POS Ending & Final Thoughts on Earthseed

 I personally really enjoyed the ending of this book- but I can understand someone's frustration with the ambiguity. At the end of chapter 25, Lauren's 'tribe' discuss staying in Bankole's land and creating an Earthseed community. They decide they will. Then Bankole and Lauren talk about Earthseed after having a funeral for his dead family. They planted oak trees as gravestones for the dead. The novel ends with the fact that they will call their new community Acorn; as in the first 'seed' or set commune to spread and cultivate the religion of Earthseed. 

I was really fond of the conversation that Lauren and Bankole had before the end of the book. I understand Bankole's frustration and irritation with Lauren's assertion that 'God is Change'. But I actually like my own interpretation of it: it just means that the only thing that is true is change. You can either fight against it or go with it. As someone who really hates change, but has had change happen before and it not gone well, I am really attracted to the idea that Lauren is presenting here. I want to like change because I see/ understand the benefits that you get from it.


I really love the lack of hatred in Lauren's religion. It is really common for modern interpretations of religions' bibles to contain lines denouncing homosexuals, or justifying attacking 'wives'. In Lauren's bible, there is none of that. It is not even really a story, it's a set of ideas. It's a way of living. I also love the ambiguity of it, as there are no arbitrary rules like: "no using this material" or "no digesting a specific animal". I almost think of Earthseed as 'the' modern religion for this reason. Especially with the climate crisis, a religion fueled by loving nature is really timely.

Comments

  1. L. MoffittMay 21, 2021 at 7:29 AM

    Great post. I found myself drawn to Earthseed but also puzzled and (like Bankole) somewhat frustrated with it. I do believe her assertion that "the only constant is change" is right and important -- it emphasizes the need for progressive views and actions, and it encourages adaptation. My frustration comes from the fact that I'm not sure how it would help to build a community. it's a very personalized set of beliefs, which is great, but how are other people to learn from it?

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bankole and Lauren's Age Gap (?)

Image
 Currently, in the story, everything is going really well. Lauren and her "tribe" picked up four more people, and Lauren and Bankole began a romance. They are also now all heading to Bankole's land to start an Earthseed community. Bankole (fake casting) When Bankole was first introduced into the story, I remembered Lauren feeling attracted to him- but she claimed it was familial. Due to Bankole's age, (57), I sort of assumed it was because Lauren lost her father. I do believe this plays a part in their relationship and Earthseed- a sort of "father" figure for both.  However- then they slept together. I just can't condone this- I just can't. I get it kind of- like the moral decay of society and then going back to tribal roots of humanity. But child brides????? I mean I understand eighteen is the age of consent and to marry but to a man who is 39 years above her?  I really dislike how casually that was looked over: when Lauren tells Bankole her age, he...
Read more

Universal Morality is Bogus

Image
  The first thing that struck me about the first reading from 1984 was the way in which people were brainwashed into thinking the unthinkable: that war was somehow peace, freedom is slavery, and that ignorance is strength. It reminded me of how I used to think that everyone had more or less the same morals as me. Boy was I wrong! Within Criminology, there is a term to describe crimes that are seen as “universally condemned”, these are called “mala in se”. “Mala in se” crimes include murder, assault, rape and theft. On the other hand, however, there are “mala prohibita” crimes. These are seen as crimes that are bad because they are “bound by the culture they are in”. For example, traffic violations and jaywalking would be considered “mala prohibita” crimes.  Criminology then asks the question, are “mala in se” crimes actually universally condemnable acts? Or is every crime a “mala prohibita”, and there is no universal morality? For instance, war is murder, and many people are ...
Read more

The Importance of Martyrs for Political and Religious Movements

Image
Part Three, chapters 1-2 of 1984 details Winston's imprisonment at the Ministry of Love, and his subsequent torture. During one of these torture sessions with O'Brien, Winston wonders why the party would go through all of this trouble to torture him into a confession- when they are just gonna kill him anyways. O'Brien answers that this is because they are trying to get rid of martyrs- a flaw that he claims many extermination groups of the past, such as the nazis and conquistadors, failed to take into account. Instead, O'Brien explained, he wanted to change all of them into "perfect" versions, aka ones that believed in Big Brother and the party, before they killed them. Ideally, this then leaves no hope for anyone.  But what actually is a martyr? According to Wikipedia, martyrs are "people who suffer persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, refusing to renounce, or refusing to advocate a religious belief or cause as demanded by an external party...
Read more