Portfolio > GMm /r=0

Spirit Nebula  (Escape Velocities)
Spirit Nebula (Escape Velocities)
oil on canvas
72" x 13"
2025

GMm/ r is the formula for how much energy it takes to achieve escape velocity. All the pieces in this section are about achieving Escape Velocity, which is defined as "the speed at which the the sum of an object's kinetic energy and its gravitational potential energy is equal to zero, which is the speed needed to 'break free' from the gravitational attraction of a massive body."

Sounds a bit like Zen to me.

I have lived for more than half a century now, and my past is starting to feel like a massive body. But a past is just the physical traces of cause and effect and a configuration left over in the mind. It's not actually a thing. These days, I am trying to leave behind the gravitational field generated by the structure of my own world view. It's pretty exciting, but it burns a lot of fuel.