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Friends,
The Paraphrase of Shem is an interesting document included in the Nag Hammadi texts. This Shem is to be understood as the same Shem that was the son of Noah, who is often considered to be Melchizedek. It presents a cosmology not unlike that in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, and a kind of Gnostic Trinity.
Here are the first paragraphs:
"[The] paraphrase which was about the unbegotten Spirit.
"What Derdekea< s> revealed to me, Shem, 5 according to the will of the Majesty. My thought which was in my body snatched me away from my race. It took me up to the top of the world, 10 which is close to the light that shone upon the whole area there. I saw no earthly likeness, but there was light. And my thought separated 15 from the body of darkness as though in sleep.
"I heard a voice saying to me, Shem, since you are from an unmixed power 20 and you are the first being upon the earth, hear and understand what I shall say to you first concerning the great powers who were in existence in the beginning, before 25 I appeared. There was Light and Darkness and there was Spirit between them. Since your root fell into forgetfulness – he who was 30 the unbegotten Spirit – I reveal to you the truth about the powers. The Light was thought full of hearing and word. They were 35 united into one form. And the Darkness was 2 wind in waters. He possessed the mind wrapped in a chaotic fire. And the Spirit between them 5 was a gentle, humble light. These are the three roots. They reigned each in themselves, alone. And they covered each other, each one with 10 its power."
www.gnosis.org/naghamm/para_shem.html
I find this statement very interesting: "Shem, since you are from an unmixed power and you are the first being upon the earth...." My first inclination was to interpret this as equating Shem with Adam. In the esoteric tradition I follow, prior to the fall Adam is one with Christ. After the fall, Adam is in the state of separation and fragmentation, incarnating through countless "individual" lives. Shem/Melchizedek is one of those lives, and in this text we get an account of what he experienced that revealed to him his true nature and how the fall happened.
Peace,
Griffin
The Paraphrase of Shem is an interesting document included in the Nag Hammadi texts. This Shem is to be understood as the same Shem that was the son of Noah, who is often considered to be Melchizedek. It presents a cosmology not unlike that in the first chapter of the Gospel of John, and a kind of Gnostic Trinity.
Here are the first paragraphs:
"[The] paraphrase which was about the unbegotten Spirit.
"What Derdekea< s> revealed to me, Shem, 5 according to the will of the Majesty. My thought which was in my body snatched me away from my race. It took me up to the top of the world, 10 which is close to the light that shone upon the whole area there. I saw no earthly likeness, but there was light. And my thought separated 15 from the body of darkness as though in sleep.
"I heard a voice saying to me, Shem, since you are from an unmixed power 20 and you are the first being upon the earth, hear and understand what I shall say to you first concerning the great powers who were in existence in the beginning, before 25 I appeared. There was Light and Darkness and there was Spirit between them. Since your root fell into forgetfulness – he who was 30 the unbegotten Spirit – I reveal to you the truth about the powers. The Light was thought full of hearing and word. They were 35 united into one form. And the Darkness was 2 wind in waters. He possessed the mind wrapped in a chaotic fire. And the Spirit between them 5 was a gentle, humble light. These are the three roots. They reigned each in themselves, alone. And they covered each other, each one with 10 its power."
www.gnosis.org/naghamm/para_shem.html
I find this statement very interesting: "Shem, since you are from an unmixed power and you are the first being upon the earth...." My first inclination was to interpret this as equating Shem with Adam. In the esoteric tradition I follow, prior to the fall Adam is one with Christ. After the fall, Adam is in the state of separation and fragmentation, incarnating through countless "individual" lives. Shem/Melchizedek is one of those lives, and in this text we get an account of what he experienced that revealed to him his true nature and how the fall happened.
Peace,
Griffin
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Re: The Paraphrase of Shem
Thu, July 6, 2006 - 11:07 PMYes, that is a good interpretation.
The darkness possessing the mind in a chaotic fire, is also a very important passage.
The ripples and chaos that develop from the intersection of principles, wraps up mind in chaotic fire.
In other ancient texts/traditions, a fire of ignorance is considered the basis of the other elements, which result in the course of Sophia's passion and repentance. The salvaging of such mind out of chaos, is possible because of the repentance of wisdom which allows for wisdom to be spiritually full instead of lacking.
