There is in our lives a natural rhythm to which we must all conform: we are born, we grow to adolesence, reach maturity and then die. This larger individual rhythm, which is repeated in all animate nature, has its smaller counterpart in each cell of our bodies, and then again our bodily functions fit into the larger rhythms of our lives. All the rhythms must in their turn harmonize with the mighty throb of nature herself, whose endless cycle of the seasons brings home to all of us our ultimate dependence upon the Creator—God himself.

Mankind used to be very conscious that he was only a small part of the whole: he was much more aware than he is today that he had his appointed place in the vast scheme of things, and that he must co-operate with, rather than go against, nature. He knew, too, that certain work had to be done at certain seasons of the year in order to live at all.