In this task, you will be given a passage to read. A fill in the blank question will be given to you.  Your answer should fit the blank appropriately.

 Although the Egyptians believed their gods to be present in the world around them , contact between the human and divine realms was mostly limited to specific circumstances . In literature , gods may appear to humans in a physical form , but in real life the Egyptians were limited to more indirect means of communication .The ba of a god was said to periodically leave the divine realm to dwell in the images of that god . By inhabiting these images , the gods left their concealed state and took on a physical form . To the Egyptians , a place or object that was ḏsr —  sacred  — was isolated and ritually pure , and thus fit for a god to inhabit . Temple statues and reliefs , as well as particular sacred animals , like the Apis bull , served as divine intermediaries in this way . Dreams and trances provided a very different venue for interaction . In these states , it was believed , people could come close to the gods and sometimes receive messages from them . Finally , according to Egyptian afterlife beliefs , human souls pass into the divine realm after death . The Egyptians therefore believed that in death they would exist on the same level as the gods and fully understand their mysterious nature . Temples , where the state rituals were carried out , were filled with images of the gods . The most important temple image was the cult statue in the inner sanctuary . These statues were usually less than life @-@ size , and made of the same precious materials that were said to form the gods ' bodies . Many temples had several sanctuaries , each with a cult statue representing one of the gods in a group such as a family triad . The city 's primary god was envisioned as its lord , employing many of the residents as servants in the divine household that the temple represented . The gods residing in the temples of Egypt collectively represented the entire pantheon . But many deities — including some important gods as well as those that were minor or hostile — were never given temples of their own , although some were represented in the temples of other gods . To insulate the sacred power in the sanctuary from the impurities of the outside world , the Egyptians enclosed temple sanctuaries and greatly restricted access to them . People other than kings and high priests were thus denied contact with cult statues . The only exception was during festival processions , when the statue was carried out of the temple but still enclosed in a portable shrine . People did have less direct means of interaction . The more public parts of temples often incorporated small places for prayer , from doorways to freestanding chapels near the back of the temple building . Communities also built and managed small chapels for their own use , and some families had shrines inside their homes . Despite the gulf that separated humanity from the divine , the Egyptians were surrounded by opportunities to approach their gods . fill in the blank  :   __________________ the Egyptians believed their gods to be present in the world around them , contact between the human and divine realms was mostly limited to specific circumstances . 
 Although 