A Force for Change in a Society Guarded by Religion

    One of the many powerful and thought-provoking lines from Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower reads, “There is no end to what a living world will demand of you” (Butler 137). Such words aided Lauren after her father had suddenly vanished from home and was presumed dead, leaving his family to mourn while they watched homes burn around them. Neighbors scavenged through each other’s clothes and human remains; a teenage girl was left alone to venture towards an unknown destination. Lauren Olamina creates these verses that revolve around the founding principles of her newly established religion, Earthseed. Living in a post-apocalyptic society consumed by murder, robbery, climate change, poverty, and political injustice, Lauren is awakened to the inevitable continuance of change. How one views and responds to change, either as an opportunity or a threat, determines the future condition of a society. Courageous leaders such as Lauren use their gifts to educate and rebuild a collapsing community; passive individuals amidst suffering rely on prayer to their Christian God. Lauren uses the teachings of Earthseed to actively pursue a higher quality of life for those around her, teachings that purposely stray from the commonly held beliefs about the nature of God and His supposed authority over the world. Octavia Butler’s creation and analysis of the modernized religion, Earthseed, aims to question and

critique Christianity by suggesting a proactive approach to the traditional beliefs about God’s role in change as a means to rise from the ashes of a post-apocalyptic society.

  

    Among the various reasons that willed Lauren to devise Earthseed was her hyperempathy condition that leads Lauren to be influenced by the suffering around her and develop into a leader of change and compassion for her people. It causes Lauren to share and feel other people's feelings in cases such as their injury or death. It is especially difficult during the unimaginable state of her community in Robledo, Los California, where poverty is the new normal, cannibalism is necessary for survival, and violence upon innocent lives seems unavoidable. Reflecting on her state, Lauren states, “But if everyone could feel everyone else’s pain, who would torture? Who would cause anyone unnecessary pain?” (Butler 115). She couldn't believe how her brother Keith could abandon the neighborhood’s walled community and risk his life on the streets. How could someone violently destroy her brother Keith's body and leave him to rot? Additionally, when Lauren and the others were heading home from shooting practice, she saw a dying dog who was in obvious pain, and shot him in the head so his suffering would end. She states, “ I had felt it die, and yet I had not died. I had felt its pain as though it were a human being. I had felt its life flare and go out, and I was still alive” (Butler 46). Every creature or person’s agony is deeply felt by Lauren in a way that others can’t understand, drawing her closer to the extreme circumstances taking place. Creating Earthseed is her way of showing her people that she cares enough to do something about their suffering. By rising above the others who can’t seem to see clearly, Lauren’s founding of Earthseed becomes a force for change motivated by the weight of people’s unimaginable traumas.

    Lauren’s ability to experience other people’s pain leads her to question God’s role in change amidst the injustices of society, and inspires her to found the action-based religion of Earthseed. When Lauren learns of the rampant storms in the Gulf of Mexico that killed over 700 people and left even more starving and homeless, she wonders where Her father’s all loving, merciful God is during this crisis. She wonders, “Is it a sin against God to be poor…How will God-my father’s God-behave toward us when we’re poor?” (Butler 15). Lauren, under the influence of other people’s misery, cannot accept a God who stands back and only watches the suffering below and does not seem to take pity over or assist the most vulnerable. She observes her father’s reliance on the hope and comfort that His God brings him through scripture, but her endurance of constantly sharing people’s suffering inspired her to create Earthseed and take the daring leap of turning away from an unmoving God. Furthermore, in the beginning of the novel when the warnings of chaos begin to unravel, Lauren packs an emergency stash in a pillow for when she is forced to go beyond the wall. Her dad seems more concerned about ordinary things like his sons finding a gun in the house than angry burglars breaking in and potentially killing them. He won’t commit to moving North and abandoning his home, even if the conditions grow worse. After a frustrating conversation, Lauren realizes a truth that becomes an Earthseed verse: “A tree cannot grow in its parents’ shadows” (Butler 82). Lauren has to come to terms with the fact that her father’s

religious ways of preaching, waiting, and prayer are not going to help their family’s safety or possibility of even having a future. In order to survive, Lauren must pave her own path that embraces the dauntingness of change and actively pursues a solution. For her, this is researching survival tactics founding, preparing to head North, and founding her Earthseed religion that will guide her decisions throughout the unknown journey ahead. 

