There was a man named Gordo. Although his family had been quite wealthy at one time, over two generations, revolutions had reduced the family to poverty. All that remained of the family heritage was their high degree of articulate sophistry and a deep understanding of the value of education.

Another man called Flacco lived in the same town as Gordo. They had met occasionally; but, because of the differences in their families' backgrounds, they had chosen not to associate. Flacco and his family had always been poor and relatively ignorant. Although Flacco's possessions were pretty much equal to Gordo's, Flacco always felt lower than other people whose families were wealthy or who had been wealthy before the revolutions took their toll.

So, both Gordo and Flacco lived lives that were very similar; yet they felt very differently about themselves. Each man, in his own way, began to search for whatever was missing in his life. Both men prayed to God to find relief from their poverty; but relief did not come. Both men had heard of becoming enlightened and having power with God. While they did not understand what enlightenment was exactly, it sounded good to them and they thought about what it might be like to be enlightened and to shed the raggedy bonds of impoverished powerlessness. Despite their differences, both Gordo and Flacco were sincere men and both began to become devout in their prayers and their contemplation.

Having felt a strong inner longing, both men began searching as best they could to find out more about this enlightenment. They asked questions to everyone they knew:  the priest a local rabbi, their families, friends, travelers, anyone who would listen.

One day, Gordo was sitting on the walk, thinking of taking a siesta, when a man approached him. He was wearing fine clothes much like his family had worn years ago. The man asked if Gordo was the one that had asked the librarian about enlightenment.

Gordo was pleased to have such a man speak to him; but then, it was fitting that a man of wealth would take notice of him, for Gordo was from a fine family also, who just happened to have come upon hard times.  Gordo eagerly engaged the man, wanting to discuss this wonderful thing at great length, not noticing the way the light played in the man's eyes.

The man stopped him, however, and told him that he knew of a man in the very same town that taught a course in enlightenment and that he had heard that the man guaranteed enlightenment to those who completed his training. Having told Gordo these things, he turned and walked away as quickly as he had come.

Gordo wanted to run after him and make him stop and talk more; but it was not proper to give such a display, particularly in public.   So, Gordo sadly watched the man walk away. Still, he knew he would find the master this man had spoken so highly of and, somehow, convince him that he was worthy of being trained by a master.

The same afternoon, Flacco was tending the small garden behind his shack when a man approached him. Flacco had not seen him and, when the man spoke, Flacco jumped and turned around. There was the man. He was wearing old jeans; they were dirty and unraveling along the seams. The man asked if he was the man who had asked the owner of the feed store about enlightenment. Flacco nodded. As the man told him of a local master that taught enlightenment, Flacco watched the light dancing in his eyes and asked him: "Are you the Master?" Later, as the man walked away, it almost seemed as though his feet weren't always touching the ground.

And so it was that Gordo and Flacco found themselves standing together at the gate of a large hacienda on the north side of town. Gordo led the way inside the wall and pounded on the heavy wooden door. A man appeared suddenly from among the fruit trees and asked them why the men were there. Gordo explained that he wanted to be taught about enlightenment. Flacco nodded.

The man confirmed to them that he did, indeed, guarantee that students completing his course would receive enlightenment that was full of all knowledge and power. Having no other students or classes at the time, the man agreed to take the men into training and apprenticeship.

Both men showed up early the next morning. The man had promised to take them on a journey away from town and to begin their training. They walked far, far from town. They walked for hours. Eventually, all civilization had been left behind and they were walking through a wilderness. As they continued to walk, the wilderness gave way to desert and finally, they were walking on a hot, dry salt flat with no plant growth, no large rocks, no animal life.

They had walked for many hours and both men wondered what was enlightening about leaving town. What was enlightening about being in the middle of nothing? Each one was thinking of asking when their enlightenment training would begin when a huge stone building appeared out of nowhere.

The building was obviously ancient and had intricate carvings and pictograms and sculptures on and along the walls. The entranceway was arched at least twenty feet high as they walked up the steps. The man explained that the building was a library which housed all the writings of all the ancient sages, gurus, prophets and wise men of all ages, all races, all cultures...even before what we know of as "recorded history". As they approached the open doorway, the Master said quietly:  "Remember, the last shall be first and the first shall be last."

Upon entering the foyer with its enormous vaulted ceilings and yet more carvings and pictograms, they came upon a sign mounted on a finely carved wooden easel. The sign had lettering of solid gold against a latticework of silk and velvet, with golden lace and embroidered edges. It said:  "Be sure, whatever you do, that you read the Instruction Manual before attempting to use the library."

