My thoughts on Eric Shaw's Rant

"Other people's opinions have nothing to do with you."

It is a rare thing these days to read an article and been so completely shocked that my mouth was literally hanging open. Eric Shaw shocked the yoga world in Dallas, Texas with a scathing rant directed at women.  (https://www.facebook.com/notes/eric-shaw/masculinism-101-a-response-to-the-feminist-recoding-of-history/10158227707910228)
Eric Shaw is a well-known and formerly a highly respected member of the yoga community as an E-RYT 500 and a continuing yoga education provider. He has been teaching yoga since 2001, but his personal practice goes back even further. Having instructed all over the world and has even helped to develop curriculum for the Yoga Alliance. He has his own system of teaching, writes training manuals, and regularly is asked to lecture at area teacher training. He is a very busy yogi and has a full schedule of lectures and workshops all over Texas and worldwide. (http://prasanayoga.com/)
I am baffled as I ponder what could have caused such a person to publically display such hurtful and reactive things? In his blog, he says "Mother Nature is still being kept from killing human society by an army of men that confronts her every day." Apparently, even the feminine aspect of Mother Nature has offended him. The assertion that Mother Nature is attacking us is a very odd stance. I presume his belief to be that we are being protected from mother nature by the big oil industry.  A very unique way of seeing the situation, indeed. He mentions Deepwater Horizon as proof of our need for protection from Mother Nature's wrath. However, as I see it, big oil "woke the sleeping giant" when they dared to "mess with Mother Nature."
His attack on women is pretty vicious. He calls women succubus while never commenting on the inequality, oppression or mistreatments of women. Women still endure unequal pay for the same job and safety from those "bedrock hardened men" he mentions. As a matter of fact, every issue he mentioned was poorly represented, misleading and pivotal points were entirely ignored. That first post was such an inflammatory, wildly opinionated and fact-less argument that I didn't even think it deserved a rebuttal.
An interesting complication for Eric is that Yoga, his bread, and butter, is primarily practiced by women. Men are only 27.8% of the yoga community. (http://www.statisticbrain.com/yoga-statistics/) He has without a doubt damaged his reputation, perhaps irreparably. Whatever kindness and good he has accomplished will most likely forever be tarnished by this day.
For me, the question becomes, has he truly always held these opinions?  Has he practiced alongside women for all those years with such disdain for them and yet he managed to hide it only to blurt it out on Facebook one day? There is no doubt that a significant lapse in his mindfulness occurred. But then, stress and upset cause us all to lose our minds temporarily. Whatever the reason for this rant we can all learn from this experience. A momentary blip in our variable and fragile mental state could someday be the beginning of our own complete self-destruction.
As yogis, we can view this as a very unique opportunity. We can accept the challenge to try to mindfully process it. Ask yourself, do I have the ability to mindfully withhold judgment. To choose to see it impartially as a man acting from his place on his path. The challenge is to have compassion and empathy for this man. To understand something was experienced that caused such a reaction from him.
 If I am compelled to be angry and reactively call out hatefully back at him, I am no more mindful than he. To stand as judge and jury from my imaginary high horse- from an ignorantly perceived moral high ground only puts me in a position ever tenuous and fleeting. As I judge, I will indeed be judged.
 With this understanding, I will not be casting stones from my glass house. I have my own issues. I have been so ridiculously reactive as to curse at gas pumps- to have thrown hamburgers from car windows and stomp on un-openable packages that have managed to surpass my ability to cope. On my not-so-good days, I just might "burn down the village" just as he did today.
My non-reaction does not mean I agree with him. It does not make me less that he said derogatory things about women. I am the same- only our understanding of him is different.
"Don't take anything personally. Nothing others do is because of you. What others say and do is a projection of their own reality, their own dream. When you are immune to the opinions and actions of others, you won't be the victim of needless suffering." ~ Miguel Ruiz