How we cite our quotes: The main text of the story is cited (Chapter.Paragraph). The date headers are not counted as paragraphs. The verses in the chapters with a single passage from the narrator's religious texts are cited (Chapter.Verse.Line#). In chapters with multiple passages, the verses are cited (Chapter.Verse#.Line#). The four section pages with the years and passages are cited (Year.Verse).
Quote #1
"Space could be our future," I say. I believe that. As far as I'm concerned, space exploration and colonization are among the few things left over from the last century that can help us more than they hurt us. It's hard to get anyone to see that, though, when there's so much suffering going on just outside our walls. (3.16)
Lauren says this to her father when there's space news on the radio. He doesn't think space exploration is a worthy investment, but she does. That's a debate that still takes place in real life, too. The Apollo program that landed United States astronauts on the moon is regarded by many—including sci-fi fans—as one of humanity's greatest achievements, but lots of people, including opponents of the Vietnam War, thought Apollo was an immoral waste of cash when so many people could use help here on Earth.
Quote #2
Mars is a rock—cold, empty, almost airless, dead. Yet it's heaven in a way. We can see it in the night sky, a whole other world, but too nearby, too close within the reach of the people who've made such a hell of life here on Earth. (3.21)
When people want to reboot their lives, they sometimes move to a new city, right? They do it to get a chance to start over. Well, humanity moving to another planet is pretty much the same thing, just on a much huger scale. By Lauren's day, we've pretty much trashed Earth, after all; it would be nice to get a chance to begin again.
Quote #3
There has to be more that we can do, a better destiny that we can shape. Another place. Another way. Something! (6.151)
Lauren's totally taking out her frustrations in her journal after thieves attack her Robledo neighborhood yet another time. She thinks everyone can put in more effort to improve their lives, but she wonders if, to adopt this change, people might need a new place or a new way of living. Basically, at this point in the story, Lauren's limited to ranting in her journal or trying to give advice to the not-very-helpful Joanne...because Lauren is just a teenager in a place where the adults have all the say.
Quote #4
We are all Godseed, but no more or less
so than any other aspect of the universe,
Godseed is all there is—all that
Changes. Earthseed is all that spreads
Earthlife to new earths. The universe is
Godseed. Only we are Earthseed. And the
Destiny of Earthseed is to take root among
the stars. (7.Verse1.Line1-8)
In this verse passage from her Earthseed: The Books of the Living, Lauren first divides up what exists: everything is Godseed, and humanity is both Godseed and Earthseed. Then, Lauren goes on to say that Earthseed has a special task, or Destiny: to take root among the stars. She's pretty much the only character in the novel (besides the astronaut Alicia Leal) who's gung-ho about getting to space, however. But envisioning that ultimate goal seems to help encourage her during her daily life. And, oh, psst, here's a secret: the space stuff does play a role in the novel's sequel, Parable of the Talents.
Quote #5
I'm going to go north. [...]
I wonder if there are people outside who will pay me to teach them reading and writing—basic stuff—or people who will pay me to read or write for them. Keith started me thinking about that. I might even be able to teach some Earthseed verses along with the reading and writing. Given any chance at all, teaching is what I would choose to do. Even if I have to take other kinds of work to get enough to eat, I can teach. If I do it well, it will draw people to me—to Earthseed. (11.48-49)
Lauren writes this shortly after the Garfields start working on moving to Olivar. At this point in the novel, change is striking our narrator's life more and more, and she's trying to figure out what she should do. She has these somewhat abstract, big-picture goals to teach Earthseed and lead humanity to the stars, but she also has to figure out the mundane facts of how she's going to find money to stay alive. It turns out that even in the sci-fi of the future, achieving your dreams sometimes requires moolah. Or at least hard work.
Quote #6
We'll adapt. We'll have to. God is Change. (13.97)
Isn't there some saying that the best-laid plans of mice and men both go awry eventually? Yeah, that's why Lauren can't plan everything out in her journals while she's in Robledo. After all, her own beliefs say God is change. She—and those who follow her—will have to adapt when life throws stuff at them. So dreams, hopes, and plans are only good for so much. In the end, you still have to be flexible and pay attention to what unplanned opportunities and problems come your way.
Quote #7
We are Earthseed. We are flesh—self aware, questing, problem-solving flesh. We are that aspect of Earthlife best able to shape God knowingly. We are Earthlife maturing. Earthlife preparing to fall away from the parent world. We are Earthlife preparing to take root in new ground, Earthlife fulfilling its purpose, its promise, its Destiny. (2027.Verse)
This verse passage introduces the year 2027, which is when Lauren's home of Robledo gets destroyed and she has to head north to put her dreams, hopes, and plans into action. She's going to learn a whole lot in the process of doing this—to take root in new ground and migrate across the country is a huge Earthlife maturing experience.
Quote #8
God is neither good
nor evil,
neither loving
nor hating.
God is Power.
God is Change.
We must find the rest of what we need
within ourselves,
in one another,
in our Destiny. (20.Verse.1-10)
This verse passage reminds followers of Earthseed that God isn't a figure who takes sides and helps people out. People have to look within themselves and each other to find answers. They also need to look to the Destiny, the final goal of settling on other planets: that's another source of inspiration, according to Lauren. The Destiny is physically possible; it's something people could actually do; and yet in the context of the migration north, it's also just kind of an imaginative image...kind of like a piece of art. So Lauren draws inspiration from the Destiny almost as if it's a piece of art or an inspiring movie.
Quote #9
The Self must create
Its own reasons for being.
To shape God,
Shape Self. (21.Verse.1-4)
Earthseed advises us to work on ourselves in order to figure out our reasons for existing. A lot of the philosophy of Earthseed is about cultivating and putting to use a problem-solving attitude.
Quote #10
"But tell me, what do people have to do to be good members of an Earthseed Community?"
[...] "The essentials," I answered, "are to learn to shape God with forethought, care, and work; to educate and benefit their community, their families, and themselves; and to contribute to the fulfillment of the Destiny."
"And why should people bother about the Destiny, farfetched as it is? What's in it for them?"
"A unifying, purposeful life here on Earth, and the hope of heaven for themselves and their children. A real heaven, not mythology or philosophy. A heaven that will be theirs to shape." (21.21-24)
This is Bankole quizzing Lauren on Earthseed. Bankole wants to know why the Destiny is so important, and why people would benefit from working toward it. Lauren says it gives everyone purpose and an achievable heaven rather than a fairy-tale, make-believe heaven. You'll have to check out the novel's sequel, Parable of the Talents, to see how all this turns out, but it does seem true a lot of the time that people need big goals to work toward in order to make any progress at all.