Hughes 9

I think it is fascinating that an illness can lead to creativity, because they both involve altered states of consciousness. However, most individuals produce his or her best work when they are depressed or have some life altering illness. People can express the ideas that are closest to themselves, but through different medias. Frida Kahlo's painting is powerful, because a viewer can visually see the pain she is enduring. Most artists have really difficult lives, which is probably why they have such amazing works.

I was surprised that some artists didn't think being blind was all that important. Yes, all of the other senses get stronger, but I would still think it is terrible. I think the most interesting quote is "The very deaf, as I am, hear the most astounding things all around them, which have not in fact, been said. This enlivens my replies until, through mishearing, a new level of communication is reached" (121) I think it would be really neat to be deaf for a day, so I could experience what deaf people experience. It is like an altered state of consciousness, because the only way to understand it is to experience it.

The quote by Edgar Allan Poe is neat, yet true. "Men have called me mad, but the question is not yet settled, whether madness is or is not the loftiest intelligence. . . "(124) Edgar Allan Poe has a lot of disturbing pieces of writing, but they are brilliant. Is he sick, or is he just so creative that people refer to him as mad? He was also an alcoholic, which would stand for an outlet if he did have psychological problems. Also, many artists seem to have their creative works when they are on the road to recovery, but why? How do we know for sure? Perhaps the individual used art as a form of therapy, and that is how they got better. I know Virginia Woolf suffered a lot of psychological problems and attempted suicide many times, until finally succeeding. However, I think her writing definitely occurs in an altered state of consciousness, because it is so full of thoughts, as if it were a dream.

I went to the harrisburg mental hospital before and I was kind of frightened to see people talking to themselves, and doing such peculiar things. Now that I think about it were they really crazy or are they just in an altered state of consciousness permanently? I think that is why doctors have such a hard time explaining diseases such as schizophrenia, because an individual has to experience it for themselves.

I find epileptic experiences rather unbelievable, I cannot imagine a joy that is unthinkable. Perhaps many religious figures were simply epileptics. Overall, it appears that all creativity can be linked to drugs and diseases, and vice versa.