Originally Posted by Leto

ok, I'll try:

Everybody looks at Hinduism, and remarks upon the panoply of deities. So many gods to worship, very pagan. Similar concept applied to polytheistic religious systems which pre-dated the paradigm of the "People of the Book" as it were. For example, Ancient Greek and Roman, Norse/Germanic, Asian or New World religions

Is this really and attempt to identify attributes that make up the whole? remember the parable of the bline men trying to identify an elephant, each of them touching a separate part, and giving their interpretation? The one touching the trunk, called the animal a snake, while the one touching the leg called it a tree?

Well, perhaps these attempts to identify and assign attributes to the universe resulted in the creation of deities, which the Judeao/Christian/Islamic world assigns the status of angels, saints etc...

I can see that I'm not very good at clarrifying. Hope it helps.