### belief:

God
* All gods are one god.
* Many gods have different names
  - oracles or avatars
  - represent a part of the natural universe
* Most gods create blind creatures
  - great sea creatures
  - live creatures
* Some gods create animals
  - beasts
  - draw their power from the faith and awe of their devotees
* Some gods have gods
  - heads
  - many names
  - more than one name
  - roles
  - make men
  - open spiritual eyes
  - possess power
* appear as powerful components of theory because they are modeled on powerful real organisms
  - framed in myth and color
* appear in animal and human guise, manipulating mere mortals to guide the turning of the world
  - dreams
  - most easily when they live in our consciousness
* are a race of their own, whose power depends on the number of their believers
  - attested from the earliest time of Egyptian civilization
  - different, both genetically and psychologically, from people
  - gods because they have unfolded the godlike
  - humans who attain enlightment and are liberated from rebirth
  - important in Pharaoh
  - intelligent beings
  - mortals, men are immortals, each living in the others' death and dying in the others' life
  - part of people's desire to know how the world works
  - sacred
  - something people worship
  - sometimes stars and planets, sometimes they are cognitive centers
* are the main guides in real life, the dead takes the role in the afterlife
  - people who own the database
* are, by definition, supernatural beings.
* become saints occasionally, demons more often.
* can rationalize where material objects can only causally explain.
* differ from human beings in a particular way.
* display similar and dissimilar nonverbal behaviors.
* exist as they are evoked to meaningful existence by the individual psyche
  - to devour information
* have an ascendancy over the angels, who are ministering servants.
* need angels.
* reveal answers.
* spiritual being
* symbol of protection.
* take on many forms in mythology and their roles are varied.
* usually possess superhuman powers, but few are considered omnipotent.
+ Popol Vuh, Contents, Summary: Religious texts :: Maya civilization :: Creation myths
  * Gods create world.

### belief | god:

Door god
* are often in pairs, one for each side of the door.
  * are often in pairs, one for each side of the door. The first door gods may have been made for a Chinese Emperor, more than 1300 years ago. They showed his two best soldiers.

### belief | god:

Goddess
* All goddesses are symbols of insight and the gods represent compassion.
* Most goddesses have heads.
* Some goddesses appear to threaten patriarchal values
  - can change how they look, so they have two or three different images
  - govern death
* are deity
  - women
* sing laments over their dead sons, lovers and brothers.
* tend to come in groups of odd numbers.
+ Devi
  * Hindus believe in millions of female gods. Each goddess of the Hindus has her own story and history. They all look different too. Some goddesses can change how they look, so they have two or three different images. Some learned persons think that all Hindu goddesses are different forms of a single big or supreme goddess. Some learned persons also think that worship of goddesses by Hindus shows their respect for female gender.