Gnosticism - Thunder Perfect Mind - Divine Feminine - Gender, Paradox and Violence

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  • Опубликовано: 31 дек 2020
  • One of the most enigmatic and alluring text in the Nag Hammadi Library of Gnostic texts is the famed hymn-poem Thunder: Perfect Mind. This episode explores the origins, structure, parallels with an eye to Thunder's treatment of gender, language and colonialism. We also explore to what degree we can call Thunder 'gnostic' at all - why did this document survive in the Nag Hammadi library at all?
    Recommended Readings:
    Thunder: Perfect Mind - www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontl...
    Taussig, etc. - The Thunder: Perfect Mind: A New Translation and Introduction - 978-0230105638
    Prada Ad - www.prada.com/us/en/pradasphe...
    #gnosticism #gnostic #hermeticism

Комментарии • 253

  • @sinisterminister4201
    @sinisterminister4201 3 года назад +106

    The pendulum of the mind oscillates between sense and nonsense, not between right and wrong.
    -C. G. Jung

    • @disruptivemusings8363
      @disruptivemusings8363 3 года назад +3

      I read somewhere: ordered chaos.
      Am still working all this out 📜

    • @sinisterminister4201
      @sinisterminister4201 3 года назад +7

      The Disruptive Muse.
      “In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order.”
      ― Carl Gustav Jung

  • @Themidnightegardener
    @Themidnightegardener 3 года назад +97

    Yahoo! I'm a big Gnerd when it comes to Gnosticism!! Thanks bro!

    • @iankrom510
      @iankrom510 3 года назад +17

      That pun is horrible! I love it!

    • @Riplee
      @Riplee 3 года назад +9

      I’m a Gnome & you’ve just been gnomed

    • @Raulduke419
      @Raulduke419 2 года назад +8

      gnice joke

  • @tomg5516
    @tomg5516 Год назад +37

    The title immediately made me think of the Buddhist text Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra, "The Perfection of Wisdom Text that Cuts Like a Thunderbolt".

    • @ArchieMoore
      @ArchieMoore 5 дней назад

      Made me think of Current 93

  • @badluckrabbit
    @badluckrabbit 3 года назад +75

    Are any other Mahayana or Vajrayana Buddhist viewers feeling a resonance between Thunder Perfect Mind and the Diamond Sutra, Heart Sutra, and the teachings on Prajnaparamita? Even the title itself "Thunder Perfect Mind" sounds like it should be the title of a Buddhist sutra rather than a "gnostic/hermetic" hymn.

    • @cloudsteps
      @cloudsteps Год назад +4

      100%nondual

    • @dvklaveren
      @dvklaveren Год назад +2

      I have been fascinated with parallels between platonism/gnosticism and Buddhism. The parallel between Demiurge entities and Great Brahma as depicted in the Pali Canon I thought were striking.

    • @Gaia369
      @Gaia369 Год назад +2

      Oh yes, heart sutra is very much ALIGNMENT with the All, as this text reveals.

    • @ANiMALFRiENDS_GOLDMAN
      @ANiMALFRiENDS_GOLDMAN Год назад +2

      I AM the Nameless The Unamable 1
      I AM the Thathomless The Unthathomable 1
      I AM the Silence The Unsilencable 1
      I AM the Numbers The Numberless 1
      I AM the Moment The Momentless 1
      I AM the Changing The Unchangeable 1
      I AM the Speaking The Speechless 1
      I AM the Beholder The Unbeholdable 1
      I AM the Knowledge The Unknowable 1
      I AM the Crowner The Uncrownable 1

    • @ANiMALFRiENDS_GOLDMAN
      @ANiMALFRiENDS_GOLDMAN Год назад +2

      TRUTH iS TRUTH MY FRiENDS
      BELOVED JESUS WAS ALSO GAUTAMA BUDDHA
      ST ESA HE IS KNOW AS AND WAS ZARATHUSTRA MOSES AND MANY OTHER BELOVED ONES

  • @bobfrancis123
    @bobfrancis123 2 года назад +74

    I IMMEDIATELY looked up the text and read the MacRae translation. Wow. Yes, it is absolutely paradoxical but these words have immense power.
    “I am the utterance of my name.”
    What a statement of being! I’ll have to read and reread this poem over and over to grasp at the straws of intent present here. I wish I could read/speak pre-Medieval Coptic, because I’d love to hear this in its original language.

    • @kennethbeal
      @kennethbeal 10 месяцев назад +4

      It really makes a lot of sense to me, "strangely enough" I hear a younger version of me saying. :)
      It is the author, speaking to us in this book we are in. Mind-bending. Especially the ending; we will meet the author.
      The "until they become sober" made me laugh; have been for more than 3 years. And, dual meanings exist of course.
      The "and go up to their resting place" reminded me of the ascension in The Stranger's Book: "What bound me has been killed, and I've been released. I'll go up to my Father, the One above all the great realms."

