Pomposity is a wonderfully plosive word.
I’ve been thinking lately that the first physical manifestation of pomposity is a failure to breathe out freely. It’s often an unconscious defence and it’s effect is literally to puff the perpetrator up. I suspect that pomposity doesn’t start out with the intention of attacking.
Still I think pomposity is probably the biggest barrier to innovation. When we don’t breathe well, we try to remove ourselves from intereracting with the real world, at a molecular level.
When we’re pompous, we become a human balloon. We can either resume breathing and get real. Or we can inflate ourselves until we burst. Or eventually just lose control, much like the balloon a kid releases that flies crazily around the room.
