The Quiet Power of Inner Capital

At a gathering recently, I ran into someone I hadn’t seen in years.

For a long time, I had been spellbound from afar. Their social media presence radiated beauty, elegance and an enticing lifestyle. It was glamourous.

The bubble burst after two minutes.

Within moments of our conversation, they happily recounted the misfortune of a mutual acquaintance. When I declined to join in, they seemed irritated. Later, so I was told, I had become the subject of a similar conversation myself.

Their online personality had disappeared. What remained felt strangely impoverished.

Curious, I looked up the origin of the word glamour. The Cambridge Dictionary defines glamour as: “the special, exciting and attractive quality of a person, place, or activity”. So far so good. When traced back to its etymological origin, however, glamour aptly explains the sudden disappointment. It derives from a Scots word meaning a magic spell or enchantment, specifically one that alters appearances, making something look more beautiful or desirable than it really is, or casting an illusion over someone’s eyes.

We live in an economy of glamour. An environment that rewards appearances, presentation, titles and performance. Advertising trades in this currency, and social media intensely accelerated the phenomenon. We polish the surface, whilst quietly neglecting the soil beneath it. Wealth is one of the most potent expressions of this external language of value. It is associated with possibility, security, desirability and success. Whereas abundance suggests a state of being, wealth is a state of having. Yet, wealth is more than possession. It expands a person’s sphere of influence, and its power is never without consequence. It has the capacity to cultivate life or to deepen desolation.

Read the full article at Planted Journal