The mind of Shem ascends
Frederik Wisse / Michel Roberge (composite) · Public domain / scholarly composite. Reproduced for educational and religious commentary.
1The paraphrase concerning the unbegotten Spirit. What Derdekeas revealed to me, Shem, according to the will of the Greatness.
2My thought, which was in my body, snatched me away from my race. It took me up to the top of the world, which is close to the light that shone upon the whole area there. And I saw, and lo: there were three roots: Light, Spirit, and Darkness.
3They were existing in three powers, in their bosoms, the realms of the universes. The Light, the highest, was great and luminous. The Spirit, in the middle, was endowed with mind. The Darkness, the lowest, was below — heavy, troubled, ignorant.
4And in the middle the Spirit, in the middle of these two — Light above, Darkness below — was at rest. The Light, when it appeared, did not at first know the Darkness. The Darkness was beneath, but it was without intelligence. And the Spirit, in the middle, was endowed with mind.
5Then the Darkness became aware of the Light, and was disturbed. It troubled the Spirit. The Spirit, troubled, sent a ray of itself into the Darkness, and the ray was caught. And from this disturbance the world was made.
6I, Shem, looked upon these things. And I gave thanks to the great Father of light. He had revealed to me his face, and he had shown me the trouble of the Darkness, and the rest of the Spirit, and the salvation of the Light.