As I’m pulling this card on Labor Day, it only seemed right to draw about a quote on labor. I found the following words from Teddy Roosevelt:
“It is only through labor and painful effort, by grim energy and resolute courage, that we move on to better things.”
I focused my intention on in while shuffling the cards, and pulled the Four of Cups:
The young man has much, as illustrated by the three cups before him, and indeed even more is offered, yet he remains depressed, despondent. He isn’t seeing what he has, or what more is being offered to him, so he’s emotionally stuck. Drained. Unable to will himself to act.
And don’t almost all of us experience that in our own lives from time to time?
As President Roosevelt pointed out, improving our own lives and conditions takes work. To use his words it takes labor, painful effort, grim energy, and resolute courage. He’s right, improving our lot in life through our own hard work is tough. But we can do it.
Perhaps if we think back to all of the countless generations before us who were so oppressed by tyranny and barbarism that they could not improve their lives, no matter how much effort they expended we will remember how truly lucky we are. Like the young man symbolized in the card, we have much, bought by the sweat and blood of our ancestors, and even more is offered to us. The Four of Cups reminds us to remember that, to realize just how lucky we are.
It goes well beyond that too though, for Roosevelt wasn’t simply referring to efforts to improve our own lives, but to the improvement of our society.
How easy is it to get depressed, as symbolized in this card, when we look around and see all that is wrong with our world today? We probably feel, quite often, that we can’t make a difference, no matter how hard we try.
But the Four of Cups reminds us that such thoughts are wrong. That we do have much, that we can have even more if we but reach out for it. It reminds us that we can each do our own small part to improve ourselves, improve the lives of everyone around us, and in so doing, make our world just a little bit better for everyone.
And indeed, it is our duty to do so. Each according to our own individual capacities.
Really loved this post, Cameron. I’ve often written about the dangers of hustle culture and willpower-based control, but lately life has asked me to hustle harder than usual—out of necessity more than choice. And surprisingly, I’ve re-discovered the value of sheer hard work. It’s made me reflect on whether I might have gone a little too far in my anti-hustle rants. There’s a time for everything, I guess—and sometimes plain old effort is what the moment requires. The key, as always, is alignment.