorrectly. But it can also be highly successful if done right. To quote the book, "all such feelings are the result of something that has gone before." An actor must be careful when doing this, however; many actors have permantely damaged themselves. A good example of this is actor Heath Ledger, who died after accidentally overdosing on sleep medication after his role of The Joker in the latest Batman film.
I believe in this method if you are careful with it. I believe that in order to be a great actor, you need to be willing to give up a little part of yourself; but once that role is finished, you also need to be able to get that part of you back, or at least try. It's an emotionally difficult profession and not meant for everybody, but if your heart is truly in it, I feel that you can do all things successfully.