The Pagan Path

Those who wonder are not lost; they are trying to awaken! 'The Sleeper must awaken!'

Sunday, December 30, 2018

The Magick ( Gravity ) of Love

'Love, like Gravity, brings people together.'

What is Love? Previously in the pages of this blog, it might be noted, we have largely explored what Love is NOT; Love is NOT a feeling, Love is not an emotion! Okay, so in some sense of the word, Love might well be defined in both these manners, but primarily, Love is an action, right? Yes, Love is an action, but really, if not based upon the former or latter, is it actually based on anything but duty, which IS a feeling?! If it's based on a feeling of duty; is it truly Love? On the other hand, if it IS based on feelings & emotions ( which, as we've noted, can change like the weather ), can THAT really be called True Love? Does Love change like the weather; can we fall out of Love? If we base our Love on feelings & emotions, we could sure experience falling out of love, but Love is NOT something we can fall into OR out of; Love is what we are!

Most of my readers are probably more or less familiar with the discovery of gravity, most famously, by Issac Newton. As the story goes, Newton was sitting under an apple tree, ruminating on the forces of Nature, when 'lo and behold', an apple fell from the tree onto his head. ( that's how I remember it, anyway ) Maybe he wondered what made the apple fall the way it did, maybe he wondered what made the apple fall down rather than up, why it landed on his head instead of somewhere next to him ( of course, if it DID hit him on the head, it probably didn't stay there, but rolled off & came to rest next to him ). Whatever the case may be, whether or not the story is true, our understanding of Gravity is largely based on perspective! If an apple falls down to the ground on OUR side of the world, is it actually falling UP in relation to say, Australia, AKA 'The Land Down Under' ( or would that be China? Wait, wouldn't that actually be sideways? )?!

Einstein, many years later, with his theory of General Relativity, figured that gravity, rather than being a Force of Nature, was instead a curvature of space-time! According to this very interesting ( mind-blowing ) article, 'it occurred to Einstein that the sensation of riding in an ascending elevator is similar to the sensation of gravity.' Shortly after, He came to understand that Gravity & acceleration were not just similar; they were the same!

Even today, we talk about objects ( people or things ) that gravitate toward each other. We 'understand' that some things just naturally 'attract others.  Well, while this may be true enough; we should understand as well, that this, as so much else, is based on perception! We know that, in the case of human beings anyway ( ? ), choice is the deciding factor. We must choose to act on any attraction we may feel. There are many factors involved in that choice; we need not go into that here! The point, as this blogger sees it, is that Gravity, rather than being an impersonable Force, like Destiny, for instance, is instead a choice, an acceleration ( movement ) in any given direction. In other words, we may be attracted to another, for whatever reason & to whatever extent, but unless we choose to move ( accelerate ) toward the object we are attracted to, we will never realize the True Gravity of the situation!

Gravity, then, like Love, is often perceived as a fickle mistress! Why does one person 'fall in love' with this person instead of that one? Why did the egg roll down that side of the roof instead of this side? Some may chalk it up to Destiny, as, 'they were destined to be together', but with so many variables involved, both in the case of the person & the egg, is it really that simple? One can profess to believe in 'The Law of Attraction'( ? ), but again, unless one acts positively on that ( feeling of ) attraction, can anything come of it?

Much of the problem here, if problem there be, is a general misunderstanding of what, or Who, Love is! As Christians, we understand that 'God is Love' ( I John 4:8 ); other religions seem to tell us that WE are Love. Being of the same Essence ( speaking as a Christian ), I fully agree! We are Love; therefore, though we tend to show that Love ( actively ) through the filter of our feelings & emotions, it is not those feelings & emotions that ARE Love! Because WE are Love, even though our feelings & emotions try to dictate to whom ( or what ) we show Love, we can override them & just BE who we are!

