Sometimes when we are playing a joke on someone, we let them in on it and say , "relax, I was just having you on" . We were just playing with the person, we create a little false reality to enjoy seeing how the comical drama will play out. We don't want to harm our friend, we want them to laugh and we want others who are in on the joke to laugh.
This is a really good analogy for what each of us is doing with our own subjective identities. We are essentially "having ourselves on" and we like to cling to the delusion of the joke we are playing on ourselves, and this is called suffering.
In order to get a little deeper understanding on this we have to realize "who" is the one who is suffering the joke and "who" is the one who occasionally realizes the joke and laughs at it.
In this case I would like to use the word "God" to explain the who. Not the kind of external man in the sky God, but rather the universal Brahma. The sort of sleeping interrelated universal ground of being of which we all are apart of. Being a Buddha is essentially fully awakening to that God nature that each of us is.
So here are both sides of the joke. You are God and you have decided to try out this incarnation of Bill, Mary, John ... whatever. You want to see what this perspective is, so you play out the little karmic drama. It's like when you are in the movie theater and you are totally absorbed in the drama, it's all very real, you loose yourself in the flickering projections. But when it's over you go "wow that was an interesting little show ".
As a Buddha to be, you are playing out this joke of personhood and you can see that it is just a delusion, but it is such an interesting movie, .... you just don't want to leave the theater. And what is more, all of the other beings you meet are doing the same thing, and the ground of who they are is the same stuff that you are. It is a complex grand delusion.
So the more you can just relax and realize, that you... "God",... are just having ... John, Mary or Bill on, the more you can laugh and awaken to the God nature that you truly are. If you so choose, you can step into the bigger role of Bodhisattva, or saint or deity or Buddha, any time you decide you are ready.
I think as Jesus said, this is "good news" . Realize that the idea of your "self" is truly a put on. Try to remain in the perspective that enjoys the little comical drama playing itself out and not suffer in the false drama of the joke you have chosen to play on yourself.