What's the matter?

What is physical reality? Most obviously, it is a lot of problems, the most important of which we have in common. Now, we are obviously physical (that is why physical reality is, for us, a lot of problems), so it is obvious that physical things can have feelings (sometimes problematic feelings). Nevertheless, you might find it hard to believe that physical things can have feelings: nowadays, we believe that physical things are composed of physical particles, and how could any number of physical particles add up to something with feelings? Does the difficulty we have comprehending how that is possible mean that we are not physical? Of course not: it is obvious that we are physical. What about the atomic theory of matter (the theory that ordinary physical objects are composed of atoms), might we doubt that theory in light of that difficulty? Well, it would make more sense to doubt that we are just a lot of atoms. It would make more sense for us to doubt materialism. But could a difficulty in comprehending how some large number of atoms could possibly add up to something with feelings amount to a reason for doubting the logical possibility of materialism? Well, it depends on what we mean by "logical possibility": nowadays, logics can allow contradictions; but I would say that a logical possibility is a possibility that has not been shown to contain contradictions.

When we say that something is not a certain way, we mean that it is not the case that it is that way, so it cannot be the case that something is a certain way and that it is not that way. In other words, contradictions describe logical impossibilities (they describe them very well; they can also describe logical possibilities, but they do that less well).

Any difficulty comprehending how a large number of atoms could possibly add up to something with feelings might seem less significant when you consider how little we know about what matter is. There does not seem to be any contradiction in materialism, so materialism does seem to be a logical possibility. Now, because we do not know much about what matter is, it is, for all we know, possible that this physical universe was created. And the concept of such a creator need not contain any contradictions. God is, in other words, a logical possibility. Of course, the idea of a God might seem as strange to you as the idea that a large enough number of Lego bricks could be arranged into a structure that has feelings. But of course, atoms are not like Lego bricks. And the logical possibility in question is not like the possibility that the picture of a God that atheists pick up from the religions around them is a realistic picture. So, why would atheists deny the logical possibility of a God?