A respondent has a more Gnostic view of God etc., saying that the world came about through a bad god, while the real god has not been present, in a way cannot be held responsible (is Gnosticism a pre-stage to new age, things have not yet been "brought to a head" and made completely rational, watertight?)

Humans already have a "higher self", which "is up there somewhere", says one respondent… "the healing of the self," as Heelas writes. You are, or at least you will be, "God". But can this be argued different from the boy or girl who wants to be like his parents as she or he gets older?