God is Change,
And in the end,
God prevails.
But meanwhile…
Kindness eases Change.
Love quiets fear.
And a sweet and powerful
Positive obsession
Blunts pain,
Diverts rage,
And engages each of us
In the greatest,
The most intense
Of our chosen struggles.
#positive #obsession #earthseed
When vision fails
Direction is lost.
When direction is lost
Purpose may be forgotten.
When purpose is forgotten
Emotion rules alone.
When emotion rules alone,
Destruction…destruction.
#vision #fails #earthseed
'Parable of the Talents'
Respect God:
Pray working.
Pray learning,
planning,
doing.
Pray creating,
teaching,
reaching.
Pray working.
Pray to focus your thoughts,
still your fears,
strengthen your purpose.
Respect God.
Shape God.
Pray working.
#pray #working #earthseed
'Parable of the Sower'
Take comfort.
Each move toward the Destiny,
Each achievement of the Destiny,
Must mean new beginnings,
New worlds,
A rebirth of Earthseed.
Alone,
Each of us is mortal.
Yet through Earthseed,
Through the Destiny,
We join.
We are purposeful
Immortal
Life!
#immortal #life #earthseed
Here we are—
Energy,
Mass,
Life,
Shaping Life,
Mind,
Shaping Mind,
God,
Shaping God.
Consider—
We are born
Not with purpose,
But with potential.
#born #earthseed
'Parable of the Talents'
Changes.
The galaxies move through space.
The stars ignite,
burn,
age,
cool,
Evolving.
God is Change.
God prevails.
#galaxies #earthseed
'Parable of the Sower'
To get along with God,
Consider the consequences of your behavior.
#consequences #earthseed
'Parable of the Sower'
To shape God
With wisdom and forethought,
To benefit your world,
Your people,
Your life,
Consider consequences,
Minimize harm
Ask questions,
Seek answers,
Learn,
Teach.
#benefit #world #earthseed
'Parable of the Talents'
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.
#rest #need #earthseed
'Parable of the Sower'
A tree
Cannot grow
In its parentsʼ shadows.
#tree #earthseed
'Parable of the Sower'
God is Power—
Infinite,
Irresistible,
Inexorable,
Indifferent.
And yet, God is Pliable—
Trickster,
Teacher,
Chaos,
Clay.
God exists to be shaped.
God is Change.
#exists #shaped #earthseed
'Parable of the Sower'
The Self must create
Its own reasons for being.
To shape God,
Shape Self.
#shape #self #earthseed
'Parable of the Sower'
There is nothing alien
About nature.
Nature
Is all that exists.
It's the earth
And all that's on it.
It's the universe
And all that's in it.
It's God,
Never at rest.
It's you,
Me,
Us,
Them,
Struggling upstream
Or drifting down.
#nature #earthseed
'Parable of the Talents'
Death
Is a great Change—
Is life's greatest Change.
We honor our beloved dead.
As we mix their essence with the earth,
We remember them,
And within us,
They live.
#death #earthseed
'Parable of the Talents'
Drowning people
Sometimes die
Fighting their rescuers
#drowning #people #earthseed
'Parable of the Sower'
A victim of God may,
Through learning and adaption,
Become a partner of God,
A victim of God may,
Through forethought and planning,
Become a shaper of God.
Or a victim of God may,
Through shortsightedness and fear,
Remain Godʼs victim,
Godʼs plaything,
Godʼs prey.
#victim #earthseed
We can,
Each of us,
Do the impossible
As long as we can convince ourselves
That it has been done before.
#impossible #earthseed
'Parable of the Talents'
Any Change may bear seeds of benefit.
Seek them out.
Any Change may bear seeds of harm.
Beware.
God is infinitely malleable.
God is Change.
#change #earthseed
'Parable of the Sower'
"Live in the world that is, and try to shape the world you want. None of it is easy."
#OctaviaButler #earthseed #bookoftheliving
The Destiny of Earthseed
Is to take root among the stars.
#destiny #earthseed
'Parable of the Sower'
God is Change.
God is Infinite,
Irresistible,
Inexorable,
Indifferent.
God is Trickster,
Teacher,
Chaos,
Clay—
God is Change.
Beware:
God exists to shape
And to be shaped.
#trickster #earthseed
'Parable of the Talents'
There is nothing alien
About nature.
Nature
Is all that exists.
It's the earth
And all that's on it.
It's the universe
And all that's in it.
It's God,
Never at rest.
It's you,
Me,
Us,
Them,
Struggling upstream
Or drifting down.
#nature #earthseed
'Parable of the Talents'
A gift of God
May sear unready fingers.
#gift #earthseed
'Parable of the Sower'
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.
#rest #need #earthseed
'Parable of the Sower'
Beware:
At war
Or at peace,
More people die
Of unenlightened self-interest
Than of any other disease.
#unenlightened #self #interest #earthseed
'Parable of the Talents'
Why is the universe?
To shape God.
Why is God?
To shape the universe.
#earthseed
'Parable of the Sower'
Recording available for So Be It! See To It! A Conversation with Octavia E. Butler's Biographers"
The recording for So Be It! See To It! A Conversation with Octavia E. Butler's Biographers is now available!
The link is in our bio!
#octaviabutler #positiveobsession #blackwriters #biography #earthseed
Octavia E. Butler, author, stands by full bookcase. Photo by Patti Perret, 1984.
“Sometimes writing about a thing makes it easier to stand.”
From Octavia E. Butler’s “Lauren Olamina,”
Parable of the Sower
#OctaviaButler
#ParableOfTheSower
#Earthseed #Grief
#MentalHealth #Journaling
#Writing
Highlighted passage says "on the other hand, one way to make people afraid of you is to have a crazy side-a side of...your organization that's dangerous and unpredictable-willing to do any damned thing."
From Parable of the Talents, Octavia Butler. The warnings have been here for so long. #Earthseed #ICEoutforGood
Snapshot of presenters at the 2025 PAMLA Conference. The session title is at the top and centered "Octavia E. Butler's Oeuvre." Picture from L-R are the presenters, Robert Barrett, Mary-Antoinette Smith, and Jennie Baker
The Octavia E. Butler Literary Society co-sponsored a panel at PAMLA 2025, for its 122nd Annual Conference held in in San Francisco November 20-23. The session, titled "Octavia E. Butler's Oeuvre," was organized by Jade Saffery and featured 3 panelists!
#OctaviaButler #Earthseed #GodIsChange
