In the realm of fiction, some stories do more than momentarily entertain — they open a door to a parallel reality. One such story is James Hilton’s Lost Horizon, the book that introduced Shangri-La to the world in 1933. I read it in my early twenties, and it never left me.
Shangri-La is a mystical, timeless valley hidden high in the Tibetan mountains — a place of serene beauty and profound peace, where people live in harmony and age almost imperceptibly. It is a true sanctuary of deep stillness and gentle happiness.
Though the main character, Conway, was persuaded to leave Shangri-La, the moment he returned to the outside world, he was filled with a deep, unshakable longing to find his way back. I had the same feeling — a deep longing to return.
This is the power of well-crafted fiction — the ability to open a doorway to parallel realities. When we talk about writing fiction, we often think of it as inventing stories from imagination. But there’s another way to see it. Good fiction writers aren’t simply creating imaginary worlds out of nothing. They’re tuning into other concurrent realities. Most people assume that there is just one reality. But those on the spiritual path understand that existence has many layers. A skilled writer can attune to those layers. The world they write about is real in its own dimension.
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