(Faust/ Demetry)
�Yes, believe it or not, I reached enlightenment when I was half buried in the snow, a few moments before the two monks found me.�
�And do you think reaching enlightenment at that very mo-ment was purely coincidental?�
�You think it was not a coincidence?�
�I am sure that it was not,� Demetri replied with a lovely smile on his broad protruded jaw, �Do you know the tarot?�
�Yes, those strange cards used in divination.�
�I believe that it is sometimes useful to consult them, not be-cause they �tell� the future, but because they help one dive more into his self and better understand himself, his current position, his friends and his foes. Now, since you know the tarot cards, do you know about a card called �the fool�?�
�Yes, that guy who is walking and about to fall off a cliff?�
�That�s right, do you know what is its number?�
�Zero, because he is a fool!�
�No, it is zero because he is a fool who is as close as ever to the divine truth.�
�I don�t get that!�
�Gandhi once said �If you would swim on the bosom of the ocean of Truth you must reduce yourself to a zero.� And before Gandhi another great spiritual master by the name of Eckhart once said that God was not to be found in the soul by a process of addition, but by a process of subtraction. He had a very deep and profound sermon on what he called the �spiritual poverty�. When you were about to die in the ice you didn�t have food, drink, shelter or hope. And above all, you didn�t even have the least desire to know God! And that is exactly what is meant by spiritual poverty, to desire nothing, not even the ecstasy of knowing the divine. You was perfectly poor at that moment, and that�s why you reached enlightenment. It was only then that you was enlightened, because it was only then that you was the per-fect fool.�
�What a teaching!� I thought in astonishment, �That God will reveal himself to those who desire nothing, not even his knowl-edge.�
�Well,� Demetri added, �Meister Eckhart said it on another occasion as boldly as ever, he said that 'Man's last and highest parting occurs when, for God's sake, he takes leave of God.��