What “defines” anything? Belief, faith, experience, feelings, traditions. Many years ago I was taught to “define” myself from my observations (self-awareness), then to project these observations into the cosmos thus: as below, so above. God, seems to me, would be that which is “above” and I would be currently (incarnate) as that which is below. My observations show me a world that is deeply troubling; a world awash in dysfunction and contradiction; a world that is misogynistic and destroying itself through man’s interference in the natural order of the planet. “God” was/is that which “created” man IN HIS OWN IMAGE. So then, it seems safe to reason that “God” is that which is just like man, only much greater in scope and power. If I can define man in relation to earth, then I can define God in relation to the universe, or the cosmos. Perhaps not a pleasant image, but likely quite accurate.
But as “man” isn’t just one entity ruling an earth kingdom, God is not one entity either. God is a ruling system, just as we see religion, government and finance as the trinity of oppressive systems replete with their bureaucracies ruling this earth. God is a trinity of universal governments, religions and financial institutions outside of earth. God is bureaucracies, armies, corporations, space fleets… you name it. As below so above. What takes place on earth is the microcosm of what takes place everywhere else. Sha’Tara
Great questions. I think the consciousness/agency thing is important. A god has to have at least that kind of power. I also think a god has to have a fundamentally different (“better”) kind of power than humans and other animals have. For instance, while humans and other animals supposedly can’t create sentience itself, the Judeo-Christian “God” supposedly can.