A powerful motto appears on some of the earliest coins minted in the Americas, the Spanish milled dollars of 1732-1772. On two columns representing the Pillars of Hercules (where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean) are inscribed the words "Plus Ultra" — meaning "More Beyond". The words point to the New World, something outside the classical European sphere.
Plus Ultra is a symbol of transcendence. Closed systems contain their own boundaries; open sets point past themselves, toward a greater universe. Beyond the finite, there is the infinite; beyond the known, the unknown; beyond matter, mind and meaning.
Thursday, August 12, 1999 at 06:34:35 (EDT) = 1999-08-12
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