The
Zone is all that is pure subjectivity. The Zone is composed entirely
of subjectivity. Subjectivity extends into space right up to the edge
of perception and thought, but it does not extend beyond perception
into the Non-Zone. Subjectivity has its own type of relationship with
space and time. Subjectivity is the part of the human experience that
exists as happening right now to one's self. The Zone is the "inside"
part of this realm of pure subjectivity. For practical purposes, the
Zone is pure subjectivity itself, and pure subjectivity is the Zone
itself.
Another
way to get at this is to use the two words, "I am." On one level
these words are quite simple, and they can be easily used without really
appreciating the implication they clearly contain. If one repeats
these words silently and meditates on both of them for even the shortest
time, his mind will be turned so that it is pointed directly at what
we are talking about--subjectivity. Since subjectivity is not an
object that can be viewed or imagined directly, it will never be
visualized directly. This peculiar phenomenon--the nature of one's own
subjectivity and the intimate knowledge that one has that it
exists--is the very beginning of the mystical experience, which is the
foundation of the major religions. Having a clear understanding of that
to which the word "subjectivity" refers is essential and the first
step toward understanding the Zone.
Some
people encounter a block when it comes to meditation and the phrase,
"I am." This is quite common among regimented people, highly educated
people, and people who are pathetically lost in the Non-Zone. These
people struggle to capture a meaningful life. Usually they have no
belief in any of the types of truths that emanate from the Zone. On the
other hand, many of these people serve out their lives usefully to
society as a kind of personal and meaningless sacrifice from the
beginning to the end. The bottom line is that those two little words,
"I am," carry more meaning and more truth in them than all the other
words in the language.
The Zone is the subjectivity inside you - the
SCREENWRITER. Though it cannot be made into an object and studied in
that way, the nature of the Zone and its mysterious substance,
subjectivity, can be known to some extent and that knowledge, when it is
personal to oneself is more powerful, more meaningful, and more
truthful than any knowledge that will ever come from the Non-Zone
"thinking" encouraged by many of the so-called screenwriting gurus.
Those who cannot understand or see the underlying truth to these
statements are living their lives in a kind of continual worship of
sticks and stones.
The Zone then is "within," and it is within you. In the final analysis, it is more "you" than everything else put together.
Finally, any
knowledge of the Zone can only be assumed from direct, intimate
experience of the Zone itself; no real knowledge of the Zone can be had
from information about the Zone that comes from the Non-Zone. This
predicament puts the present situation into a quandary because writing
and reading require the continual intersection with the Non-Zone by both
the writers and his/her audience/reader. Direct and intimate
experience by the person himself is only way of entering and BEING IN
the Zone. Thus, the writer must become the audience (the one that is addressed) and the one that also addresses the writer (the writer's tribe or tribes).
The
Non-Zone and the Zone are adjacent to each other. On one side is the
world and our physical bodies (what Martin Buber refers to as the
"it"); on the other, pure subjectivity (what Buber implies by the
"Thou"). A curtain of perceptions is the boundary between the two. On
one side of the boundary is objectivity, on the other subjectivity.
The experience of human existence includes the experience of the
Non-Zone of objectivity, and it includes the experience of the Zone of
subjectivity.
A
relationship exists between the Zone and the Non-Zone. The
relationship is important, and it has many features, not the least of
which is conflict.