Masks and the wisdom in live encounters: the strange other — within yourself
Jester (Museo Nazionale Archeologico di Taranto, Italy) — photo by Joke Koppius
With the masquerade game you explore the social masks that we all wear and the art of meeting each other in a small group. The game lets you play with kingly wisdom and foolish tricks! It invites you to see the interplay between people as a masquerade and to meet the strange other (in yourself) and thereby unmask yourself and others.
Playing with masks teaches one to find a good balance between identification with functional role(s) and total detachment to your own form of social engagement.
Playing with social masks and tapping into your own jester and king to wisdom
The Masquerade Game provides an introduction to the Hero Game: play yourself!
Duration: at least one half day, for 3 to 6 players.
A workshop ‘demasqué’, also available an in-company program, with a multitude of the game material for groups of teams of up to 24 people: to strengthen relational qualities and developmental processes by giving attention to nasty encounters, bad feelings in collaboration and confrontations in work contexts.
Playing Materials
Part of Masquerade Game: Meeting Strange Others!
Box containing:
Playing field:
1 Nasty Encounters
Play Attributes:
1 Hourglass (of about 3 minutes);
1 six Colour Dice;
6 Coloured Pencils;
8 mask holders
Playing Cards:
8 Nasty creaturers;
8 Royal Wisdom
Playing tokens:
8 Symbols of Encountering
Working Materials:
1 Instruction Guide with
8 Fill-in form for the exercises in the game;
8 Format for making the mask;
Passion as wisdom on elementary paths of research in order to develop the good (working) life
The Compassion Game appeals to the passions of players to align their course in life and career with their own inner compass. The game assignments are aimed at imagining and articulating the meaning of the good life in relation to tragedy. A playful introduction to research traditions from the perspective of philosophical counseling.
Using the symbolism of the four elements and mythological stories, you are invited to explore a personal fascination hand in hand with a theme from your own professional practice.
Compassion Game: the good life!
In the 6th century BCE natural philosophers debated which of the four elements contains the origin of life.
An investigative approach to this question marks the transition from a magical-mythical experience of the world to a rational worldview.
ISBN: 978-94-92127-05-1 — Kompassiespel: het goede leven!
The Compassion Game for developing the good (working) life provides a playful introduction to research paradigms and to Levensvisiespel: Visualize your inner compass!
Duration: two half-days, for 3 to 6 players.
Playing materials
Box contains:
Playing Field:
1 the Labyrinth
Playing Attributes:
1 six Colour Dice;
1 Hourglass (of about 10- 15 minutes)
1 CD Dream travelling and Heroic Dreams (Droomreizen en Heldendromen) with 22 songs
Playing Cards and Tokens:
4*5 Cards with Elementary Ways;
4*6 Cards with Places of Destination;
2*4 Tokens with Symbols of Power
Working Materials:
1 Instruction Guide with
8 Fill-in form for the exercises in the game
ADM is the research variant of the board game Know Yourself, the Compassion Game, and has contributed to the development of the Body of Knowledge and Skills of the master’s degree program in counselling at Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences and at Arnhem and Nijmegen Universities of Applied Sciences.
By playing the game with the involvement of teachers, the symbolism of the game has co-creatively led to the development of concepts of research qualities; such as the dynamic interplay between the ‘power symbols’ of the eye, the heart, the spiral and the hand, which has been interpreted as the methodical interplay of different voices inside oneself: mythos, pathos, logos and ethos.
This methodology has been developed into the Art Dialogue Methods (ADM), a developmental oriented approach in change processes and action research. A forthcoming textbook will be published about ADM, and there have been articles published in professional magazines (in NL): een artikelen reeks ― Begeleidingskundig-Handelingsonderzoek-MBK
The Wheel of Intercultural Art of Living visualizes the philosophy and mission of the QFWF
The wheel was developed as a multidimensional and multifaceted approach to the intercultural art of living with the help of the following:
Colours/medium – representing the five natural elements (earth, water, air, fire and ether)
One focus — the circle with an edge and a centre that represents the dynamics of the wheel two-dimensionally with a centripetal direction from periphery to centre and vice versa as a centrifugal movement —
The wheel consists of sixteen spokes representing wisdom traditions
The sixteen spokes use the pictograms drawn by Louis Van Marissing to refer to wisdom traditions from East and West, North and South. The Wheel vizualizes these different approaches to wisdom, acknowledging its many different forms from various cultural traditions, from religious and spiritual roads, philosophical and mythological directions, arts and crafts, praxis and personal experience. This plurality is organized by means of the the Wheel with the sixteen spokes as well as with six dimensions, all of which are indicated with pictograms.
The QFWF facilitates intercultural exchange and development of transcultural forms of wisdom and the art of living. This is done in co-creation with people involved in these traditions. The (exploratory) gathering of wisdom from all corners of the world in its diverse forms – texts, images, stories, music – is further developed into ‘a golden section’ of educational material.
