What are the motifs in The Lost Horizon by James Hilton?

Modern civilization corrupting the human spirit is a recurring idea in this book.

Shangri-La is a utopia where there is no crime or hate, where people live abnormally long lives in perfect health and where there is no sense of competition or warfare. Shangri-La has no communication with or access to modern life. It is completely remote. The people there have a different sense of time. They do not care if a newspaper is dated today or two years ago. History is a slow process that needs eons, not days, to process events.