    • @justkiddin84
      @justkiddin84 2 месяца назад

      Yes. I heard, ‘I AM’.

  • @comfylain
    @comfylain 10 месяцев назад +12

    "And the mines are void of diamonds
    That we carry in our rags
    (Thunder Perfect Mind)
    Then all the world seems
    A sadness song" :)

  • @a.m.e.
    @a.m.e. 3 года назад +50

    To me, since the feminine energy is water that comes up, and then fire that comes down, then thunder would be symbolic of integrated energy coming down from sky father to mother earth. The poem paints a picture of what integration looks like, and how the seemingly opposite qualities that contradict each other can actually dance.

    • @AlejandroMS67
      @AlejandroMS67 8 месяцев назад +2

      Interesting point about the thunder, also perhaps worth noting is that thunder is the sound that comes from lightning, and lightning is a 2 way phenomenon where invisible electric current moves first from sky to ground, and then we see the 2nd half of that process which is the lit part from ground to sky, and it is this visible movement of light from ground to sky that causes the thunder.boom arising from the rapidly heated air channel around the lightning reaching temperatures equal to the surface of the sun.

  • @TormodiR
    @TormodiR 3 года назад +52

    Once again you triggered my obsession with thunder/lighting and emphasized an enlightening text. I believe this is well done, thank you Dr. Sledge.

  • @LandELiberation
    @LandELiberation Год назад +18

    Your mention of Janus and liminality got me thinking about Hekate, and how she evolved from a similar figure to Janus but evolved through association; through the underworld and contacting spirits, to witchcraft by the Roman period, perhaps an interesting topic you could explore in a future video

  • @nothanks9040
    @nothanks9040 3 года назад +20

    Probably my favorite poem; ive always found theme of androgyny in the nag hammadi super interesting and impactful

  • @mohammadrahal5394
    @mohammadrahal5394 3 года назад +36

    That coincidence of opposites sounds pretty much like Taoism to me
    Thank you for the great work, so many delights on your channel it's amazing !
    Wish you the heights 🖖

  • @stridedeck
    @stridedeck 3 года назад +17

    Thunder Perfect Mind (intellect) is the Gnostic essence, spark, and existence! The poem is going outside the thought-making process that we use in our daily existence. This source is the source of all that breathes into all.

  • @Gnarlodious
    @Gnarlodious 3 года назад +40

    "Everything you know is wrong". It has always impressed my that the writer seems devoted to refuting every assumption about ancient knowledge, every historical and philosophical graven image smashed to pieces by an outsider. Admonishing us that the canonical gods, myths and legends are either made up or embellished/corrupted beyond recognition. And the author being a woman, delicately stating that the male ego has been the corrupting influence that obfuscated the original god (goddess). The only way then to regain the lost knowledge is to free ourselves from gender norms and dualistic paradigm of the masculinized version of history. This would really bring Hellenistic/Egyptian prehistory into agreement with Germanic/Celtic goddess mythologies.

    • @TheEsotericaChannel
      @TheEsotericaChannel  3 года назад +20

      It is a wonderful text in that it really gets us out of those binaries!

    • @QuasarEE
      @QuasarEE 11 месяцев назад +3

      The goddess does not see herself as female, or Shariputra as male, because she has transcended limiting thinking, has transcended socio-cultural conditioning, and has even gone beyond any biological conditioning.... "All women appear in the form of women in just the same way as the elder appears in the form of a woman. While they are not women in reality, they appear in the form of women. With this in mind, the Buddha said, ‘In all things, there is neither male nor female.'"
      Here there is no man, there is no woman,
      No self, no person, and no consciousness.
      The labels ‘male’ or ‘female’ have no essence,
      But deceive the evil-minded world.

  • @IndelibleNihilist
    @IndelibleNihilist 4 месяца назад +4

    Thank you for making this!

  • @bluesteel1389
    @bluesteel1389 Год назад +11

    This is one of the most interesting pieces of gnostic literature I've heard of. Thank you for bringing this to us!

  • @jessicacottrell2426
    @jessicacottrell2426 3 года назад +12

    I was familiar with Thunder: Perfect Mind before but now I realize I was merely acquainted because I learned so much from this video. Thank you Dr. Sledge.

  • @lmvath211
    @lmvath211 Год назад +6

    Love your work. The subtle, dry, hints of humor a total plus!
    I’m always looking for more art historical images on each subject, and more image time to ponder.

  • @jasonmitchell5219
    @jasonmitchell5219 11 месяцев назад +3

    What a fantastic piece of literature. I don't think I can even imagine Blake coming up with something like that and we all know he loved contraries. This poem is utterly strange, enchanting and yet deeply meaningful at the same time. I'll be re-reading it for a while even though I might require some therapy afterwards. I'd heard of it but never bothered to seek it out until watching this video. Thankyou.

