Pastor Rob's Notes on "Thunder, the Perfect Mind" Part 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.
Look upon me, you who reflect upon me,
and you hearers, hear me.
You who are waiting for me, take me to yourselves.
And do not banish me from your sight.
And do not make your voice hate me, nor your hearing.
Do not be ignorant of me anywhere or any time. Be on your guard!
Do not be ignorant of me.

The Thunder, Perfect Mind, is a poem about wisdom. The first section of the poem tells where wisdom is found and a warning about not ignoring wisdom. Wisdom comes to those who reflect on what they’ve learned and is among those seeking to know better. Wisdom calls out for everyone to partake of her and to not ignore her. The double emphasis of her not being ignored is reflective of the fact that wisdom is often ignored. While we know that this poem is about wisdom, what is wisdom it the question we should be asking?

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 labor 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 the 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 silence that is incomprehensible
and the idea whose remembrance is frequent.
I am the voice whose sound is manifold
and the word whose appearance is multiple.
I am the utterance of my name.

The second part of the poem tells us about the two types of wisdom; fallen and risen wisdom. It uses examples of contradictory states to express the duality of fallen and risen wisdom. The speaker in this poem uses “I am” which in Hebrew is one of the names for G-d. It should be noted that “I am” is used by Christ in the Gospel of John. Seeing as this poem is about divine wisdom, as reference in Proverbs 8, the use of “I am” should not be surprising. What is surprising is the acknowledgement of two types of wisdom. You have one type of wisdom that is gained by reflection and following “the way” if you will and then you have another type of wisdom that is gained by going off the beaten path. This second type of wisdom that is gained by failing and learning from one’s mistakes. This type of wisdom is often over looked but it is the wisdom that we are most familiar with. It is the wisdom that comes from learning from the past, the wisdom of experience, sometimes called the school of hard knocks. It also seems to allude to the Gnostic creation mythos with Wisdom’s relationship to her father and her offspring.

The third section seems to profess different relationships that wisdom has with people. This seems to continue with the theme of a lot of Christian literature of turning things upside down. That not everything in this world is what it seems. People who claim to be seeking wisdom will deny it when the find it and vice versa. People who claim to profess wisdom will lie about it and vice versa. These tie back to the opening declaration of “do not be ignorant of me”. Living in our world through the looking glass, not everything is as it seems and we must remain vigilant and on guard for when wisdom appears. We must also be skeptical of those who claim that they know. As our church’s motto goes, “Anything that is true will withstand testing.” This ties into being on guard.


This next section shows another duality show where wisdom, fallen and risen, resides. This reinforces the fact that wisdom is ever present and has been around since the beginning. It makes no distinction between class, nationality, education, or status and can be found not only in times of conflict but times of rest.