How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #7
"No, this I'm telling of isn't a spirit-world. A real one. The people that live on it are real people, alive, just like here." (13.52)
Of course, religion will have to make way for new evidence and insights, as Ai's follow-up comment suggest. Wonder what else will change for the Gethenian religions with the Ekumen's arrival?
Quote #8
"The Yomeshta would say that man's singularity is his divinity."
"Lords of the Earth, yes. Other cults on other worlds have come to the same conclusion. They tend to be the cults of dynamic, aggressive, ecology-breaking cultures." (16.42-34)
The novel suggests the religious view of man's singularity might not be such a great thing. If we view ourselves as separate, distinct from nature, then we might fall in line with Ai's cults and become ecology-breaking ourselves. Yeah…might. (You get the sense that Le Guin isn't a huge fan of religion.)
Quote #9
"Well, in the Handdara…you know, there's no theory, no dogma…. Maybe they are less aware of the gap between men and beasts, being more occupied with the likenesses, the links, the whole of which living things are a part." (16.44)
Okay, so here's the novel's alterative to singularity: if we realize how much we're like everything else in the world, we'll consider ourselves a part of the whole ecology of the world.