From Merton
"If only they could or see themselves as they really are… I suppose the big problem would be that we would fall down and worship each other."
Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander
Pantheistic idolatry.
Do you understand anything you read? I remember the quote when you used it before. It clearly depends of the Genesis account of God making man in His image and likeness and speaks of recognizing with piercing clarity that image and likeness in man. C.S. Lewis says something similar about how we would be likely to react that way were we confronted with unfallen man.
P.S. That's also why the second great commandment is "like to" the first (one reason anyway). The more you truly know and love God, the more readily you will recognize and love His image when you encounter it in your neighbor.