214 LITERATURE OF GNOSTIC WISDOMit limited by its own desire or by giving or by receiving from another. Its desire
is not from itself, nor does desire come to it from anything else, yet it does not
give anything of itself, or it would be limited. Thus it has no need of mind or
life or anything, for it is greater than all in its ultimacy and incomprehensibil-
ity, in nonexistent reality. It has silence and stillness not to be limited by the
unlimited.
It is not divinity or blessedness or perfection; rather, it is something un-
knowable. Not that it has this, but it is greater than blessedness and divinity
and perfection. It is not perfect, but greater. It is not infinite or limited by an-
other, but greater. It is not corporeal and is not incorporeal. It is not large and
it is not small. It is not quantifiable, not a created thing. It is not something
that exists, which people can understand, but something greater, which no
one can understand. It is a first revelation and knowledge of itself, since it
alone understands itself. For it is not among the things that exist, but is greater
among what is greater. And it is like what it has and unlike what it has. It is not
part of an eternal realm nor time, and it receives nothing from anyone. It is
not limited, nor does it limit, nor is it illimitable.
It is self-knowledge, since it is unknowable, and it is greater than what is
good in its unknowability, having blessedness and perfection and silence—
not blessedness or perfection or stillness, but something that is, that no one
can understand, being at rest.