The essentials 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.
Interpretation
The quote emphasizes the importance of intentionality, education, and community contribution in shaping one's life and fulfilling purpose.
Octavia Butler’s quote speaks to the essential components of personal development and community service. It highlights the significance of thoughtful action and diligent work in shaping one's spiritual and bodily existence, while stressing the importance of educating not only oneself but also others in the community. This interconnectedness suggests that true fulfillment comes from contributing to the collective well-being and understanding that one’s destiny is tied to the growth and benefit of those around them.
In practice
In a speech about community service, one might say, 'As Octavia Butler said, we must learn to shape our contributions with care to fulfill our collective Destiny.'
What I'm working on now - I'm back to fantasy, although considering that it's me, I'm turning it into a kind of science fantasy. It's a vampire story - but my vampires are biological vampires. They didn't become vampires because someone bit them; they were born that way.
Slavery was a long slow process of dulling.
Here I was into astronomy, and here into anthropology, and there I go into geology. It was much more fun to be able to research and write about whatever I wanted to.
There is no end To what a living world Will demand of you.
You don't start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it's good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That's why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.
Better to stay alive," I said. "At least while there's a chance to get free." I thought of the sleeping pills in my bag and wondered just how great a hypocrite I was. It was so easy to advise other people to live with their pain.
I insist on a lot of time being spent, almost every day, to just sit and think. That is very uncommon in American business. I read and think. So I do more reading and thinking, and make less impulse decisions than most people in business. I do it because I like this kind of life.
It is a great thing to know the season for speech and the season for silence.
Great genius takes shape by contact with another great genius, but less by assimilation than by friction.
Maybe the fear is that we are less than we think we are, when the actuality of it is that we are much much more.
After much seeking for truth and knowledge the profoundness of reality came to me with a clarity never before known.
When you learn to say yes to yourself, you will be able to say no to others, with love.
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