Death is Life, for none would be without death
And Sacrifice; it is I who dies, I who am Sacrificed
If you hold the four winds in your hand, I am with you
For Day is but the Eye of the storm of Night
And I rule over all that is in Darkness
-- The Book of Night

This text, part of the Nag Hamadi codices found in Egypt presents something of a paradox in that, while obviously valued by the collector of the Nag Hamadi texts, Thunder, Perfect Mind does not clearly fit into the definition of ‘Gnostic’ text, as it is not radically duelistic, as Gnosticism is generally defined. In fact, the ‘poem’ or Litany is, if anything the opposite. Radically monistic, the speaker (who does not name herself, perhaps because a name would, in turn invite a distinction between any identity claimed and those which the reader or hearer – we believe this was a liturgical work or invocation – may consider in contrast) asserts Her essential unity with the entire spectrum of social existance. Whether or not this is a metaphoric identity we leave up to the discerment of the student.

The popular author Elaine Pagels sums up the work:
‘Thunder Perfect Mind' is a marvelous, strange poem. It speaks in the voice of a feminine divine power, but one that unites all opposites. One that is not only speaking in women, but also in all people. One that speaks not only in citizens, but aliens, it says, in the poor and in the rich. It's a poem which sees the radiance of the divine in all aspects of human life, from the sordidness of the slums of Cairo or Alexandria, as they would have been, to the people of great wealth, from men to women to slaves. In that poem, the divine appears in every, and the most unexpected, forms....
'Thunder Perfect Mind' may have been written in Egypt. It's probably written by somebody who knows the traditions of Isis, knows the traditions of the Jews. It shows that this movement grew up in a world in which Jewish, Egyptian, Greek, Roman traditions are mingled and mixing and well-known to many sophisticated people. All you had to do is travel around a city, like Carnac, and you saw all these images, and these various religions and these various cultures mixing.'

The very first line identifies the speaker - the Greater Sophia:
I was sent forth from the power, and I have come to those who reflect upon me,
This is clearly a key, since we hold that the First was not created, and here she informs us that she was sent forth and, in ourmy the key, not created by the power, which I would call the depth (Bythos).

In the Fragments from the Book of the Coiled Dragon, we have:
And it came to pass that within the Silence arose Thought, a movement of Nous within the Limitless Depth, alone and awake within the Silence and the Nous rose up from the Depth creating movement within it.
And this is the First Mystery whereby the Nous of the All came forth and stirred the Depth and the Silence.
And Nous was naked and perfect, unbound, unbegotten, unborn. Being the Nous of the Eternal, the Father, she carried within herself the All, and the All was the Light within her and she was thereby the enclosing Darkness of being, the womb and mother of all that was to be. So it was in the Beginning.
- Fragments from the Book of the Coiled Dragon, 130-133

Following the key identification there follows a series of entreaties which exhorts those who seek to persist and for all readers of the work to remember her. Unlike the wrathful YHVH and His ilk, the self revelation of the Goddess encourages her faithful and those who desire her presence. There is no threat implied except the constraint of ignorance if the nature of the Goddess and thus reality itself, are forgotten.

After the exhorations, we come to the beginning of the first set of identity statements. Note the formula I am <a> and not <a>. In the first statement the Goddess identifies herself as the First and Last or All things. Compare to the identity statements of the Heavenly Logos
Revelation 1:11 “Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: “
Revelation 22:13 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.”
This is the basis of the esoteric identity of Christ with the Sophia-Barbelo of the Gnostics, the dichotomy of Holy and worldly (whore). As she is the source and substance of the Universe, Nyx-Barbelo must partake in all of the expressions of existance which are, ultimatly expressions of her own Being. Note that the earlier exhortations not to hate or think evil against her are cast in a new light and the previous exhortation can now be read as ‘reject nothing and no one - they are all expressions of my Divinity.’ Again compare to the gospels ( Matthew 25, 34-46 )

The nature of the identity statements has been compared to Zen koans, which are riddles that aim to break down unconscious ‘structuring’ of thought by posing seemingly unanswerable questions, such as the famous example, what is the sound of one hand clapping. While certainly these statements are in some sense comparable (as are any attempts to verbalize a concept, thought or experience that is transcendant to the binary nature of language) we consider the analogy to be innapropriate. The Goddess here speaks:
You who know me, be ignorant of me, and those who have not known me, let them know me.
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.
(32-38)