'Easier said than done', you might say. Well, yes, that's true; according to Genesis 4, Cain found it impossible to overcome his feelings & not murder his brother, but was it truly impossible? Was he destined to kill Abel, or did he make a conscious ( or even unconscious ) decision to allow his jealousy to rule over him to the point of murder? Do we not shape our own destinies by our choices? One might well argue, 'if I'd had a choice, I wouldn't have stubbed my toe & so, fallen & broken my leg'! In response, you might note that, while the other most certainly did not aim to stub their toe or break their leg, neither was the proper care exercised to ensure they did NOT stub their toe & break their leg! In the same vein, then, while Cain might not have set out purposely to hate & murder his brother, he did, not because he was destined for hell, but because he chose to let his emotions rule his actions!

Since we are, in our very Being, Love; why do we find it so difficult or even impossible to overcome our feelings & emotions? Why can't we just 'let it be' & say 'it is what it is'? Well, for most, if not all of us, our Ego has taken control! Many, indeed, have confused their Ego for who they really are! Just like the fact that we HAVE a body, but are not identified BY that body, we HAVE an Ego, but should not be identified by that Ego. One might wonder; 'in this world, this day & age, where everyone else is living by & identifying with the Ego; how CAN we just simply BE Love?' 'Well, my friend; the answer, simple as it may sound, IS ( metaphorically ) blowin' in the wind!' All we have to do is be still & know.....................

Charles Haddon Shank

Monday, December 24, 2018

More Than Stewards

All his life, Christopher had been taught, not only to be grateful for all he had been given, but to make sure that he took care of what he had been given in the best way he knew how. He was extremely grateful & thankful, but Christopher had always experienced this nagging feeling that, somehow, there was more to it, that being grateful for what he had been given & acting the good steward, as he'd always been taught, just didn't quite fit the bill! If he was simply called to be a good steward, could/should he actually call what he'd been given, his own?

As in the past 47 years that Christopher had walked the earth in his present form, the Yuletide season, now known as Christmas to the overwhelming majority, had once again come around. Although it was not very noticeable at first, the days gradually got longer & the nights got shorter as the Creation rested from Her labors & prepared for the return of the Sun which would be instrumental in the Rebirth of Life, both plant & animal, visible & invisible, tangible & intangible. This was the time that roots were established & the Earth enjoyed the bounty of the Harvest. In this season, as with so many other Christ-bearers, Christopher had learned that the reason for the season was to celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah. Although Jesus was historically, according to many scholars, most probably born around harvest time, in August or September more likely, than in December; Christopher found that the powers that be had decided, oh so many years ago, to combine the celebration of Jesus' birth with a greater & much more ancient one the Pagans already observed; Yule, or the Coming of the Light, the Winter Solstice!

From his youth, Christopher had known that his very name signified 'Christ-bearer': as he progressed in his Journey, with all its pitfalls, stumbles & tumbles, as well as its Joys; Christopher began to truly understand the gravity of bearing that exalted name! As One who bore the Christ, much as he'd been taught that we ALL bear the Image of the Creator God, Christopher came to realize that He bore the Christ in Himself ( He remembered that old, old story about how a certain man bore the young Jesus across a river on his back ), that, just like the 'Image of God' He'd been taught we ALL bear, 'the Christ' was an Anointing, a Chrism within Him, indeed within us ALL, that we manifest according to our choices. From His earliest memory, Christopher had chosen to manifest this Image, not as in merely reflecting the Glory, bur rather allowing IT to Shine through Him; BEing that very Image!

Christopher was, in the truest sense of the word, a 'Christian' & so, even though He had advanced beyond what most accepted as 'Orthodox' ( dangerously so, according to some ) He would always consider Himself, if ANY identification was necessary, a 'Christian'!  According to some others ( ? ) who also considered themselves 'Christians', Christopher couldn't BE a Christian because His stated beliefs didn't line up with Orthodoxy. Furthermore, He didn't attach the same importance to gathering in a certain building, at a certain time, on a certain day of the week, as did most of His peers. For this, as well as other reasons, Christopher, though He was loved by most, bore the stigma of being suspect, of not being quite right in the head: he heard 'I'll pray for you' quite a lot!

