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note - page numbers refer to the Harper and Row print edition Nag Hammadi Library
Most Gnostic texts begin with a creation account that describes the origin of the various Divine emanations from the original indescribable Godhead.
In the Apocryphon of John, the First Principle is designated as "Invisible Spirit" and "Father". This is described in terms typical of the monistic experience everywhere: ineffable, immeasurable, self-contained, perfect, tranquil, the source of all, and so on.
Indeed, one of the great strengths of classical Gnosticism is the
beauty and evocative nature of its language, especially when describing
the Absolute
Reality. In 
The Gospel of the Egyptians, the
Godhead is described as
"The Father of the great light, who came forth from the silence...(who) rests in the silence" [pp.196-7].
The author of Eugnostos the Blessed writes:
"He is without end; he is incomprehensible. He is ever imperishable....He is unchanging good. He is faultless. He is everlasting...blessed...He is perfect, having no defect. He is imperishably blessed." [p.210].
The Trimorphic Protennoia refers to "the immeasurable
Silence" [p.462], and to "a Silence of the Ineffable One" [p.463]. The Gospel of Truth describes the Godhead as
"the incomprehensible, inconceivable one, who is superior to every thought." [p.38]
While in the Tripartite Tractate, the Godhead is described as "the inconceivable, ineffable, the incomprehensible, unchanging one" [p.57]; unbeggotten and immortal; having "no beginning and no end," and "unattainable in his greatness, inscrutable in his wisdom, incomprehensible in his power, and unfathomable in his sweetness" [p.56]
And according to Hans Jonas' account of the Valentinian theology in his The Gnostic Religion, in the "invisible and nameless heights there was a perfect Aeon", called Fore-Beginning, Fore-Father, or Abyss. With him was his female counterpart (or polarity) known as Ennoia (Thought), Grace or Silence." [pp.179-180].
It is this Supreme Godhead, this Absolute Reality, that is the source of all subsequent creation, even of the Divine creation.
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