Symbolic bridges between cultures
The wheel visualises intercultural bridges through the symbolism of the five elements: these are depicted as five elementary fields with their own pictogram (eye, heart, spiral, hand, lemniscate) and, within them, the spokes of sixteen (inter)cultural paths to wisdom.
The QFWF dissociates itself from racial and ethnocentric provisions by presenting the language play of the five elements emphatically as a symbolic arrangement of the Wheel. Within this, sixteen wisdom paths are assigned in an associative way, without wanting to interpret the (folk) nature of cultures, tribes and peoples. The focus of the QFWF is to develop intercultural exchange and connections on the basis of a symbolism that occurs as a mythical language in almost all cultures. In this way, the QFWF remains outside philosophical, theological and political debates about the appreciation of cultures.
As can be heard in original and heroic stories from almost all cultures, the process of separating and reconnecting the elements symbolizes an alchemy as a process of creation. A natural order arises out of an original chaos, emptiness or by a divine creation. Also, in all wisdom traditions, paths to a good life have been developed – aimed at connection from within – which are called differently: ‘salvation’, ‘enlightenment’, ‘moksha’, ‘compassion’, ‘humanity’, ‘walhalla’, ‘the eternal hunting ground’, ‘The kingdom of God’, ‘Heaven’, …
Symbolism of the five elements
In almost all cultures, the natural elements in mythical, philosophical and religious stories play a basic role. That is why the five elements in the Wheel form pillars for building inter- and transcultural connections. Compared to the Western natural philosophical debate, these concepts are given a dynamic and symbolic meaning in the three Quests.
The archetypal form of the Wheel expresses this art of living as the mystery of squaring the circle::
The four elementary fields – earth, water, air and fire – symbolise a movement towards the periphery, the four corners of the world, where the value of diversity becomes visible. The movement towards the centre, through three groups of (inter)cultural paths on the elemental fields of earth, water, air and fire, focuses on the coherence between cultures and the development of transcultural connections.
The fifth elementary field – ether – symbolizes in the centre the place of connection from within (the place that is not a place, the unity of opposites, the philosophia perrenis). Visualized with four pictograms are encounters between cultures 3 through history and time, manifesting themselves as interfaces, intersections and rifts in history and between eras.
Rotating around the core, the Rad visualizes the development of
intercultural art of living from the three layers:
Layer 1: the five elementary fields of wisdom
Layer 2: the sixteen (inter)cultural paths to wisdom
Layer 3: the six dimensions
From the perspective of the Wheel, religious, scientific, literary, artisanal, philosophical and artistic expressions appear equally as symbolic forms and building blocks for intercultural connections. The diversity of cultural expressions and visions on the good life are symbolically arranged as an intercultural art of living by means of the Wheel:
* by symbolically characterizing the five ‘elementary’ fields as (earth, water, air, fire and ether) fields of wisdom
* by linking expressions of wisdom and (inter)cultural wisdom paths to these five fields
* by visualizing an ‘in-between’ a space for dialogue and exchange based on cultural forms of wisdom.
Exchange, development and cross-fertilization take place along five elementary fields by rearranging wisdom from religious and cultural traditions according to their cultural- historical origins on the one hand, and, on the other hand, according to intercultural and transcultural forms of wisdom as seen from the elementary symbolism of the Wheel. For example, the Tree of life is a transcultural symbol that expresses both a kinship between cultures as well as a concrete form of a particular expression of a Tree of life as recognized within a specific culture.
The five elementary fields of wisdom
The wheel with the five elementary fields
The symbolism of the five elements generates a bridge language between cultures with the aim of further developing an intercultural art of living.
The green quadrant with the eye is associatively connected to the earth and unlocks a symbolism around eye power, the seeing of the (strange) other, earthly and grounded;
The blue quadrant with the heart is associated with water and opens up a symbolism around heart power, spontaneous expression including flowing and counter-flowing movements;
The yellow quadrant with the spiral is associated with the air and opens up a symbolism around light and darkness and the rhythm of breathing;
The red quadrant with the hand is associated with the fire and opens up a symbolism around fire (offerings) and the power of transformation;
The white circle around the centre with the lemniscate is associated with ether and opens up a symbolism around an eternal movement of cultural-historical appearances and links ether as the fleeting cosmic element.
The five fields have been characterized as forms of the art of living with the help of symbolic icons:
Earth – the eye – a meaningful field of natural connection and physical, grounded presence;
Water – the heart – a symbolic field giving meaning to lovingly meandering together with the natural currents and counter currents;
Air – the head (spiral) – a meaningful field of breathing, coordination inside and outside, insight and being attentive;
Fire – the hand – a meaningful field of sacrifice, transformation and acting change;
Ether – the quintessence (lemniscate) – a meaningful field of the interplay of the four elements, of alchemy and encounters, connections and fault lines.
Wisdom traditions and wisdom are given a place on the elementary fields of wisdom and the sixteen (inter)cultural wisdom paths appear as the spokes of the Wheel.
