Transcendent

Often in the darkest of times, artists can be at their most transcendent.

You believe that love is transcendent and eternal.

What I really wanted was to spend my life envisioning something transcendent.

The fathers of modern science – Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, Newton, Boyle, and many others – saw clear evidence of design in the universe and, in fact, were inspired to discover the laws of nature by their faith in a transcendent lawgiver.

Govinda loved Siddhartha's sweet voice, he loved his walk and the perfect decency of his movements, he loved everything Siddhartha did and said and what he loved most was his spirit, his transcendent, fiery thoughts, his ardent will, his high calling.

Is god an immanent or a transcendent being?

But to sit there swinging his legs—this did not suffice to satisfy his heart, did not enable him to celebrate his instincts; and suddenly from his thicket of forest trees and greening bushes he began to pour forth a thrilling little tide of song, with the native sweetness of some human linnet unaware of its transcendent gift.

However, whether they are gods depends on definition. In many religious traditions, a god isn’t just powerful but also a fundamental source of existence—either creating the universe (transcendent) or embodying it (immanent). Extraterrestrials, no matter how advanced, might still be contingent beings—products of the same cosmic processes as us—rather than the ultimate origin of reality. So, they could be deemed gods by some, but philosophically, they might not fit the full criteria.

Scientifically, evolution could produce a spectrum of intelligence and capability across the cosmos. Imagine humans as "lower beings" compared to a species that’s had a billion more years to evolve—maybe they’re energy-based lifeforms or collective consciousnesses. Then, above them, there could be even more advanced entities, approaching what we’d call godlike but still not ultimate. Whether this tops out at a single transcendent God or remains an open-ended ladder is a matter of speculation.

Extraterrestrials could be seen as gods if their powers dazzle us, but they’d differ from an immanent or transcendent God by being finite, physical beings within the universe, not its root. A hierarchy of beings—us, them, and beyond—fits both religious and speculative frameworks, potentially stretching from the mundane to the near-divine. Whether there’s an ultimate God atop it all, or just an endless progression of "higher" entities, depends on your worldview. What do you think—does the idea of a cosmic pecking order resonate with you, or do you lean toward a singular divine capstone?