The letters of the alphabet are signs. But symbols are different, because they actually partake of the qualities of the thing they stand for. A symbol evokes feelings in us that are similar to the feelings we have about the thing itself. A painting of a sunset may evoke the feeling of a real sunset, even if it is quite abstract and not accurately representational. Or, to go further, Edvard Munch's painting The Scream can speak with remarkable eloquence as a symbol for a particular state of mind, even if we are not told beforehand that it has been assigned this meaning.
Symbols are useful.
Now we come to the confessional. I'm going to share with you something of how I used these ideas in forming my own religion. I begin by asserting a psychological model of religion. I believe religion works from the inside out. God-images are creatures of the human mind that have their effect through their influence on human personality and behavior.