Hello @clayboyn,
First of all, I would like to note that, like you, I've also "spent most of my life identifying as atheist or agnostic in varying degrees". Superb wording!
Maybe people feel the need to personify god because in order to make him/her/it less abstract and more believable. Also, as most religions have rules which need to be followed, a personified god is more suitable for this purpose as in recognizable form he/she/it has more authority over the believers.
My line of thinking leads me to the concept that we are all one.
This statement is very similar to something that I've recently written in one of my articles:
I like to think that our individual lives are just parts of a much bigger life – evolution. We are distant relatives to all forms of life on our planet, including monkeys, wolves, whales, orcas, dolphins, minnows, flowers, and trees. The life as a whole, as the evolution, as the ecosystem whose part we are, continues long before and after our individual “death”. Thus, we are a little bit of everyone, human, animal, and plant alike, and we all contribute to and enjoy a bit of the ongoing, uniform life.
I'm glad that I've bumped into your blog as we seem to like similar topics, I'll follow you! 😊😊😊: )
Have a wonderful day,
@lifenbeauty
Thanks for stopping by and checking it out. :)