  • @violetchristophe
    @violetchristophe Год назад +3

    While listening to this, my mind couldn't shake the feeling that the work had what might called called anti-patriarchical ideas. That it means to cast aside such rigid structures that would bind folks to roles according to their bodies. The mention of gender nonconformity further reinforced this idea.
    In the briefest sense from the description given, though I have yet to read the text, it speaks to liberation.

  • @changer1285
    @changer1285 3 года назад +5

    Uggghhhh this is giving me a braingasm! Mentioning the Appcryphal acts of John, The Mandaeans, and Indic literature in one sentence! Since I started reading the Bible again and learning what I could about ancient cultures before the NT came about, and praying the Holy Rosary of the Most Blessed Virgin daily, this is the exact connection that has been made for me.

  • @Rakkoma6
    @Rakkoma6 Год назад +2

    Deeply appreciate your videos on Gnosticism; it’s hard to find genuinely good and educational content on the subject. Thank you ♥️

  • @christopherlatini2520
    @christopherlatini2520 5 месяцев назад +2

    "But whenever you hide yourselves,
    I myself will appear.
    For whenever you appear,
    I myself will hide from you."

  • @user-rt7wl2yg3u
    @user-rt7wl2yg3u 11 месяцев назад +3

    man, I enjoyed this video so much. what a double horns badass theme and poem, cheers for the recommendation

  • @beroberoberoberobero852
    @beroberoberoberobero852 Год назад +3

    Oh that Prada Ad.... i thought it was some sort of short movie by Riddley Scott when it came out. Man, was i wrong, what a paradoxical experience was clicking that play button, never my expectations were so wrong in my life.
    But great video, your channel is amazing, thanks for sharing so much knowledge

  • @williamchristensen7354
    @williamchristensen7354 3 года назад +2

    Thank you for the presentation and for the link! I appreciate it!

  • @jimliedeka3978
    @jimliedeka3978 3 года назад +3

    I first heard Thunder in the Fox TV show Millennium in the 1990s. That is what originally kindled my interest in the Nag Hammadi library.

  • @rrrosecarbinela
    @rrrosecarbinela 3 года назад +3

    Thank you, Doctor. May you find blessing.

  • @wowhamba
    @wowhamba 3 года назад +3

    I love your videos! I've gained so much knowledge from your efforts. Keep up the amazing work.

    • @TheEsotericaChannel
      @TheEsotericaChannel  3 года назад +2

      Thanks for saying so - I'm happy you find the content worthwhile!

  • @IndelibleNihilist
    @IndelibleNihilist 4 месяца назад +1

    wow you did a video on this! i love this writing more than anything. joined your Patreon - thank you 🙏

  • @notfancy2000
    @notfancy2000 2 года назад +6

    Glad I'm not the only one profoundly unsettled by the parallels between Thunder and Daughter of Fortitude and what these parallels might imply. Antinomialism as a form of mystical praxis is somewhat common (in what Kripal calls “tantras” in plural), but we can be fairly certain that neither Dee nor Kelley had access to sources, Gnostic or Hindu Tantric, from which they might have drawn inspiration. For me, more evidence that the Angelic Workings contain “true revelation” (whatever that might be) and are not, say, a literary hoax.

  • @BlyssBliss
    @BlyssBliss 3 года назад +5

    Loved this video - thank you! I recently came across your channel via Angela Puca.
    The seeming contradictions in Thunder made me think of a paper I came across last year by Gregory Shaw called 'Taking the Shape of the Gods: A Theurgic Reading of Hermetic Rebirth'. He talks about the dualist vs monist points of view in the Hermetica and speculates that it relates to the path of initiation. It made me wonder if the play of opposites in Thunder was a different expression of that same dynamic in the larger body of work that it was found with. I'm not an academic so I may be way off base - just wonderin'.

  • @lucfierslight
    @lucfierslight 3 года назад +12

    Thank you so much for bringing this poem to light. I’ve never heard of it before and to think this poet could’ve been a woman or GNC person makes me so happy. The poem seems so powerful and non-conforming - I love it.

    • @TheEsotericaChannel
      @TheEsotericaChannel  3 года назад +8

      Glad you found it interesting and I'm happy that folks are discovering the text through the episode - it's such a wonderful text!

    • @lucfierslight
      @lucfierslight 3 года назад +1

      @@TheEsotericaChannel - Thank you for the reply! The text really resonated with me as a queer witch. Is there anything one should be wary about when looking at the poem online or is the given translation pretty accurate?

