Since you speak of God - I actually think you become much closer to God through relationship with other people.

So much that there are relationship hackers - priests - that then insert themselves betweet individuals and Gods, then harnessing that for their benefit (they are closer to God and you're not)

That's kinda what my question is about - how do I better structure my relationships so that "we all" grow towards being closer to God, without those insertions as proxy taking place.

You can always do better... 

 Better everyday. Even a bit. 

I have disdain for institutional religion for this reason. I much prefer peer like relatio ships usually found with pastors or preachers instead of priests. 

Its all trade offs.