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Internet Book of Shadows, (Various Authors), [1999], at sacred-texts.com
Thunder, Perfect Mind
or
How did all these people get into my room?
Tony Iannotti
Thetext called _Thunder, PerfectMind_ is a composite document,
composed of three distinct types of writing. These types of writing
can be compared to the Isis aretalogies, Hebrew wisdom literature, and
Platonic dialogue.{FN:1} The composite nature of the text is clearer
when the three strands are separated and reconstructed, each by
themselves. The three resultant texts can be found below.{FN:2}
If the document isto be considered agnostic document, adefini-
tion of gnostic must be tendered first. For now, the definition of
Theodotus will be used, that "what liberates us is the knowledge of
who we were, what we became; where we were, whereunto we have been
thrown; whereunto we speed, wherefrom we are redeemed; what birth is,
and what rebirth."{FN:3} The Thunder, Perfect Mind_ answers some of
these questions, but not others.
The questions dealingwith self-knowledge aredealt with veryfully
in the text. The tradition of Isis aretalogies is one of self-definit-
ion, aretalogies being strings of "I am" statements. The part of the
text like an Isis aretalogy describes the speaker in paradoxical but
full detail. The very first section of the aretalogy text answers the
questions of where the speaker comes from, where she has come to, and
where she might be found. There is a slight deviation, in that she
has actively come to "those who reflect" upon her, rather than "being
thrown" to them, but the idea of being removed from one's original
habitation is there. In the sixth section of this part she says that
she is an alien, as well as a citizen.
This bringsup the question ofwhat the point ofthe dichotomies in
the aretalogy section is. They range from philosophical, political and
social opposites to sexual and familial polarities. In each opposition
of polarity, the speaker maintains that she encompasses both poles, or
roles. She is "the whore and the holy one."{FN:4} She is "the barren
one, and she whose sons are many."{FN:5} She is "Knowledge and
ignorance."{FN:6} And she is "the one whom they call Law, and you
have called Lawlessness."{FN:7}
In the last dichotomy, the difference may be ascribed to the
people who call her either Law or Lawlessness, either "they" or "you."
Similar distinctions are made in other seemingly paradoxical state-
ments in terms of temporal placement. The tenses change, for instance,
in the fifth section in many statements, such as "I am the one who is
hated everywhere, and who has been loved everywhere.", "I am the one
whom you have despised, and you reflect upon me." and "I am the one
whom you have hidden from, and you appear to me." These distinctions,
either temporal or nominal, are subservient to the larger message that
the speaker is a very diverse personality. They are also only possible
to discern in a small percentage of the proffered paradoxes{FN:8} The
main attempt is to define herself, not to set up distinctions in time
or peoples. There is almost no cosmology or anthropology in this text,
and this is a clue to the nature of the message of the text. The
emphasis is on the person, not the cosmos; on the self, and not the
environment.
1255
In thisaretalogy third ofthe text, therean attemptto transcend
the intellect through intellectual paradox. By setting up identities
between polar opposites the mind is set in circles, as it is by the
Zen _koans_, until it is driven into the brick wall of impossibility.
In the introduction to his translation of this text, MacRae states
that "...the particular significance of the self-proclamations of
_Thunder, Perfect Mind_ may be found in their antithetical charac-
ter."{FN:9} One might rather say that the significance _must_ be
found in their antithetical character. There is no other common
denominator.
The second type of writing seen in this text is comparable to
Hebrew wisdom literature. The excerpted and reconnected text is a
series of hortatory instructions for those who would be _gnostikoi_,
in the form of very short injunctions to "Look upon me"{FN:10} , "Hear
me"{FN:11} , "Do not be arrogant to me"{FN:12} , etc. The speaker
exhorts the reader to be on his guard twice, and not to be ignorant of
her twice. This emphasis on care and awareness augments the intellec-
tual exercises of the aretalogy section. One could easily skim over
the polarities and not stop to reflect on them or their import, in
which case their efficacy of liberation would be severely
diminished. All three parts of this text work together.