Christopher's Journey had not been an easy one! From the beginning, He had felt the burden of His very Name; as the Bearer of such an Exalted Title, Christopher knew that He was obliged, more or less, to act in a certain manner. He didn't always make all the right moves or always choose to manifest His destiny in the way everyone seemed to think He should, but He always strove to be true to Himself & the Name He bore ( so UN-gracefully at times )! As He continued on the Path He had chosen, Christopher encountered many hurdles, some greater, some lesser, but knowing, as He did, that they all served a Greater Purpose, that Greater Purpose being His growth & the manifestation of the Christ, He counted it ALL good & learned to accept them as such.

The Time for Introspection has come again ( not that it ever stops ); a Time to observe a period of Rest, wherein Nature carries out Her silent activity underground, so to speak. The Season of Yule, or Christmastide, as it came to be known, is a time in which we all, like Nature Herself, carry our activities within, preparing for a Time of Rebirth. continuing the cycle of Birth, Death & Resurrection.

Christopher was not perfect, at least, not according to the 'accepted' notion of 'perfect'! One should ask though, 'what IS 'perfect'?' There could be a perfect situation, where everything goes as planned; there could be perfect weather, or there could be two people who, with all their imperfections & idiosyncrasies, are perfect for each other! Though, according to Scripture, Jesus was without sin ( in that sense, 'perfect' ), He was the perfect Messiah for Israel; although not necessarily what they wanted, He was exactly what they NEEDED!

We are not mere stewards! A steward manages that which is not his or her own, but we have been given a Gift; a Gift which this Season  ( especially ) serves to remind us of. In the greatest sense, we are ALL 'Christophers'; ALL have received this Gift, though not all have chosen to acknowledge it & to manifest the Christ Within. It IS our choice, as Christopher came to know, not whether we receive this Gift, but on what we DO with it. Actually, we should understand, it's not so much a matter of reception, for we are ALL born with IT ( the 'Image of God' ). How, or if, we manifest that Gift, determines the concept of the Christ to the world around us sees, so make the best of it: Christopher IS!

Charles Haddon Shank

Monday, December 17, 2018

I AM the Way, the Truth & the Life

Personally speaking, I AM a Christian! That may be debatable, especially as I continue on my spiritual Journey, but, no matter how far I stray from accepted orthodoxy, I will always be a Christian at heart, because that's the way I was brought up. ( I must make this disclaimer, though; I AM a spirit  being, so when I say 'personally speaking', know that I am speaking AS Charles Haddon Shank ) As such then, I tend to believe that the words of Jesus, recorded in the Gospel ( Good News ) of John ( 14:6 ) are true & veritable. However, against the accepted orthodoxy ( 2,000+years?), did Jesus really mean what we think he meant? ( The words of Inigo Montoya from 'The Princess Bride' come to mind here! ) Did Jesus mean to say, in a universal way ( to the American Indian, for example, or the Australian Aborigine ), that He, again, personally speaking, was the only way to truly know 'God', to commune with the Divine? Or was He simply, given the context of Scripture, telling His Jewish disciples that He embodied everything that the Law & the Temple had pointed to, the Marriage of Heaven & Earth? Or maybe, just maybe, there's something more there!

For the past 5 years or so, I have toyed with the heretical notion, particularly within this 'blog', that the Scriptures we are most accustomed to, the Hebrew, Greek & Aramaic ones we call 'The Holy Bible' ( in its many iterations ( translations ), are not the only ones that bear 'Good News'! Further ( you might wanna sit down for this ), they are NOT the only Revelation of 'God' to 'His' people! ( GASP! ) There are many rabbit-trails we could explore here & some that we have explored previously, within the 'pages' of this blog; questions like, 'who or what IS 'God'?' 'If 'God' is knowable ( as an entity ), why can we only know 'Him' through perusing the pages of a certain book? 'Is the Source of all Life really a 'Him'? Why not a 'Her' ( if there is a 'Him', there MUST be a 'Her', right? )? Must it be a 'Him' or 'Her' ( even both? ), or is such a designation a merely human conceptualization to help us understand the complex simplicity of what Christians call 'the Godhead', or Divinity?!

