Chapter 9 Hughes Creativity and Diseases

I liked this topic of creativity and sickness because it explores the realms of the possibility that some people can and have been great creative minds when physically or mentally ill. It explores what type of mind state we are in when we are in a sickly induced altered state of consciousness.
The first quote that I ran into as I read was the quote on page 119 "the art of life is the art of avoiding pain" by Thomas Jefferson. I questioned and pondered over the potential meaning behind this quote because isn't it through pain that some of the best creative geniuses were bred and developed? Everybody tries to avoid pain in life. but it is inevitable or maybe I am taking it to abstractly. Another quote that I found interesting on page 170 "the loss of sight allows the inner eye to explore the heights and depth of the imagination". This is a very deep quote because it is inspirational in nature and Hughes is saying that even without the ability to see with the naked eye that one's imagination is even more vivid than a hollywood motion picture and that your imagination is what one would use as their visionary guide.