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in the natural course of the seasons, fall turns to winter and the new life of spring withers and begins to die, so to, do we suffer the same consequences. "Time and tide wait for no man." is an old English proverb. It's interesting that the writer included tide in this saying which in old English refers to a season as in "good tidings". The modern connotation is of the rise and ebb of the sea. It paints the picture of man's participation in and subjection to the laws of nature. Scott Peck, author and psychiatrist, has two ideas that are pertinent. The first pertains to our following the initial advice of Thoreau. Peck writes, "mental health increases as we pursue reality at all cost." To be able to live each season as it passes and resign oneself to the influences of each, we must be able to see and comprehend the reality of our life. Despite the pain and suffering it may cause, we must suffer the cold stinging winds and at times the raging blizzards in order to live our life fully. Peck's other thought is that, "everything that happens in life is there to aid our spiritual growth." It helps to remember things like this when, like evergreens in winter, we are covered in snow and ice so heavy that the weight breaks our branches.

Life has meaning. On its most basic, simplistic level, life is meant to be lived naturally. In the Garden, people were attuned to this natural law. It is when one takes the opposite tack that our ship runs aground. We worry, we're afraid of this or that, we are "stressed-out". If the opportunity presents, speak to a person who has lived a long life, who may even be close to death. You will find them at peace, generally unafraid, accepting the effects of winter as part of the natural course of life.

When winter closes in with its gray days of shortened hours of sunlight, nature accepts it at face value. Men tend to rail against their fate, to battle against the inevitable. It is our lot to be at odds with nature ever since the Fall, and is what distinguishes us from the rest of nature for we are endowed with a supernatural aspect. This moves outside the sphere of nature's four seasons. The meaning of our life is that we are natural beings called to, as articulated at Walden Pond, "Live each season as it passes; breathe air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign yourself to the influences of each."

At the same time, we are also supernatural. In that, having been endowed by our Creator, there is an additional season that applies to

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