As Western civilization secularized, the transcendental impulse was not lost, only transformed. The function of the Christian God shifted to humanity, enlightened by science, empowered by technology, and self-assured in its belief in our own righteousness. Heaven was transformed into the heavens, the stars, outer space. The original heresy became the new gospel of perpetual progress. And salvation took the form of individual immortality via uploaded consciousness and collective immortality via colonizing other planets.