Our Ideals

4 honesty

We aim to grow in honesty and speaking true things.

What are ideals? Ideals are positive human qualities that are in our control to grow in but are ultimately inexhaustible. Think of wisdom, or flourishing, or courage. Think of faith, honesty, mental fitness, joy.

All positive, all up to us, all inexhaustible.

Which ideals? The number of human ideals is not infinite, but there aren’t as many as most would assume. How do we, at Odyssey Coffee, choose which to aim for?

Easy: At Odyssey, we seek to grow in the ideals that enable us to achieve our mission of curating a vigorous refuge for thinkers with every amazing cup (that’s our mission statement).

Whence ideals? Odyssey’s ideals are built on timeless wisdom for human flourishing. It’s worth repeating: they’re based on timeless wisdom — not the news, not social media, not a magazine, not popular trends that mask as tolerance but whose aim is tyranny, and definitely not your cynical, broke, anti-capitalist nephew who just got a fancy MFA from NYU, lives in his parents’ basement, and can’t get out of bed before noon.

Around here we read old books, spend a lot of time in quiet thought, and surround ourselves with wisdom-seeking friends. Why? Because we want wisdom on human flourishing that stands the test of time, and that’s where it comes from.

What about you? What ideals are you working to grow in?