Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -… [2266]

For instance, I asked what was the most powerful force I could think of? What one thing could we not stop no matter how hard we tried? The answer I came up with after some thought was “change.” We can do a lot of things to influence the ongoing processes of change. We can focus them, alter their speed or impact, in general we can shape change, but we can’t stop it no matter how hard we try. — , Octavia E. Butler - Earthseed, Book 1 -…, 2266

Note

Butler shows the construction method of a fictional religion rather than the religion’s content: god is arrived at by asking what cannot be resisted, and the definition is then constrained by that method — influence, focus, alter, shape, but never stop. The repeated ‘no matter how hard we try’ closes both the question and the answer, making the dogma sound like a logical consequence rather than a revelation.