PAGANISM - FOUR PATHS

A typical Pagan tries to make the best of their life with a holistic approach. A typical Pagan seeks to have a good relationship to the world around them, including a good understanding of that world, a proper emotional attachment to that world, being sufficiently sheltered that they can develop their own path without being overwhelmed by others, yet sufficiently attached that they can make good use of what the world has to offer, and can potentially offer something to that world in return.

While this sets the scene for what a pagan might be in fact there is some variation which we here explain through four different categories of pagan.

Claustropaganism or Quiet Paganism is a form of paganism which is practiced 'behind closed doors' away from the normal life of the people involved and which has only a minimal effect on the rest of society in which the practitioners live. Most ordinary people who call themselves pagans today would fall into this category. Typically they will practice a form of religious ritual sometimes with others but often individually, which provides them with psychological relief from the pressures of the everyday. Then they go back into the world refreshed but not necessarily a lot different.

Orthopaganism or Natural Paganism is the most common form of paganism in traditional societies. Orthopaganism is a whole approach to life aiming to produce strong and healthy people in strong and healthy communities. Orthopaganism is predominantly selfish in that the main aim is to improve one's own strength and success, though the Self that an orthopagan serves may be the extended family of clan and tribe rather than the individual self. To the extent that altruism is an inherent feature of human nature orthopagans may act altruistically but generally an orthopagan has limited interest in the welfare or doings of strangers who look neither useful nor dangerous.

Kakopaganism or Bad Paganism can be seen as one possible development of Orthopaganism. Whereas typical Orthopagans have only a limited interest in outsiders, Kakopagans see all the outside world as potential prey from which they are able to steal what they want. So Kakopagan Bands orientate themselves away from the activities of production, towards the activities of theft, warfare and manipulation. Kakopagans may have a religion that belittles the welfare of those outside the Band, and provides justification for the all the mayhem they cause. Kakopagan Bands may progress over time from origins as bands of criminals who go out and rob strangers, to despotic mafias who take on some of the roles of a government in order to plunder the wealth of their victims on an ongoing basis. Sometimes if a close relationship develops between the Band and the population it is plundering then the emotional distance between the two may narrow and the rule of the Band become less harsh. If this continues the Ruling Band may turn into a more-or-less benevolent aristocracy. However if the Kakopagan Band is able to maintain its emotional distance between itself and those it controls then the abusive tyranny may continue indefinitely.

Chrestopaganism or Good Paganism is an alternative development of Orthopaganism where the altruistic motives naturally present in man are accentuated. The prefix 'Chresto' comes from a Greek word meaning Useful or Good. Chrestopagans are concerned like other pagans for the well-being of their own family and community, but they have an enhanced interest in the well-being of others also. One way of making sense of the word chrestopagan is to see the word pagan as indicating concern for self and chresto as concern for others. So a Chrestopagan is concerned for the welfare of both themselves and others. An alternative explanation makes the word pagan stand for the concern for the small and local, the immediate community to which the pagan belongs and which affects him directly and obviously, whereas the word chresto stands for concern for the larger whole whose operation is more remote and which may not return any favours given to it in any obvious way or at all. So by this definition a Chrestopagan works both for the strength and success of their own community and for the well-being of the inhabitants of whole planet on which they live. These aims are not seen as unrelated as a strong and free community is a good base from which to help the wider world, and a good world order will tend to provide a good home for autonomous small pagan communities.

February 2011 CE