SHANGRI-LA
A remote, beautiful place or state of mind where life approaches perfection…
I feel such sadness that there is no great frontier left. That as the last explorer trudged their armies towards the last blank spot on the map, they didn’t suddenly turn for home, leaving one island unexplored so we could set it aside as a strategic reserve of mystery…
Yet as I yearn for quiet, desolate wilderness, I have come to realise that even spots with high foot traffic have their moments. The feeling of haunting solitude reserved for extremely remote places still lives on if you stop your rushing, pause and let it sink in. Whether it be a clearing in the forest, a windswept valley of snow or a cliff face looking out to a never ending horizon, that feeling of solitude will make you feel like you’ve just intruded on a conversation that has nothing to do with you, where even the stones beneath your feet and the trees overhead are holding themselves back to a pointed, inhospitable silence. And it is here in these moments, that I learn the most about myself. To me, this is shangri-la.
