What We Are
And the Seven of Pentacles
Recently I encountered1 the following quote from Robert Louis Stevenson:
“To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.”
To more fully contemplate the quote I shuffled my Tarot deck and drew the Seven of Pentacles:
A.E. Waite says about this card:
“A young man, leaning on his staff, looks intently at seven pentacles attached to a clump of greenery on his right; one would say that these were his treasures and that his heart was there.”
They may be Mr. Waite’s cards, but I’ve never seen that. Sure, I see the person, leaning on his hoe (that thing isn’t a staff, Waite must have missed the screws holding the metal piece to the wood) and looking at the greenery.
But there is no way that I see these Pentacles as the figure’s treasures, or that the heart is with them.
Moving forward over a century, Biddy Tarot says of this card:
“He has worked long and hard to nurture tiny seeds into this thriving garden and can now take a break to enjoy the fruits of his labour. Note the expression in his face, however: he also looks fatigued – even a little ‘over it’ – from having worked so hard for this successful harvest. Success comes from hard work and patience, but this card reminds you to take care not to overdo it and exhaust yourself.”
Well, that’s a little closer to how I’ve always interpreted the Seven of Pentacles. He may have successfully grown his crop, but he sure doesn’t seem happy about it!
And that is where our quote: “To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end of life.” Meets our Seven of Pentacles today.
The young man’s work is misaligned with his will.
He is working, and working successfully in his field of endeavor, but the work does not fulfil him, nor does it speak to his soul. Because it isn’t what he is, nor what he exists in this life to do.
Perhaps he is a lawyer with a writer’s heart.
Or a medical doctor who regrets leaving the family farm.
An accountant who just wants to stay at home with her children.
Or a stay at home mom who wants to teach.
Whatever it might be, his work is misaligned with his essential purpose. He won’t be truly happy with it, no matter how successful he becomes.
We enter this life with a purpose, a need to follow our will.
But determining what that purpose truly is can be difficult, and following it even harder. Ultimately though, we must, if we are to be truly fulfilled.