The exhortationsgo on to impressupon the reader thathe must be
aware that the speaker encompasses all things, great and small, as
well as left and right, male and female, royal and base, rich and
poor. There is an element of the union of opposites here as well, the
speaker saying she is compassionate and cruel, and obedient and
self-controlled.{FN:13}
In the thirdsection of this part of the text, the instructions
are to "come forward to me, you who know me ... and establish the
great ones among the small first creatures." Here is some evidence of
an organised attempt to proselytise, or establish a group of those who
know the speaker. The fourth section also calls to "you, who know me."
They are told to learn the speaker's words, while those "hearers" are
told simply to hear. This suggests some form of hierarchy among the
"hearers" and the "knowers". The first step would seem to be that one
must hear the voice, and then come to know it.
This could be a sign of the initiatory path, along which one
must pass to come to _gnosis_ As noted above, the simple act of
hearing the message intellectually would not be enough. One must pay
special care to the paradoxes presented, and reflect upon them until
illumination comes. The process can again be compared to the effect of
_koans_, where one perceives them first as outright nonsense, "the
sound of one hand clapping,"_ etc._, until one comes to the crux of
where they attempt to fix the mind.{FN:14}
Where the _Thunder, Perfect Mind_ would fix the mind is on a
realisation of the transcendence of the speaker, and eventually on the
identification of the speaker with the hearer when that hearer becomes
a knower. As it says in the sixth section of the aretalogy part, "I am
the knowledge of my inquiry, and the finding of those who seek after
me, ... and of the spirits of every who exists with me, and of the
women who dwell within me." The path to _gnosis_ and the traveler on
that path are both played here by the character of the speaker.
1256
Another point madeby this partof thetext like wisdomliterature
is that manifestation implies duality, and that to perceive in the
world implies discrimination. The nature of the speaker comprehends
all things, but to appear in the world she must choose one of the two
halves of all those things through which to appear. As a complete
being she would be both invisible and insensible in any way, since to
contain both poles of being, such as 1 and -1, would be to equal 0.
This has a parallel in the way of the Tao, in which one of the aims is
to do everything by doing nothing. One might hear the speaker saying
"I am she who does everything, and nothing." The idea is to incor-
porate in oneself a balance between action and non-action, yin and
yang, and by doing such one gets beyond having to struggle with the
world. There will be no antagonism between the person and then en-
vironment, once that person becomes one with the environment. (Or a
reflection of it, by incorporating or epitomising all its elements.)
This shows the less ascetic nature of the text _Thunder, Perfect
Mind_. The world is not actively evil, but rather simply distracting
due to its incomplete nature. When one gets beyond this, then one has
improved, but there is no shame in being merely a "hearer," and not a
"knower." The only desiderata are to hear and then to know, to balance
oneself according to what one comes to know, and despise nothing along
the way, for every thing is part of the transcendent whole. Here one
could draw Deist parallels, intensifying the impression that the
writers of this text did not see the world as inherently evil.
It is ourperception of theworld that causesthe apparent evilof
the world. To perceive something is to discriminate between it and its
context.
It is this separation or making of differences that allows us to
operate in the world, but also that enslaves us to it by monopolising
our attention.
_Thunder, Perfect Mind_ insists that only by seeing the larger
picture of unions of all opposites can we escape this servitude to the
world. In other words, what liberates us is the knowledge of into what
we have been thrown, or have come.
The last section, the fifth of this part of the text, is a final
exhortation to the reader to "look," "give heed" and be aware of who
speaks and what that means, that by encompassing all things she is
"the one who alone exists," comprising all, "and ... no one who will
judge" her exists outside her. This extreme recognition of the unity
of oneself with the cosmos, of subject with object, and of positive
and negative, leads to an extension of the self to the limits of
perception. Sometimes this continues to the point that manifestation
requires a relimitation by definition of person. As the speaker has
done this, the extension and then the relimitation in order to com-
municate, she also implies that it is an achievement attainable by
all, if one will just "hear" and "know."