In Orthodox ( biblical ) tradition, the 'God' of the Bible, who, interestingly enough shares a Name with a Canaanite deity, is the One True God, the Creator of Heaven & Earth. This was in opposition to the prevailing notion of the 'day' that there were many 'Gods'. These 'many 'Gods' were merely different aspects ( as they saw them ) of that One, True God, though. The Bible, having been translated, transliterated & mistranslated over thousands of years from those original tongues, calls these aspects of the One, True God, 'false gods' or 'idols', even 'demons'. ( it's not hard to imagine that much has been lost in the translation ) According to the Journey that has taken me, personally speaking, on a slightly different Path for the past several years, the 'God' of the Bible is also an aspect ( as we have traditionally understood 'Him', anyway ) of this One, True God ( who is neither 'Him' nor 'Her' )!

The Hebrew, Greek & Aramaic Scriptures portray a 'jealous God' ( ? ); One who will suffer no other gods ( before 'Him' ). This 'God' ( elohim ) is the Creator of Heaven & Earth, though many now understand that, read in covenant context, the creation of heaven & earth refers, not to the creation of the physical, material universe, but to the formation of a Covenant, whereby the One, True God revealed 'Himself' as such to a particular ( peculiar ) People, through whom 'He' would disperse this Gospel among the nations. This Good News, of course, whether one understands it literally or mythically ( metaphorically/allegorically? ) is that the Source of All Life 'came down' from Heaven & incarnated in Man, living & dying as a Man ( according to Hebrew mythology ), rising from the Dead ( reincarnation? ) & living forever in 'His' People. The Israelite nation, or People, had 'died' in their sins & must needs be resurrected; the 'Virgin Birth' of Jesus met this necessity & fulfilled all that had been Promised to the Hebrew People. As a picture of humanity, one might note, this 'Gospel' to the Hebrews became the Gospel to the Greeks & Aramaics ( Gentiles ) & thus to all the 'nations'!

The Myth ( Story? ) of Creation that we read in the Hebrew, Greek & Aramaic Scriptures, then, is simply those people's retelling, their understanding of how the Source of All Life descended from 'On High' & brought Life to the Mundane. We may understand from the pages of the Bible ( an interpretation of those ancient Scriptures ) that Humanity is, in some sense, One with the Divinity, having within it that same Spark ( Energy? ) which formed the 'worlds'. ( There are other Scriptures, maybe, that speak more clearly of this 'Spark' within us all, but, for whatever reason, these are the Scriptures we were blessed with! ) We should understand, as well, though, that ALL Scriptures ( from every nation under heaven ) tell this Story ( with some cultural differences )!

The Creator God, then, of the Hebrew, Greek & Aramaic Scriptures, being simply one aspect of the One, True God, the Source of All Life, though 'He', through 'His' incarnation in Jesus the Christ, was the Author of Salvation ( for those peoples ), is One whereby we ( humanity as a whole ) may understand that it is within ourselves, our Higher Selves ( 'further up.......further in' ) that the Power lies ( to save ourselves ). In that sense then, if only in that sense, WE are 'the Way, the Truth & the Life'! Of course, this is dependent, in the personal sense, on how we choose to live our lives: if we choose to live selfishly, as many have done, we will never manifest that Glorious Truth & rather than showing the Way to Salvation ( Heaven ), we will only show others the Path that leads to Destruction ( Hell ).

