There is this place, a place of not only sight and sound but of mind. It is a journey into a dangerous land whose boundaries are beyond what most people can imagine. There is a signpost with all the warnings and information for you to read. Failure to heed those signs makes your next stop: the Twilight Zone!
You diligent studies to gain the knowledge of the zone is the key to your avoidance and survival. Beyond the safety of your life lies the zone: a zone of sights, a zone of sounds, a zone of mind; a zone of shadows and substance, of things beyond normal perceptions. You have crossed over the edge of society into .... the Twilight Zone.
There is this predatory zone of violence and conflict beyond what is know to man. It is vast and dangerous as infinity. It is that zone between light and dark, a shadow that is between safety and reality but is real. It lies in a pit of man's worst fears and beyond the summit of his knowledge. This zone is a dimension only entered in imagination. It is an area I will call the twilight zone - a world of predatory violence and conflict.
We stand as martial artists on the edge of this zone. Only those who dare to work the zone take that first step, that one step beyond normalcy taking them deep into the zone. We may step over the edge to the peripheral of the zone and experience the conflict and violence but we will quickly step back into that safety of normalcy. It is those who dare to step across the edge and continue to walk deep into the zone, this twilight zone, this one step beyond and assume the role of professional - in the Twilight Zone.
What we must learn from those who take one step beyond is the truth, the dangerous world of our unknown, the danger of taking "One Step Beyond." Then we may understand the heart, courage and determination of those few, proud and professionals who live, breath and work in "The Twilight Zone."
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