For Friedrich Nietzsche, and later Georges Bataille, the sun is the origin of all earthly wealth, its energy an outpouring with no return, a giving without receiving (Nietzsche, 1961:39; Bataille, 1991: 28-9; Land, 1992: 28). For these `philosophers of excess', the condition of life on earth - human lives included - is one of superabundance rather than scarcity, aimless exuberance rather than utility: a lesson that should inspire a life of generosity and profligacy rather than caution and restraint.