    • @TheEsotericaChannel
      @TheEsotericaChannel  3 года назад +6

      @@lucfierslight I think the typical translations online are pretty good. I prefer the Taussig, etc., translation, especially because of their attention to gender issues in the text.

    • @lucfierslight
      @lucfierslight 3 года назад

      @@TheEsotericaChannel - Thank you for your insight! ✨

  • @elliotyu6573
    @elliotyu6573 2 года назад +6

    You mentioned the comparison to Indic literature already, but the paradoxical aspect of the text, especially how it affirms and denies having a trait, also reminds me of Nagarjuna's employment of the catuṣkoṭi (tetralemma) to illustrate śūnyatā (emptiness) and direct one towards the Middle Way. Funnily enough, even the title has a Buddhist feel to it, like it's translated from Sanskrit "śakrabodhicitta" or something.

    • @ohamatchhams
      @ohamatchhams Год назад +2

      The Esoteric Buddhist path is often called as "Diamond/Indestructible Lightning Bolt Vehicle"/Vajrayana, it has parallels to Flash/Fastest yet most brutal routes to Enlightenment, the first Japanese Buddhist schools and Sects developed in Japan were developing from Chinese Esoteric side of Mahayana Schools that it's either became borderline to full-fledged Vajrayana Tantric by Beliefs to practices

  • @AethyrPrime
    @AethyrPrime Год назад +1

    Wow this series on Gnosticism is fantastic! I have been looking for a good source for this topic on RUclips for ages.

    • @HMMM13670
      @HMMM13670 6 месяцев назад

      This is a wonderful series, no doubt! If you’re looking for something even more in depth and specific, Professor David Brakke has a course available on The Great Courses that’ll blow your mind. It’s called something like Gnosticism: From Nag Hammadi to the Gospel of Judas. It’s the best education in Gnosticism available, imo. Check it out!!

  • @artkoenig9434
    @artkoenig9434 Год назад

    A very astute use of the Fayum mummy portraits. Thank you, sir!

  • @kentschroer8208
    @kentschroer8208 3 года назад +1

    Thank for your videos! They have been of particular interest to me as write my Greek epic, adding flavors from various esoteric/occult influences.

  • @madmaxrockatansky
    @madmaxrockatansky 3 года назад +1

    Your channel is a real gem!

  • @jbaquinones
    @jbaquinones 3 года назад +8

    Very interesting. Happy New Year Dr Sledge.

  • @marquisstarks9471
    @marquisstarks9471 Год назад

    Great video Dr. Sledge. I especially appreciated the singing theory.

  • @veenorbury1429
    @veenorbury1429 3 года назад +4

    Thank you for the video, it definitely makes me want to go and learn more about this text!

  • @lh384
    @lh384 2 года назад +3

    Not sure if you are aware, but Sue Monk Kidd's novel, The Book of Longings, uses Thunder Perfect Mind. The novel is about Jesus's wife, who after Jesus's death, joins a sort of proto-gnostic group and writes the hymn.

  • @williammartinactor
    @williammartinactor 4 месяца назад

    Fascinating exegesis. Thankyou Dr. Sledge!

  • @paulshaddix5290
    @paulshaddix5290 3 года назад +4

    never ending excellence...thank you oh wise one..... thank you for a mind expanding lecture without strangeness or deviance...

  • @cbaci
    @cbaci 2 года назад +6

    Couldn't the dichotomies inherent in Thunder Perfect Mind represent the dynamic tension between pairs of opposites which constitute the structure of pleroma?

  • @pauliedibbs9028
    @pauliedibbs9028 2 года назад +7

    This is the first I have ever heard of - or about - this amazingly enigmatic piece of artistic literature. Thank you 🙂
    P.S. you just can't seem to escape the shenanigans of those dastardly hellions, Dr. Dee and Mr. Kelly...

  • @lailajamilasmith
    @lailajamilasmith 3 года назад +2

    I love your channel. You're amazing. Thank you so much.

  • @asteroxfoundation
    @asteroxfoundation 3 года назад +3

    Again, another well done scholarly presentation by Dr. Sledge.

    • @FraktalPriest
      @FraktalPriest 3 года назад

      Like ur logo, made me go to ur website. Well done.

    • @asteroxfoundation
      @asteroxfoundation 3 года назад

      @@FraktalPriest Thank you Elios. It is a symbol that kept appearing in my mind after some mystical experiences that I encountered from over three decades ago.

  • @esmeodoherty8209
    @esmeodoherty8209 2 месяца назад

    Looking for part 2 of this. I just found your channel and have watched so many videos, I am assuming that as its a month old there is no part 2 yet. I am intrigued. Anyways thanks for being here very interesting and educational

  • @kevanhubbard9673
    @kevanhubbard9673 3 года назад

    A fine series and much to think about.

