Spoiler alert – If you’ve not read any of the series you may prefer not to read this just yet – If you have and want to know more or check some details then read on!

 

More about Rinks .... 

 

Novels in the Rink Series use as a foundation the premise that there are extraordinary individuals living in parallel with, but for the most part undetected by, our ‘normal’ society. These are ‘Rinks’ (a contraction of ‘Reincarnates’). Individuals who die and then, sometimes months or decades after they die, find themselves suddenly aware and occupying new bodies – ‘now-selves’ – that they have ‘shifted’ into. 

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• A Rink usually becomes self aware in his/her new now-self sometime in the period between that body’s late teens or late middle age. They seldom shift as new born babies.

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• The physical age at which self awareness occurs, and the sex of the now self, vary for no reason they are aware of. The gaps between death and a new awareness also vary randomly.

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• Rinks have no idea, and no memory, of where their souls/psyches have been during the intervening ‘transition’ period.

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• A new now-self’s memories are absorbed into the Rink’s collective multiple memories. Hence the newly aware Rink becomes fully familiar with the social customs, lifestyles, technology etc of the period and culture in which he/she finds him/herself.

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• Rinks are for the most part secretive and wealthy individuals, engaged mostly in hedonistic pursuits though some use their time more productively in scientific research or artistic and political activity. There are, however, groups with other drives:

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• The ‘Renegades’ spend their time searching for a way to send their minds/souls backwards in time (‘retro reincarnation’), to occupy bodies deep in history but to take their present day knowledge with them. They believe that the historical records about Leonardo Da Vinci (his amazing knowledge of engineering and anatomy and his stunning ‘inventions’) and Nostradamous (his predictions) are, amongst others, evidence of ‘Rinks’ who have achieved this. They believe that the ability to reincarnate backwards and forwards in time, at will, would yield them great power.

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• The ‘Protectors’, a small group who aid newly aware Rinks and who try to protect their existence from discovery by the ‘Seekers’ a society of ‘Phems’ (ephemeral humans, those who cannot re-incarnate) who have discovered there are Rinks living amongst them.

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As I intend that the full explanation of the origin of the Rinks will only become clear as a series unfolds the remainder is redacted until publication of the next in the series:

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• Rinks are the physical manifestation of the psyches/souls of beings, travellers from another dimension in space/time. Visitors who, having encountered our world, have become enchanted by it and use it, and the bodies of humans, as a nursery to mature the young of their kind. When mature the beings make a choice whether to continue the species’ travels through the myriad dimensions of space/time or to remain in cycle to nurture and protect the world as a nursery and to help the development of mankind. Development that could culminate with human psyches/souls evolving to the level of the visitors. The young psyches/souls that fail to mature are required to undergo multiple cycles of existence as now-selves until they do so.

• When not occupying now-selves the visitors’ psyches/souls exist as a colonial mind on the ‘Plains of Forgetfulness’. A place, an existence that cannot be described or defined in conventional physical terms. The colonial mind decides how to expose the immature psyches/souls to experiences that will help them to mature and selects the now selves they will shift into and for how long.

 

The basis for the the concept of Rinks:

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The belief in rebirth or re-incarnation is found in developed, complex literate cultures and in simple, tribal non-literate cultures the world over. It is so commonplace that some academics argue that this belief arose contemporaneously with the origins of human culture per se. Examples and references can be found in the classical philosophies, religions and mythologies of India, Greece, Africa and Egypt; in just about every modern day philosophy/religion whether it be mainstream such as Christianity or Islam or cult such as Scientology or Rosicrucian teachings and in current aboriginal lore in Australia, the pacific islands and South America.

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Philosophies vary in their belief in the purpose or process of re-incarnation. Beliefs include:

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• Re-incarnation has a purpose. Individuals are reborn in order to have another chance to ‘improve themselves’ or to ‘improve the world’.

• Re-incarnates can progress through different levels of attainment/being and eventually ‘ascend’ to the highest level a euphoric state of being.

• Re-incarnation has no propose and simply reflects the behaviour of the person in the previous existence e.g. a person with a passion for food might be reborn as a hog (negative reincarnation) or a cruel, greedy man might be reborn as a pious saintly individual returned to earth to make amends for his previous life (positive reincarnation).