Shangri-La

Shangri-La has no history.

History is for mortals who measure time in the cycles of death that govern life.

Perennial happiness has no history.

Happiness is, for mortals, the balm that heals the pain of living.

Qohelet the wise king of Jerusalem wrote that laughter is madness.

We laugh at the absurd, perhaps he is right.

Is happiness merely the satisfying of desire?

Is happiness possible without love?

Yet love suffers, weeps, bleeds, love has a history.

Perhaps love would be unknowable if there were no history?

History in the Jewish tradition began with the birth of desire, desire amiss from relational submission to the being of Love.

In order to be known, love entered history.

Amidst the violence of human history, love offers a path that leads beyond Shangri-La;

a place where joy has a history.