The Fifth Key

In a story written by Schiller, a young acolyte sneaks into the temple and steals a peak beneath the veil of the Goddess Isis. He falls down dead. What was hidden behind the veil? Something beyond time and space, something very dangerous…ourselves, or rather, what we were in past lives.

In my latest novel I play with the concepts of time, space, life, death and even reincarnation. Like that incautious acolyte I wanted to take a peak behind the veil, but unlike him I didn’t do it alone.

The first time I came across a philosophical approach to the study of reincarnation was in the work of the Austrian philosopher Rudolf Steiner. In fact, his work changed my whole outlook on life. Many years later, I read A Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and I was amazed at how easily he had incorporated spiritual ideas in his novel by cleverly moving from magic to realism. I realised that authors are the Gods of their own books and as long as they are skilful enough they can do anything they want.

These were important influences, but when I discovered the Argentinian writer, Jorge Luis Borges, I knew I had found the fifth key, the key to incorporating the concept of reincarnation into my new novel. Borges wrote amazing, puzzling short stories and like me had a penchant for playing with time, space, life, death and immortality. In particular, The Library of Babel, The Garden of Forking Paths and The Book of Sand, provided me with the literary devices I needed.

And so I did take a peak behind that veil and I haven’t fallen down dead, but one never returns completely unscathed from daring to look into the face of the silent Goddess Isis. Would I do it again? You’ll have to wait for my next book to find out!