  • @Velvet_Intrigue
    @Velvet_Intrigue 3 года назад +3

    I love this channel! Would you consider doing an exploration of the beliefs of classical gnostics and the Manicheans?

    • @TheEsotericaChannel
      @TheEsotericaChannel  3 года назад +4

      Yep, done a few episodes on the gnostics and mani will get his day as well!

  • @lauriel8735
    @lauriel8735 Год назад +2

    I searched for the The Pistis Sophia and found this that I really enjoyed, and I have heard you mention The Pistis Sophia but was wondering if you have done a whole segment on this writing? Thank you for bringing light to these lost scrolls.

  • @duantorruellas716
    @duantorruellas716 3 года назад +10

    The divine feminine in all its glory. 👌

  • @sagesherbalapothecary
    @sagesherbalapothecary Год назад

    Wow! This was super helpful.

  • @ArachneAnathema
    @ArachneAnathema 7 месяцев назад

    Ah, this thunder perfect mind. Sorry, still finding your earlier videos. So much to catch up on.

  • @milascave2
    @milascave2 Год назад +5

    THUNDER PERFECT PIG
    For I am the ham and the frozen one.
    The boiled one.
    And many are my chitlens.
    (Sorry. I know that putting that poem of mine here is not exactly kosher.)

  • @livinginparallel
    @livinginparallel 11 месяцев назад

    Thanks so much for putting together this playlist, you have no idea how helpful this is (er, you probably do, actually..)

  • @K_F_fox
    @K_F_fox 7 месяцев назад +1

    Also an uncanny parallel: Walt Whitman's "I Sing the Body Electric"

  • @ConanDuke
    @ConanDuke 2 года назад +3

    The experience of gnosis is a transcendence of paradox.

  • @jasonyalove13
    @jasonyalove13 Год назад

    Thank you! The Prada commercial was fun =^..^=

  • @promiscuous5761
    @promiscuous5761 Год назад +1

    Thank you.

  • @FrJWF
    @FrJWF Год назад +1

    In Ephesians 4:6, Paul makes and off-hand comment about God as "above and through and in all things." Thunder Perfect Mind strikes me as an early Christian riff on this idea. It was widespread in pre-orthodox Christianity, with copies circulating in Egypt, Syria, and (at least via Irenaeus) Gaul.

  • @BlaineToole
    @BlaineToole Год назад

    I think the fairest way to frame it is as a poem about the nature of The Divine Femine in Patriarchal Society, and in one's own life.
    It's a challenging piece because you're meant to find your own interpretation of it.
    Because while the answers to most things are simple, they usually aren't easy.

  • @Infinitesimal-ho7it
    @Infinitesimal-ho7it 7 месяцев назад

    I've got to get my hands on Thunder. I think it could inform a novel I'm working on . Just, wow!

  • @t9h3m
    @t9h3m 3 года назад +7

    Thank you for the video, what a great way to start the year!
    One thing I'm not entirely clear about - at one point, you seem to discuss the identity of the author as if Thunder really was really meant to be read "literally" (i.e. the author talking about themselves) - I understand there may be little reason *not* to do so, but were contemporary texts generally written like that? Or is that simply one of the possible interpretations (given the surrounding mystery)?
    Oh and, at 4:39 you say a word that I hear as "eratology" (?), and even the RUclips transcript seems to agree, but I cannot find this word anywhere, my search queries instead return "erotologies" and "teratology" - what is that? :)

    • @TheEsotericaChannel
      @TheEsotericaChannel  3 года назад +11

      Aretology - sorry! Should have put that word on the screen!

    • @lucfierslight
      @lucfierslight 3 года назад +3

      Thank you for asking because I also use CC and I know RUclips isn’t the best at that.

    • @FraktalPriest
      @FraktalPriest 3 года назад +6

      @@TheEsotericaChannel Yes that is a word I didn't know and that would be helpful for a description or an explanation first/after. I too couldn't hear what it was or truly meant... The fact is that you are so good at explaining things I really notice when I don't understand something - Keep up the *a m a z i n g* work!

  • @CamiloGaetePuga
    @CamiloGaetePuga 3 года назад

    Awesome video as usual Dr. Sledge. I wonder if you have read Lamb Lash's NOT IN HIS IMAGE, and if you can share any thoughts on his rendition of Gnosticism. Thank you so much!

  • @PapaYo4XXX
    @PapaYo4XXX 3 года назад

    Sorry I've been so absent, life and all, Amazing job as always bro!

    • @TheEsotericaChannel
      @TheEsotericaChannel  3 года назад

      I feel you friend, hope you are doing well and good to hear from you!

  • @jessiross84
    @jessiross84 3 года назад

    You're the BEST!!!

