James195101

To me it is self-evident that God does not exist as a physical entity. However many many things that are critically important to us do not exist as physical entities. We call these things 'concepts' and there are way too many of them for me to waste your reading time giving examples. Humans adopt concepts which are personally productive for them. There is no mystery about God, God is just a human concept. For many people it is such a useful concept that they will live and die by him/her. Note that as God is a concept in each person's mind, everyone is free to tailor God to their own preferences, and they do. For example, atheists tailor God right out of existence. Also where we might use the term 'conceptual', people of antiquity used the term 'spiritual'.

I am asserting that God exists only as a concept in human minds, and that the using of productive concepts is an essential human attribute. God is not very useful in filling in the gaps of human knowledge, but God is useful in filling in the gaps of personal understanding. Questions such as: why am I attracted to that person, why do I fear that person, what should I do in this situation, this is where the concept of God normally becomes productive.

If it is the primal purpose of the conscious brain to search for manipulable causes of things (so that we can manipulate them for our benefit), then perhaps we should be tolerant of those concepts such as God which allow so many humans to better manipulate their lives. Why not accept God as a mental fabrication which is the cause of those things for which we do not have a conscious manipulable cause. For example, whilst Darwinian evolution is a true cause of our existence, it fails the test of personal manipulability, so that many of us only find peace of mind by supposing that God (who is somewhat manipulable through prayers etc) caused our existence.