#23 The Significance of Shangri-La

In a previous post, I wrote, “We in the VEN community intend to be the Shangri-La that was to be there until the appointed time, to offer to mankind a way out of his age old miseries.” The reference was to the speech of the High Lama in the famous movie, Lost Horizon. I still find it relevant to today's world situation and current events:

We have reason. It is the entire meaning and purpose of Shangri-La.

It 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 their machine power multiply until a single weaponed man
might match a whole army.
I foresaw a time when man, exulting 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 the things of beauty and culture that I could
and preserve them here against the doom
toward which the world is rushing.
(pause)
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.
The 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.
(pause)
When that day comes, it is our hope that the brotherly love of Shangri-La
will spread throughout the world.
(pause)
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.

Peace! Really!