The Four of Swords stand for a time like the numbed, exhausted, almost senseless state during or after a very high fever. This is a time in which we fall into a kind of hibernation because of the pains that we have suffererd or are still suffering. We need this time of complete passivity, of motionlessness and silence because else we couldn't deal with the suffering. The danger is that we might remain caught in this condition even though it has long become time to get up and be alive again.