  • @user-pv6lm1ik6t
    @user-pv6lm1ik6t 2 года назад

    I think I read it wean I did my paper on Gnosticism cool
    very interesting video

  • @SKP-op4vd
    @SKP-op4vd 2 года назад +4

    "Thunder perfect mind" sounds almost like the title of some Vajrayana Buddhist terma text.

  • @elementalliving916
    @elementalliving916 7 месяцев назад

    I feel seen, thank you.

  • @buciorjakub
    @buciorjakub 3 года назад +5

    I wish this was longer

  • @joekennedy5110
    @joekennedy5110 3 года назад +2

    Great Nag Hammadi business

  • @mickswann357
    @mickswann357 3 года назад +2

    Do you think the curious preformance/audience aspects of TPM might suggest that it was either adapted from, (or alternatively adapted to resemble) a text from one of the mystery traditions?

    • @TheEsotericaChannel
      @TheEsotericaChannel  3 года назад

      It's possible but given the difference in cultural context I would look for more indigenous Egyptian influences.

  • @darren.mcauliffe
    @darren.mcauliffe Год назад

    That ad makes as much sense as any other ad for perfume.

  • @danielpaulson8838
    @danielpaulson8838 3 года назад +2

    Amazon has the hardcover currently available for 104.38. Out of stock, but price holds and won’t charge till shipped. Paperback is 99.99. Ouch

  • @michaeldantepoet9863
    @michaeldantepoet9863 3 года назад +3

    The Sons of Thunder were Jesus' inner disciples, James the Great and John - Disciple of Love. The first man was said to martyred in 44 AD. Nevertheless, maybe this poem was written as an elegy for one of those men. James was the 'first' disciple of the twelve. It seems that these two men were called Sons of Thunder by Christ because of their impetuous natures. However, later literature says that James was 'level-headed' and John was 'loving' - we see, therefore, a spiritual transformation in the two men from angry, uncouth individuals into harmonious human beings. The poem sounds to me like the Shekinah or the Holy Spirit addressing the audience - she is the very spirit of Consciousness itself; henceforth, she contains, reconciles and transcends all opposites in the mind because she is the 'perfect mind.'
    Just in the same way as a Protestant Priest may feel uncomfortable throwing away a book about Catholic mystics, perhaps, this document was stored away respectfully. If it refers to the Sons of Thunder then this poem would have already been three hundred years old by the fourth century. Perhaps, this text was somewhat out of date by the time it was catalogued and hidden.
    On another level, thunder seems to represent enlightenment. Thunder may signify the sound of the Holy Spirit talking to the individual after their ego has been struck by the thunderbolt of Gnosis. Flowing light and flowing sound may connote the visible and invisible counterparts of the Logos. Just as there is a baptism of water and fire, perhaps, these baptisms are alluded to in the image of the sky (watery firmament) and the fire which lights up that sky through the implication of thunder.
    The sound of thunder shakes the heavenly mind with its sudden realisation as expressed through its feminine (loving and accepting voice), whilst at other times, the voice appears masculine or gender non-specific. This relates either to the life-force with created the body i.e. you maybe male but the intelligence which created it is not. In any case, this thunderous and perfected mind is the awareness which identifies or does not identify with the contents of its mind.... Just a few thoughts on the subject.
    Thunder is not mentioned in the text itself this is why I thought it may refer to a person who carried that title... What do you think? Is this idea just a longshot?
    As always, WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL CHANNEL....! Well done on such a magnificent set of lectures, you deliver them with such eloquence. Brilliant!!!!!!! :)

  • @mediocrates3416
    @mediocrates3416 3 года назад

    There is the meditative flash and following visions; lightening and thunder.

  • @ktkatte6791
    @ktkatte6791 2 года назад +1

    I have thoughts about the inversion stuff seen here and in other texts... it's attempts to convey things that we have the precise language for, to describe now, but didn't exist back then...

  • @1snakebob
    @1snakebob 7 месяцев назад

    ❤❤❤❤ ty

  • @rhrh9128
    @rhrh9128 7 месяцев назад

    Question please?! You mentioned the word thunder within the poem and that it was a big reveal you would not spoil. I did not remember this reveal so I went back and again found no thunder word within the poem as Translated by George W. MacRae . . . . . can you redirect me to a different translation/interpretation? Thanks for the sharing ans depth you cover on your channel.

  • @wisconsinengines
    @wisconsinengines 11 дней назад

    Thunder Perfect Mind without a colon is a great band name or cheesy late 90s fantasy magic spell

  • @elainedaprano9130
    @elainedaprano9130 2 года назад

    Is the Gnostic Adam&Eve story the same one as in "The Forgotten Books of Eden"/ Pseudopigrapha?

  • @spilledinfinity8652
    @spilledinfinity8652 2 года назад

    i think thats the one Maria Sabina used to recite. quite the nod. and a good anthem for anyone living in post reset earth. It all is and isnt now.

