Shaping the Future We Long For
Octavia Butler & Maria Montessori
Prodigy is, at its essence,
adaptability and persistent,
positive obsession. Without
persistence, what remains is an
enthusiasm of the moment. Without
adaptability, what remains may
be channeled into destructive
fanaticism. Without positive
obsession, there is nothing at all.from Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower (1993)
Strange Bedfellows
Ok, I am fully aware this may end up being a completely self-indulgent post, but I can’t help it. I couldn’t stop thinking today of the connections between Montessori philosophy and Octavia Butler’s Earthseed series. Anyone else have this issue? I’m not sure where the audience is for science fiction/educational pedagogy crossovers, but this is not my first attempt. I also wrote an article claiming a monstrous relationship between Montessori and the movie Poor Things. Someone please let me know if I’ve lost it.
If you haven’t read any Octavia Butler - shame on you. Shame. Especially if you are American. I don’t know how you could even begin to understand this historical moment we are living through without having first read Parable of the Sower. Climate dread - check. Far right nationalism - check. It’s got it all. It literally contains a neo-fascist Presidential candidate whose tagline is “Make America Great Again.” Butler depicts a bleak image of our near present future, and it all feels scarily prescient for a book written in the 1970s. But, most importantly of all - Butler explores what it would look like to create a positive future out of the ruins of such a doomed present through the fictitious religion of the book’s protagonist Lauren Olamina.
In Parable of the Sower, Earthseed, created by Lauren, teaches that “God is Change” and asserts that humanity’s destiny is to expand beyond Earth:
The Destiny of Earthseed
Is to take root among the stars.
It is to live and to thrive
On new earths.
It is to become new beings
And to consider new questions.
It is to leap into the heavens
Again and again.
It is to explore the vastness
Of heaven.
It is to explore the vastness
Of ourselves.from Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower (1993)
In a world of social collapse and environmental disaster, Earthseed’s vision seems impossibly grand. Yet, it serves as a beacon for Lauren and her followers, guiding their efforts to build a new, resilient community. The ultimate goal of “life among the stars” is deeply aspirational, giving meaning and direction to their survival efforts. Somehow they hold onto this belief through the most harrowing survival experiences imaginable - it paradoxically keeps them grounded.
“All that you touch, you change. All that you change, changes you. The only lasting truth is Change,” Butler writes, grounding Earthseed in the inevitability of transformation, whether social, personal, or cosmic. If you cannot imagine a way out of the intractable horrors of Israel/Palestine, the climate crisis, structural racism, capitalism, and the patriarchy - this is the book for you. It doesn’t provide an answer, but it unveils a possibility. The only lasting truth is Change.
What does not change / is the will to change — Charles Olson
The Only Lasting Truth is Change
Ok, here’s my pitch. Yes, Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower series and Maria Montessori’s educational philosophy may seem like strange bedfellows—one describes a fictional religion aimed at survival in a dystopian future, the other an educational method focused on the development of children. However, both share an overarching idealistic vision: Earthseed envisions humanity’s destiny as “life among the stars,” while Montessori believes in education as a pathway to achieving world peace through children.
In Parable of the Sower, despite the pressing, immediate needs of the community—safety, food, and security—Lauren insists that they must not lose sight of their higher vision. She defends the expansive goals of Earthseed from those who seek more immediate, pragmatic solutions, arguing that to move forward, humanity must aim for something larger than survival—it must strive for evolution.
Similarly, Montessori believed in a far-reaching goal that went beyond simply educating children for academic success: she envisioned education as the foundation for world peace. “Establishing lasting peace is the work of education; all politics can do is keep us out of war,” Montessori wrote. Montessori believed in a radical overhaul of the way we relate to children and education through an upending of adultist oppression and a belief that only through following the child can we hope for true, enduring peace.
This I think is at the core of why Montessori education is such a powerful movement for change, and it is something that gives me hope in the present. We may not build Earthseed in our lifetimes, but we have to hold onto that vision. We must strive for evolution.
Both Butler’s Earthseed and Montessori’s educational philosophy rely on the belief that radical change can only be achieved by keeping sight of an expansive, almost utopian, vision. Whether you are parents, children, or educators who feel ground down by the current educational system or survivors of a dystopian world, the visions of Montessori and Earthseed can help us look beyond our immediate challenges and embrace a larger sense of purpose. For Montessori, the nurturing of a child’s potential is a form of hope for the future. For Lauren Olamina, the idea of humanity’s destiny among the stars provides a reason to endure and persevere through hardship.
