Thus, fallen man replaces the worship of the Creator with the worship of creatures. Idolatry exists not only in the oft-taken forms of organized religion, in which creatures are explicitly defined as gods, but also in all man’s attitude vis-a-vis being, when this being is taken as an end and is endowed with a sense and value per se, instead of these latter being recognized in God. Idolatry also exists in every activity and effort consecrated upon a being per se, instead of being consecrated to God through it. One holds an idolatrous attitude towards a being whenever this being stops being transparent to God, stops revealing Him–in other words, whenever man stops perceiving its spiritual ‘reasons’ and ‘perceiving’ in them the divine energies present in them that define its true nature.
Thus this being hides God instead of manifesting Him; it is closed in on itself in a way instead of serving as a stepping stone for man, that he might be raised up to his Creator.
~Dr Jean-Claude Larchet (Therapy of Spiritual Illnesses vol.1, pp.58-59)
Prayerful Life 