  • @serget4693
    @serget4693 Год назад +1

    I feel like when someone's done shrooms, thunders mind and mindless concepts make a lot of sense

  • @flowerpt
    @flowerpt 11 месяцев назад +4

    This poem rocks! Thank you, Justin.
    Don't get hung up on the genders, folks - this is a treatise against binary thinking, among many other things.
    I am not a face side, I am not an obverse side - I am a coin.

  • @JenniferIrvine556
    @JenniferIrvine556 Год назад

    I feel sorry for Issis. I'd imagine her heart is still not whole. He mentioned her at the first of the video. Bless her heart.

  • @danielpaulson8838
    @danielpaulson8838 3 года назад +4

    IMHO. Metaphoric representations. Try seeing the female as your soul. (Or subconscious mind) It retains our memories of experiences and the current emotion attached to the experiences. The good and the bad. We are the paradox. I mean each of us contains the paradox to various degrees. It’s a poem about normal human life. A very unpopular lesson that few like, encapsulated in a complex poem enjoyed and shared by the masses. The nested teaching gains the widest possible dissemination in a carrier shell.
    I believe it has deep personal significance.

  • @elusuariosecreto2458
    @elusuariosecreto2458 3 года назад +1

    I know that pic you chose for the Channel. It's from the Necromancers manual about a ring that can make the dead seem alive and the living seem dead. As a fun fact I did the ritual with some changes lol.

    • @inma5665
      @inma5665 3 года назад +1

      wow, which necromancer manual?

    • @Tarnbar
      @Tarnbar 3 года назад

      How did the ritual turn out?

  • @segundoteran6687
    @segundoteran6687 Год назад

    Dr. Is it me or does it seem that there are some writing symbols in the necklace of the portraits of the women!? Please let me know!

  • @mouthfeel2601
    @mouthfeel2601 2 года назад +8

    this is such an interesting topic. for me being a part of the lgbt+ community the text reminds me of those kinds of spoken words that try to portray the queer experience with all the seemingly inherent viiolence and contradictions it entails growing up queer in a cis-heteronormative world. The author using the word "barbarian" for themselves/herself is also interesting to me bc like you said, there's an aspect of reclaiming the word from a decolonial perspective, which is also a very common thing that POC/queer spoken workd artists do. All in all I am delighted to have learned about this, thanks to you Dr. Sledge.

    • @6Haunted-Days
      @6Haunted-Days 7 месяцев назад

      I'd be real careful assuming and thinking ancient worldviews and all else can be simply BAM correlated to how the modern mind gets info.
      You kno the whole hot and cold info ....it's WORLDS away different from even how those in medieval times thought .....let alone another 1,000yrs tacked on....

  • @Gaia369
    @Gaia369 Год назад +2

    I am the utterance of my Name.

    • @TheEsotericaChannel
      @TheEsotericaChannel  Год назад +3

      I am the comment and the reply

    • @Gaia369
      @Gaia369 Год назад +1

      @@TheEsotericaChannel I am Sofia.
      Now Sacred times have Come.
      👁️

  • @claires4869
    @claires4869 2 года назад

    do you see any connection between the narrator of thunder and the daughter or fortitude monologue delivered by babalon in dee and kelley’s work? the tone and themes seem very similar to me

    • @TheEsotericaChannel
      @TheEsotericaChannel  2 года назад +2

      She's not called Babylon there but "the daughter of fortitude" but yep, I mention as much in the episode

    • @claires4869
      @claires4869 2 года назад

      @@TheEsotericaChannel oh yep, commented before i got to that part. thanks for another awesome video!

  • @FriendlyEsotericDude
    @FriendlyEsotericDude 3 года назад +2

    Where can I find that Dee excerpt about the "Daughter of Fortitude"?

    • @TheEsotericaChannel
      @TheEsotericaChannel  3 года назад +8

      "I am the daughter of Fortitude, and ravished every hour from my youth. For behold I am Understanding and science dwelleth in me; and the heavens oppress me. They cover and desire me with infinite appetite; for none that are earthly have embraced me, for I am shadowed with the Circle of the Stars and covered with the morning clouds. My feet are swifter than the winds, and my hands are sweeter than the morning dew. My garments are from the beginning, and my dwelling place is in myself. The Lion knoweth not where I walk, neither do the beast of the fields understand me. I am deflowered, yet a virgin; I sanctify and am not sanctified. Happy is he that embraceth me: for in the night season I am sweet, and in the day full of pleasure. My company is a harmony of many symbols and my lips sweeter than health itself. I am a harlot for such as ravish me, and a virgin with such as know me not. For lo, I am loved of many, and I am a lover to many; and as many as come unto me as they should do, have entertainment. Purge your streets, O ye sons of men, and wash your houses clean; make yourselves holy, and put on righteousness. Cast out your old strumpets, and burn their clothes; abstain from the company of other women that are defiled, that are sluttish, and not so handsome and beautiful as I, and then will I come and dwell amongst you: and behold, I will bring forth children unto you, and they shall be the Sons of Comfort. I will open my garments, and stand naked before you, that your love may be more enflamed toward me"

    • @FriendlyEsotericDude
      @FriendlyEsotericDude 3 года назад +1

      @@TheEsotericaChannel Thank you!