All Organizing is Science Fiction
I've had so many conversations over the last month where I've had to explain Montessori to parents and other educators. And I find I can't help but go big. I ultimately end up saying that the goal of Montessori Education is nothing short of a complete educational revolution culminating in world peace brought about by children. I feel like anything less ends up missing the point of our movement.
I'm not sure how well it is received by my audience. The things that often resonate with individuals are the pragmatic everyday messages that provide solutions to education today. These are ideas like:
"mainstream education doesn't work for many children"
"we need more freedom and curiosity in schools"
"rewards and punishment is outdated"
But, I feel if we end up focusing just on the needs of parents, or academic outcomes, or individual children, we end up getting trapped in an individualist mindset that undermines our movement's ultimate vision - an educational revolution led by children that is collective, human-centered, and focused on peace in our world. Often, I feel that Montessori schools fall short of this collective vision, and focus instead on service provision for their paying families in the immediate present. How many schools even make families aware of this greater sense of purpose?
Adrienne Maree Brown, a social justice activist and scholar of Octavia Butler’s work, draws her theories of change and action directly from Earthseed. In her book Emergent Strategy, which is an absolute club-banger of a book, she highlights how Butler’s philosophy emphasizes adaptability and transformation in the face of constantly shifting realities. Brown writes, “All organizing is science fiction. We are shaping the future we long for and have not yet experienced.” For Brown, the act of envisioning a better world—whether through activism or education—requires the same creative imagination Butler ascribes to Earthseed. Brown’s interpretation of “God is Change” reflects her understanding that change is not only inevitable but also something we must actively shape, which parallels Montessori’s view of education as the tool for shaping peaceful futures. God is change, but we can shape God. As Butler writes:
All successful life is
Adaptable,
Opportunistic,
Tenacious,
Interconnected, and
Fecund.
Understand this.
Use it.
Shape God.from Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower (1993)
Just as Montessori sought to nurture the future of humanity through careful, intentional education, Brown sees the potential for large-scale social transformation in small, iterative, and deeply intentional actions.
“All organizing is science fiction. We are shaping the future we long for and have not yet experienced.” Adrienne Marie Brown
Obviously, we can’t also ignore the pragmatists, they keep us grounded too. In Parable of the Sower, Lauren must defend Earthseed’s far-reaching goals against those who see her vision as too detached from the urgent needs of the present. Her followers often push back, wanting solutions to immediate dangers, not distant dreams. Likewise, Montessori’s vision of educating for peace has been met with criticism over the years, with some educators and policymakers favoring more pragmatic, measurable approaches to schooling that prioritize test scores or economic outcomes over the holistic development of the child. We constantly get accused that we are not preparing children for the “real world”.
But this tension between practicality and idealism can drive our movement forward and not hold us back. Brown’s concept of “emergent strategy” helps bridge this gap, arguing that even small, localized efforts, when aligned with an overarching vision, can catalyze significant long-term change. I find similar inspiration from Steve Chalke’s work with Oasis Trust, which I’ve written about in previous articles. He similarly believes in engaging in small, meaningful human-centered local change to drive national transformation and his vision of an interconnected, caring society.
The Child is Both a Hope and a Promise
The strength of both Butler’s and Montessori’s visions lies precisely in their idealism. The vastness of the goals they propose compels their followers to think beyond themselves, to imagine a better future that might seem unreachable in the present. By refusing to compromise on their ideals, both Earthseed and Montessori’s educational philosophy maintain the potential to drive real, transformative change. They remind us that pragmatism alone rarely leads to profound shifts in society; it is often the visionary thinkers, those who dare to dream of seemingly impossible futures, who propel humanity forward.
Montessori said, “The child is both a hope and a promise for mankind.” Just as Lauren Olamina sees humanity’s future in the stars as a distant but essential goal, Montessori sees the cultivation of children as the most critical investment for the future. Both emphasize that the long game—the audacious vision—must guide the immediate work.
The power of a large, idealistic vision is not in its immediate feasibility, but in its ability to inspire a sense of purpose and direction. Earthseed's dream of the stars and Montessori's vision of peace through education are bound by their belief in the transformative potential of future generations, and by their insistence that the path to a better world requires faith in something much larger than the immediate concerns of today.
All that you touch
You Change.
All that you Change
Changes you.
The only lasting truth
Is Change.
God
Is Change.from Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower (1993)