Monotheism at it's core

if there is one source of morality, and it created the laws of the universe, and it created me, then what my imperatives must be sanctioned by god, and anyone who stands in my way is a heretic, and if i kill them it is gods will

in some ways people today are better placed than people in the classical era in regard to seeing clearly what parts of paganism are necessary and functional

free from some of the overwhelming social/cultural imperitives
and having a -way- broader view of history
i'm thinking of two things mainly
the unimpeachable cultural dominance of homer... and how that interacted with state religion
and the entire context of late antiquity
which, looking bizarre from the outside, is impossible to imagine what it would be like being immersed in it, especially outside of the literate intelligentsia
i mean... it's real hard to imagine how you would escape the massive cultural gravity of homer outside of things that were alternative but constructed in the same manner
i.e. the orphic system, such as it was
and later neoplatonicism

Succinct summation of what it pagan with notes

Paganism is the humans religious response to their environment.
Where Abrahamic faiths draw meaning from holy books, Paganism draws meaning from the world.

*Implicit in this is a recognition of mans helplessness, his inability, to affect many of the forces that surround and affect him, even through heroic effort. But man may come to understand these forces in a way that transcends, circumvents, and overcomes, the rational.

the irrational, chance and divination

i think theres some connection between the trance state and the point of chance... the sort of... apex... where the outcome of a truely random action is determined

an irrational mass that presses against reality

then you touch it

i think any attempt to determine it's true nature... or any attempt more solid than any upg... is pretty futile

because it's irrational... once you penetrate it... it can be anything