The human being feels himself connected with the universe and with the changes it undergoes in the course of time. In his own being he is sensible of the reflected image of the world archetype. But this image is not a literal, pedantic imitation of the archetype. What the universe reveals through the course of time corresponds to the human rhythm which is not temporal in nature.
That part of human nature which is directed to the senses and their perceptions can be felt to correspond to the weaving of light and warmth in summer. That part which is grounded in itself alone, and lives in its own realm of thinking and willing, can be felt to correspond to winter. What in nature appears in the course of time as the alternation of summer and winter thus becomes in man the rhythm of outer and inner life. But he can resolve great mysteries of life by bringing his timeless rhythm of thinking and perception into this connection with the temporal rhythm of nature. Thus the year becomes the prototype of human soul activity and therefore a fruitful source of self-knowledge.