When I came back to college after the war, I resumed my studies as an art major. For those of us involved, the 'zone' was pretty much a natural state. We would

When I came back to college after the war, I resumed my studies as an art major. For those of us involved, the 'zone' was pretty much a natural state. We would drop in and out for conversations and such. But mostly as soon as you pick up a chisel or piece of boxwood to smooth clay or whatever it might be to initiate work, the rest of the world pretty much goes away. To the degree that I remember such things, this has always been the way it works for me. I pretty much see it as intimately tied to any creative task. When after 8 years of enjoying myself I woke up and realized that you really can't make a living as an art major I walked across the campus to what would one day become the computer department (then a branch of the business school) sat down and proceeded to learn how to program. I was very surprised to discover that there was no difference between the 'zone' with painting and the 'zone' with programming. This lead me to the notion that it must be tied to the idea of creativity. I've seen virtually nothing since that would lead me to believe otherwise. Since I started zoning out in grade school, I can't really give advice on how you might arrive there, but if what you are doing is 'creative' then you most likely will find that moment when you lose yourself in the activity---at that point, welcome to the zone! As far as literature goes, most of what I've read that seems to explain or resonate comes from the world of Zen. In particular the idea of 'Mushin'. As starting point down that road, try: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushin with the usual caveat that 'nothing you read is Zen' :)