The third part of the text represents Greece, as the first two
reflect the Egyptian and Judaic strands of the Hellenistic world.{FN:-
15} It consists of questions and answers, not always on philosophical
subjects, but always leading to philosophical points. It is similar in
many ways to the prototypical Platonic dialogue in which the inter-
locutor is led to the truth
of the matter by way of dialectic. Another parallel would be the
dialogue between Arjuna and Krishna in that chariot.
1257
There are six sections to this partof the text, as it has been
cut up and fitted to the other two parts, and the first five display
an elegant ring composition. Section one is a question and amplifica-
tion of the question, while section five is the answer to it. Section
two is another question and amplification, answered by section four.
Section three is the center point, pointing out the union of the two
questions and their respective answers. Section six is a conclusion
of sorts, resuming that which the dialogue has attempted to draw.
The first question is why the reader, and people in general,
display contradictory behavior. This is not a psychological type of
inquiry, into the roots of irrationality, but rather another attempt
to unveil the nature of the speaker. The contradictory behavior
referred to deals with the reader's reaction to the speaker, and the
nature of complete being in general.{FN:16} If complete being entails
all things, then it elicits all responses, each of which will have an
opposite reaction that will be elicited simultaneously (or there-
abouts). Love and hate, truth and lie, knowledge and ignorance are all
part of man's reactions to the world.
The answer to this problem is contained in section five. The
incompleteness of things, inside and outside, judge and judged,
condemning and acquitting; these distinctions elicit opposite respon-
ses to each of their halves, yet both halves are only that: halves of
a whole, which elicits both love and hate, fear and confidence, and
obedience and self-control. The way out of the world of appearances is
again to realise the unity of opposites. that what is seen inside is
what is outside also.
The second question is directed toward the question of the ig-
norance of these unions of opposites. "Why have you hated me," asks
the unity, "Because I am a barbarian among barbarians?"{FN:17}
Because I don't speak the language of any specific nation, not even
those who don't speak you language? Because I speak of universals?
The answer is that "those who are without association with me are
ignorant of me, and those who are in my substance are the ones who
know me."{FN:18} Those who know, know; those who don't don't. One
cannot understand the nature of the speaker or the world until one
becomes a part of it, and all the parts of it. The antithetical and
polarised nature continues to be shown, "On the day when I am close
to you, you are far away from me, and on the day when I am far away
from you, I am close to you."{FN:19}
Thethird section unitesthese two questionsof the manifestation
of opposites, and the difficulty of perception of perfection. (not to
mention perfection of perception!) Both problems stem from human
nature in the world of manifestation. The separation of opposites,
needed for perception of manifested things, is necessary to operate in
the world as humans with human limitations, as these limitations are
usually counted. But the speaker here says the real need ideally is
not to separate, and thus to come to a realisation of the unity. This
is similar to the idea of _samadhi_, where the subject and object of
contemplation are united in a flash of illumination.
1258
Section six concludes, saying that the worldly forms are pleas-
ant, but numerous, disgraceful, and fleeting. When men "become sober
and go up to their resting place.... they will find me there, and they
will live, and they will not die again." This implies the possibility
of a permanent state of comprehension of the unity of opposites.
Nowwe can seewhere Theodotus' definitionof gnosticismis and is
not exemplified by _Thunder, Perfect Mind_. The writers of this text
were concerned with most of Theodotus' questions, but not all. They
provide answers for where we have come from, and whereunto we have
been thrown. They address the question of who we were, what we have
become, but not really what birth is, and what rebirth. Nor do they
proffer answers to whereunto we speed, or wherefrom we are redeemed,
beyond the answers to the first questions of where we were and where
we are. The answers that are offered deal with personal rather than
cosmological questions (if there is a difference). The issue is
primarily one of self-liberation, rather thanredemption, unless the
reception of the "good news" of unity is to be considered redemption.
This difference of degree of activity and passivity between
Theodotus and the speaker of _Thunder, Perfect Mind_ is revealed in
the answers to whereunto we have been thrown, and wherefrom we are
redeemed.{FN:20} In _Thunder, Perfect_ _Mind's_ view we came our-
selves to this world, and liberate ourselves through Hearing and
Knowing. What liberates us is still the knowledge, but the knowledge
of slightly different things. The lack of
cosmology or theology in the text, compared to other texts in the Nag
Hammadi library, suggests the comparison rather to the more psycholog-
ical sect of Buddhism in contrast to the majority of Mahayana that has
absorbed local religious or theological superstructure.
