The Phenomena Guide to Gnosticism
Dateline: Wednesday, October 5, 2005
By: EDWARD O'TOOLE
By:
“It presents no distinctively Jewish, orthodox Christian, or gnostic Christian
themes, nor does it seem to presuppose any known gnostic "myths….
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.“ (Thunder, Perfect Mind or How did all these people get into my room? Tony
Iannotti)
“'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.“
(Elaine Pagels)
Most scholars agree that Thunder, Perfect Mind was written in either the 2nd or
3rd Century CE in Alexandria. What is immediately noticeable from the text,
especially given its estimated dating, is the lack of Christus. The distinct
feminine Narrator, combined with the absence of Christus, has led many to
believe that while TTPM – in its current form – may have been written at the
aforementioned date, it originated from a much earlier period. Some even go as
far as associating it with Egyptian Isis, or at least one of her High
Priestesses.
While it is true that the original concept of the Light Mother, Pistis Sophia,
may have stemmed from Isis, or possibly Astarte, it would be incorrect to
presume that TTPM signifies the exclusive worship of a goddess by a Gnostic
sect.
The evidence used to support this theory is:
[I] am the one whose image is great in Egypt.
Is she saying she’s Isis and that she feels alienated in her own country because
of Hellenization?
Why then have you hated me, you Greeks?
Because I am a barbarian among the barbarians?
But to concentrate on the Narrator/goddess angle is to fall into the trap that
many, especially feminists, stumble into while they’re grabbing a couple of
lines for a quote. It is the message, not the messenger, which is important. To
read TTPM without understanding the thin thread that linked the various
disparate patchwork of Gnostic theosophies, and to assert that it is either
non-Gnostic, or proof of Gnostic goddess worship, is to miss the point entirely.
To clarify matters, one first needs to know WHAT the general body of individuals
believed. Perfection, the Godhead, the Pleroma, is a non-corporeal androgyne.
Both male and female; both aspects are essential. The Pleroma is often
constructed of 28 Aeons. One of these Aeons, the youngest (Pistis Sophia),
decided to emulate her elders and CREATE. Through non-sexual reproduction
(possibly ‘borrowing’ energy from the Godhead), she aimed to have a child.
Instead, she aborted the Demi-urge. The Pleroma was so angry, Pistis was exiled
from the Light (comparisons may be made to Milton’s Paradise Lost).
I was sent forth from the power
The Demi-urge, imperfect, created this world, Earth (some sects say the entire
universe). He did a bad job of it and Pistis saw the error. When the Demi-urge
created Man, Pistis intervened and, through a series of events, got Eve to eat
from the Tree of Wisdom. To understand the Gnostic view of Creation better, read
the Nag Hammadi text ‘On the origin of the world’. Some sects, referred to
collectively as Barbeliotae, see Pistis as the supreme female aspect of the
Godhead – but there is still a MALE aspect; you can’t have one without the other
in Gnostic terms.
I am the bride and the bridegroom
Personally, I find Thunder, Perfect Mind a very sad and moving piece. The
Narrator truly KNOWS herself, and her position, and UNDERSTANDS all. She imparts
her WISDOM to those who recognize and know her. While many would disagree with
the order of this triad, I would show it thus:
gnosis – ennoia – sophia
The Narrator speaks, at first glance, in inane paradoxes. How can we even treat
her seriously? The more we read and re-read, however, patterns begin to form and
little clues emerge. We start to notice her autobiography, and the similarity to
Pistis Sophia, and her fall from grace is apparent.
I am the whore and the holy one.
Knowing that it is the Sophia we’re dealing with, (in Gnostic terms) we can take
her wisdom for granted. She truly does understand all – after all, she has been
the Highest and has created the most evil. So we can now move from ‘hearers’ to
‘you who know me’, but we’re a long way from solving the riddle yet.
The text, it is generally assumed, is written in three styles – Isis aretologies
(self-knowledge – I AM), Hebrew wisdom and Platonic dialogue. Tony Iannotti, in
his work ‘How did all these people get in my room?’, even goes further and
claims to have solved both the structure of the riddle and its answer. It is
possible that TPM was originally written as three separate works and then mixed
together, although this is unlikely unless done so by a single author as the
texts fit together so well. Iannotti splits TPM into its Egyptian, Hebrew and
Greek aspects and constructs a Question(s)-Answer(s) for each.
For the serious student of the piece, take note of where there is a difference
between passive sentences and active second person.
