Mission, Projects and Activities

• The QfWf-Mission: the Intercultural Art of Living in a Global World!

  The Quest for Wisdom foundation was founded in 2016 by Heidi Muijen. With an intercultural community (the Soul Circle — Quest for Wisdom Circle), the QfWf organizes activities to promote a culture of openness and plurality: necessary ingredients for inclusion as world citizens. Each year, the Soul Circle develops a programme during Seasonal Meetings to be presented at the Annual Meeting Day. Through these activities, the Quest for Wisdom Circle spreads cosmopolitan values into our branching networks as Soul Circle — using playful artistic materials and our World Citizenship programme. In doing so, the QfWf aims to strenghten the connections between people and their cultural heritage. Thereby, contributing to an open and plural culture of world citizenship (inter-esse for cultural diversity) by tapping into one’s own and shared historical (inter)cultural roots and wisdom traditions — highlighting the underlying transcultural values of humanity, compassion and hospitality.

  Cultural ANBI status

  The QfWf is acknowledged as organization with an culturele ANBI status (NL).

  The programs in the Quest for Wisdom-Brochure have been honored twice by cultural funding:

  Storytelling programma Animal Wisdom in 2020-2021

  With a subsidy from Prins Bernard Cultuurfonds i.s.m. Fonds zuidoost, awarded in 2020, the QfWf has developed a storytelling-Project- around animal wisdom in storytelling traditions from all four corners of the world. The purpose of this programme is to bring ancient wisdom into new forms for contemporary ears, resulting in stories on Animal Wisdom, the Animal Wisdom Collection and an Intercultural lesson for elementary education.

• The “Global Citizenship of the streets” project in 2023-2024

  

  With a subsidy from the Cultural Participation Fund, the QfWf has realized the “World Citizenship of the Street”-project in 2023-2024 in the form of a triptych in 3 phases. Reflecting on the history of slavery (phase 1); then, collecting intercultural ingredients of collective and individueal dreams of global citizenship in images, music, dance, stories and other expressions of (inter)cultural heritage (phase 2); culminating in a social experiment with collaborating partner organizations (phase 3) for global citizenship. The result is an intercultural programme with wisdom and beauty from the four corners of the world.

  The QfWf method is using Art as magic and collecting inter-cultural ingredients as fuel, to be presented in meetings as well as in books: (Post)Koloniale Waarden, Amor Fati and Amor Mundi. As spinn-off, the digital platform The Golden Ratio was launched to present the World Citizenship programme; developed in collaboration with social partners: Culturele Droomwevers and Curinesa Foundation, independent artists, Robin Stemerding, Nour Kayali en Louis van Marissing, and the Wehpokamanong Cultural Group, who preserves the cultural heritage of indigenous Caraibs from Suriname in the Netherlands and passes it on to young generations. This project started in the fall 2023 with a meeting in Bussum, culminating in several meetings during the year 2024 and ended with the presentation of the books and an migrants exhibition.

  These books and the exhibition were presented in the Public Library of Amsterdam (OBA) in Weesp on the 28th of September 2024, and on the 19th of October 2024 together with the residents of the Regenbooggroep, the organisation that gives shelter to migrants, refugies, homeless and people in need: exchanging cultural ingredients with music, dance and sharing food from each others cultural kitches. A ceramic statue, made by Camile Smeets was presented: this Rainbow Paradise Bird with Cosmic Egg incorporates the world dreams of the intercultural project group. On the 25th of Januari 2025 in the OBA Reigersbos, the exhibition Amor Mundi was reopened, together with the presentation of the book Amor Fati, sharing an intercultural programme with music and spoken word by Angela Gilds review on the project meetings.

  The need for an intercultural art of living

  Being able to deal in a human way with differences is a delicate matter in our current times. The QfWf calls for an intercultural art of living, visualised with the Wheel of the Intercultural Art of Living.

  The QfWf sees World Citizenship as the human answer facing the collective fear for migrants as ‘the strange others’. Tilting tendencies of hatred and agression towards a path of openness and inclusion.

• The intercultural art of living is the ability to move nomadic between cultures and to be able to see the beauty of cultural differences. To enhance the art of living as world citizens the QfWf-Soul Circle organises every year around a social relevant theme an intercultural programme and presents this on its digital platform de gulden snede as well as by living encounters such as the yearly QfWf-Meeting Day.
• Just like the beauty of the Golden Ratio in natural forms such as the rhythmical growth of leaves and snail shells, as well as in cultural expressions such as the principles how cathedrals are built and the musical harmony in chords.This QfWf-vision and mission to contribute to a cosmopolic world order and culture of inclusion is the core of the QfWf.

• Quest for Wisdom, meandering along

  • Quest 1 — the Wisdom web with wisdom from all corners of the World and a digital platform to exchange ideas.
  • Quest 2 — the Golden Ratio: development of intercultural wisdom into educational materials. Such as the game for wisdom, dialogical board games and the Animal Wisdom storytelling programme.
  • Quest 3 — Meet and living encounters through the Annual Meeting Day, Masterclasses; and the QfWf-video-channel.

How to deal with differences?

Dealing with differences has been raised as a social issue by Paul Scheffer, in his controversial article “Het multicultural drama” (2000). Then, calling the fact of living in a multicultural society a ‘drama’ raised debate, now it seems ‘the new normal’. Before that, the international debate had been heated up by Samuel P. Huntington’s terrifying perspective on the Clash of Civilizations (1996). Since then, the political debate on multicultural issues gets harder and harder, increasingly rude on the social media ….

The QfWf wants to play a role in tilting the debate

The QfWf wants to turn the polarized debate about migration, refugees and religious fights from a problem for ‘political experts’, to a wake up-call for all of us. As world citizens, we hear in the cry for help an ethical appeal to us, to everyone, from the current administration to our neighbours in the street.

How do we deal with, and how do we want to deal with ‘the strange other’?
That strange other can be the foreigner, the outcast, the migrant, the refugee and if we are honest, the ‘other’ we are ourselves …

In order to tilt the debate, the QfWf urges for awareness of who ‘we’ are underneath identifications with our culture, nationality, ethnicity, religion and gender: we are citizens of the cosmopolis, nomads with inter-cultural identities:

The inter-cultural art of living means not to exclude the other as the ‘unwelcome stranger’, but to see behind our maskes ― the roles we play in society ― seeing our shared human nature, and recognizing ‘the strange other’ in ourselves! Thereby, we create space in-between us (which is in Hannah Arendts view confitional for preserving our humanity), inducing inter- and transcultural connections! This soft power, the fragility of goodness as Martha Nussbaum sees it, is our weapon of world citizenship to overcome the divide and rule power-politics, that we witness in the increasing aggression and hatred, greed and indifference, that we tolerate to rule in our world. 

Recognizing the beauty of cultural differences as well as shared human values, is stronger than the fear of ‘otherness’. The road towards this challenging goal is the world of the arts and (inter-)cultural expressions: by co-creating meaningful connections between people and their cultural heritage!

Creating inter- and transcultural connections

The QfWf aims to develop artistic, philosophical, social and practical inter-cultural connections through the arts and wisdom from East and West, North and South. Thereby inspiring people for an intercultural art of living as world citizens: by interacting in respect and interest for each other’s differences. To preserve values of plurality for world citizenship, requires openness within ourselves as well as in-between people by keeping in touch with our human core values, like hospitality, empathy and happiness, which truly connect us as sisters and brothers ― keeping a common playing field open for all!

Update 2026-08