The path suggested by the text towards illumination is a strictly
intellectual path to the transcendence of intellect. Through the
mortification of the mind rather than of the flesh one may achieve
_gnosis_. There is therefore no need for a theology on which to hang
precepts of asceticism. The authors of the text say simply that when
one understands the facts, one gives up the preoccupation of the world
as incomplete.
The gnosticism exemplified by this text then, is transcendental,
syncretic, and hortatory. It is transcendent in that it looks at the
world and insists that there is a larger reality beyond what we see as
separate, discrete things. It is syncretic in that it uses three
distinct literary styles to get across its point. These three texts
may have been actual texts on their own before incorporation into this
text, or they may not. They fit so smoothly into each other in terms
of subject continuity that were they originally distinct texts, they
must have been revised for the purpose. The authors are hortatory as
opposed to imperative in that they say that if you come to their idea
of unity, then you will be less confused by the complexity of the
world. If you do not, then you will stick to all those pleasant forms
of passions and fleeting pleasures, and simply not achieve peace. They
do not threaten any punishment for ignorance, only a perpetuation of a
potentially temporary confusion.
1259
The comparisons ofthe threestyles of writingsis profitableonly
in so far as it serves to conveniently categorise the material. Too
strict ananalog y to the three styles would be blinding as well. The
content is radically different in message from the usual content of
any of the borrowed forms. Again, what must be looked at to explain
the meaning of the text is the antithetical nature of the "I am"
statements, and their commentary in the other two styles of text. The
medium (in this case) is not the message. The function of the text
must be considered to be not philosophical speculation, theological or
moral exhortation or religious definition, as the borrowed types were,
but rather psychological revelation, buttressed by practical exhor-
tation and logical proof.
What really qualifies the author or authors of this text for
consideration as excellent and true gnostics is their appropriation of
existing forms, whether myths, ritual speeches, or philosophical
methods, and turning them to their own ends.
_The text like an Isis Aretalogy_
1) I was sent forth from the power, and I have come to those who
reflect upon me, and I have been found among those who seek after me.
2) For I am the first and the last. I am the honored one and the
scorned one. I am the whore and the holy one. I am the wife and the
virgin. I am the mother and the daughter. I am the members of my
mother. I am the barren one and many are her sons. I am she whose
wedding is great, and I have not taken a husband. I am the midwife
and she who does not bear. I am the solace of my labour pains. I am
the bride and the bridegroom, and it is my husband who begot me. I am
the mother of my father and the sister of my husband, and he is my
offspring. I am the slave of him who prepared me. I am the ruler of my
offspring. But he is the one who begot me before a time on a birthday.
And he is my offspring in due time and my power is from him. I am the
staff of his power in his youth, and he is the rod of my old age. And
whatever he wills happens to me. I am the voice whose sound is man-
ifold and the word whose appearance is multiple. I am the utterance of
my name.
3) For I am knowledge and ignorance. I am shame and boldness. I am
shameless, I am ashamed. I am strength and I am fear. I am war and
peace. Give heed to me. I am the one who is disgraced and the great
one.
4) But I am she who exists in all fears and strength in trembling. I
am she who is weak, and I am well in a pleasant place. I am senseless
and I am wise.
1260
5) For I am the wisdom of the Greeks and the knowledge of the bar-
barians. I am the judgment of the Greeks and the barbarians. I am the
one whose image is great in Egypt and the one who as no image among
the barbarians. I am the one who is hated everywhere and who has been
loved everywhere. I am the one whom they call Law, and you have called
Lawlessness. I am the one whom they call Life, and you have called
Death. I am the one whom you have pursued, and I am the one whom you
have seized. I am the one you have scattered and you have
gathered me together. I am the one before whom you have been ashamed,
and you have been shameless to me. I am she who does not keep fes-
tival, and I am she whose festivals are many. I, I am godless, and I
am one whose God is great. I am the one whom you have reflected upon,
and you have scorned me. I am unlearned, and they learn from me. I am
the one whom you have despised, and you reflect upon me. I am the one
whom you have hidden from, and you appear to me. But whenever you hide
yourselves, I myself will appear.
