What is the difference between a god and a non-god? If it is capabilities, then are those capabilities learnt skills or evolved abilities? If the former, then gods are within all of us and we only have to learn how to be one, and if the latter, then they can be defined as being a different species. If they are not physical, then they only exist in our minds.
The stories of the gods are stories of us. The capabilities of divine power are also the capabilities of the human species and our interaction with each other, and the problems that are caused by having these powers are the lessons that are being illustrated in these myths to teach us.
Being a god has nothing to do with capabilities or accomplishments. If it was, it would be species dependent, and to a lower capable species our abilities would make us gods relative to them, and therefore they would also be gods to those beneath them. This relative heirarchy makes all sentient creatures gods and shows that it is not the species, or the capabilities, but the absolute centre of you and the divine love at your core which is the god. That love is being in a state of abandonment to grace and divine acceptance within this existence. In effect, just sheer being is godhood. The fact that we are here at all and able to recognise it, is the profundity that puts us on this ladder.
But those who have been lofted onto pedestals of holy superiority, will deny you your divinity because they want it for themselves; gods are jealous. They want to be special, and as not all can be, will denigrate you to be less. After all, the entire premise of a guru is that they know and you don't. But everyone is divine and all are special and it is only those that pretend to be more and try to keep it for themselves, that hide it from you and tell you that you do not know, when deep inside you know that you do, because you are divine too. It is society that will refuse you your divine right and keep you tied up and toeing the line. Any communication with others is part of this society and you cannot be divine while within it, and your ego will have no memory of you ever being in it, and you will pretend that you do not know, and you will not know except in the deepest part of you.
You can't be a god when you interact with others or even the planet either, because the planet is a god too. There can only be one god. You can only be a god in potential; any interaction with another god will prove that neither is, even though both are, in isolation.
A bear or cat or horse can know it is a god too. Any creature which is sure of its right of existence is being a god, and along with that the hubris comes too, until death or the fear of it takes it away. The comparative capabilities within each species will make a hierarchy, and it is not only super capabilities of our own species which can make a god. Simply the knowing you are alive and the consciousness of being aware of the incredibleness of sheer existence itself, is an entry into the temple of godhood. It is the mundane day to day activities that smoother the divine and make you just a human being in a crowd of others. It is our society that we transcend to become gods. Most people's lives are 100% immersed in this quagmire of mediocrity, to the point that they believe that their lives are only work, talk and family. There are none which are unaffected and truly free. If there were any, they would be unable to say so as it is language which first brings us into the fold, and any use of language exits us from the divine.
The mundane society living is also true of course, but you cannot maintain this paradigm while grasping the greater concept of what we are and what this is. The society mechanics have to exist for us to survive, and survival is the mechanism that has created this life; but the divine is the paradigm of its realisation without the mundane machinations.
Do not underestimate the power of someone else's reality. They are the same god that you are. Therefore, you may find yourself performing according to someone else's expectation of you and it is this that pulls us down into the mundane subservience of society. Everyone is insecure at heart and aware that they cannot fulfil their role of being a god, and they will shoot you down if you try to be one; perhaps rightly so, and what greater target is there than someone flying high. Perhaps it is only within the privacy of our inner world that we are allowed to be who we really are.
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My first experience of religion was at a cathedral at Christmas when I was about 4 or 5, and it convinced me of what I already really knew—and that was that the adults didn't actually know what they were talking about; they were pretending and didn't even realise it.
As we waited in the pews I kept looking round to the entrance doors in eager anticipation of the important man who was to come in and tell us all what all this was; what this reality was and why we were here and how does it work. As each person came in I thought "no, that's not him". I was quite sure that I would be able to recognise him when he came in. After quite a long time, someone came in wearing silly clothing and an enormous hat, and I knew straight away that that was not him. I can't remember whether I actually said it out loud or just thought …"look! There's a clown". I'm sure I laughed.
But then everybody stood up and went quiet, but I kept on looking round, confused as to why it was all starting without him. Then the man with the outlandish costume started speaking and I think I had been told by now that this was the man, or maybe I just worked it out myself, and so I listened intently to what he said. But it was the usual nonsense that adults always did, and he wasn't saying anything important at all. I tried to persevere but quickly lost concentration and interest. He wasn't saying anything about what this reality was, or why we were here, or how it all worked. I was really disappointed; it was a significant disillusionment which I tried to ignore by becoming interested in something else, like a cat will clean itself to distract itself, if it finds itself becoming self-conscious.
Then I was told to put my hands together in prayer, which I did, but my 2 palms pressed together produced so much heat that it hurt, and I complained to my mum as I was seriously in pain, but I still had to do it. So I cheated a little and held my palms a little apart to reduce the suffering. It was because I was prepared for a full blown encounter with the revelations of the universe and holy union, and my energy level was at boiling point.
Such a fantastic great building, filled with such small words, from such a big hat. Why was everyone so reverent for that!
I came away from this experience in a state of denial. It had convinced me that there was no salvation, no liberation, that I was alone and that no help was coming. It's still like that.