• NASA

That's the sun; this is my favorite passage in Georges Bataille's The Accursed Share: An Essay on General Economy:

l will speak brielly about the most general conditions of life, dwelling on one crucially important fact: Solar energy is the source of life’s exuberant development. The origin and essence of our wealth are given in the radiation ofthe sun, which dispenses energy - wealth - without any return. The sun gives without ever receiving. Men were conscious of this long before astrophysics measured that ceaseless prodigality; they saw it ripen the harvests and they associated its splendor with the act of someone who gives.