How we cite our quotes: The main text of the story is cited (Chapter.Paragraph). The date headers are not counted as paragraphs. The verses in the chapters with a single passage from the narrator's religious texts are cited (Chapter.Verse.Line#). In chapters with multiple passages, the verses are cited (Chapter.Verse#.Line#). The four section pages with the years and passages are cited (Year.Verse).
Quote #4
We are all Godseed, but no more or less
so than any other aspect of the universe,
Godseed is all there is—all that
Changes. Earthseed is all that spreads
Earthlife to new earths. The universe is
Godseed. Only we are Earthseed. And the
Destiny of Earthseed is to take root among
the stars. (7.Verse1.Line1-8)
This passage describe what might be considered Earthseed's ontology, a fancy word for that part of philosophy/religion that discusses what all exists, what it means to exist, and other fairly complicated-sounding things. Basically, Lauren's saying everything is Godseed, and a subset of Godseed is Earthseed: that which spreads Earthlife. Her conception isn't one found in Abrahamic religions (at least as far as those are popularly viewed today); for her, God isn't an authority figure in a hierarchy (see 2.43 and 18.50). Rather, everything that exists is Godseed, or God-stuff, and we can shape or alter it in pursuit of what she calls the Destiny: to spread Earthlife into outer space.
Quote #5
Civilization is to groups what intelligence is to individuals. It is a means of combining the intelligence of many to achieve ongoing group adaptation.
Civilization, like intelligence, may serve well, serve adequately, or fail to serve its adaptive function. When civilization fails to serve, it must disintegrate unless it is acted upon by unifying internal or external forces. (2026.Verse)
Sort of like Plato drawing a comparison between an individual human soul and the ideal city in The Republic, here Lauren draws a comparison between civilization and a single person's intelligence. She sees both as methods or tools for problem solving and adapting to change. It's just that intelligence is the instrument for a particular individual, while civilization is the analogous instrument for groups of people.
Also, the last sentence of the verse is particularly important. The passage introduces the year 2026, when Lauren's Robledo community pretty much goes down the drain and becomes totally unprepared for the attack that will hit it in 2027 (14.1). This passage says that such disintegration or failure can be stopped by unifying forces. Lauren herself becomes the principal unifying force of the Earthseed community later in the novel.
Quote #6
We are Earthseed. We are flesh—self aware, questing, problem-solving flesh. We are that aspect of Earthlife best able to shape God knowingly. We are Earthlife maturing. Earthlife preparing to fall away from the parent world. We are Earthlife preparing to take root in new ground, Earthlife fulfilling its purpose, its promise, its Destiny. (2027.Verse)
This passage introduces the year 2027, when Lauren's Robledo community finally burns down, and when Lauren finds she must leave and establish a new community. What is it that enables her to achieve this remarkable feat? What is it that enables anyone to mature and fall away from their parent worlds? The verse emphasizes that Lauren—and all of us, as Earthseed—are fundamentally empowered problem solvers, people who can shape God (or reality, the world). Many do not view themselves as especially empowered or capable of altering their lives or societies, but over and over, Parable of the Sower shows that we have to view ourselves this way to even get very far off the ground.
It also seems to help Lauren that she has a vision of a particular Destiny lodged firmly in her mind, something that comes from her encounter with the story of the astronaut Alicia Catalina Godinez Leal (3.20). Lauren wants humanity/Earthlife to settle new homes in outer space. While stuff like building spaceships and obtaining rocket fuel is completely absent from Lauren's daily life, the imagery nevertheless is so powerfully motivating for her that she makes it a fundamental part of her Earthseed religion, even though it doesn't have that same sort of motive power for some of her followers.