Jesse Prinz | Aeon, 2013 | Article
This article talks about how wonder is the most human of emotions, and it's also what science, religion and art all have in common. Wonder is both cognitive and spiritual. It's the curiosity that drives us to learn new things about the world around us, but it's also the feeling we get when we encounter things that are beyond our understanding.
Dennis Overbye | New York Times, 2016 | Article
This article inspired my neon sign "All the Light You See." I love how Overbye makes Einstein's theory of relativity so easy to understand, almost palpable, especially when he talks about the time it takes the light from the sun to reach our skin. It's amazing to think that the further out in space we look, the further back in time we see, and that our eye are basically like little time machines.
Stewart Brand | Basic Books, 2000 | Book
In this book, Stewart Brand explains his reasons for starting the Long Now Foundation (of which I am a member). The projects they are working on, like a mechanical clock that will keep track of time in 10,000-year increments, aim to foster long-term thinking and responsibility at a time when "now" seems to be getting smaller every day and our short-term thinking is having detrimental effects on the planet. This book has influenced the way I perceive and think about time. Recently, I was given permission from Stewart Brand to use a quote from the book to create my most recent neon sign, which says, "This present moment used to be the unimaginable future."