The gods are abstracted human traits

I realized recently that the gods and goddesses are representations of certain human traits or capacities. In part anyway—some of them also embody certain forces of nature, usually in a way that fits with the personality type, such as Loki representing the life-saving and comforting aspects, as well as the destructive aspects of fire. His personality is that of the trickster, but a dangerous and ultimately evil one who hides his hatred beneath a veneer of friendship and loyalty. This is a perfect merging of a natural force with exactly the right kind of personality traits. Most of us have known people like this, and Loki stands as an excellent representation of their inner nature.

The ancients venerated certain kinds of attributes in people—strength, courage, beauty, and many others. Not only did their heroes embody some of these traits, but I've come to believe their gods and goddesses are figurative representations of them. Thor for instance represents strength and also the power of the thunderstorm. I've known several people like that, and though they can be very different from each other, you can extract out the pure traits from the mere humanness, you can see the god within shaping and powering them.

This is now the way I envision the various pantheons and their multiplicities of gods—each one represents a particular set of traits, often paired with the matching forces of nature, and if you live your life right; if you pray to the right god and make offerings at their temple (this can be figurative rather than literal) then those traits will be on your side even when some of the other gods team up against you, as happened for Odysseus and Jason and all the other heroes.

The heroes always seem to get into trouble through some version of hubris—claiming a little too much power, the power that rightfully belongs to the gods within (in the unconscious) and not to the human ego. These powers are things we can call on when we need them, and if we've been living in a way our ancestors would consider spiritually pure, then their help will be granted.

In ancient Greece, each city-state, each village had its own patron god or goddess, with temples, and each household had a shrine where offerings and prayers could be made. In doing this, the people were thinking deeply about the particular traits of that god or goddess, and calling for them to rise within when they're needed. This is actually a damn good psychological method for accessing strengths or abilities locked away within yourself.

The heroes were usually demigods like Hercules or Jesus or Dionysus, born of a mortal and a god, or descended from a god. So, like Jesus, they represented a bridge between the mortal and the divine, a way for humans to access the immortal traits within, assuming they were brave enough and willing to make the necessary sacrifices.

The traits that eventually became embodied by gods were first noticed in extraordinary people. We've all known people who embody excellent traits—a really beautiful or graceful woman maybe, a super strong guy, someone with exceptional bravery. This is how I believe it began, by noticing and praising the traits of extraordinary people. These traits then became abstracted; separated from the human individuals carrying them, and enshrined in the form of pure perfect gods.

I've definitely experienced it for myself a few times, especially when meeting certain women (girls when I was younger). That worshipful urge overwhelms you, you almost want to drop to your knees and pray to them literally. This is very much the same as the numinous quality of divinity, in a powerful religious experience for example. It can be felt to varying degrees. You can experience a very similar rush of admiration when you see someone demonstrate great feats of strength or courage or certain other attributes.

In thinking it through this way I think we can come pretty close to understanding how the idea of gods came into being, and what they represent—abstracted human qualities we admire powerfully and hope to be able to call up in ourselves when needed.

Here's a video showing how the traits of Artemis (Diana) are embodied in Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games movies. How did I not get this earlier?