When people engage in various religious ritual, *knowing* that they are employing icons and metaphor to help them focus on their attempts to cope, they often manage quite a lot without buying into literal interpretations of the texts and 'heroes'.
   I know one person who, when they have a personal issue to sort out imagines a Little Blue Angel sitting on her shoulder, offering advice and whispering comforting thoughts. She KNOWS it is a metaphor and an idealized entity, but it seems to help to have a sounding board, even when you are playing both parts.