When you stand on the stage you must have a sense that you are addressing the whole world, and that what you say is so important the whole world must listen.
One way we can enliven the imagination is to push it toward the illogical. We're not scientists. We don't always have to make the logical, reasonable leap.
The actor cannot afford to look only to his own life for all his material nor pull strictly from his own experience to find his acting choices and feelings.