As they looked through a large arch, they could see corridor after corridor, each between fifteen and twenty feet high with shelves of books. The corridors went on and on and, far off in the distance, they could see the back wall of the library. "It must take many years to read these books;" they thought, "perhaps one could not finish reading even half of them in an entire lifetime."

Gordo's eyes became fixed upon a massive library table in front of the center and largest corridor. On this table was the Instruction Manual. The book was roughly ten feet thick from cover to cover and was laid out open on the library table. As quickly as he could without being too terribly obvious, but quickly enough to make sure he arrived before Flacco, Gordo walked briskly to the table and began to pore over the title page.

Still standing in the foyer with the Master, Flacco pondered what the Master had said:  "The last shall be first and the first shall be last." It didn't make much sense; but he figured he could ask the Master about it later, after he'd gotten further into his training.

After standing behind Gordo for almost four hours, watching Gordo work his way first through the table of contents for the manual, then through the subjects listing, Flacco began to be tired of just waiting. As Gordo continued on to the listing of authors and the book titles, Flacco decided to explore a little bit of the library. At least, after he, too, finished the Instruction Manual, he would have some idea what the layout of the books and categories was and be able to find what he wanted to read.

Flacco continued slowly down the center corridor, occasionally pulling a book off the shelf and paged through it. Some had strange pictures and diagrams of the four spheres, the four worlds, four planes, four states, and the aura and the ray, while others showed gentle earthly pictures of shepherd boys playing in the river; some had beautiful fancy text adorned with gold-stamped leather coverings; some were plain and unattractive.

Finally, Flacco found himself at the back of the library. Here was another carved easel with a richly embroidered sign. Next to the sign was a small, dusty table, about eighteen inches square and about three feet tall. On the table was a small children's book with the title worn off. The sign read:  "Make sure that, before leaving the library, the very last thing you do is read this book."

Flacco stood in front of the sign for awhile. He began to remember what the Master had said. After all, this was the "last" book in the library. Flacco wondered if that had anything to do with the "last" the Master had referred to. It had been about ten hours now and, having checked on Gordo from time to time, Flacco knew it was going to be a very, very long time before he could sit down at the manual. He thought:  "It is the last book and I can't read the manual anyway. It's just a book. I could read it and Gordo still wouldn't be ready.  If I don't get anything from the book, it's no big deal; if I do, that's good.  There's no sense just standing around wasting time."

So, Flacco picked up the book. As he cracked open the cover, a mist hissed out from between the pages and began to ignite all around him. His vision blurred for a few seconds and he found pictures flashing before his eyes. The dimensions of the glorious worlds of God immersed him in their ordered consciousness, the glories of the 13, of the 12, of the 10, of the 7, of the 5, of the 4, of the 3, of the 2, and, finally, of the 1. Knowledge of all things surged and ebbed and flowed; like a mighty river, layers of perception enjoined and engulfed him. His emotions raged and roared and then, like his thought, they were ordered into their place in the light-filled silence. Quietness and peace filtered down through his consciousness as the shadows and pictures and concepts faded into nothingness. It came to be that, after all things were fully known, there was nothing left but the Word and the Light; and the Word was silently uttering Love as the spiral reciprocation of the Light. This glowing, living aurora of iridescent color wasn't really color to the eyes, but was color that permeated every part of his soul and discovered every secret of his being. He rejoiced with resonant vibrancy and felt himself shape-shifting within through the many forms that God was, in and through all things. He felt himself sharing in the allness and oneness of forms. Two serpents were seen to be intertwined along the staff of his spine and, as he watched, these loosed themselves from him and disappeared into the fruit of a lush garden. And then, Flacco's chakras coalesced together in a rhythm that syncopated into continuous light, and he found himself alone. He laid the book back on the table and walked out the back door of the library into a lush garden, filled with the pleasures of life.

Flacco partook of the infinite varieties of fruit and pleasure in the garden and began the life of the enlightened. It was a stress-free  life that was its own reward. Flacco was no longer a poor man; neither was he rich. He never cried or became sick. His body had become his faithful servant and it grew with him in the ever upward-spiraling beingness he'd become and it never plagued him with the ravages of the illusions of old age.

Flacco lived and played and danced with joy in the garden for forty years and then, one day, the thought formed in his mind to return to the library and check on Gordo. So, Flacco entered through the back door of the library and walked leisurely up the center corridor.

At the front of the library, in the middle of piles of papers and writing materials which had been stacked on the library table and on the floor for fifteen or twenty feet in every direction, was a man about sixty or sixty-five years old. He wore horn-rimmed glasses and had his nose buried in a huge book that lay open on the massive table.

