’Tao Tossed Thoughts’: Articles,speculations,talks and photo essays-a book by Rohan de Soysa

• A few tossed thoughts by Prasad Abu Bakr

Rohan de Soysa, the ‘serial thinker’, strikes again with his second book ‘Tao Tossed Thoughts’, which he says is a sequel to his first book ‘Slow Cooked Thoughts’ that was embraced by many readers, especially by the ones who seriously want our world to go back in time so that we can take in a breath of fresh air once again as we did in those good old days without giving it a second thought. 

This too I would give it that same stamp as ‘a must read’ by all who specially read through its predecessor and who had the privilege of living through that glorious past which had quietly slipped out of our grasp and landed us in a series of devastating natural disasters plus manmade life threatening health issues which have created a world with many uncertainties for the present generation. 

“We shall not cease from exploration – And the end of all our exploring – Will be to arrive where we started – And know the place for the first time,” states Jill Macdonald quoting T.S. Elliot from ‘Little Gidding’ and aptly ends her foreword introduction by capping it all with yet again Elliot’s “When the last of Earth left to discover – Is that which was the beginning.” Isn’t it so true that today our green environment is fast being replaced by blocks of concrete built in the name of development and how we humans travel miles away elsewhere, away from those very cities we built, searching for a breath of fresh air from far, far away?

“I am not an academic or a scholar, just someone interested in exploring basic truths and explaining them in an uncomplicated way, guided by what I see, read and hear, filtered by my intuition,” states the author in his preface of his sequel, further explaining how he has tried to “connect the dots” of what he found, and as mentioned in Slow Cooked Thoughts, “I am more interested in general and universal ideas than in individual achievements, important though they be.”

Rohan de Soysa is not merely a writer seated at his desk writing thought arresting books to fit in with these times when devastating events of a colossal magnitude are holding back or redirecting this planet’s evolution in more than one way. He has proven over the years that he cares for the subject he is writing about, trying his best to drive through an important message to society at large. As the current chairman of the Sapumal Foundation showcasing works especially of the ‘43rd Group’, the first modern art movement in Sri Lanka, he has advanced the cause of art by giving presentations, talks and holding exhibitions. He bought a secondary scrub jungle in 1985 and inspired villagers in the area to be environmentally aware and manage it since 1995. It is the first community managed conservation project in Sri Lanka, declared a sanctuary in 2017 by government gazette.

Rohan de Soysa has operated, and is the chairman of a charitable trust which has helped a large number of causes and individuals in need. So it is evident that he has walked more mileage than his talk and reading through his two books one doesn’t have to read in between the lines to know or understand what he means and his passion for the causes he is championing – to make this planet a better place for all beings globally and for generations to come, these books are beckoning for all to sit up and take notice before the world falls apart and before it is too late when we try to put back the pieces together again. 

Both Tao Tossed Thoughts and Slow Cooked Thoughts are currently available online and for sale at the Sapumal Foundation, 32/4, Barnes Place, Colombo 7.