 The gods were believed to manifest in many forms . The Egyptians had complex conception of the human soul , consisting of several parts . The spirits of the gods were composed of many of these same elements . The ba was the component of the human or divine soul that affected the world around it . Any visible manifestation of a god 's power could be called its ba ; thus , the sun was called the ba of Ra . A depiction of a deity was considered a <unk> , another component of its being , which acted as a vessel for that deity 's ba to inhabit . The cult images of gods that were the focus of temple rituals , as well as the sacred animals that represented certain deities , were believed to house divine bas in this way . Gods could be ascribed many bas and <unk> , which were sometimes given names representing different aspects of the god 's nature . Everything in existence was said to be one of the <unk> of Atum the creator god , who originally contained all things within himself , and one deity could be called the ba of another , meaning that the first god is a manifestation of the other 's power . Divine body parts could act as separate deities , like the Eye of Ra and Hand of Atum , both of which were personified as goddesses . 
