L.S.C. Silva (Cedric Silva) wanted to write on topics that are unknown, absurd and not clearly revealed to humankind.
From a young age, Cedric thought a lot about such vague topics and was reading and observing people constantly, all the while listening carefully to them. This propelled him to ponder and research more on abstract ideologies among people that are vital in our lives but are also very rarely talked about.
Cedric Silva graduated in Mathematics and Physics from the University of Ceylon, Colombo. He worked in the public sector and in several government institutions and is currently the managing director of L.S.C. Silva Associates. ‘Life After Death’, published by The Jam Fruit Tree Publications is his third book. His first two books being, ‘Sri Lankan Politicians: The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly’ and ‘Easter Carnage in Sri Lanka’.
Cedric throughout his life, realised that there’s corruption everywhere and also very little cure for it. He observed that there’s always something wrong in our society and that we, as people, are victimised in one way or another. Therefore, Cedric always wanted to research these issues, make people aware and simply advise them in ways he understood them. He recalled his previous books and mentioned that even in the context of politics, how Sri Lankans voters tend to be rather politically immature, blind and biassed.
“The point is, not everyone will listen to you. It is vital to be impartial and without any bias when presenting your opinions and ideas,” said the author.
Mystery
In his latest book, ‘Life After Death’, Cedric talks about the different kinds of beliefs that humankind follows about the afterlife, simultaneously alluding them to their own personal version of what the truth is. Out of many curiosities and questions in life, What happens after we die? is a mystery still completely unknown to us.
Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Muslims, they all preach different concepts about life after death. Millions thus follow their own faith and their own beliefs. This inspired the author to bring all these beliefs together and talk about the one pivotal factor, which is our universal search for the “truth”.
Cedric explained that one’s belief and perception of the truth according to their faiths are personal and important to themselves but would also lead to people being fixated on their views, not tolerating the faiths of others and being critical and insensitive about other beliefs as well.
He believes that this is mainly because of the preconceived perception that people hold where they think that their version of the truth is the ultimate, general truth of others as well. Which, in turn results in ethnic division, loss of unity and also conflict.
Cedric’s aim with this book is to make people aware that we are all searching for that one answer within our personal faiths and that we should be united and respectful of each other, instead of being divided.
He noted how even modern countries with the most developed technology still cannot find the exact phenomena that is taking place after a human being’s death.
“Why can’t we find out what is happening to the people who have left us? There’s a huge question mark. What are we? We all wanted to know this truth at some point, since the beginning of time,” asked Cedric.
Misunderstanding
He also believes that misunderstanding this is the reason behind a divided country in which conflicts among different faiths are taking over and prevailing above everything else.
The author was initially intrigued by the fact that several religions present different theories about life after death, and was curious to research more about each of them.
“What truly happens after death?” asked Cedric.
“What I wanted to say in this book is that different religions, different philosophies and different viewpoints prevail because there is no truth. There can only be one truth to something, not several. Therefore respecting all these perceptions is important for humankind.”
Cedric felt he should bring this idea to light and hopes that his readers would realise that being divided and being in their own glass houses and bubbles won’t benefit humanity.
‘Life After Death’ is a thoroughly researched book in which the author impartially brings forth all the theories and beliefs of what would happen in the afterlife.
The book positively spreads awareness on how we are all heading towards and searching for the same answers in life. There are so many religious leaders, philosophers and scientists who wrote manuscripts, had philosophical debates and presented research on the topic of life after death, and also passed on their beliefs and theories by word.
These beliefs are their personal reality, their own way of understanding life and death and their own means of consolation and means of having faith and hope. Therefore the author believes that everyone should have an open mind and set aside their differences when it comes to living among diverse faiths.
Cedric explains how it’s about not being fixated and stoic about your personal opinion or forcing one’s beliefs onto others. “People behave frantically and create so many unnecessary problems because they refuse to understand this,” he said.
“We have to try and understand that there are different kinds of views among us, our faith may be “our truth” but that doesn’t mean that’s everyone else’s truth too. We should be human before anything and practise humanity above all.”
Cedric Silva, has some time left on his hands now and hopes to use that time writing on topics that people haven’t touched much on before, haven’t thought of writing yet or are scared to write about.
“Death is such a topic and I hope one day, as I mentioned in my book, the truth will prevail. I hope my book will be an eye-opener and a source of knowledge for all curious and intuitive readers out there,” the author said.
