Touchstone Book by Johnstone...

I read this Keith Johnstone book "Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre," in the 90's. No doubt one of the greatest, most revelatory books I've ever read. Yes, it's about theater, comedy, improvisation, and teaching, but essentially it is also fundamentally about what it means to be a Human Being. It will change the way you look at the world, and all human relationships in the world.

Off the top of my head I can reel off the astonishments that have resonated with me all these years later: 

All Human relations are "status games." Every damn one. High Status vs. Low Status. All comedy & tragedy stems from status reversals. We derive great joy and pleasure in observing status games. We can also be totally humbled and destroyed by them.

Human beings are hierarchal  animals. Always. In every realm of life. There is a structure of relationship. You will play many roles in life, High Status, Low Status, sometimes the roles will change from one sentence to the next.

Adults are damaged, traumatized children.

All human being are fundamentally creative beings.  Some of us are better able to access that creativity than others. But we all have the capability of being immensely creative. Most of our schooling dulls and destroys our ability to access this creativity. Often it is luck and pluck and circumstance that allows some of us to escape the destructors.

Put a mask on and Human Beings will transform and reveal new selves, darker souls. As Dylan remarked: "Someone puts on a mask, they will tell you the truth."

We all wear masks all the time. For instance: "Rationality is a mask we wear." Yes, we are all basically crazy, batty, totally kooky. As Johnstone reminds us, get to know anyone and one of the first things they will tell you: "I'm crazier than I look!"

Hah! Good morning!

The a.m. soundtrack - Explosions in the Sky "All of a Sudden, I Miss Everyone"  (2007). Glorious, shimmering electric guitars and explosive drums and bass. Instrumental. Lightness. Quicksilver. Love.