This is an analysis which proceeds from the premise of a pre-industrial value system, that considers nature to be a spiritual realm.

Wikipedia (by the way which is great) and the knowledge establishment in general, does not allow original theory and ideas, since all content must be 'sourced' to the authority of recognized experts. Since anybody can say anything, authority is derived by accepted concensus, which is good, but which becomes authoritarian, when economic interests become dependent on it. The following is a theory based solely on the authority of the logic itself, and is left to the individual to vet it.

Paganism also known as Neo Paganism (modern versions), Pantheism (Nature/God equivalent) Polytheism (multiple deities) and Animism (individual spirit or soul in all or most things), can just as well, or might better be called the spirituality of Indigenous Peoples and Cultures, or those that proceed what we know as civilization, or more advanced technology. Pagan or Indigenous culture is not homogenous, and varies with local traditions, like the difference between Italy and France of today.

Paganism is generally described as the belief that the natural world is a spiritual realm, and that many if not most aspects and elements of nature, such as plants, animals, rocks, streams, mountains or clouds are considered to contain or be imbued with spiritual entities. These elements are not considered intellectual abstractions, like angels in heaven or God's perfect love and justice, but can be sensed and felt in the sensory world. Spiritual reality is the here-and-now and can be felt in the wind, heard in the sound of nature, smelled in the mists of the morning, seen in the sunset.

This is pretty much established fact, agreed upon by most authoritative definitions, even if there may be many theories on exactly what Paganism is. Thus if one accepts the forgoing premise, there should be a logic that follows: since the natural world is considered sacred, abounding with spirit, it must be respected and cannot be used for excess and profit, which essentially means the creation of what is called civilization, based and maintained on the trade of excess for personal profit, which also benefits the whole.

Thus the natural wooded glen would not be considered as something that could be bulldozed for parking. As the song goes "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot". To be a Pagan from this perspective means no or not much progress allowed.

However - man like all living things is a predatory creature, or lives off the external environment, and to some degree transforms it, and kills in order to survive. If the Pagonistic belief system is often, that each individual life form may contain spirit, and since all spirit is sacred, human killing for survival is limited to need, may be done respectfully, and may be a spiritual act. Thus predation is limited to need. No blame. It is a simple fact of known physical existence that every species population will expand until it is checked and regulated by predation, otherwise over-population will cause environmental degradation. The proper balance of all things is regulated by creation and destruction. People like everything else alive must eat.

It further might follow, because the natural environment is spiritual and holy, that Pagans would live an esthetic, where the natural world is considered to be the highest form of art, that no human can begin to emulate. The Pagan would then live in a world of incredible beauty. This beauty is not to be defaced or debauched for personal gain. It is not to build mammoth monuments to human vanity, or to be fenced and chopped up or down.

The physical world containing spirit might be thought to be intelligent, to have feeling and emotion, to be capable of communication, and would be considered as alive or a living whole, in which the individual has relationships, like one has with people living in a small close knit community.

It has been said by some that Pagan hunter-gatherers thought that spiritual qualities were integral with their implements. If everything contains spirit, then all things natural, that comprise what they use to make the necessities of living, would also.

Since these humans would make, as the implements of survival, tools, clothing and weapons, from trees, rocks and animals, aspects of the original spirit may be said to inhabit these items, or spirits may be asked to enter them. Thus everything human-made might also be thought to have spirit with an integrity of its own. Everything is engaged with, as if it had its own will. Everything is seemingly alive whether animate or inanimate. There would also be a good deal of what is called superstition, but in reality would be the relationships with all the many aspects of reality, vegetable or mineral, as if all were alive and interactive by their spirit, such that certain practices would have to be adopted, the same as one would have to conform, to the specific rules of a household, of those one was visiting.

From Mark Twain's, Huckleberry Finn, Huck comes across foot prints in the snow which he recognizes as his fathers. "There was a cross in the left boot heel made with big nails, to keep off the devil." Crosses are used to ward off the devil, and in the boot heel apparently, so the devil cannot follow one's tracks. This is an interesting engagement, where the devil represents what one will make it, consciously and unconsciously.

Another aspect of this spiritual consciousness might be the consideration that if everything contains spirit and killing is necessary, then it would be spirit killing spirit. Thus there is a certain equivalency of value, no blame, and perhaps no hard feelings, since we are all spirit in the end. But to explain the disparity of power, in say the difference between predator and prey, hierarchies of spiritual power are often created. A good example of these hierarchies and their practice might found in the Iliad', by Homer.

The spirituality and philosophy of Paganism does not however lend itself to developed society, which is based on excess and profit and constant progress. Advanced technological culture needs for its existence to use vast amounts of natural resources, that produce things like deforestation and strip-mining. Therefore to coincide with this need, the philosophical and religious premise must be progressive. This means the value of what is needed for resources and raw materials, must be less than the superior products that derive from their use, and the superior beings that produce them. This creates a polarity (duality) of value, of inferior/superior, where what is natural is of no innate value, and what is created from it is of superior value. The value then of anything is determined by its degree of development as such: the difference between the swamp and the golf course, or the native Pagan and monarchy. The more progressed and refined the greater the value, like the those of the fancy dress balls and the opera.

Thus Pagan and progressive cultures are antithetical opposites. Pagans of course are the first citizens of the land, and the progressives need their territory for raw materials and development. So quite naturally Paganism is demonized, considered not entitled to the land, and does not know the value of what they possess. Primitive peoples must undergo development, be educated and saved, and this in return for their land - for their own good.

Because a culture is called Pagan, believes in Pantheism, Polytheism and Animism does not mean it conforms to what has been described here as spiritual value systems. Societies like the Roman, Greek, Egyptian or many ancient Asian and South American cultures are considered to have been Pagan. However these cultures practiced development and excess and profit, and would need value systems that would correspond to the use of the natural world for resources. They were progressive meaning they built cities, accumulated great territory, fought wars of conquest and weath, and developed to the extent that their technology allowed.

The populations of these societies would probably be made up of those who practiced the accumulation of wealth and power, ruled from city centers, and those who held to the spirituality of nature as country dwellers. These could be said to be described as materialists and spiritualists.

Therefore it would seem that Paganism should not be defined so much from the contexts of the number and locality of their gods, the rituals and sacred rites, but rather by a distinction between Spirituality and Religion, which is said here to be namely, the dichotomy between the natural world as spirit, or the mundane world as material and raw resource.

Spirituality would be what is holy in the here-and-now, empirical, sensory and the already existent natural world. Religion would be defined as something not found in nature, but of another dimension. As well, it is a solely human quality and capacity, because only humans are capable of creating excess and profit, or that have Will, in opposition to nature. Religious mandates must descend from all-perfect and superior alternatives, that represent development and refinement, in opposition to the natural world. The religious evaluation of the individual is the degree of progression in comparison to the perfection of its ideals.