Quote by Olive Schreiner

From our earliest hour we have been taught that the thought of the heart, the shaping of the rain-cloud, the amount of wool that grows on a sheep's back, the length of a drought, and the growing of the corn, depend on nothing that moves immutable, at the heart of all things; but on the changeable will of a changeable being, whom our prayers can alter. To us, from the beginning, Nature has been but a poor plastic thing, to be toyed with this way or that, as man happens to please his deity or not; to go to church or not; to say his prayers right or not; to travel on a Sunday or not. Was it possible for us in an instant to see Nature as she is --the flowing vestment of an unchanging reality?

Summary

This quote speaks to the idea that in our upbringing and conditioning, we have been taught that the natural world is subject to the whims and will of a changeable deity. Our prayers, actions, and adherence to religious practices were believed to have a direct impact on natural phenomena such as rain, wool growth, drought, and crop yield. However, the quote suggests that if we could experience a sudden realization, we would see that nature is actually an expression of an unchanging reality. It challenges the notion that human actions and religious practices alone can control or influence the immutable nature of the world.