In the interfaith discussions and disputes that go on, there's often a supposition that--somehow--all Paganism is one and the same when compared to, say, Christianity or to monotheism. And a parallel supposition that all Pagans--by virtue of being Pagans--share a common interest in promoting or upholding Paganism.
I find that these suppositions kinda irk me. And I'm not quite sure why.
But I suspect that it has something to do with how I categorize myself and my world view.
I do not consider myself simply a Pagan.
I consider myself a Neo-Pagan Craft practitioner with deep and strong links to elements of Tantra and Hinduism and to elements of Hawaiian spirituality and to elements of the Western Magical Tradition.
But, honestly, there's a lot of aggregate Paganism that is much more intellectually interesting me than magically important or spiritually active. So I don't feel any compelling solidarity with aggregate Paganism. Aggregate Paganism is too expansive a category.
At the same time, I understand that it's easy and convenient in interfaith discussions or disputes to aggregate Paganism, and to allow a few characteristics of this aggregate to stand for the diversity and complexity of Paganisms in sum. But a lot of times, I just don't consider myself as representing all Pagans or all Paganism.
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