Conference of the Birds, by John Heilpern

I'm loving this book, an account of the English theatre director Peter Brook's search for a new kind of theatre, fundamental and expressive of core human experience. He embarked with twenty or so actors (including a young Helen Mirren) on a journey traversing the Sahara, a journey above all of self-knowledge and letting go, creating spontaneous 'plays' in the most unlikely of places to audiences who shared no language or conventions with the actors.  Totally absurd, and keenly observed with a wry yet loving eye by John Heilpern. First published in 1977.

Quotes quoted by Heilpern that reflect other conversations going on inside and outside my head:

p.150 - Rene Daumal, author of the unfinished masterpiece 'Mount Analogue' [...] wrote:

I am dead because I lack desire;
I lack desire because I think I possess;
I think I possess because I do not try to give.
In trying to give, you see that you have nothing;
Seeing you have nothing, you try to give of yourself;
Trying to give of yourself, you see that you are nothing;
Seeing that you are nothing, you desire to become;
In desiring to become, you begin to live.

p.160 -  [Peter Brook] referred to a speech in Peter Weiss's 'Marat Sade' in which Marat talks of revolution and the new age. Imagination can't break down any real barriers, he says. For each man betrays the revolution, however hard he fights. Each is so clogged with dead ideas that even the best of us are unable to control our own lives. Look how everyone wants to cling to something from the past, a souvenir of the old regime. This man decided to keep his painting.This one keeps his horse. He keeps his estate. He keeps his factories. This man couldn't part with his shipyards. This one kept his army and that one keeps his king. Each preaches the cause of revolution and the dawn of the new age. Everyone fears the unknown. 'We stand here more oppressed than when we began,' says Marat, pointing at his audience. 'And they think the revolution's been won.'