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Paganism is a diverse spiritual and religious belief system that encompasses a variety of traditions and practices. While there is no single set of principles that apply to all pagans, there are certain core beliefs and concepts that are commonly found within the pagan community. One principle of paganism is the belief in a divine connection with nature. Pagans often view nature as sacred and believe in the presence of various deities or spirits within the natural world. This belief fosters a deep reverence for the earth and a desire to live in harmony with the natural environment. Another principle of paganism is the idea of personal autonomy and individual spiritual authority.

With this dizzyingly rich novel of ideas, Thomas Mann rose to the front ranks of the great modern novelists, winning the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1929. The Magic Mountain takes place in an exclusive tuberculosis sanatorium in the Swiss Alps–a community devoted to sickness that serves as a fictional microcosm for Europe in the days before the First World War.

The Magic Mountain is the answer you want to give if you are asked what one book you would take to a desert island when you love Western culture but don t want to look as basic as those who name the complete works of William Shakespeare. We may find it overly intellectual, but life is full of intellectual engagement for many of us, and if not intellectual then at least populated with ideas.

Another principle of paganism is the idea of personal autonomy and individual spiritual authority. Pagans tend to place a strong emphasis on personal experience and direct connection with the divine. This means that each individual is responsible for their own spiritual practice and beliefs, and there is no central religious authority or hierarchy.

Alec Nevala-Lee

(Note: For the rest of the month, I’m counting down the ten works of fiction that have had the greatest influence on my life as an author and reader, in order of their first publication. For earlier entries in the series, please see here.)

Whenever I think of Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain, I always begin with the blankets. They’re a pair of lovely camel-hair blankets, “extra long and wide, in a natural beige fabric that was delightfully soft to the touch,” and they’re used by the residents of a sanitarium in the Alps while lounging on their balconies for their daily rest cure, which can last for hours. They certainly sound cozy:

Whether it was the texture of the cushions, the perfect slant of the back support, the proper height and width of the armrests, or simply the practical consistency of the neck roll—whatever it was, nothing could possibly have offered more humane benefits for a body at rest than this splendid lounge chair.

If you can understand the appeal of those blankets—and of their promise of a life spent in glorious inactivity—you can begin to grasp what makes this novel so fascinating, despite its daunting appearance. As I’ve mentioned before, The Magic Mountain may be the least inviting of all major twentieth-century novels: it lacks the snob appeal of Ulysses or Proust, its structure is classical and crystalline, and a plot summary doesn’t exactly make it sound like a page-turner. The first necessary step is a leap of the imagination, a willingness to acknowledge the part of yourself that, like the young Hans Castorp, is drawn to the idea of giving up all ambition, all advancement, all action, for the sake of a life spent in the confines of a comfortable chair. Hans Castorp’s reasoning may not be airtight, but it’s hard to deny its power: “On the whole, however, it seemed to him that although honor had its advantages, so, too, did disgrace, and that indeed the advantages of the latter were almost boundless.”

In the end, Hans, a perfectly healthy young man, ends up staying at the sanitarium for seven years. Of course, what he and the reader soon discover is that this retreat into inactivity is secretly a plunge into something else. Despite its unlikely subject matter, The Magic Mountain vibrates on every page with life, intelligence, and insight. Mann likes to remind us, a bit too insistently, that Hans is “ordinary,” but really, as Harold Bloom points out, he’s immensely likable and curious, and you come to identify with him enormously. The story in which he finds himself has often been called a novel of ideas, and it is, but it’s much more: Mann stuffs it with compelling set pieces—Walpurgis Night, Hans’s nearly fatal misadventure in the snowstorm, the séance, the duel between Naptha and Settembrini—that would be high points in any novel, and it isn’t hard to see why the book was a huge bestseller in its time. Like Proust, Mann has useful insights into a dazzling variety of subjects, ranging from medicine to music to the nature of time, even as he depicts a world in which these ideas are on the verge of being destroyed. The characters are rendered with uncanny vividness, and when you’re done, you feel as if you’ve passed half a lifetime in their company, and the memory is charged with nostalgia, longing, and regret. It took me a long time to come around to this book, and it sat unread on my shelf for years. When I finally started it for real, it was with a distinct sense of obligation. And what I found, much to my surprise, was that it was the novel I’d been looking for my entire life.

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And what are those ideas? Well, we might say that Settembrini is a humanist. He is buoyed by a beautiful hope for a better world, a cosmopolitan world of peace and fairness. Even stricken by illness, he is a member of all sorts of international committees and organisations that aim to improve the world. To give an example of the sort of work he does, he is engaged with creating a volume for The Sociology of Suffering, a series of books that aims to categorise every sort of suffering in the world that it may then be eliminated through the power of reason. Settembrini is the bright light of the Enlightenment, the heroic intellectual that we never have enough of. “Order and classification are the beginning of mastery, whereas the truly dreadful enemy is the unknown,” he tells us. A hero he is, but also limited. There are only so many international organisations that seem to be doing very little other than convening which we can handle.

Paganism also promotes the idea of inclusivity and acceptance of diversity. Many pagan traditions embrace a multiplicity of gods and goddesses, and welcome people of all genders, sexual orientations, and backgrounds. Paganism encourages individuals to explore their own beliefs and find a spiritual path that resonates with them. Ritual and ceremonial practices are another important aspect of paganism. Pagans often engage in rituals, ceremonies, and celebrations that mark significant moments within the natural cycle of the year, such as solstices, equinoxes, and harvest festivals. These rituals provide an opportunity to connect with the divine, honor the earth, and deepen spiritual awareness. Additionally, pagans often hold a belief in the interconnectedness of all things. This principle recognizes that everything in the universe is interconnected and that actions and beliefs have consequences. Many pagans strive to live in harmony with others and the environment, practicing compassion, kindness, and stewardship of the natural world. Overall, the principles of paganism revolve around the belief in a divine connection with nature, personal autonomy in spiritual matters, inclusivity and acceptance of diversity, engagement in ritual and ceremonial practices, and recognition of the interconnectedness of all things. These principles provide a framework for pagans to develop their own spiritual paths and live in alignment with their beliefs..

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