Whats a god but an idea

What is a god?
This is imperitive in order to know if god is real.
In order to understand at all we must define things unfortunately.
Otherwise the crusades and jihads start.

Ive asked what is god for a long time.
What is god in reality than the highest ideal. Gods are ideas in their highest idealic forms.

Gods are archtypes often presiding over far reaching invisible forces or manmade activities
(in asatru the gods are in this way split into tribes aesir and vanir)
Courage, love, trickery. Etc..

But gods"the archtypes" arent the only shadows swimming around
There are

Ancestors who are powerful ghosts limited by their particularity.

Elves are light beings(the dead heads in america say by taking enough LSD you becomes a "lightbeing"

Dwarves are the spirits of manmade objects and minerals used to make them

Jotun/Titan are elemental physical being in nature.
They are like gods that can be seen immanently as mountains lakes the earth, etc.

Take note that the gods are decended from the elementals.
That said as is a lion to a human, a god is smarter but very much weaker than the forces of nature.... Also take note that a prophecy that will logically and likely be fulfilled is that the gods will eventually all die(along with the human race) at the hands of their rivals the Titans/jotuns (the forces of nature)



Heres the fun part.... Logically these names are all just labels.
So one personality could be two or more classifications of spirit.

Like Thor is god of strength and more. But he is so like a jotun when he manifests as lightning.
Loki is jotun and god.

An ancestor often lives on as a land spirit, or an elf"lightbeings".
When one dies they go where they had made up their mind to go.
So if an ancestors family own land then after death he may imbue the land with his personality, or become a dwarf if he focused on a family hierloom, or maybe hes born in another world fully purified his spirit lives as a luminous elf.
Reincarnation happens mostly. But nobody has rules for any of this **** which its so dangerous to write this stuff

Sounds like somebody's read Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia?

Very good thoughts and ideas. Although it's not set in stone of course and you're right when you say interpretations such as what you've said can be "dangerous" and met with hostility. It does kinda shatter the "Mile-tall giant bearded men riding goats and 8-legged horses across the sky waiting to take you to a real physical golden hall with mead and food and women and eternal joy when you die" image that a lot of people love and enjoy. Thus said people might not be open to any other interpretation than literal ones.

I think a nuanced philosophical and metaphorical view on European Pagan religions is the best view for the individual. It can act as inspiration, motivation, and can be best for being close to nature and one's cultural roots. Besides, if one were to live as though they might live again in another form one day, would they not then try their best to improve the conditions in which they will live in the future? A better motivation to make the world a better, cleaner, place.
If you believe in a literal interpretation, in a hall full of joy and feasting and happiness, life on Earth becomes much less a priority. You can become much more willing to throw your life away to "die a good death" just to be there.

Gods are not beings as we, but metaphor, symbol and dynamic. We have order from chaos and make known that which hidden. Without language we grunt.