    After her hyperempathy condition helped Lauren to see the need for a societal and religious revival, Butler established Earthseed as a way to refine the prototypical concepts of God as a way to adapt to the issues of a modern world. Alexis Melton from the Midwest Quarterly states that “Butler has created a religion that does not rely on a white man or any gendered God. Earthseed has broken from the traditional Christian views of seeing God as a man, and instead has given God a shapeless form allowing the worshipper to understand God in their own terms” (Melson). Through Earthseed, Lauren saw the opportunity to encourage gender and race inclusivity in hopes of creating a more egalitarian powered society. Many women in the novel were victimized through abuse, used for pleasure, and bought as servants. Additionally, mixed marriages were looked down upon and the black population faced economic discrimination. For many who might feel like an outcast by society’s standards based on their biological or chosen identity, Earthseed became a religion that was not governed by patriarchal authority, but that could be shaped into truths and ideas that people could connect and relate to individually. Additionally, Butler suggests that the only beneficial way to fight back against the political corruption, poverty, and countless issues in a post-apocalyptic society, is for individuals to take it upon themselves to enact change instead of relying on an unknown God to help them. An Earthseed verse states that “We must find the rest of what we need within ourselves, in one another, in our destiny” ( Butler 245). The typical belief of Christians is to sustain faith and hope for the future of one’s life and country no matter the circumstances, but as the tragedies in Lauren’s community grow unbearable, she motivates people not to wait around for God to change but to be the change themselves and work together as the ultimate power source in order to stay alive. The Earthseed believer’s hope for the future is not in an obscure heaven, but is on a real, distant planet that symbolizes growth and renewal from the bleak conditions on Earth. 

    In transforming the figure of God into an inclusive model that adapts to people’s need for inclusivity and belonging, the Earthseed view of God resists Christianity’s passive traditions of prayer and worship and instead believes in the power to use God as a force for change in a disordered society. In times of suffering and uncertainty, the common held belief of Christians is expressed in Proverbs 3:5, when it says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding” (Christian Standard Bible). People often use prayer as their way of surrendering to God’s will for humanity rather than depending on human knowledge to make decisions. In Parable of the Sower, however, the teachings of Earthseed go against asking God for help or change in our lives solely in one’s mind, but are more interested in using prayer as a verb to respond to social issues, an action conducted and fulfilled by oneself or with a community. After three year old Amy Dunn was shot and killed through the neighborhood wall, Lauren grew more fired up about the lack of action and preparation by her family, friends, and community. She reflects on the countless issues that plague her country, from shootings, cholera from lack of sanitation and clean water, homelessness, drugs, climate disasters, and a president who doesn’t seem committed to working to resolve the real-world issues taking place. She creates the Earthseed verse that reflects this passivity that states,“Belief initiates and guides action-or it does nothing” (Butler 47). Butler implies through this verse that a true and favorable religion has to be centered around acting upon one’s beliefs and not living simply on prayer and teachings. Many Christian denominations believe that to earn salvation and approval by God, one only needs to have complete faith in Him without works or good deeds. Lauren’s belief system embraces the opportunity to intermingle God with the concept of change, which can be shaped and adapted into creating productive members of society who stand up to the inevitable difficulties that come at them. 

 

    In a disordered, post apocalyptic society, Butler creates Earthseed to instill transparency, fear, and warning to a docile community that shelters themselves in the illusions of their false religious protection. In Lauren’s community of Robledo, California, they are forced to put walls around their neighborhood after the invasions increase and lives are endangered. They block out all the dangerous and unimaginable activity occurring on the streets that Lauren’s community is shielded from at first, but the symbolism of the wall can be connected to the reliance on God versus self-propelled action based views on religion that Butler suggests throughout the novel. When Lauren’s Dad is talking to her about not