6) But I am the mind of ... and the rest of .... I am the knowledge
of my inquiry, and the finding of those who seek after, and the
command of those who ask of me, and the power of the powers in my
knowledge of the angels, who have been sent at my word, and of the
gods in their seasons by my counsel, and of the spirits of every man
who exists with me, and of the women who dwell within me. I am the one
who is honored, and who is praised, and who is despised scornfully. I
am peace, and war has come because of me. I am an alien and a citizen.
I am the substance and the one who has no substance.
7) I am ... within. I am ...of the natures. I am ... of the creation
of the spirits. ... request of souls. I am control and the uncontrol-
lable. I am the union and the dissolution. I am the abiding and the
dissolving. I am the one below, and they come up to me. I am the
judgment and the acquittal. I, I and sinless, and the root of sin
derives from me. I am lust in outward appearance, and interior self-
-control exists within me. I am the hearing that is attainable to
everyone, and the speech that cannot be grasped. I am a mute who does
not speak, and great is the multitude of my words. Hear me in gentle-
ness, and learn of me in roughness. I am she who cries out, and I am
cast out on the face of the earth. I prepare the bread and my mind
within. I am the knowledge of my name. I am one who cries out, and I
listen. I appear and ... walk in ... seal of my ... I am ... the
defense ... I am the one who is called Truth, and iniquity ....
8) I am the hearing that is attainable toeverything; I am the speech
that can not be grasped. I am the name of the sound, and the sound of
the name. I am the sign of the letter and the designation of the
division. And I .... ... light .... ... hearers ... to you ... the
great power. And ... will not move the name. ... to the one who
created me. And I will speak his name.
1261
_The text like a Hebrew Wisdom Text._
1) Look upon me and reflect upon me, and you hearers. hear me. You
who are waiting for me, take to yourselves. And do not banish me from
your sight. And do not make your voices hate me, nor your hearing. Do
not be ignorant of me any where or any time. Be on your guard! Do not
be ignorant of me.
2) Give heed to my poverty and my wealth. Do not be arrogant to me
when I am cast out upon the earth, and you will find me in those who
are to come. And do not look upon me on the dung heap nor go and leave
me cast out, and you will find me in the kingdoms. And do not look
upon me when I am cast out among those who are disgraced and in the
least places, nor laugh at me. And do not cast me out among those who
are slain in violence. But I, I am compassionate and I am cruel. Be on
your guard! Do not hate my obedience, and do not love my self-control.
In my weakness do not forsake me, and do not be afraid of my power.
For why do you despise my fear and curse my pride?
3) Those who have ... to it ... senselessly.... Take me ... under-
standing from grief, and take me to yourselves from understanding and
grief. And take me to yourselves from places that are ugly and in
ruin, and rob from those which are good, even though in ugliness. Out
of shame, take me to yourselves shamelessly; and out of shamelessness
and shame, upbraid my members in yourselves. And come forward to me,
you who know me and who know my members, and establish the great ones
among the first small creatures. Come forward to childhood, and do not
despise it because it is small and it is little. And do not turn away
greatnesses in some parts from the smallnesses, for the smallnesses
are known from the greatnesses.
4) Hear me you hearers. and learn of my words, you who know me.
5) Look then at his words and all the writings which have been
completed. Give heed then you hearers and you also the angels and
those who have been sent, and you spirits who have arisen from the
dead. For I am the one who alone exists, and I have no one who will
judge me.
1262
_The text like a Platonic Dialogue._
1) Why, you who hate me, do you love me, and you hate those who love
me? You who deny me, confess me, and you who confess me deny me. You
who tell the truth about me lie about me, and you who have lied about
me tell the truth about me. You who know me, be ignorant of me, and
those who have not known me, let them know me.
