Four Winds

World Games — Amor Fati — Four Winds — Adinkra — Quintessence-game

The ‘Four Winds’ take you on a journey of discovery in four rounds, around the colourful dialogue tablecloth, full of symbolism. These symbols enrich your conversation with mythological wisdom and intercultural perspectives.

The playful materials help to visualise what is at stake on a quest: “What does your issue look like as a journey? What mythical creatures and animals will you meet along the way? What other questions become relevant when you look at the issue from others perspectives?” A multidimensional approach is enhanced by means of philosophical and intercultural sayings on the playing cards. In the fourth and final circle, the four basic colours green, blue, yellow, and red in the

four quadrants, symbolise the reaping of concluding visions from the conversations in the four rounds. With a Quintessence drop, you unroll the dialogue as a journey across the dialogue tablecloth: this symbolic act helps to imagine the essence of the exploration of the issue at stake and to express this in a poetic form

Dialogue as an art: listening, asking questions and answering authentically

Through a dialogue guide, you explore a challenging issue as group of friends, family or team, or, each individual can investigate their own question with the group.

Depending on the size of the group (2 to 8 players), the game will be completed in two hours, half a day or a full day.

It is also possible to engage a host dialogue coach from the Quest for wisdom foundation.

In four rounds of dialogue ― visible as the four circles on the dialogue tablecloth ― participants move from the outside in, to the inner circle in which the Four Winds are depicted.

Images tell a story

The colours on the dialogue table refer to the four elements earth, water, air and fire. These are connected in the game with a basic symbol, which opens a space for encounter, such as the eye as a ‘mirror of the soul’.

“I dreamed I was a butterfly… or am I a butterfly dreaming of being a human?”
Zhuang Zi (369-286 BCE)

The four rounds

1. 

   In the first round, the images (and rich objects) in the outer circle of the dialogue tablecloth invite participants to imagine the theme they want to investigate.
2. In the second round you are given one of the eight symbols for philosophical tools with intercultural perspectives: these represent qualities for the art of living to be able to deal with the issue more wisely.
3. In the third round, you roll the coloured dice and see which creature or animal you encounter in the mythical landscape on the dialogue tablecloth. How could the virtues and vices, as well as divine qualities that they embody, help you to realise the good life?
   

   

4. For the fourth round, the wind rose in the four elementary colours on the dialogue tablecloth visualizes the four cardinal directions, from which the harvest of the game might help to get the issue in the right direction. Participants describe their harvest from the dialogue on the Game Fill-in form as a quatrain.

• Cards with intercultural perspectives, rich objects around the playful dialogue table.
• Duration: 2 hours to one (half) day in a small group up to 8 players.

Playing material

• ISBN: 9789492127150 Four Winds

Also in a Dutch version:

• ISBN: 9789492127143 Vier Winden

Box with:

• 

  Dialogue Guide:
  explaining the game and the symbols
• Playing Field:
  1 Dialogue table cloth
• Game attributes:
  1 mirror;
  1 key;
  1 hourglass as rich object on the Dialogue table;
  Small weights;
  1 quintessence marble;
  1 small talking stick;
  1 hour glass

• 

  Playing Cards:
  8 Philosophical Tools with Western perspectives
  8 Philosophical Tools with intercultural perspectives
• Fill-in forms:
  Double sided with instructions for writing a quatrain

Revised edition of the Beeldendialoogspel
Purchase: Vier Winden (NL)
Purchase: Four Winds (EN)
Inquire info@questforwisdom.org

Update 2025-02