One of the texts that was discovered in the Nag Hammadi desert in Egypt in 1945 was a text in the Christian "gnostic" tradition called "Thunder Perfect Mind". It is likely that many texts in this tradition were secreted away in caves in the desert to save them from the destruction being waged on any ideas outside of the orthodoxy being propagated by the Church hierarchy in Rome.

So what idea was it that had Rome and its lieutenants so up in arms? It was the idea that divinity lay within, that a piece of the divine was in each one of us. And that through special knowledge or "gnosis", one might unite with the divine. The church hierarchy preferred to hold tight control over sacramental rites and beliefs. They focused on standardizing their beliefs into a few simple creeds and using a priestly hierarchy to retain tight control over Christian thinking and behavior. They came up with a "canon" of books, to be henceforth called the Holy Bible, which was to be seen as the ordained and infallible word of God. Those that challenged this perspective were branded as heretics and persecuted.

Thanks to a few wise devotees of this alternative branch of Christianity, some of the ancient texts from sources that might have held a broader view of Christianity that the dogmatists at its helm were retained. The beauty of these ancient texts and the depth of the wisdom propagated show us the complexity of the thinking of some of these early Christians.

The video below is my attempt to interact with the ancient text called "Thunder Perfect Mind", using images to capture the essence of the meaning. Underlying the images is the beautiful music from Gorecki's Third Symphony.

Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 Opus 36 (1976)

II. Lento e Largo—Tranquillissimo