While I was reading Book 1 in Paradise Lost, I was particularly struck with lines 254 and 255: "The mind is its own place and in itself / Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven." This seems, to me at least, to be a rather insightful view into the raw power of the human mind. For all its flaws, which manifest themselves in the laundry list of disorders that have been discovered by the field of psychology, the mind can also be our most powerful weapon when placed in adverse situations. Limited options presented to victims of kidnapping and soldiers captured by the enemy make a positive attitude their most valuable ally. Of course, in the story, this idea is used to highlight the tortures the fallen angels endure in Hell, as they are unable to maintain such positivism.

I commented on Kayla Turner's.