I find the ancient Greek concept of existence fascinating, and astonishingly close to the scientific conceptions of today.
The ancient Greeks believed that there was a kind of divine ideal, a perfect (therefor divine) conceptual blueprint that controlled the behaviors of all material substances. Trees, mountains, rivers, and all these various physical things that we humans experience are just material 'shadows' or reflections/manifestations of the a perfect (divine) idealization of them that already exists, and that is controlling the way that matter behaves, thus causing these material manifestations that we call reality.
The educated monotheists of the day also believed in this "logos": this divine idealization that underpins, creates, and controls both the Earthly and celestial realms. But they saw it as God's will, or God's plan for themselves - for their own existence. And it was written of in the beginning of Gospel of John, and elaborated on in the gnostic gospels.
To these early Christians, the term "logos" didn't refer to written nor spoken words. It referred to the divine wisdom of their God. A wisdom that has created all things, and that gives all things their purpose.