As the Christ, the Living Incarnation of the Source of All Life ( 'God' to the typical Christian ), Jesus WAS the Way, the Truth & the Life, especially to the Hebrew nation & through them, to 'the nations' ( around them ) as well! In the most universal sense, then, it could truly be said that Jesus IS the Way, the Truth & the Life for ALL humanity because He showed us ( them, really ) that a Man ( generically-man or woman ) was capable of embodying Divinity & that it IS through our choices that we manifest that Divinity, or not. The Divinity, the Source of All Life, call It 'Energy', 'the Universe', or what you will ( 'God'? ), is what It is, not what humanity conceptualizes & creates in the image of their own choosing. It is the Way, the Truth & the Life; there IS truly no other!

Namaste,
Charles Haddon Shank

Sunday, December 09, 2018

Living the Godspell ( Good News ); the Glory of the All

'How DOES one 'live' the Gospel?! To answer this question, one must first ask him or herself this question: 'What IS the Gospel?' Ask any Bible-believing Christian & they'll likely tell you something along the lines of 'get saved, so you can go to Heaven when you die'! 'Been there, done that! In other words, we've been over this piece of ground before & it should be fairly clear to my readers by now that the Gospel is NOT about 'going to Heaven when you die! 'Heaven' is here & now; it is the peace ( in our hearts ) that passeth all understanding. According to the Greek Scriptures, the latter part of what we Westerners call 'the Holy Bible'; the Kingdom of Heaven is within you; not that this world is the Kingdom, but as the Bible says, 'as He is, so are we in this world' ( I John 4:17 ): as He embodied the Kingdom of God, so do we. The universal truth of 'the Kingdom Within/the Spirit Within' is one that might stand reexamination from an Eastern point of view, especially as regards the original audience, but as I have yet to answer the question, 'What IS the Gospel?!'; let us continue with that theme..........

The Good News, as we've explored previously, is that, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, the Creator God invested Himself in ( to ) His own Creation, becoming part of it, that He might redeem it to Himself. In the Marriage of Heaven & Earth, as has been elucidated previously within the 'pages' of this blog, the Creator God showed that Man ( kind ) was indeed One with Him, that it was through their choices ( covenant? ) that they manifested the Spirit Within, for good or evil. Whether or not one believes that the Gospel was for Israel Only, it should be clear that there is a Universal Truth in this God-spell which bears the reckoning of the ages!

On a bit of a side-track, it might well be asked whether the Gospel to the Hebrews & Greeks ( Gentiles? ) is indeed the Gospel for humanity: in short, yes, it is! A long-term answer would reveal that, while the Gospel, or God-spell IS for us ( 21st century Westerners ); it should be noted that it doesn't necessarily sound the same as the one to the Hebrews & Greeks ( Ancient Near Eastern 'world' ). The message is basically the same, but we must understand the cultural differences that make up the Story. Every culture has a Story & though these Stories may vary, to whatever extent, based on these cultural differences, they tell the same basic Story; the One who 'made the worlds' is, in Essence, the Power, or Spirit, that resides within humanity!

The question has been asked before, if in a slightly rhetorical manner; 'Why are we reading the Hebrew & Greek Scriptures, here in America, rather than the Buddhist or Hindu ( Sanskrit )?' The Q'ran is actually fairly similar, in some respects, to the Hebrew Scriptures ( 'cultural differences?' ), but in our English Bibles, we have a New Testament, a fulfillment of what the so-called 'Old Testament' prophesied, while Muslims, not unlike the Jews, or Hebrews, are still waiting for fulfillment of 'the heavenly vision'.  Many Christians actually almost ignore the 'Old Testament', likely for this reason. This has actually been detrimental, for it  ( both 'Testaments' ) is really one continuous Story & without this understanding, one cannot interpret either correctly. In essence, one views the Creator God as a petty, vindictive Being ( as in Islam ), or a God who is helpless to save unless we 'enable 'Him. Either way, a false view of the Nature of 'God' is conceptualized!

