Dear Hilary,

Hope you're feeling better now.

Plato is interesting because it is widely reported that he was initiated into the Mysteries of Egypt. There is a tradition that Moses wrote Genesis, although we don't know for certain. However, as Acts 7.22 says: “Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians”. So there may be a close parallel between the two, and we may learn something by studying Plato on cosmology, since Genesis is so brief and lacking in detail.

Your other observations are obviously speculations, about which nothing definitive can be said. On the question of days and how long, I would say, what does it matter? What is interesting is the process, not how long it took. For me 'days' merely previous to separate stages; how long each took is a side issue. What's important is therefore that Genesis 1 was not about the creation of the physical universe but, according to d'Olivet and Best, the preparations and plans for it. That makes much more sense to me, and would be in accordance with other spiritual traditions.

I certainly believe that birds communicate with each other (as apparently do plants), therefore talk. Whether a parrot understands what it is saying when it mimics humans is another question. Going even further, it may be possible for a human to understand bird language. Peter Kingsley claims to have done so, having put a lot of effort into the project.

I also believe animals have souls, or at least other levels of being. That is no reason to believe that in the past snakes had the ability to talk, however.