Divinity

Polytheistic and animistic systems of belief make no such distinction; gods and other beings of transcendent power often have complex, ignoble, or even incomprehensible motivations for their acts.

In Greek legend, for instance, it was Poseidon (god of the sea) who raised the storms that blew Odysseus's craft off course on his return journey, and Japanese tradition holds that a god-sent wind saved them from Mongol invasion.

Prayers or propitiations are often offered to specific gods to garner favorable interventions in particular enterprises: e.g. safe journeys, success in war, or a season of bountiful crops.

In monotheistic religions, divine intervention may take very direct forms: miracles, visions, or intercessions by blessed figures.

Philosophical Taoism also proposes a transcendent operant principle—transliterated in English as tao or dao, meaning 'the way'—which is neither an entity nor a being per se, but reflects the natural ongoing process of the world.

Modern western mysticism and new age philosophy often use the term 'the Divine' as a noun in this latter sense: a non-specific principle or being that gives rise to the world, and acts as the source or wellspring of life.

More commonly, and more pertinent to recent history, leaders merely claim some form of divine mandate, suggesting that their rule is in accordance with the will of God.

Less politically, most faiths have any number of people that are believed to have been touched by divine forces: saints, prophets, heroes, oracles, martyrs, and enlightened beings, among others.

Saint Francis of Assisi, in Catholicism, is said to have received instruction directly from God and it is believed that he grants plenary indulgence to all who confess their sins and visit his chapel on the appropriate day.

Various individuals in the Buddhist faith, beginning with Siddhartha, are considered to be enlightened, and in religious forms of Buddhism they are credited with divine powers.

Such divinity, in these faiths, would express itself naturally if it were not obscured by the social and physical worlds we live in; it needs to be brought to the fore through appropriate spiritual practices.