It's been a while since I've read a book that I couldn't put down. It touched my heartstrings in many ways.
The first half of the book is a vignette of the young heroine, Nujood, who lives in Yemen. It is the story of a child married against her will or consent at the age of 9 to a man over three times her age. There was no gentleness or compassion as he assaulted her physically and sexually and her mother-in-law showed her no kindness or compassion after he repeatedly raped his child-bride. That part of the story was handled very delicately as befits the dignity and understanding of a child; I am grateful that the major details were minimized although alluded to. A few months later, she begged him to visit her family and he agreed. While there, she ran away and went to court to ask a judge to grant her a divorce. She was fortunate to find a judge with young daughters who took compassion on her plight and found her a female attorney who was active in trying to stop the practice of marrying off young children.
The second half of the book is about her life after the divorce. Because of laws and family devotion, she chose to move back home to hopefully protect her young sister from the same abusive fate. There are time of misery, occasional sparks of childhood and comments of maturity as she processed what she'd been through.
The book covers her life from 2008-2009. I searched online to see if her life improved. Apparently her teen years are still fraught with financial struggles as her father bought two more wives and has had 14 more children -- using the money earned from her book that was to be used to help the existing family and to pay for her education. The father kicked her out but continues to collect the royalties of her book. As a minor she has no say, nor can the publisher send her the money to her until she reaches her majority. The father also sold Nujood's younger sister into marriage at a young age.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/mar/12/child-bride-father-cash-spend
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nujood_Ali
There has been a movie made of her life.
I found this video by National Geographic that explains the multi-faceted issue with trying to ban child marriages: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c_zppPutQw It is not just Islam but all major world religions, including Christianity, who practice selling their daughters young as a child bride.
In the roots of Christianity, Judaism, a girl had to be 3 years and 1 day old before having sexual intercourse with her husband. http://discover-the-truth.com/2013/09/14/bible-child-marriage-in-ancient-israelite-times-paedophilia/
I'm grateful I live in modern times and in Western society.
Thursday 24 September 2015
Wednesday 23 September 2015
Reading: Power vs Force by David R. Hawkins, M.D., Ph.D.
I enjoy reading. Sometimes it gives me words to better understand what's already growing inside; sometimes it hones and develops what's already there; sometimes it opens new vistas. I decided to start writing some blogs about books I read - not only to help me have a concise way to go back and see my own journey; but hopefully it will encourage others to read.
I've never been great at summarizing. Now that I'm 65 (how did that happen?), I decided to develop my summarizing skills in part by writing a summary of what I learned reading a book.
I enjoyed reading "Power vs Force: The Hidden Determinents of Human Behavior" by David R. Hawkins.
Power is personal power used to make the world better; Force is stealing power and makes the world and others wounded. Using applied kineseology, he assigns numbers from 0 to 1000 to explain where we are on the consciousness scale (Think Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs). The lower the number the more force a person exhibits and the greater propensity to act from selfish and unmercifulness. The higher the number, the greater the power and the greater influence we exert on the world.
He writes the average person will only grow 5-10 points throughout our life. He says great love or great pain/failure are the catalysts for growth (reminded me of Richard Rohr's book, "Falling Upward") and often 12-step programs are very helpful in growing more then those few points.
As the higher numbers permeates a person's life, the more non-dualism they have and how they have more peace, influence and power to encourage change in self, others and the world. People like Mother Theresa who spent her life to help others who were not of her religion, nationality, socio-economic, or educational background - but she was still Christ's hands extended without trying to change the person but loving them and allowing God to change them. The more dualistic a person is, the more force they need to create a space where they are comfortable and they are very uncomfortable with people who are different and they are willing to fight or die to coerce people to be just like them.
I found this book helpful as it built on what I already knew about the two halves of life from Rohr's book; yet it gave greater detail and ways to "test" to more accurately see where I am so I can see what direction to take to mature.
I'm sure with a second read, I'd find many other things to write about. It's got many streams of wisdom throughout; but personal and spiritual growth is where my mind is, so that's the main area I took away from this reading.
I've never been great at summarizing. Now that I'm 65 (how did that happen?), I decided to develop my summarizing skills in part by writing a summary of what I learned reading a book.
I enjoyed reading "Power vs Force: The Hidden Determinents of Human Behavior" by David R. Hawkins.
Power is personal power used to make the world better; Force is stealing power and makes the world and others wounded. Using applied kineseology, he assigns numbers from 0 to 1000 to explain where we are on the consciousness scale (Think Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs). The lower the number the more force a person exhibits and the greater propensity to act from selfish and unmercifulness. The higher the number, the greater the power and the greater influence we exert on the world.
He writes the average person will only grow 5-10 points throughout our life. He says great love or great pain/failure are the catalysts for growth (reminded me of Richard Rohr's book, "Falling Upward") and often 12-step programs are very helpful in growing more then those few points.
As the higher numbers permeates a person's life, the more non-dualism they have and how they have more peace, influence and power to encourage change in self, others and the world. People like Mother Theresa who spent her life to help others who were not of her religion, nationality, socio-economic, or educational background - but she was still Christ's hands extended without trying to change the person but loving them and allowing God to change them. The more dualistic a person is, the more force they need to create a space where they are comfortable and they are very uncomfortable with people who are different and they are willing to fight or die to coerce people to be just like them.
I found this book helpful as it built on what I already knew about the two halves of life from Rohr's book; yet it gave greater detail and ways to "test" to more accurately see where I am so I can see what direction to take to mature.
I'm sure with a second read, I'd find many other things to write about. It's got many streams of wisdom throughout; but personal and spiritual growth is where my mind is, so that's the main area I took away from this reading.
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