Gold: The Original Heart Medication

When Hernán Cortés, a Spanish conquistador, landed in Mexico in 1519, envoys of Moctezuma II, the emperor of the Aztec Empire, reportedly asked him a reasonable question:

Why are you Spaniards so obsessed with gold?

According to the chronicler Francisco López de Gómara, Cortés answered:

“I and my companions suffer from a disease of the heart that can only be cured by gold.”

Five centuries later, medicine has advanced.

But the diagnosis sounds… familiar.

A Timeless Condition

The disease of the heart has many modern names:

- lifestyle inflation
- status anxiety
- fear of missing out
- chronic comparison disorder

Symptoms include:

- restlessness during market rallies
- discomfort when others are doing better
- an irrational belief that one more zero will finally bring peace

Gold, apparently, was the original prescription.

From Conquistadors to Comment Sections

In Cortés’ time, the cure required ships, swords, and empires.

Today, it requires:

- a trading app
- a headline
- a chart pointing upward

The language has changed.

The impulse hasn’t.

We still believe that:

- wealth will calm us
- accumulation will heal us
- owning something “real” will fix what feels uncertain

Gold just happens to look very convincing while promising all of that.

Why Gold Still Works So Well

Gold doesn’t promise happiness.

That would be suspicious.

Instead, it promises something much more realistic:

- stability
- endurance
- quiet superiority

It doesn’t flash.

It doesn’t argue.

It just sits there, heavy and confident.

Which, coincidentally, is how many people wish they felt.

The Upgrade Path

Of course, modern hearts demand modern medicine.

Gold now competes with:

- real estate
- stocks
- collectibles
- digital assets
- and whatever the algorithm discovered this week

Yet gold keeps its seat at the table.

Not because it’s exciting —

but because excitement rarely cures anxiety.

Final Thought

Gold was never the medicine.

It was the placebo we all agreed to trust.

And like all good placebos,

it still works —

as long as we believe it does.