Enlightenment Chic
Rob Henderson wrote about beliefs being the new luxury items. From my blog post on his piece:

He writes about how upper-class Americans used to display their social status with luxury goods. These have increasingly become less "wow" as they've become more accessible and affordable (and, I'll add more counterfeited).

So, he explains, upper-class Americans have moved on to a new luxury -- "luxury beliefs" -- to separate themselves from the lower classes.

Now, Mike Albo writes in Town & Country about how "enlightenment" is the new status symbol for the elite, and Jack Dorsey, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Marianne Williamson are the "undisputed gods of the wellness aristocracy."

Gwyneth Paltrow of the steamed vagina, yes.

While you were busy downloading Headspace and livestreaming Peloton, the extremely rich have been locked in a holier-than-thou arms race to purge themselves of screens and discover inner peace.

Meet the spiritual snobs.

HASHTAG MINDFULNESS
They may swear off their phones and social media feeds, but open yours and you'll find them aglow and gloating in an ashram more remote than Wakanda, tagging their posts #breathe. There they are at the Wanderlust Kundalini & Radiant Body immersion at Snowshoe Mountain, reminding you how gorgeous they look without makeup--through a Mayfair filter. Or at the Advanced Intuitive Healing training course at the Den in L.A. (three months, $1,500), learning how to fix the holes in their auras. You might even see them at Kanye West's exclusive Sunday Service, at an undisclosed location, singing hymns alongside Buddhist power couple Orlando Bloom and Katy Perry.

The rich and famous often drink their own organic, locally sourced Kool-Aid. At some point along the way they begin to believe they can achieve a special connection with the metaphysical by luxuriously depriving themselves of earthly desires, preferably somewhere quiet and above the fray, like on David Geffen's yacht, docked in the Sea of Cortez.

Aristocratic mysticism is nothing new (see: Rasputin and the Romanovs), but now ascetic pursuits have been paired with the ability to self-broadcast more than ever before, and self-actualization has become both a branding tool and bragging right.

This, too, will pass.

Right now it's providing employment for anybody who buys the right yoga attire and calls themelves a guru.

Here's hoping the next trend for the uber-rich celebs will be making the world a better place, not just making their inner world a better place for bragging rights.

For example: Need some funding to reinvigorate the mediation program I volunteer for, with volunteers doing free dispute resolution for LA residents.

The LA City Attorney starved the program for years, taking away work stations, our mediation rooms, and even our clerks. We'd all stay volunteers, not get paid, but now we don't have enough desks for mediators to come in and work...for free!...to solve Angelenos' disputes! Which stops violence, leaves the courts unclogged, and saves big bucks when the LAPD is not weaponized by people who are all, "Officer, my neighbors is an ASSHOLE." Officer: "Ma'am, that is not a crime."

P.S. Did manage to save the program -- force the City Attorney to unkill it -- with op-eds like the one linked above, plus other media and social media appearances. Kind of amazing, huh?

I'm not "spiritually active," just active.