Shangri-La

This link will take you to the actual artwork for sale:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/252286085747?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1555.l2649

When James Hilton wrote Lost Horizon he called his mythical city Shangri-La. The name was deliberately close to another legendary city called Shambala. The legend of Shambala goes way back in mythical history. James cites the location of his fictional city inside the Kunlun Mountains – near Tibet which lies in the heart of where many ancient religions mesh.

I remember seeing the movie/musical version of the story when I was a child. I loved the movie and the message it brought to me as a young girl who knew nothing about eastern religions.

At one time, this region was a mixing pool of different eastern religions like Jainism, Buddhism, Hinduism and Taoism.

When the Mughal empire ruled over India from 1526-1857, they forbid the native religions of Buddhism and Hinduism to be practiced in the northern regions of India. They did allow the practice of these religions in the southern regions but for India’s northern Buddhists and hinds, they had to practice in secrecy.

For many years, historians believed Shambala was nothing more than a myth. This myth changed to fact when a cave entrance in the Himalayas was excavated. They found remains of a lost civilization inside the Himalayas. This would make perfect sense since caves are sacred places inside the earth that allow practicing spiritual seekers to feel the earth’s energy all around them.

The particular spot where Hilton describes the location of Shangri-la, is supposedly a sacred spot for Taoism. Both of these religions work perfectly for the spiritual truths introduced in Hilton’s novel. Buddhism focuses on each human’s responsibility to themselves and Taoism focuses on each human’s responsibility to nature.

I loved the concepts I heard in the movie and then later when I read the book. They seemed so different than what I was hearing every Sunday in the Catholic Church I attended with my mother. I held onto that movie for a long time. I wasn’t allowed to study other religions in my youth and yet, like a patient guide, these concepts were waiting for the day I became an adult and was able to choose what I wanted to study.

This painting is based on the inspiration that explodes inside me every time I hear or read the word Shangri-La.