Lost Horizon [James Hilton]

For centuries people have dreamed of a perfect world, one set apart from wars, famine and all the social tribulations that beset mankind.  These dreams of a hidden paradise have been particularly prevalent in the Orient, where through meditations men's imaginations have often framed idyllic hideaways of beauty and serenity.
Shangri-La is perhaps the most famous of these utopian retreats.  It is a vivid reflection of all escapist dreams,
Here, in an excerpt from James Hilton's Lost Horizon, the High Lama of Shangri-La describes an ideal future life.
''... It is... a prospect of much charm that I
unfold for you - long tranquillities during which you will observe a sunset as men in the outer world hear the striking of a clock, and with far less care.  The years will come and go, and you will pass from fleshly enjoyments into austerer but no less satisfying realms; you may lose the keenness of muscles and appetite, but there will be gain to match your loss; you will achieve clamness and profundity, ripeness and wisdom, and the clear enchantment of memory.  And, .... most precious of all, you will have Time - that rare and lovely gift that your Western countries have lost the more they have pursued it.  Think for a moment.  You will have time to read-never again will you skim pages to save minutes, or avoid some study lest it prove too engrossing.  You have also a taste for music - here, then, are your scores and instruments, with Time, unruffled and unmeasured, to give you thier richest savor.  And you are also, we will say a man of good fellowship - does it not charm you to think of wise and serene friendships, a long and kindly traffic of the mind from which death may not call you away with his customary hurry?  Or, if it is solitude that you prefer, could you not employ our pavilions to enrich the gentleness of lonely thoughts?''....
From the book:
Lost Horizon by James Hilton, 1933
Come To Shangri-La
1973 by April House, Inc