These statements are perfect binary pairs, knowledge and ignorance, war and peace, etc. There is no transcendence and no synthesis here, rather, it is a total inclusion into the Being of the speaker. As such, while the juxtaposition of the opposites and their claimed unity in the Goddess are jarring to the ‘worldly’ mind of yes/no right/wrong everyday consciousness, it is our contention that these statements are expressed as truths in-themselves. Ultimately, the teaching of the Litany is this: there is no substantial (in the technical sense) difference between anything and any other thing. This is a fundamental teaching of, for instance , Tantra, and certain esoteric streams in the West. Any other interpretation would be overcomplicating the expression of a profound truth.

As for the work itself, one can meditate on the text in conjunction with other works, including the Fragments from the Book of the Coiled Dragon and any exoteric scripture you may choose. After the work has been ‘incorporated’ into the your personal system, no doubt a multitude of previously unnoticed connections will appear.

The Thunder, Perfect Mind

Translated by George W. MacRae

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.
1. Look upon me, you who reflect upon me, and you hearers, hear me.
2. You who are waiting for me, take me to yourselves.
3. And do not banish me from your sight.
4. And do not make your voice hate me, nor your hearing.
5. Do not be ignorant of me anywhere or any time. Be on your guard!
6. Do not be ignorant of me.
7. For I am the first and the last.
8. I am the honored one and the scorned one.
9. I am the whore and the holy one.
10. I am the wife and the virgin.
11. I am <the mother> and the daughter.
12. I am the members of my mother.
13. I am the barren one and many are her sons.
14. I am she whose wedding is great, though I have not taken a husband.
15. I am the midwife and she who does not bear.
16. I am the solace of my labor pains.
17. I am the bride and the bridegroom, and it is my husband who begot me.
18. I am the mother of my father and the sister of my husband and he is my offspring.
19. I am the slave of him who prepared me.
20. I am the ruler of my offspring.
21. But he is the one who begot me before the time on a birthday.
22. And he is my offspring in (due) time, and my power is from him.
23. I am the staff of his power in his youth, and he is the rod of my old age.
24. And whatever he wills happens to me.
25. I am the silence that is incomprehensible and the idea whose remembrance is frequent.
26. I am the voice whose sound is manifold and the word whose appearance is multiple.
27. I am the utterance of my name.
28. Why, you who hate me, do you love me, and hate those who love me?
29. You who deny me, confess me, and you who confess me, deny me.
30. You who tell the truth about me, lie about me, and you who have lied about me, tell the truth about me.
31. You who know me, be ignorant of me, and those who have not known me, let them know me.
32. For I am knowledge and ignorance.
33. I am shame and boldness.
34. I am shameless; I am ashamed.
35. I am strength and I am fear.
36. I am war and peace.
37. Give heed to me.
38. I am the one who is disgraced and the great one.
39. Give heed to my poverty and my wealth.
40. Do not be arrogant to me when I am cast out upon the earth, and you will find me in those that are to come.
41. 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.
42. 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.
43. And do not cast me out among those who are slain in violence.
44. But I, I am compassionate and I am cruel.
45. Be on your guard!
46. Do not hate my obedience and do not love my self-control.
47. In my weakness, do not forsake me, and do not be afraid of my power.
48. For why do you despise my fear and curse my pride?
49. But I am she who exists in all fears and strength in trembling.
50. I am she who is weak, and I am well in a pleasant place.
51. I am senseless and I am wise.
52. Why have you hated me in your counsels?
53. For I shall be silent among those who are silent, and I shall appear and speak,
54. Why then have you hated me, you Greeks?
55. Because I am a barbarian among the barbarians?
56. For I am the wisdom of the Greeks and the knowledge of the barbarians.
57. I am the judgement of the Greeks and of the barbarians.
58. I am the one whose image is great in Egypt and the one who has no image among the barbarians.
59. I am the one who has been hated everywhere and who has been loved everywhere.
60. I am the one whom they call Life, and you have called Death.
61. I am the one whom they call Law, and you have called Lawlessness.
62. I am the one whom you have pursued, and I am the one whom you have seized.
63. I am the one whom you have scattered, and you have gathered me together.
64. I am the one before whom you have been ashamed, and you have been shameless to me.
