There is a story behind this picture (Self-Portrait with Stars). On a deep, dark summer night in northern Poland I was standing outside and watching the stars when an amazing realization came to me. I was looking at the starry sky and thought to myself that there are about 100 billion stars in our Galaxy, and there are about 100 billion neurons in our brain, each of which can make up to 1000 connections. I then visualized each of my brain's neurons building a connection to one star. My mind exploded. I felt connected to the entire galaxy around me. The mind expanded in all directions, like the blast of a big bang. 

The numbers of stars and neurons that I linked together using my imagination corresponded to the state of knowledge on the subject at the time. Today, the number of stars in our Galaxy is estimated to be between 150 and 400 billion, while research by Brazilian scientist Dr. Suzana Herculano-Houzel suggests that the average human brain has 86 billion neurons.

Sticking with this new data, one would have to imagine that each neuron builds a virtual synaptic connection to 4 to 5 stars in the Milky Way galaxy.