Flacco recognized him at once. He watched over his shoulder for awhile and saw that he was working in the Instruction Manual and that he had completely digested at least two inches of the ten-feet-thick book. He put his hand on the man's shoulder and watched him work.

Gordo didn't seem to realize anyone was there for awhile. He went right on working, scribbling notes first on one paper and then, frantically switching to another category pile and scribbling down another note. Eventually, he became aware that someone was there; and he paused and looked up. He strained his eyes and adjusted his glasses. "This is Flacco," he thought.

Both men said hello and Gordo got up and gave him a wise man's bear hug. Gordo stood back and looked Flacco over thoroughly. Then he asked why Flacco still looked the same as he had forty years before, when, in their early twenties, they had set out on the quest for knowledge.

Flacco pondered awhile and answered:  "I thought your commitment and devotion was to discover all knowledge and wisdom and to become enlightened.  What does my appearance have to do with that?"

Gordo scratched his head. He didn't know what to say. It surely was true that he had devoted, even consecrated his entire life to the search for enlightenment. He knew that his question was ignorant and vain. Still, if he could just have that kind of life and vitality left to him, he might yet be able to attain enlightenment before death overtook him; for he had long ago figured out the cruel truth that the library could not be absorbed in one lifetime. So, he frankly admitted that the question was an aside from his quest and asserted that it was important to him to have this vigor and vitality of life, that he might be young again. He implored Flacco to indulge him with this one secret.

Flacco thought about it for awhile. It was clear that he could not interfere with Gordo's direction and quest; yet, he wanted to be of service. Then the words of his Master, like a knowing smile, filtered through his awareness. Without a trace of emotion, he said:  "The last shall be first and the first shall be last."

As Gordo stood there looking puzzled, Flacco walked back down the long corridor and out into the garden. Gordo caught a glimpse of the garden when Flacco opened the door and he ran to the back of the library. He tried to follow Flacco out into the garden he'd seen; but the heavy door was locked.

As he very slowly walked back toward the Instruction Manual, he paused by a row of books. A title had caught his eye:   "THE LAST SHALL BE FIRST AND THE FIRST SHALL BE LAST!" Gordo pondered a long time, staring at the book and trying to consider the meaning of its title. Then he remembered the beautiful sign he'd seen in the foyer years ago that instructed him to first read the Instruction Manual. With that beautiful thought of silk and velvet and fine embroidery, he chose the "correct" path and walked back up the corridor. As his lower back began to hurt, he paused again and pondered the book once more. Then he continued toward the massive table.

Suddenly, his feet were out from underneath him.  He fell hard as the whole building shook to its very foundations. Books fell all around him and the vaulted ceiling began to crack. A small book fell right at his feet; but Gordo was in too much pain to notice.

As he regained his inner stability and the pain in his "right" knee began to subside, Gordo got up and picked up a small book at his feet, thinking to return it to the shelf. It had been a perfunctory move on his part, but the title caught his eye:   "I AM ALL THINGS TO THOSE THAT HEAR MY VOICE." He opened the book, not to read it in violation of the directions of the sign, just to check out what it was basically about. However, when he opened the book, The pages fell out as dusty fragments. The experience made him feel strange and queasy, and he wondered if he had actually violated the first rule of the library.

As he leaned over to pick up the fragments and return them to the small book, he noticed that the Master was standing next to him. He felt a little embarrassed and bewildered at how quietly and suddenly the Master had just appeared out of nowhere and he wondered what he should do. The Master said:  "Read the book that is in your hands...and remember what I have told you."

Gordo looked down at the book. It was destroyed by time. the only thing legible was the title on the cover:  " I AM ALL THINGS TO THOSE THAT HEAR MY VOICE." He looked back to the Master to find him making his exit out the back door of the library. Again, Gordo saw the garden; it was beautiful beyond human description. Again, he ran to the door. Again, it was locked.

Gordo was filled with pain and longing; but the Master was gone and, try though he would, the door was locked and he was alone. He sat sadly on the floor for hours, pondering his plight. Then he remembered his work. It had become his life for so long; yet, his longing for the garden and being with the Master made it seem as nothing. But his study had been sincere and it was enlightening in its own way. and it was all he had in the world.

So, Gordo began once again to walk toward the Instruction Manual. As he walked, he thought he just barely heard a voice behind him say:  "Come." He stopped and turned to see the Master waving to him from the open back door. When he turned, he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye. It was a mist gathering itself together from the shelves of books beside him.