What is Radical Respect?
We live in a world that runs on division and despair. One look at the state of our communities and our planet reveals the deep divide that has created the world we live in. Radical Respect is a principle and a practice to heal the divide. To transform the suffering that we encounter. To create a world where human beings can flourish and the broader community of life that we’re a part of can be sustained. There are three pillars of Radical Respect. They are:
1. Respect for Self
We believe that self-respect is essential to effective social change. At the heart of self-respect is a simple realization that each of us, whatever our limitations may be, has inherent value as well as something valuable to contribute.
Furthermore, we believe that genuine self-respect requires that we give high priority to effective self-care, and that such self-care is essential not only for our own well -being, but the well-being of everyone we interact with.
If we want to make positive contributions in the world, few factors will have a greater impact than our own state of being. Trying to help the world when we are stressed out, bummed out or burned out is like trying to grow a healthy garden without water. Trying to create a better world when we are filled with fear, hatred, misery of despair is like trying to grow a healthy garden from toxic sludge. It inevitably harms us and everyone around us.
Person-Planet advocates self-care and mutual-care as top priorities for social changemakers, and we offer a targeted, empirically-proven series of practices to help social changemakers stay sane, stoked, and optimally effective. We see the relationship between personal and social transformation from three main vantagepoints:
One: Human happiness is not achieved in isolation. It is about We as well as Me. Focusing too narrowly on achieving personal happiness can actually make happiness much more difficult to achieve. Conversely, taking action to help others is an indispensable part of achieving true fulfillment.
Two: Our words, actions, and the state of being from which we speak and act all have an impact. The world needs our joy and well-being every bit as much as it needs our work.
Three: Our joy and well-being can make our work much more productive, effective, persuasive and engaging.
We call this relationship between personal and social dynamics The Paradox of Fulfillment: we discover fulfillment by helping others, and one of the best ways of helping is by our own well-being.
2. Respect for Others
The dominant culture of social change is often one of shame, blame and division. It teaches us to define ourselves by opposition: we are what we are because we are not them. If we disagree with someone, or believe they are causing harm, the usual approach is to condemn them, make demands, and form our own identity around opposition to them and what they stand for.
An alternative that is sometimes suggested is to never engage in opposition at all, to avoid conflict, to pretend that all is well even if it isn’t — in other words to “make nice.”
Radical Respect is a radically different approach. It requires us to take strategic action, to respond to suffering and to make the greatest difference that we can. And it requires us to do so, to the best of our ability, without condemning others, without assuming they cannot change for the better. It is at once empathetic, inclusive and assertive.
3. Respect for Life
Radical Respect means that we practice seeing the humanity in every human being, the value in every life form, and the value of life itself. Although it is not always easy to practice, it can be a powerful guiding principle for thought, for words, and for action.
There is no “orthodoxy” for Radical Respect. It provides an ethical and practical common ground, but will inevitably be practiced differently by each person in accordance with their own unique viewpoint and abilities. It can be thought of as a “North Star” guiding principle rather than a destination that can be arrived at or perfected.