    • @pragmatic
      @pragmatic 3 года назад

      @@TheEsotericaChannel this is simply beautiful. I would be pleased if you were to add more feminist content to you channel, International Women's Day is, as always March 8th.
      This fragment interests me because men as then and now had many avenues of pursuing love and sex (courtesan, slave girl or common prostitute--take your pick). The text elevates the woman of Temperance/dignity as proper wife and sensual object of desire

    • @ruthanneseven
      @ruthanneseven 2 года назад

      @@TheEsotericaChannel
      Invocation to Aphrodite comes to mind. Thanks for sharing.
      The Thunder has been my favorite for decades.
      Kudos for bringing it into the YTverse.
      I have always felt that it was meant to be read aloud. It has a Bardic/Norse riddle connection to me for some reason.
      Also connects with something I read in Graves 'White Goddess'.
      After so many books and decades of delving, it's a chore to recall where I saw what and why a certain impression arises!
      First time viewer. ✌

  • @thinknewideas4131
    @thinknewideas4131 Год назад

    Hey dude, have you read "From Paul to Mark"?

  • @laurenelizabeth2592
    @laurenelizabeth2592 3 года назад +2

    What do you make of the translation of the Dead Sea Scrolls by John M. Allegro and his ideas about the use of mushrooms as items of worship and in the creation of cults (asexual reproduction, vision inducing properties, etc.) And his claims that the ancient texts were not translated correctly?? He was cast aside as a heretic much the same way Graham Hancock is ridiculed by historians for his claims that ancient cultures we highly developed, existed in both continent's, etc...?

    • @TheEsotericaChannel
      @TheEsotericaChannel  3 года назад +5

      I think Allegro makes interesting points and there is an anti-psychedelic bias in academia. Though I find the argument for much of that circumstantial.

  • @TormodiR
    @TormodiR 3 года назад +1

    Would you happen to know where the original can be found.

    • @TheEsotericaChannel
      @TheEsotericaChannel  3 года назад +4

      You can find the facsimiles at a large university library - individual volumes are very expensive. The Coptic original can be found in the volume I recommended.

  • @mediocrates3416
    @mediocrates3416 3 года назад

    I"ve been thinking Nag Hammadi came from India, cuz Gospel of Thomas, the Acts of Thomas (from Nag Hammadi?), and the Mar Thoma Church. Cool there's Indian phraseology in Thunder; any chance all of Nag Hammadi has Indian influence of one sort or another?

  • @demianalva6803
    @demianalva6803 3 года назад +1

    Dearest Dr. Justin: Is your ESOTERICA logo, a Mayan gliph?

    • @arxsyn
      @arxsyn 3 года назад

      Yes I was wondering the same. It's very striking and unique. Love it~!

  • @eb6510
    @eb6510 9 месяцев назад +104

    As a trans person, "I am the utterance of my name" is one of the most powerful things I've ever read, thanks for introducing this wonderful work to me.

    • @ariasarcana3142
      @ariasarcana3142 8 месяцев назад +9

      Same here! Aria signing in!

    • @artemismoonbow2475
      @artemismoonbow2475 7 месяцев назад +7

      Me three makes a trinity. I envisage the author being a Gallae Priestess.

    • @6Haunted-Days
      @6Haunted-Days 7 месяцев назад +14

      As the spiritual self isn't any sex or gender or any of that....I just don't get those who not only base almost their ENTIRE personality on being trans but also the life of their soul & spirit....🫤
      I can already see that in 5yrs we'll probably see all over bad tictok video that now this was FOR A FACT written by someone who's "trans" 🤣😖

    • @annikajohansson9171
      @annikajohansson9171 6 месяцев назад +7

      ​@@6Haunted-DaysI'm not against homosexuality and agree that trans is a representation of the divine of both sexes. However, I have theorized that it's an unbalance of divine feminine and masculine over many lifetimes which would explain the 'genetic' factor. However, unless one undergoes deep hypnosis over a long time to make up for the unfinished business on that past life wherein they were the opposite sex...they are at a loss. So they embrace the duality of the Devine as a trans.

    • @jacquiecotillard9699
      @jacquiecotillard9699 4 месяца назад +1

      Likewise here- peace be with us each, and flowers on the air.