Symbolic or real?
Our understanding of God is based on an idea of who or what God is. In the same way our understanding of Jim or Nancy is based on something we think about Jim or Nancy, rather than the real, essential person that they are in every circumstance. So this understanding is our personal creation, and the name “God” refers to something beyond itself; it is a symbol of what we believe. In our everyday, personal life there is no difference between this symbol and the reality of God.
Nick Hilton - Reflections 