frightening people over what is happening in the outside world, Lauren passionately responds by saying, “ But, Dad, that’s like…ignoring a fire in the living room because we’re all in the kitchen, and, besides, house fires are scary to talk about” (Butler 63). Lauren is defending her choice to truthfully “wake up” her friend Joanne about the bleak state of society and the probable future, but one could also see Butler’s subtle critique of Reverend Olimina’s Christian beliefs. He believes in the power of educating people and instilling in them good values and morals, but these teachings aren’t propelling him to immediate action without Lauren’s conviction. In a way, the walled neighborhood serves as a false protection from the corruption taking place behind it that eventually seeps through and destroys almost all of Lauren’s family and neighbors, awakening them to real life. Similarly, the Christian faith serves as a false hope and protection from being compelled to take action against the dangers of society, one’s steadfast faith in God acting as a wall between death, poverty, fear, or worry. Furthermore, when Lauren indirectly invites Joanne to be her first Earthseed community member, she responds to her friend’s resigned reactions by bluntly stating, “In L.A. some walled communities bigger and stronger than this one just aren’t there anymore. Nothing left but ruins, rats, and squatters. What happened to them can happen to us. We’ll die here unless we get busy now and work out ways to survive” (Butler 56). Lauren is so exasperated at what’s happening around them, but even more angry at how her people are not responding to the Earthseed call to action philosophy. Lauren is forced to use fear tactics and honesty on both Joanne and her father to make them see that they can’t simply rely on their faith in God to fix everything. In a Christian faith that might encourage prayer, hope, and faith in an unpredictable God above, the Earthseed religion isn’t afraid to use transparency, even if it involves gruesome realities, to stir their minds and bodies to act on their beliefs and not hide behind their walls of religion that prevents them from fearing the harsh conditions in the real world.

    As a way to combat the political and social issues in a post-apocalyptic world, Lauren believes that the only destiny for mankind is to vacate Earth and abandon the nonscientific hope for eternity in heaven. For non-believers, it can be difficult to attach oneself to the Christian promise of going to heaven or hell after one dies, as these unknown destinies aren’t able to be seen or studied. The Christian belief of heaven is emphasized in Luke 23:42: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus answered, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Christian Standard Bible). The goal for a Christian in their life is to get to this ambiguous paradise with God, through constant faith and devotion to Him during the joys and sorrows of life. Lauren rejects this vision because she believes in the power of seeking truth that is scientifically observable and beliefs that will ultimately help improve society currently in its broken state. Thus, the purpose of Earthseed is to “take root among the stars” (Butler 77). She believes that the dying Earth cannot hold up much longer under the current political reign, poverty, and suffering, and that the only hope for humanity is to rebuild society in outer space. She understands that this dream is far stretched, but this endeavor is more realistic than the Christian strategy of delaying action until a total societal

collapse. Additionally, Melson adds to this idea by noting, “Butler and Lauren both know that the Earth is dying in this future world and that science, essentially spreading humanity to other planets, can help save humanity rather than faith in a mystical being” (Melson). The Earthseed teachings don’t rely on a mysterious deity in the sky to dictate one’s future; Lauren's followers rely and trust in one another as well as in the tangible knowledge around them to dictate their own destiny. This is another portrayal of how Lauren’s religion proves her steadfast intentions to lead her Earthseed community to act upon one’s beliefs and not let them turn stale and compliant to political, religious, and religious authorities, as well as change itself.

    Throughout the Parable of the Sower, characters are forced to live in a disordered society filled with murder, financial disparity, racial and gender injustice, and complex religious beliefs. In order to rise from the ashes of this post-apocalyptic society, Butler establishes the concepts of a contemporary religion, Earthseed. Its teachings combat many traditional Christian beliefs about God and his role amidst the inevitability of change that prevent many individuals from actively rebuilding a promising society in which people can, at the bare minimum, sleep safe and sound. In seeing and experiencing the endless suffering that her community was enduring, as well as the lack of proactivity that the Christian faith offered through its reliance on God to handle societal changes, Lauren was prompted to form an inclusive religious system that invites people of all identities. Earthseed focuses on molding change, which is able to be shaped and molded within the power of one’s hands and ability to act. Counter to Christian beliefs, the Earthseed religion doesn’t rely on a spiritual entity to determine one’s destiny; Butler encourages individuals to embrace scientific observations and even the frightening truth of reality. When prayer and waiting on God aren’t enough to facilitate change in a submissive civilization, Butler urges people to deal their own cards and actively seek to improve the lives of others. After all, the world will never cease to challenge one’s resilience in the face of adversity; it's up to each individual to actively dictate one’s own future.

Works Cited

Butler, Octavia E. Parable of the Sower. Grand Central Publishing, 1993. “Christian Standard Bible.” CSB, 2017, csbible.com/.

Melson, Alexis. "Adapting the White Man's Religion: The Creation and Evolution of Religion in Octavia's 

    Butler's Parable of the Sower and Alice Walker's The Color Purple." The Midwest Quarterly, vol. 64, no. 

    2, Wntr 2023, pp. 209+. Gale Literature Resource Center, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A734900985/LitRC?

    u=anon~74e13a94&sid=sitemap&xid=1 ea3ef5d. Accessed 8 Dec. 2024.