»apophenia

apophenia is an invented word, coined in 1958 by Klaus Conrad and describes the ;spontaneous perception of connections and meaningfulness of unrelated phenomena", such as seeing the sainted Virgin Mary in a burrito wrap or Elmer Fudd in the oil shimmering on the macadam after a light rain. More examples of apophenia, including some terrifying observations from Strindberg, reveal this condition (syndrome?) as some sort of spontaneous creativity.

Somewhat related, I began reading Gavin Pretor-Pinney's The Cloudspotter’s Guide, an unexpectedly amusing and enthusiastically comprehensive guide to clouds.