​
​Why Constructive Postmodernists

​Need Coffee Shops

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Why Constructive Postmodernists Need Coffee Shops
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Constructive postmodernism (process philosophy) is not simply a worldview or an alternative metaphysic.  It is also, and perhaps most deeply, a way of living in the world.  A lifestyle.  It has implications for the practical things in life: marriage and parenting, for example,  It takes emotions very seriously, and says that how we feel about things is as important, perhaps more important, than how we think about things, since thinking itself is but a form of feeling (prehending).

This lifestyle is enjoyable in its own right.  It honors and celebrates the many modes of spiritual aliveness that are part of the human experience.  Mary Ann and Frederic Brussat name 37 of them. 

For an explanation of each, see http://www.spiritualityandpractice.com/practices/alphabet/

These thirty seven modes of aliveness, along with any others you might add, as part of the "spirituality" of an ecological civilization.  They are the spiritual alphabet of the lifestyle of what we can call "eco-persons."
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But the eco-person lifestyle is not oriented toward spirituality alone.  The eco-person is also inspired by what the philosopher Whitehead calls “world loyalty."  The aim of the eco-person is to help develop communities, in urban and rural settings, that are creative, compassionate, participatory, ecologically wise, and spiritually satisfying, with no one left behind.  He or she is devoted to what Martin Luther King, Jr., called beloved communities (loving communities) with ecology added.

These communities are the building blocks of what process thinkers call ecological civilizations: civilizations that live with respect and care for the community of life, humans much included.  Such civilizations can be enriched and informed by many different cultural traditions: East Asian, South Asian, Central Asian, North American, South American, European, African, Slavik, Oceanic.  There are as many kinds of ecological civilizations as there are cultures and peoples.  They form, as it were, a rainbow coalition of world loyalty.

However, these civilizations can only develop if people develop the arts, not only of respect and care, but also the arts of dialogue and conversation.  These are people who enjoy a sense of playfulness and imagination: a people who feel safe and free, where pressures to “draw the right conclusions” are bracketed,  This spirit of open conversation is part of the openness of what we call Open Horizons in this website.  It is part of what the Brussats mean by  "connection" and "imagination" and "play" and "you" and "questing."  Eco-persons feel a love of life itself, indeed a "zeal" for life.  And part of this zeal is to quest, to question, to explore, to engage in conversation,

People can develop these arts and sensibilities in what sociologists call third spaces: places outside the home and workplace where they are free to share.  This is why ecological civilizations need coffee shops. They need spaces where they feel at home, and free, and at the same level, and where everybody knows your name.  This is why ecological civilizations need bars and restaurants, parks and hair salons, too.  And this is why managing a coffee shop is itself, or can be, a primary practice of ecological civilizations.  The coffee shop is not a church, a workplace, or a home.  It is a third space: a place to develop, and embody, the constructive postmodern (process) lifestyle.  It is a space where spirituality and hope come together.  Without coffee shops, without third spaces, there can be no ecological civilizations.

-- Jay McDaniel, 2018
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History of Coffee Shops
​ a Gift from Islamic Culture

A short history of coffee and coffee shops offered by BBC,
Podcast called "The Muhammadan Bean"

​Third Space Coffee
in British Columbia, Canada

"a grand experiment in
the holistic coffee shop"

Rear Window Coffee Shop
in Harbin, China

"it doesn't have to be fancy"

Rear Window Coffee Shop in Harbin, China

​Seven Characteristics
​of Third Places

from Oldenburg's book

The source of the idea?  A book by sociologist Ray Oldenburg called "The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Bookstores,. Bars, Hair Salons, and other Hangouts at the Heart of a Community" (August, 1999)

Third places are informal gathering places in which people gather between home and work. In chapter two, Oldenburg explores their characteristics

On Neutral Ground • "In order for the city and its neighborhoods to offer the rich and varied association that is their promise and potential, there must be neutral ground upon which people may gather. There must be places where individuals may come and go as they please, in which no one is required to play host, and in which we all feel at home and comfortable" (p. 22).

The Third Place as Leveler • "A place that is a leveler is, by its nature, an inclusive place" (p. 24). • "The great bulk of human association finds individuals related to one another for some objective purpose... In contrast, what Georg Simmel referred to as 'pure sociability' is precisely the occasion in which people get together for no purpose, higher or lower, than for the 'joy, vivacity, and relief' of engaging their personalities beyond the contexts of purpose, duty, or role" (p. 25).

Conversation is the Main Activity • "Neutral ground provides the place, and leveling sets the stage for the cardinal an sustaining activity of third places everywhere. That activity is conversation" (p. 26). • Rules of conversation tend to exist within third places. These rules "fit the democratic order, or the leveling that prevails in third places" (p. 28). 1) "Remain silent your share of the time" 2) "Be attentive while others are talking" 3) "Say what you think but be careful" 4) Avoid topics not of general interest 5) "Say little or nothing about yourself personally, but talk about others there assembled" 6) Avoid trying to instruct 7) Speak in a low voice as will allow others to hear • "By emphasizing style over vocabulary, third place conversation also compliments the leveling process" (p. 28). • "The conversational superiority of the third place is also evident in the harm that the bore can inflect" (p. 29). • "Conversation is a lively game..." in the third place

Accessibility and Accommodation • "Third places that render the best and fullest service are those to which one may go alone at almost any time of the day or evening with assurances that acquaintances will be there" (p. 32). The Regulars • "The third place is just so much space unless the right people are there to make it come alive, and they are the regulars" (p. 33). • "Every regular was once a newcomer, and the acceptance of newcomers is essential to the sustained vitality of the third place" (p. 34). • "Since public life in America is relatively devoid of those connecting rituals that in other cultures serve to ensure the introductions of strangers, the order of welcome is doubly important" (p. 35).

A Low Profile • "As a physical structure, the third place is typically plain" (p. 37). • "In cultures where mass advertising prevails and appearance is valued over substance, the third place is all the more likely not to impress the uninitiated" (p. 36). • "They fall short of the middle-class preference for cleanliness and modernity" (p. 36).

The Mood is Playful • "Whether pronounced or low key, however, the playful spirit is of utmost importance. Here joy and acceptance reign over anxiety and alienation" (p. 38).

A Home Away From Home • "Though a radically different kind of setting from the home, the third place is remarkably similar to a good home in the psychological comfort and support that it extends" (p. 42).