Thank you for this, I find it quite helpful. When speaking of "gods" casually in various discussion areas, lately I've been deferring to this Procelan type categorization method. On the notion of personal gods that can relate to humans (and vice versa) this is what I said in a discussion on someone reporting a very personal experience with Odin:
"Well, the deities we can form personal relationships with are those close enough to the human level for that to be possible. Meaning these beings are more like ascended heroes, saints, demigods, guardian spirits, and intelligent nature spirits, as opposed to super-high-level cosmic powers. I refer to the Neoplatonic celestial hierarchy (Christian theology draws from this too), which posits that there are many upon many levels of being and beings who inhabit each respective level. I believe there's a similar kind of cosmic vastness in Eastern cosmologies too. So "gods" in this context are simply beings that are more intelligent/wise, powerful, and longer-lived than humans, but not omnipotent or omniscient entities."
I think this is a very helpful way of looking at these matters.
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Thank you for this, I find it quite helpful. When speaking of "gods" casually in various discussion areas, lately I've been deferring to this Procelan type categorization method. On the notion of personal gods that can relate to humans (and vice versa) this is what I said in a discussion on someone reporting a very personal experience with Odin:
"Well, the deities we can form personal relationships with are those close enough to the human level for that to be possible. Meaning these beings are more like ascended heroes, saints, demigods, guardian spirits, and intelligent nature spirits, as opposed to super-high-level cosmic powers. I refer to the Neoplatonic celestial hierarchy (Christian theology draws from this too), which posits that there are many upon many levels of being and beings who inhabit each respective level. I believe there's a similar kind of cosmic vastness in Eastern cosmologies too. So "gods" in this context are simply beings that are more intelligent/wise, powerful, and longer-lived than humans, but not omnipotent or omniscient entities."
I think this is a very helpful way of looking at these matters.