I admit that I have a problem with the way this word is used. People use it mostly to mean “pretending”, and that’s not the same thing. True, there are people who say they’re acting when they’re actually pretending, so that explains it. To act means to carry out actions. In theater these actions can include shouting or laughing or falling to the floor with the appropriate intensity and intention so that they will be organic within the whole. When we’re not 100% committed to acting, that is, to carrying out the action surrendering to it, then, yes, we are pretending and the action is just an empty shell. Nature never pretends, it does what it does. So pretending is being out of tune with nature, and this in turn means being disconnected from our essence. When I do what I do, am I acting or am I pretending?