2) Why have you hated me in your counsels? For I shall be silent
among those who are silent, and I shall appear and speak. Why then
have you hated me, you Greeks? Because I am a barbarian among the
barbarians?
3) Why do you curse me and honor me? You have wounded and you have
had mercy. Do not separate me from the first ones whom you have
known. And do not cast anyone out nor turn anyone away ... turn you
away and ... know him not ... him. What is mine.... I know the first
one and those after know me.
4) Those who are without association with me are ignorant of me, and
those who are in my substance are the ones who know me. Those who are
close to me have been ignorant of me, and those who are far away from
me are the ones who have known me. On the day when I am close to you,
you are far away from me, and on the day when I am far away from you,
I am close to you.
5) You honor me ... and you whisper against me. ... victorious over
them. Judge then before they give judgment against you, because the
judge and the partiality exist within you. If you are condemned by
this one, who will acquit you? Or if you are acquitted by him who will
be able to detain you. For what is in side of you is what is outside
of you, and the one who fashions you on the outside of you is the one
who shaped the inside of you. And what you see inside of you, you see
outside of you; it is visible and it is your garment.
6) For many are the pleasant forms which exist in numerous sins, and
incontinencies, and disgraceful passions, and fleeting pleasures,
which men embrace until they become sober and go up to their resting
place. And they will find me there, and they will live, and they will
not die again.
1263
1) For examples of aretalogies see Grant, F.C.; _Hellenistic Relig-
ions: The Age__of Syncretism._
2) The text _Thunder, Perfect Mind_ is CG VI, 2.
The aretalogy-like material's sections are;
1. 13,1-13,6
2. 13,16-14,15
3. 14,25-15,1
4. 15,25-15,30
5. 16,5-17,1
6. 18,10-18,30
7. 19,5-20,10
8. 20,29-21,12
The wisdom literature styled section are;
1. 13,6-13,15
2. 15,1-15,25
3. 17,1-17,32
4. 20,26-20,28
5. 21,12-21,20
The dialogue material comes from;
1. 14,15-14,25
2. 15,30-16,5
3. 17,32-18,10
4. 18,30-19,5
5. 20,10-20,25
6. 21,20-21,32
3) This definition of Theodotus is cited in Clemens Alexandrinus,_
Excerpta ex__Theodoto_ 78.2.
4) IA 2(Sections will be referred to by their section number prefixed
by IA for aretalogy sections, WT for wisdom sections, and PD for
the dialogue sections.)
5) IA 2
6) IA 2
7) IA 5
8) Only in 9 out of 68 complete paradox statements does there occur
temporal or nominal changes along with alteration of description.
(Interestingly, all occur in sections IA 2 & IA 5, two sections of
8)
9) Robinson, James M., ed.; _The Nag Hamadi Library in English_,
(Harper &
Row: San Fransisco) 1977/81, p. 271
10) WT 1
11) WT 1
12) WT 2
13) WT 2. In the sentence regarding obedience and self-control, the
point is also to have no reactive emotions to these things, as the
emotions form attachment to objects. This advice towards detachment,
reminiscent of Eastern philosophies more often than Western, shows up
in the dialogue sections more obviously.
14) _i.e.,_ where the subject of the knowledge they are designed to
impart lies.
1264
15) The Macedonian, Seleucid, and Ptolomaic Kingdoms made up the
Hellenistic world, _per se_, though external contact with Europe,
Asia, and Africa was constant. Of course, all three nations were also
assimilating parts of each other's cultures, creating the internat-
ional and cosmopolitan atmosphere necessary for the creation of our
text, and the sources are named after the originating national culture
for convenience only.
16) "Complete being" refers to the unified speaker and world.
(1)+(-1)=(0).
17) PD 2
18) PD 4
19) PD 4
20) These two questions presuppose a passive role on our part, which
may or may not refer to the Gnostic Redeemer as well as us regular
joes, the recipiants of the redeeming message. In this text, however,
there is no strong distinction between the speakers and the hearers on
the basis of origin; only on the level of knowledge. We may be assumed
to have the same genesis as she, and she states that she had an active
role in coming into the world. This only difference is that she knows
this, and presumably we do not.
1265