The sub-conscious part of the brain guides humans through their life phases in much the same way as other species are guided by their sub-conscious. However we humans have in addition a conscious brain which at times struggles to be happy with the directions coming from the sub-conscious brain. So we create a concept to better manage the emotions, desires, etc coming from the sub-conscious - the concept of god(s). The sub-conscious is at least similar across people in the way that other human features are similar, and so we find unconnected peoples all worshipping similar gods. As the sub-conscious has evolved over millions of years, it IS 'ancient, wise beyond our conscious understanding, and all-powerful' (as mentioned in the Bible). Externalising the perception of god has proven counter-productive, as it leads to many different versions, none of which correspond to real external entities.

I think the advantage that humans derive from having a conscious (as compared to say spiders that only have a sub-conscious) is that humans can at times over-ride their sub-conscious and obtain consequent darwinian benefits. However this over-riding is a tricky business because at times it is the 'right thing' to follow the emotion/desire as recommended by the sub-conscious, and other times it is not. Most religions have a devil or devil equivalent in addition to god to try to distinguish between 'good' sub-conscious commands (god given) and 'bad' sub-conscious commands (devil given). I have yet to study Freud; however, I would note that a baby's conscious is weak, and that there were probably survival benefits for a child to sleep with its parents in the millenia of prehistory (prowling leopards, snakes, etc.).

The sex thing seems silly to me, supported by neither the conscious nor the sub-conscious. Spiders only have a pin-head size brain, and they just persevere with their spider techniques whatever happens. As you move 'up' through larger brain sizes - birds, dogs ..., degrees of consciousness creep in.

My driving reason for this theory is that humans are somehow guided through life processes not dissimilar to those of a spider, but yet somehow our conscious 'we' is not very aware of the directions somehow being followed. There is a part of our brain which is pushing us through our human life phases - so god enters. Note that the sub-conscious builds the virtual reality that our conscious lives in, and so the sub-conscious is in fact 'all-powerful' as well as ancient and loving.

-- Updated May 31st, 2012, 5:03 pm to add the following --

I have used god as the construct to appeal to those facing Christian/Jewish/Muslim religions, but other religious threads have multi-gods and/or multi-spirits. Even Jewish derived religions do not spurn the devil and other spirits. All these are slightly different constructs to better live with the sub-conscious. God/the spirit world is not pure invention, it is trying to attach a label to what humans actually experience from their sub-conscious.

-- Updated June 2nd, 2012, 9:27 pm to add the following --

Scott wrote:By sleep with, I meant have sex with.

Do you have more information about spiders? How can one have a subconscious without a conscious?

Having now read a bit of Freud, I better understand your comment. However I would argue that whilst Freud was the first psychologist and he went where no man had been before, our understanding has progressed beyond his 'first-cut' id (or unconscious). For instance, behaviours encouraged by our unconscious include group behaviour, pair-bonding and child support. Also I think some of Freud's conclusions were biassed because as a psychologist doctor he was seeing sick people regularly. Consciousness may have arisen as a way of dealing with the huge number of behavioural possibilities being generated by complex unconsciouses.