Shangri-La
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Updated: Oct 12
Seeing an old friend and neighbor reminded me how she spoke of the place where we both lived as "Our Shangri-La". I'll admit to never referring to this place that way, but when the train passes at sunset reflecting orange in the river where the sun had risen pink on the horizon and dolphins swam silently by before the rising of a full moon...I might reconsider.
Shangri-La is"a remote beautiful imaginary place where life approaches perfection". (Merriam Webster) Before going any further, the word itself came out of the novel, "Lost Horizon", written by James Hilton in 1933--the year Germany awarded Hitler dictatorial powers through the Enabling Act suspending civil liberties and America suffered through the Great Depression.* Far cry from Shangri-La!
Whatever did the author have in mind and who in the world could believe in such a place under those circumstances? The time was ripe to re-watch the classic film made in 1937 which might have easily been named Shangri-La, but stayed true to the book's title. (Available to stream for free on Tubi and YouTube).
Imagine an Oz-like place high in the Himalayas, so remote that getting to Shangri-La is to risk death. Leaving is even more difficult having tasted a uniquely peaceful place peopled by those with only kindness in their hearts. How could anyone give that up in exchange for a world of strife? The story turns on that question and the choices the main characters make for themselves. We are each one of us those characters, it seems to me.
We want our Shangri-La, and eat it too! We do not want to give up our "little lives" for the greater good even if it means we would be choosing harmony over war; love over hate; meekness over power. Why not have it all and then some? It is not possible, that's why.
Shangri-La is not an actual place any more than OZ where the roads are paved in gold through greed of the great and powerful Wizard hiding behind a curtain creating a smokescreen to (try) and fool the munchkins.
Shangri-La is a state of mind, says the High Lama from his Tibetan retreat 99 years ago:
"The entire meaning and purpose of Shangri-La came to me in a vision, long, long ago. I saw all the nations strengthening, not in wisdom, but in the vulgar passions and the will to destroy. I saw the machine power multiplying, until a single weaponed man might match a whole army. I foresaw a time when man, exalting in the technique of murder, would rage so hotly over the world, that every book, every treasure, would be doomed to destruction. This vision was so vivid and so moving, that I determined to gather together all things of beauty and of culture that I could, and preserve them here, against the doom toward which the world is rushing. Look at the world today. Is there anything more pitiful? What madness there is! What blindness! What unintelligent leadership! A scurrying mass of bewildered humanity, crashing headlong against each other, propelled by an orgy of greed and brutality. A time must come my friend, when this orgy will spend itself. When brutality and the lust for power must perish by its own sword. Against that time, is why I avoided death, and am here. And why you were brought here. For when that day comes, the world must begin to look for a new life. And it is our hope that they may find it here. For here, we shall be with their books and their music, and a way of life based on one simple rule: Be Kind! When that day comes, it is our hope that the brotherly love of Shangri-La will spread throughout the world. Yes, my son; When the strong have devoured each other, the Christian ethic may at last be fulfilled and the meek shall inherit the earth."
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