Compete and win, dominate and control - these values permeate every area of our lives, causing widespread anxiety and dissatisfaction. In an ideal world, we'd treat ourselves, others, and the world around us decently - valuing the needs of each as we strive for maximum happiness. In our present world, though, we're groomed to push for more, to be the best, to be a success, to win. Then, when this strategy for living falls short, we blame ourselves.
But beneath our personal unease is a more fundamental problem: We live in an indecent world.
Radical Decency confronts this deeply troubling reality. It explains why we urgently need to overcome and move beyond it; for our own well-being and for the future of the culture and planet. It then offers a pathway for creating a life affirming both our self and others via Decency's 7 Values: Respect, Understanding, Empathy, Acceptance, Appreciation, Fairness and Justice.
Nature has wired us to be creatures of habit - and we're deeply influenced by the environments we live in. Thus, to decisively diverge from our current problematic values, we need to systematically cultivating new habits. Otherwise, our old, habitual ways will, almost inevitably, overwhelm the small islands of decency we seek to create.
Accounting for this reality, Radical Decency challenges us to rewire our brains for decency, practicing it "radically;" not partially or sometimes, but in every situation and without exception.
To make this demanding change program a reality, we need guidance. Radical Decency does this, offering a detailed pathway for "going decent" in all areas - in our intimate relationships, our workplaces, our communities and political engagements, and in our deepest conversations with our selves. Demanding but realistic and do-able, it offers an inspiring, spirit-affirming roadmap that will empower readers to create more personally satisfying lives and, simultaneously, to contribute more effectively to a fairer, more just world.
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Arguing that its "radical" approach is urgently needed at this particular point in our history, the book begins with a description of how the exponentially accelerating pace of change - our new reality - threatens our very existence; through vast environmental upheaval and/or through an algorithmically-driven, Big Brother world in which we're more and more thoroughly harnessed to the twin Gods of production and consumption.
It then focuses on the all-important practical question that is the book's primary focus: How to actually make the shift to decency, so urgently required by our current situation.
To make good on this ambitious goal, we first need to know where the journey begins (the "Here") and, then, where we want to get to ("There"). Thus, the book: (1) describes the deeply embedded processes that keep us rooted in our current ways and their debilitating impact on our lives; and (2) offers a detailed vision of what a life, lived in a radically decent way, might look like. It then dives into the most vital question of all -- how to get Here to There - offering a detailed roadmap for progressively moving toward a more and more decent life: With our loved ones and friends, at work, and in our communal and political engagements.
We can only transform the environments in which we live - and so heavily influence every other area of our living - if we bring decency's values to the communities and institutions in which our lives unfold. Recognizing this reality, the book ends with a call to action: Describing how we can invest our reform energy in our communities of choice and in new more creative forms of collaboration with similarly values-based people, from all walks of life.
