Acting is not a mystery. There's nothing that I know that other actors don't know. We all act we're all actors we all know the same thing. The only thing that separates us is experience.
Death unites as well as separates it silences all paltry feeling.
Two prisoners whose cells adjoin communicate with each other by knocking on the wall. The wall is the thing which separates them but is also their means of communication. It is the same with us and God. Every separation is a link.
Anything that's different from your own realm of experience as a human being whether it's driving a car or a boat or using guns anything that separates you from yourself and leads you more towards this character's existence is a big help.
The excitement of learning separates youth from old age. As long as you're learning you're not old.