Hi gentle_yogini,
Quetzalcoatl, even if you did mock the whole yoga community, I really don’t think a lot of people care that much. I know I don’t… I am pretty sure that most yoga people know that not EVERYONE is gonna understand, agree with, or like yoga. And that’s ok. This world would be pretty boring if we were all clones of one another.
and I add this from your other post too:
This is a Yoga Forum. One would think that people would go on here because of their interest in yoga. If someone has some sort of problem with yoga and the yoga community, perhaps this is the wrong forum for them.
I personally do not believe in racism. Would I go on a KKK forum to bash their beliefs? No. Although I would defend my beliefs in a situation when called for, I would not go out of my way to stir something up when I know that I am not going to win the battle. And frankly, I have better things to do then go and stir up conflicts on the internet.
Your whole comment in this thread is based on the misconception, that I would have a problem with Yoga. I don’t. What should that problem even be, I can’t think of one. I have a problem with many of the people who claim to represent Yoga. These I criticize and I criticize these reasonably.
Yoga I love. I do an Asana-sessions almost everyday; I frequently even sleep on my Yoga-mat. I had done Yoga before too, with a teacher and I have included a lot of Yogic conceptions about the mind into my view- and standpoint in life. If what I find here, in this community and if what I see in the so called “yogic” movement in the western world is indeed Yoga, then I must have misunderstood pretty much everything. That I doubt.
I have tried to explain some of my problems precisely in the lengthy post in this thread. Why don’t you comment these instead of making up a false story about me? That only supports my perception. I know: You don’t care. Impressive.
This one is quite interesting too:
Q- Lets say you reacted very differently to this all. You asked Nichole if the quote was about you and she said no and you left it at that- maybe even apologized for the accusation, you would look like a much bigger person.
Probably. But what if I still thougt different? I might look bigger in some peoples eyes, but would I really be bigger? I am as tall or small as I am. Isn’t it a first step towards becoming a spiritual giant to accept where I stand? Work with who and what I am? Instead of faking a fassade to impress others with a size I cannot live up to?
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Hi Nichole,
you are of course free to do whatever you think is right. With your final sentence about crossed wires and your hope to change that, you made the impression to have some interest in me and how I perceive you and this community. If someone would face up to my criticism, that might change my view. So far, it’s only being ignored and avoided, stories about me are made up, so from my perspective it looks like people are either too arrogant to give a damn about what I think or are afraid to engage me in a reasonable debate. It should be so simple, if someone criticized me, I’d lay out my standpoint, explain how I came to it, if necessary discuss it further, just like non-fundamentalist and non-dogmatic people do it all around the world and the clock. I’ve done it a million times before.
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Hi David,
[quote]And I give you one more thing to not overblow you (which I probably already did): Every day I read on this forum how super tolerant everbody is, how they accept others, no matter where they stand and how evolved they are. Right? You read it all the time. But when these claims are taken to the test, for example right here in this thread, where - let’s say - an unevolved idiot doesn’t know better, they fail to live up to their standards. As long as you’re in line, they do, they tolerate you.
Make absolutely no mistake, this is something that, especially as the owner of this forum, I have to deal with a LOT. I am forever getting PM’s from people who are upset with what someone on this forum said. As the person with the power to ban, where do I draw the line of acceptance? I consider myself extremely accepting, but if someone threatens another with physical violence, do I let them continue? I can see both sides of the coin. Do I accept the person who is threatening violence knowing that they’re simply someone who might be in pain, who is traumatized, who is coming from ego, etc? Or do I accept the person who feels threatened who is coming from a place of fear?[/quote]may I assume all those messages aren’t about me…? Quite interesting that you get so many, while stuff like this is pretty much never publicly discussed. Why not? Are YogiNis so afraid of admitting to be upset or annoyed? Does everyone need to appear as an accomplished superguru? Well, I’m none and where I come from, things can only clearified when they’re addressed openly.
Your questions: Threats of physical violence are obviously nothing to tolerate, as well as trivial insults like “asshole” and alike. More subtle affronts are more difficult to deal with, like for example calling someone a hypocrite or a liar, or, even more subtle, telling someone they don’t understand Yoga, do a false Yoga and unsettling statements alike. I guess such stuff would need an explanation: Why is someone called a hypocrite? Is the explanation sound? Can it be debated? If so, I’d guess it should. Of course noone can be forced, but on the other hand: If someone criticizes others, they cannot demand to above criticism.
On acceptance: I personally think that one should even accept a child-abuser, which to me is the worst crime possible. Yes, I’m serious: Accept such people. But one should of course not accept child-abuse and do anything to prohibit it, including killing such offenders, if necessary.
Do I accept you, a person who is obviously full of passion and has taken many steps back to evaluate what he sees going on and isn’t afraid to single people out? Or do I accept the person who you’re focusing on who gets their feelings hurt for various reasons or might feel threatened by you for other reasons?
Or do I accept everyone, do nothing, grab some popcorn, and see how things play out?
What would you do in my position? How, based upon your understanding of yoga, would you proceed?
The answer in my own case is very simple: I would discuss my critcism with me, agree with me, where I do, show me where and why I’m wrong, and relativize what I am exaggerating. I’d also note that I find it quite unpleasant that I have to do so, particularly because the people I criticize are criticising much more than I do (I mostly criticized ppl only when they did it themselves, like recently Pandara).
Is there a general answer? I don’t think so, if not every case is unique, there are still too many different situations to have one answer for them all. Name some and I’ll tell you what Q (:lol:) would do. Doing nothing, especially when asked for support, is not really an option for a moderator though.
Well David, I hope to have been of service here. How about a small favour in return? You say what I say isn’t nonsense. I dare to be self-confident enough to know that already. So do you agree with me? Something that isn’t nonsense can still be wrong, right? Is my only wrong in your opinion not to have the same faith in Nichole like you have? With everything else you agree? Then maybe you can shed some light on the behaviour I criticize, as you probably are in “the business” much longer than since Feb 2010. What’s up with people? Are they greedy? Don’t they understand? Do they try to be something they aren’t? Impress others? What’s going on behind those speeches?