Egotheism

Egotheism is deification of the self, or the view that the idea of God is nothing more than a conception of the self. The latter position presupposes the impossibility of divine revelation. As such, it is a denial of the validity of faith and most theistic traditions, except for deism.

Identification of the self with the divine, is a tenet of Hinduism (Atman as the "true self"), and certain versions of Christianity (e.g., St. Athanasios, held that God became man so that man could become God).

            Time went on, stories were told and the cycle of souls continued. Everything continued on as it had for countless generations. Then something happened that would change everything. A soul walked to the edge of Paradise and went Outside.
Outside was where the Dead Ones laid dormant. They would have remained that way if it were not for the spark of life that traveled among them. They awoke weak and had no real powers to speak of. They hid their true forms from the wandering soul in an illusion of darkness. The soul heard murmurings in the darkness and questioned who was there. To which the Dead Ones whispered “Truth” and told the soul the history of the past universe; how it all came to be and the War before it. The Dead Ones also described the War that followed and, lastly, gave unto the soul the Great Truth. As the soul headed back for Paradise the Dead Ones taxed their Power by enforcing their will upon the soul; that it may remember what they had told it.
            Taking it all in the soul returned to Paradise but did not share what it had learned with the others knowing that the Last God could intervene. The soul kept the Great Truth and all that it had learned to itself. When it was reborn, the soul indeed remembered the Great Truth. When the person that was the soul was old enough, they began to spread the Great Truth: that each person was a God in their own right. For this the person was mocked and eventually slain out of ignorance and anger.
            With the knowledge of the Great Truth in their memories in the afterlife, the souls went Outside to test their abilities. Their actions caught the attention of the Dead Ones who gave the souls more knowledge in how to use their abilities. Part of that knowledge was that if the souls remained Outside they would not be reborn and retain their newfound God status. This encouraged many souls to remain Outside, and Gods they did become. And in testing their Godhood among the Dead Ones, the Dead Ones were able to graft Power off of them. Again, using what Power they had they implemented their Will upon the cycle of rebirth for not one, but ten souls. Each of the ten shared what they had learned with the living while being paired with another who were Taught by the Dead Ones. The five groups traveled to different cities, each story identical and never varying. They too were laughed at and mocked but they were fulfilling their goal. The living now Knew, whether or not they believed.
            Upon returning to the afterlife the souls did not share as many stories as before, each new soul in Paradise contemplating what it had Learned from its most recent time alive. This led to an even greater number of souls going Outside and staying there. For the first time in ever, souls were gazing Outside, wondering what was going on inside of the distant darkness. The Remnant God had begun to notice a change amongst the souls and asked what was troubling them. They replied, “Truth”. The Remnant God then decided to investigate what was going on for Himself and went Outside. Once Outside He discovered that He was no longer alone in Godhood. Millions of Gods were there, each experimenting with Their powers by creating worlds of wonder that were brimming with ideas of what life could have been and other Paradises. The Remnant God, for the first time, questioned whether He should have released His control on Man. The New Gods greeted Him as an old friend, for they had known Him for eons in the afterlife. The Remnant God tried to convince Them to return to the original Paradise. They did not, however, wish to give up Their newfound Godhood. This caused the Remnant God great frustration and anger and tried to take Them back by force. But as He was not yet whole and being one among millions He was restrained by the New Gods who could not bring Themselves to kill Their old friend. The Remnant God was escorted back to Paradise by two of the New Gods and while going back the Dead Ones whispered to Him that their time was at hand. At the edge of Paradise the New Gods were recognized by masses of souls, for they were two of the First Tribe. The souls beseeched to them why they had restrained the Remnant God. The New Gods told the souls what had occurred Outside, confirming that what the souls had Learned when they were alive was indeed true. Hearing this from two of the First Tribe and seeing them on level with the God that made them caused an exodus of souls from Paradise, leaving it almost empty.
           The exodus caused the rebirth cycle to become disrupted and human populations on Earth began to dwindle. As there were less humans the Remnant God became stronger, growing more whole as less humans existed. With His growing strength He knew that it was the beginning of the end and that the Dead Ones would soon return. With all of the New Gods working their power Outside the Dead Ones were brimming with power themselves, waiting to return to their former glory. He looked down upon the Earth and saw the ruins of humanity. The souls were going Outside as soon as they arrived in Paradise. He watched and was able to do nothing as the last of humanity died off.

It was time. The Remnant God was whole once more. It was then that the Dead Ones made their move, using their grafted power to move into the physical realm and reshape it so that they all had their bodies once more. The Remnant God followed after them, taking Paradise with Him and making it into His new body. The New Gods observed all this and took Their creations with Them as well, also making bodies for Themselves. Once more there were only Gods and Nothingness and War. That is, until only One remained in the void of space.

References

Peabody, Elizabeth Palmer. “Egotheism, the Atheism of To-Day” 1858, (reprinted in 1886 in her Last Evening with Allston)