The most primitive level of the mind is the ego. Its primary mandate is survival, and in that regard is the impulse to seek advantage at every opportunity, which many of us do a good job of hiding that last fact.

But also coming out of the survival aspect of the ego is the religious impulse. Basically our survival impulse is so strong that we refuse to except death as the end. And so we create God’s and profits to help blind us to a reality many of us can’t except. This is why that the most sophisticated one becomes and manages to rise above some of our base ego, the harder it becomes to except religious doctrine, though a residue of a spiritual impulse always hangs in the back of one’s mind.

Indeed, when looked at critically, God did not create mankind in his image, humankind created some of the God’s in our image.

Apprentice Killers: The War of Lincoln and Davis — a great book.