In Chapter 9, Hughes points to the connection between physical illness and creativity. Both involve "altered states of consciousness, arising on the one hand from bodily changes and on the other from imaginative affects."
The connection is clear to me. I can definitely attest to the power of sensory deprivation. It is a powerful tool. You'd be surprised how good a fighter can get if he (or she) fights with a blindfold on for a few months, while the opponent has access to all his senses. After the students other senses have been enhanced, sight can be returned. WALAH, you have a well-rounded fighter.
To take it a step further... can physical blindness facilitate the development of subliminal senses? I don't know. Hughes mentioned Ray Charles and Stevie Wonder, but I also liked the story about Tiresias, the Tibetan seer, he was blinded and became a prophet.
Before reading this chapter, I can't recall anyone describing hearing as a specialized sense of touch, but I guess we do hear and feel sounds. In the end, we are just picking up vibrations in the air. It's definitely a different way of thinking about things.
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