'What then', one might ask, 'IS the Nature of 'God'?' The Nature of 'God' as we saw earlier, is OUR true nature! No, not our human nature, though that CAN be a manifestation of our true nature. Our true nature, as we've seen previously, is Spirit; in Essence the same as the One we call 'God'! Every culture also has a concept of this One, whether they name It 'YHWH', 'Allah' or 'Krishna'. Employing a visualization I've used before, one might recall the old illustration of the four blind Indians who described an elephant. One grabbed ahold of the tail & thought, 'this is what an elephant is like!' Another grasped the elephant by one of his legs & thought how similar an elephant was to a tree. The others followed suit, with their perceptions being based on the ear & trunk of the elephant. They were all correct, but their different perceptions were just that; perceptions based on THEIR experience!

The 'God' of the Bible, then, while certainly a 'facet' of the One ( True God ) is simply the Hebrew & later, Greek perception of the One who is 'All in all' ( I Corinthians 15:28 ). The Orthodox view of 'God', of course, is that the Greek & Hebrew Scriptures contain the most comprehensive & true perception of this One ( though they most likely wouldn't use the word 'perception' ), but, clearly, there is much more ( not unlike humanity itself ) to the One who fashioned the Universe (s? ) than can be read in the pages of our English Bible & indeed, in the Greek & Hebrew Scriptures!

Since, in this view, the One that Christians call 'God' cannot be fully, or perfectly, described by any given culture; can this One be described? Can one offer any but their own or someone else's perception of 'the One Who is'?! ( that was a rhetorical question, by the way ) Like the Indians in the Story, is one description right while the other is necessarily wrong? No, they're just different perceptions! Some might say that, 'well, the Muslim perception ( 'Allah' ) is just WRONG!' Be that as it may, if  ANY 'God' tells you to murder the infidel just because he or she has a different perception, that perception IS wrong!

The One ( Source, All, etc ) that spread the Stars, the One who has even been named 'the Universe' is certainly much more, infinitely so, in fact, than has ever been or ever will be elucidated by any human being! The fact that every culture has their own Creation Myth should tell us that there is One ( Almighty ) Being that brought all else into being, materialistically speaking. As Creators ourselves, because we are of the same Essence, Humanity has done much to further that work of Creation, though on the other hand, one might note, humanity has done as much to retard the evolution of that same Creation!

The True Gospel of Christianity has more to do do with the Kingdom of God ( on Earth ) than it does with any hope of 'Heaven'! Oh, sure, the Hebrew & Greek Scriptures have much to say about 'Heaven', but even more about the Kingdom thereof.  Jesus ( 'God' in the flesh ) told the Pharisees, 'the kingdom of God is [g]within you' ( Luke 17:21 ). If the Kingdom was within them, of whom it was later said, that they were 'Christ-killers', can it truly be said of any other group of humans that the Kingdom is NOT within them?! Then again,we must keep in mind the cultural differences between that age & this.....................

So, since the God-spell, or Good News, IS for all, how DO we live it? Do we go around telling everyone we meet that, if they aren't already, they must be saved ( born again )? Obviously not; salvation, at least in the Biblical sense, was a Hebrew concept. This is not to say that people no longer need salvation, but it ( salvation ) looks a little bit different today. Salvation in today's age doesn't necessarily involve accepting Jesus as ( Israel's ) Messiah. It can involve anything from being saved from a lifetime of addiction to being pulled back from the edge of a cliff, from drowning, or out of the way of oncoming traffic.So, there's your answer; THAT'S what it looks like to live the Gospel, no matter what Gospel, or God-spell, you subscribe to. If you pull others back from the edge, no matter what that edge looks like, you're living the Good News, no matter if you're Christian or Jew, Hindu, Buddhist or Muslim!

