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Responsive Development
Responsivism is the belief and practice that responding to the unchosen needs of others can produce more favorable results than defensive-provoking adversarial alternatives.
Your every need exists as an objective fact. This truism exhorts a different approach to conflicts, to problems, and toward those in positions of power.
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For starters, expecting others to change their minds as a trusted way to address your needs repeatedly fails. Now we can understand why. Now we have a fresh approach, to more effectively identify and address our needs.
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Responsivism answers the many limitations inherent in adversarial activism.
Responsivism begins with you, on a personal level. Start asking what you can do for others. No quid pro quo. Just to stretch your potential to be more giving.
Activism
tends to incite toxic legalism.
tension between personal responsibilities and personal rights
hide behind rationalizations to avoid uncomfortable exposure
rely on comforting generalizations overlooking specific needs
intent toward relieving pain and neglecting needs behind pain
oppose each other by provoking mutual defensiveness
Responsivism
incentivizes mutual wellness.
balances personal responsibilities with personal rights
boldly self-disclose each other's vulnerable needs
faithfully engages nuance to address all relevant needs
intent toward resolving all needs to remove cause for pain
cultivates mutual understanding of each other's needs
Responsivism answers the shortcomings of legalistic activism.
Responding to Toxic Legalism
The role of law starts nobly enough. Laws impersonally convey needs where emotions personally convey needs. Problems emerge as law and authority become more important than the needs they exist to serve. Click on "Toxic legalism creeps in when..." to view each problem in more detail. Then click on the button to explore the responsive solution below.
Laws hold us personally accountable.
Laws curb our actions that could harm others. Toxic legalism creeps in when encouraging personal responsibility drifts into over responsibility, by overlooking collective responsibility. Problems soon arise. You can only respond to others from a capacity of others responding appropriately to you. Personal responsibility then easily slips into hyper-individualism. Illegitimate authority then targets individuals as somehow personally responsible for conditions beyond their personal control. Legalistic activism risks perpetuating such hyper-individualism by neglecting psychosocial balance between oneself and others. Responsivism counters this toxic legalistic tendency with Responsive Holism, or Holistic Responsiveness.
Laws check our charged emotions wth reason.
Laws ensure our interactions result in rational outcomes. Toxic legalism creeps in when rational thinking increasingly suppresses natural emotions. Problems soon arise. The more you rationalize your actions, the less honest you become with yourself and toward others. Reasoned thinking then easily slips into hyper-rationality. Illegitimate authority then allows self-rationalizations to hinder mutually safe disclosure about our honest selves. Legalistic activism risks perpetuating hyper-rationality when not encouraging each other to safely acknowledge their vulnerable limits. Their noble goals get easily coopted to serve Responsivism counters this toxic legalistic tendency with Responsive Relatability, or Relatably Responsive.
Laws are kept vague to apply broadly.
Laws cannot be so specific as to be excluded in some situations. Toxic legalism creeps in when vagueness becomes overgeneralizing, and overgeneralizing skips over relevant nuance of specific needs. Problems soon arise. Needs fully resolve only by fully addressing all its specific parts. Vagueness then easily slips into overgeneralizing. Illegitimate authority overgeneralizes its power when oversimplifying what must be done about each other’s needs. Legalistic activism risks perpetuating oversimplified solutions that easily magnify our public problems. Responsivism counters this toxic legalistic tendency with Responsive Specifics, or Specifically Responsive.
Laws are kept impersonal to avoid favoritism.
Laws must be impartiality applied to be effective. Toxic legalism creeps in when impartiality drifts into alienating avoidance, and such detachment leads to avoiding almost anything unconformable. Problems soon arise. Needs typically resolve only by meaningfully enduring its discomfort to keep you aware until that need resolves. Detachment then easily slips into normalizing discomfort avoidance. Illegitimate authority emphasizes pain relief of neglected needs over removing pain by resolving such needs. Legalistic activism risks perpetuating the mounting pain of each other’s neglected needs by normalizing such avoidance. Responsivism counters this toxic legalistic tendency with Responsive Resilience, or Resiliently Responsive.
Laws are kept punitive to compel compliance.
Laws enforce social order by threatening violators with sanctions. Toxic legalism creeps in when its adversarial demeanor provokes mutual defensiveness. Problems soon arise. Authority that mindlessly coerces compliance risks reinforcing what it ostensibly opposes. Opposition then easily slips into hostilities. Illegitimate authority pits us against each other instead of encouraging us to support resolving each other’s needs. Legalistic activism risks perpetuating mutually reacting to each other by opposing each other’s inflexible needs. Responsivism counters this toxic legalistic tendency with Responsive Mutuality, or Mutually Responsive.
BASE: Lay your foundation
Before you try to improve your relations with others, be sure you have adequately improve yourself. Use these tools to establish the foundation of your responsiveness to each other's needs.
Testimonials
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