What exactly is “divinity”?
Is there (rhetorically speaking) a quantifiable value that makes something “divine” or a “deity”? Or is it simply an abstract concept attributed to beings that are somehow other – older, more powerful, from another plane or energetic wavelength?
Does the power to instill divinity rest upon the worshipers themselves, and not the one deified?
I feel like this was a question I often chewed on, and I doubt it is a question that could be answered across the board. For me, at least, I have settled upon the latter.
I was not a creature that had innate dominion over some force of nature. I was not a great creator, no more than any mortal given eons of practice at a craft. I was not the embodiment of anything – not unless you count being the epitome of an ancient and insufferable know-it-all.
But I do think, more than once, I traveled to a land, and I found myself called a “god.” Or, more regularly, I left and returned some centuries later (either by mistake or design) and found myself deified in my long absence.
By and large, I think I was mostly gently confused by this proclivity. I considered myself more an adviser, a beast of ages and of experience, but… I was also vain. It’s hard to turn down such a compliment.
But also who was I to truly say otherwise? Who am I to deny that belief, that trust in me? It seemed like a great insult, and an unnecessary rejection.
It might have been more responsibility than I had anticipated, but all I could do was make no promises I could not keep. And it wasn’t as if I was lacking in time or interest or ability.
For the most part, I think I was pleased with the arrangements, if still bemused.
Yet I wonder still: where is the line between the long-lived, the immortal, and the divine? And how fine is it, in the end?
