It is like the Sufi legend of the man who had lost his key in the house but was looking for it outside because there was more light there. Inside it was dark. In Greek and Roman, and even earlier, mythologies the Gods had emotions, desires, and failings, even as we humans do. We identify with them. Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Judaism and Taoism have each taught that we should look within for spirituality.
Modern physics shows the microcosm as mirror of the macrocosm.
We perceive God as one more external source of happiness, peace, and harmony. He became another God, only a little less distant than the Father, and that distance was further widened by the concept of sinful humanity in need of redemption. Other religions have also made their leaders more than human. The possibility of seeing them as humans like us, even as examples of humanity at its best, is blurred. The vision of them as the great teachers and examples that they actually were is lost when they become gods who are somehow exempt from our human failings.