[zeek]

How about this? The spiritual perspective of Christianity is based on a traditional cosmology that answers different questions than the materialistic modern one which asks how does it work? What is it made of? Instead, the spiritual perspective asks what does it mean? What higher truth does it embody?

Materialistic cosmologies describe phenomena in terms of energy, matter, space and time. The biblical cosmology describes reality in terms of heaven, earth, space and time.

In the context of the spiritual worldview a symbol is a fact that embodies higher meaning. Symbols have a metacognitive function in this cosmology because they're miniature representations of the entire cosmos.

The traditional cosmology doesn't describe the natural world. It's a model in which consciousness mediates between spiritual and corporeal realities as symbolized by heaven and earth.