[diktionær] ψυχή

breath; life, spirit; the immortal part of a person: soul; the spirit of a dead person: ghost; the conscious self, as the seat of emotions, desires; the organ of thought: mind, reason; (philosophy) the universal spirit; butterfly, moth

in greek mythology, psyche was the deification of the human soul; in ancient mosaics, she was often portrayed as a goddess with butterfly wings or a butterfly on her hand

[quoth] kim cascone: the aesthetics of failure

A few decades after the Futurists brought incidental noise to the foreground, John Cage would give permission to all composers to use any sound in composing music. At the 1952 debut of Cage's 4'33", David Tudor opened the piano keyboard lid and sat for the duration indicated in the title, implicitly inviting the audience to listen to background sounds, only closing and reopening the lid to demarcate three movements. The idea for 4'33" was outlined in a lecture given by Cage at Vassar College in 1948, entitled "A Composer's Confessions." The following year, Cage saw the white paintings of Robert Rauschenberg, and he saw in this an opportunity to keep pace with painting and push the stifled boundaries of modern music. Rauschenberg's white paintings combined chance, non-intention, and "minimalism" in one broad stroke, where the paintings revealed the "changing play of light and shadow and the presence of dust" (Kahn 1999).
Rauschenberg's white paintings were a powerful catalyst that helped inspire Cage to remove all constraints on what was considered music. Every environment could be experienced in a completely new way-as music.

(full text here)

Pop critic Colson Whitehead said that it is failure, that guides evolution. Perfection offers no incentive for evolution. Progress will only happen by embracing and utilizing your errors creatively. In a creative work progress with high emphasis on speed, finish and perfection, accidents and failure are often the key to becoming truly inventive and discovering new approaches.
John Cage once looked closely at a sheet of note paper and discovered that the music was already there: The small scratches, marks and dirt were notes that just needed to be traced.*
Enough about music. This is getting nowhere …

(Rhesus B)

*“I looked at my paper,” said Cage. “Suddenly I saw that the music, all the music, was already there.” He conceived of a procedure which would enable him to derive the details of his music from the little glitches and imperfections which can be seen on sheets of paper. It had symbolic as well as practical value; it made the unwanted features of the paper its most significant ones—there is not even a visual silence.

(Revill 1999)

[random interlude]

for the purpose of comic relief

[quoth] heinrich böll: besichtigung

Er kletterte weiter über die Trümmer, vorbei an der Kommunionbank, in die linke der Conchen: die Fresken waren unversehrt, das Tageslicht fiel voll auf die blassen Farben. Auch der Nebenaltar war heil, schien sogar gesäubert zu sein: die Mensa war blank, und ein Blumenstrauß stand vor dem steinernen Tabernakel, und als er sich umblickte und in das Nebenschiff sah, waren die Beichtstühle leicht vorgeneigt, und endlich sah er ein Licht und ging darauf zu. Die Kerze brannte vor dem Muttergottesbild, und daneben hing das Kruzifix, das früher im Gewölbe vor dem Leuchter gehangen hatte. Die Kerze flackerte unruhig vor dem Gnadenbild, dessen hölzerner Grund sich leicht geworfen hatte und den goldenen Belag abwerfen zu wollen schien. Er war stellenweise schon heruntergebröckelt, und es lief wie weißliche Striemen über Mariens Gesicht. Nur die Blumen waren frisch und schön, wunderbare große Nelken mit fetten Köpfen, die in prallen Kapseln standen. Er versuchte zu beten, erschrak aber im gleichen Augenblick: er hörte Gesang unter sich, aus der Erde kam er. Der Schauer war nur kurz: die Krypta fiel ihm ein, die wohl unbeschädigt war. Die Stimmen klangen dünn, seltsam gefiltert, es schienen nur wenige zu sein.