65. I am she who does not keep festival, and I am she whose festivals are many.
66. I, I am godless, and I am the one whose God is great.
67. I am the one whom you have reflected upon, and you have scorned me.
68. I am unlearned, and they learn from me.
69. I am the one that you have despised, and you reflect upon me.
70. I am the one whom you have hidden from, and you appear to me.
71. But whenever you hide yourselves,
72. I myself will appear.
73. For whenever you appear,
74. I myself will hide from you.
75. Those who have [...] to it [...] senselessly [...].
76. Take me [... understanding] from grief. and take me to yourselves from understanding and grief.
77. And take me to yourselves from places that are ugly and in ruin, and rob from those which are good even though in ugliness.
78. Out of shame, take me to yourselves shamelessly; and out of shamelessness and shame, upbraid my members in yourselves.
79. And come forward to me, you who know me and you who know my members, and establish the great ones among the small first creatures.
80. Come forward to childhood, and do not despise it because it is small and it is little.
81. And do not turn away greatnesses in some parts from the smallnesses, for the smallnesses are known from the greatnesses.
82. Why do you curse me and honor me?
83. You have wounded and you have had mercy.
84. Do not separate me from the first ones whom you have known.
85. And do not cast anyone out nor turn anyone away
86. [...] turn you away and [... know] him not.
87. [...].
88. What is mine [...].
89. I know the first ones and those after them know me.
90. But I am the mind of [...] and the rest of [...].
91. I am the knowledge of my inquiry, and the finding of those who seek after me, 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 gods in their seasons by my counsel,
92. and of spirits of every man who exists with me, and of women who dwell within me.
93. I am the one who is honored, and who is praised, and who is despised scornfully.
94. I am peace, and war has come because of me.
95. And I am an alien and a citizen.
96. I am the substance and the one who has no substance.
97. Those who are without association with me are ignorant of me, and those who are in my substance are the ones who know me.
98. 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.
99. 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.
100. [I am ...] within.
101. [I am ...] of the natures.
102. I am [...] of the creation of the spirits.
103. [...] request of the souls.
104. I am control and the uncontrollable.
105. I am the union and the dissolution.
106. I am the abiding and I am the dissolution.
107. I am the one below, and they come up to me.
108. I am the judgment and the acquittal.
109. I, I am sinless, and the root of sin derives from me.
110. I am lust in (outward) appearance, and interior self-control exists within me.
111. I am the hearing which is attainable to everyone and the speech which cannot be grasped.
112. I am a mute who does not speak, and great is my multitude of words.
113. Hear me in gentleness, and learn of me in roughness.
114. I am she who cries out, and I am cast forth upon the face of the earth.
115. I prepare the bread and my mind within.
116. I am the knowledge of my name.
117. I am the one who cries out, and I listen.
118. I appear and [...] walk in [...] seal of my [...].
119. I am [...] the defense [...].
120. I am the one who is called Truth and iniquity [...].
121. You honor me [...] and you whisper against me.
122. You who are vanquished, judge them (who vanquish you) before they give judgment against you, because the judge and partiality exist in you.
123. If you are condemned by this one, who will acquit you?
124. Or, if you are acquitted by him, who will be able to detain you?
125. For what is inside of you is what is outside of you, and the one who fashions you on the outside is the one who shaped the inside of you.
126. And what you see outside of you, you see inside of you; it is visible and it is your garment.
127. Hear me, you hearers and learn of my words, you who know me.
128. I am the hearing that is attainable to everything;
129. I am the speech that cannot be grasped.
130. I am the name of the sound and the sound of the name.
131. I am the sign of the letter and the designation of the division.
132. And I [...].
133. (3 lines missing)
134. [...] light [...].
135. [...] hearers [...] to you
136. [...] the great power.
137. And [...] will not move the name.
138. [...] to the one who created me.
139. And I will speak his name.
140. Look then at his words and all the writings which have been completed.
141. 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.
142. For I am the one who alone exists, and I have no one who will judge me.
143. 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.
144. And they will find me there, and they will live, and they will not die again.