A practice for meaning-making and belonging: fourth spaces
Having strong social relationships and a cohesive understanding of who you are and what you do is the mega unlock combo for a fulfilled and meaningful life, but our society isn't structured in a way to easily build this sort of deep understanding. As a result, the ability to create your own space (digital or physical) to pursue meaning-making is critical. These spaces typically include other people and a social agreement to explore deeper concepts like creativity, ikigai (your reason for being), or career decisions. Coining Patricia Mou's terminology, this space is called a fourth space. The first space is the home, the second is work, and the third is typically a public space, like a lively bar, library, or church where people regularly congregate. A fourth space exists for private communities centered around meaning-making. Rather than being a one-off yoga class, it's a regularly scheduled event that facilitates discussion. Rather than being a quick light comment about the challenges
Having strong social relationships and a cohesive understanding of who you are and what you do is the mega unlock combo for a fulfilled and meaningful life, but our society isn't structured in a way to easily build this sort of deep understanding. As a result, the ability to create your own space (digital or physical) to pursue meaning-making is critical. These spaces typically include other people and a social agreement to explore deeper concepts like creativity, ikigai (your reason for being), or career decisions. Coining Patricia Mou's terminology, this space is called a fourth space.…
saved by
related reading
- introducing "the fourth place" & why "third places" have fallen short on their promisesubstack.com
- Loneliness: The Four Circles of Belonging (2/2) - by jossboxx.substack.com
- The Rise of the Traveling Third Space - by Patrick Khothechow.net
- a manifesto: the next era of third spaces as crucibles for meaning-makingthesfcommons.substack.com
- Live in the future, build what's missing.boxx.substack.com
- Create the social spaces you want to see in the worldbitsofwonder.substack.com
- the digital spaces we wantcampfire.we-b.site
- Experiments in Conversationbitsofwonder.substack.com
- why we're building The Commonsthesfcommons.substack.com
- Prototyping Social Forms of Carecareculture.tobyshorin.com
- Towards Small-Scale Socialnotes.hyperlink.academy
- Homethesfcommons.com