"Apophenia is seeing connections between unrelated things. On a visual level, it's called paralellia- finding recognizable images in random patterns. It can be seeing the virgin Mary in your macaroni, but it is also a technique that DaVinci used- he would stare at the woodgrain on his floor until images and inspiration emerged. On an action level Apophenia is like a synchronistic event, but a little more loosely defined. French philosopger Guy Debord talked about a technique called derivee or drifting (in English) which was used to explore cityscapes."