Charles Haddon Shank

Thursday, December 06, 2018

The Fertile Earth

Then God said, “Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb [ that ] yields seed, [ and ] the fruit tree [ that ] yields fruit according to its kind, whose seed [ is ] in itself, on the earth”; and it was so. And the earth brought forth grass, the herb [ that ] yields seed according to its kind, and the tree [ that ] yields fruit, whose seed [ is ] in itself according to its kind. And God saw that [ it was ] good.
Genesis 1:11 & 12 

To be perfectly blunt, procreation ( normally-there ARE exceptions to this rule ) requires a male & a female, with their complimentary reproductive organs. I'm  no scientist, but I've heard of certain creatures that are not one or the other, but 'both/and', but even in such rare or unusual cases, the creature in question possesses both male & female reproductive organs & thus, impregnates itself. Of course, we also have the famous Birth of Jesus ( Matthew 1:18-25 ), which, according to a literal interpretation of the English Bible, occurred unnaturally, or supernaturally, without the introduction of human male sperm. We've been over this, though, so we'll go no further down that rocky road!


Everybody knows that, under normal conditions, if you plant a seed in the ground ( Earth ) & provide it with plenty of water, after some time, the seed will germinate ( death & resurrection ) & a fresh green sprout will soon appear above the surface of the ground. However, how many of us really think about the process involved? Beyond that, how many of us further ruminate on the mystery of it all & how the miracles here 'below' echo the realities 'above'?! In some way, it might be noted that the concept of 'as above, so below' has been lost on an overwhelming majority. Or at least, so it would seem....................


'As above, so below' is a very spacious term! While it may refer literally to the heavens above ( outer space ) being reflected in Life on Earth, one should understand as well that what is observable is simply a manifestation of truth originating on a higher plane. By 'a higher plane', I mean, of course, that everything begins in the mind, personally speaking, whether the conscious or the unconscious. What/how we then manifest in this limited biology is the product of what first begin in our thoughts, or our head, if you will. 'A higher plane' refers, more correctly, though, to that spiritual plane, or realm, where we grasp our Divinity, where we commune with the Source of All Life. Understanding our own Divinity, it need not be a great stretch to see that the Earth Herself carries that Spark as well, though most would probably disagree as to the extent, if they admit that She does at all!

A popular Christian concept, though based on biblical terminology ( Genesis 1:3 ( John 1:1 ) et al. ) , is that Yahweh simply spoke the Word & Life as we know it came into existence. As arguable as this may be, to this blogger, it remains clear as day that this biology had a beginning. More than that, it had an Intelligent Designer! The Beginning in view here was most likely a lot longer ago than many, especially most Christians, seem to think. Millions, even billions of years are probably not out of the question!  

Biblically speaking, then, when God ( Elohim )  said, 'Let the earth bring forth...........' something ordinary, though quite miraculous, occurred; the Earth Herself was shown to have Life in Her! One might even go so far as to say that this event was significant of the True Union of Heaven & Earth! 'Ordinary', I say, because this event, though nothing short of miraculous, was quite natural. As mentioned previously, when a seed is planted in the ground, or Earth, granted it receives the correct combination of nutrients, water & light, it won't be long till it sprouts & brings forth Life of its own, after its kind. We could even go further to say that the water & light ( from the 'heavens' ), together with the necessary nutrients ( from the 'earth' ) could be likened to the fertilization of the human egg.. Beyond that, even, we find ourselves 'knocking on Heavens door', so to speak, exploring the depths of the human consciousness, even the Mind of God!

It was in the Mind of God, then, we may safely conjecture, that this biology, however old it may be, had its True Genesis. The Divinity visualized the beauty of this material creation those millions or billions of years ago & lo, it, or She rather, came to be. One might even read of this mystery in our English Bible, though it is technically more of a covenant Story than a literal textbook of the material ( biological ) creation. 

Call it 'natural processes', call it 'evolution' or what you will; when the Earth brought forth all this natural beauty that we see & even that which She continues to 'birth', the glorious concept of 'as above, so below' is shouted from the rooftops, or the mountaintops, as the case may be! Even our English Bible echoes this with 'The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament[a] shows [b]His handiwork.' ( Psalm 19:1 ). The prophet Isaiah also recorded an angel ( messenger ) singing, 'Holy, holy, holy [ is ] the Lord of hosts; the whole earth [ is ] full of His glory!

Charles Haddon Shank