So, are we now certain that The Thunder, Perfect Mind is a Gnostic text? Not
entirely. However, we must remember that the Gnostics were looters and pillagers
of myth, philosophy and religion and, unlike most mainstream religions, evolved
and adapted their beliefs – often at the individual level.
The doctrine of salvation by knowledge... A collective name for a large number
of greatly-varying and pantheistic-idealistic sects, which flourished from some
time before the Christian Era down to the fifth century, and which, while
borrowing the phraseology and some of the tenets of the chief religions of the
day, and especially of Christianity, held matter to be a deterioration of
spirit, and the whole universe a depravation of the Deity, and taught the
ultimate end of all being to be the overcoming of the grossness of matter and
the return to the Parent-Spirit, which return they held to be inaugurated and
facilitated by the appearance of some God-sent Savior. (Definition of
Gnosticism, J.P. Arendzen)
There are comparative sections of other of the Nag Hammadi texts to show that
the paradoxes of TTPM are not an isolated incident. Mother Goddess theory
propogators could state that TTPM was naught more than an accidental placing, or
just a curio to the Gnostic-Coptic who buried the cache – a single codex of many
acquired in a collection, a smaller version of the 300,000 texts lost when the
library of Alexandria was destroyed in 640CE. As we can see in the following
quotes, this is not the case. While TTPM does not fulfill the entire spectrum of
concepts required for a complete Gnostic work, its ‘type’ is certainly not
alone:
Jesus said to them, "When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner
like the outer and the outer like the inner, and the upper like the lower, and
when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male will not be
male nor the female be female, when you make eyes in place of an eye, a hand in
place of a hand, a foot in place of a foot, an image in place of an image, then
you will enter [the kingdom]." (Gospel of Thomas, Trs. Stephen Patterson &
Marvin Meyer)
"I, therefore, the perfect Pronoia of the all, changed myself into my seed, for
I existed first, going on every road. For I am the richness of the light; I am
the remembrance of the pleroma... I am the thinking of the virginal Spirit, who
raised you up to the honored place. Arise and remember that it is you who
hearkened, and follow your root, which is I, the merciful one“ (The Apocryphon
of John, Trs. Frederik Wisse)
“I am androgynous. I am Mother (and) I am Father, since I copulate with myself.
I copulated with myself and with those who love me, and it is through me alone
that the All stands firm. I am the Womb that gives shape to the All by giving
birth to the Light that shines in splendor. I am the Aeon to come. I am the
fulfillment of the All, that is, Meirothea, the glory of the Mother. I cast
voiced Speech into the ears of those who know me.“ (Trimorphic Protennoia, Trs.
John D. Turner)
The latter two are of particular relevance because they involve the same
character archetype.
What then is the Narrator actually saying? This is where the exactness of TTPM’s
Gnostic value is questionable. Unlike the majority of Gnostic ‘teachings‘ (a
very loose term as it was up to the individual to decide what to learn, as each
gnositkoi is a god unto him- or herself), the Narrator tells us that the world
is not inherently evil, just a distraction from our path to transcendental
self-awareness.
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
She tells us that material pleasures are not harmful, just a temptation that
clouds one’s vision. She does not suggest ascetic penance in order to achieve
awareness. It is in these fundamental points where TTPM differs from the Gnostic
belief that God, and all his Creation, is at the bare minimum imperfect – if not
downright evil - and can only be left behind or overcome through gnosis.
The paradoxes the Narrator is so fond of pronouncing are her means of saying
that one must understand the dual nature of the world (although not to the
extent of Manicheaism) – that this is a necessity, not a choice. Creation is a
two-sided coin. Only when we truly understand our position can we then rise
above it.
Her final statement makes it abundantly clear she is not referring to herself as
a Mother Goddess or Gaia, that she is not describing humanity as a whole, or
womanhood in particular, reaching a peaceful understanding with itself and the
environment. Her final statement furthermore seats both the text and the
Narrator back in the Gnostic scheme, even suggesting the reincarnation of
pneumae (spirits) which have not yet reached transcendental awareness, and
reminds us that this is Sophia, wisdom, speaking:
and go up to their resting place.
And they will find me there,
and they will live,
and they will not die again.
Parcite Nobis, Edward O'Toole, October 4, 2005, Slovakia
George W MacRae’s translation of The Thunder Perfect Mind used throughout, with
Anne McGuire’s translation as a comparison.