Wisdom traditions – from Buddhism to Nordic mythology, from Christian rituals to Indian myths – can be organized according to their cultural-historical origins as well as a source for developing an intercultural art of living in the context of globalizing society.
The intercultural art of living is growing from its cultural-historical roots and will be nourished from (inter)cultural studies by which wisdom traditions can be kept alive in a global context.
Both personal expressions and stories handed down as contextually embedded wisdoms, as well as practical and art-based forms of the art of living, are given a symbolic rearrangement by means of the Wheel: as inspirational examples of ‘elementary’ – earthly, meandering, airy, fiery, ethereal – expressions and forms on how to live life well.
The symbols in the Wheel (namely the eye, the heart, the spiral, the hand and the lemniscate) therefore represent, both on a collective and personal level, the elementary existential qualities for the development of a basic attitude of openness and interest, around a pivot of love and wisdom, the quintessence, the loving willingness to connect, meet and open up for intercultural dialogue.
The development of intercultural art of living through the Wheel
In the philosophy of the Wheel, these elementary existential qualities – of the open heart, the embodied eye, the hand of co-creation, the attentive path spiraling in and out, and the lemniscate of living encounters and the infinite creation of meaning – form the indispensable pivotal points for the development of an intercultural art of living and transcultural forms of living the good life. The QFWF stimulates this development with educational material based on ‘a Golden Section’ of the divers expressions of wisdoms collected on the QFWF-Wisdom Web from the global society.
Cultural diversity is visible on the periphery of the Wheel. Towards the centre the elementary fields and intercultural bars (spokes) touch the hub (pivotal point). The hub symbolizes a transcultural dimension that transcends cultural determinants. Through the colourful differences there is an elementary focus on what connects people: by moving beyond the opposites on the surface level of (collective) opinions and interests to the deep dimension of humanity and loving wisdom (the pivot) in the centre; where the opposites coincide, the quintessence.
By means of ‘bricolage’ (the way an engineer (bricoleur) uses just the available tools and materials to make structures) with insights and forms of praxis of multiple cultures one can develop a global society for the purpose of becoming human (becoming who you are) and developing local communities with a cosmopolitan spirit.
For example, with regard to a focus on ‘the right middle’ (Aristotle) according to the practical wisdom (‘phronèsis’) of the community, there is a relationship between Greek classical virtue ethics with insights from Ubuntu and from Confucianism and values of ‘communitas’.
A Golden Section of Wisdom
The wheel with the five elementary fields and sixteen spokes, depicting intercultural roads
In the Wheel, the wisdom traditions are both contextually embedded according to their cultural-historical origins, as well as sixteen paths or sources for intercultural wisdom. This ambiguous positioning arises from the symbolical bridges, the language game of the five elements, providing a twofold orientation: both towards philosophical unity and transcultural forms of life as well as towards cultural diversity at the corners of the elementary fields. The inter- and transcultural dynamics is symbolically characterized with pictograms.
There are two levels of developing wisdom: At the collective level of wisdom traditions:
earthly paths of wisdoms give expression to a grounded quality and embodied see,
meandering roads of wisdom are expressive of a heart-quality: coagulating and liquefying the status quo,
wisdom of the air and breathing that expresses the rhythmically inwards and outwards spiralling connection of natural being with the macrocosm,
fiery ways with wisdoms that give expression to community ethos and co-creating (hands on) qualities,
ethereal pathways expressing an eternal lemniscate movement of finding meaning: volatilizing and deconstructing and then materializing and socially
constructing again;
on the individual level of the personal art of living:
In a globalising society, people can draw on various wisdom traditions without the need to join as an adept of a particular tradition. Wisdom paths give direction to personal growth and interpersonal relationships. The Wheel is meant as a compass to be able to orientate oneself in the diversity of directions. The five elementary fields open up intercultural fields of finding meaning through exploring various cultural wisdom traditions and transcultural values.
The Wheel provides symbolic signposts for personal growth through the development of elementary existential qualities:
eye-power through the embodied seeing and from imagination (mythos)
the open heart, depicting compassion and enthusiasm (compassion and pathos)
the spiral, depicting resonance and tuning in to the rhythm of breathing, connecting inside with outside (logos)
the hand, depicting action and starting a change with movement from within and hands-on (ethos and cocreation)
the lemniscates, depicting the space between ‘frames’ and the infinite process of giving meaning and meeting ‘the other’ (quintessence).
The sixteen (inter)cultural paths to wisdom are grouped per elementary field.
They are represented with their own icon.
The elementary field earth and the (inter)cultural earth roads
Earth roads in the Wheel
In the elementary field of ‘earth’ three icons have been placed that characterize wisdom paths of tribes and peoples living traditionally from natural contexts. In prehistoric times this ‘pre- modern’ way of life was spread all over the earth. As a result of modernization and colonization, this way of life has been reduced, but can still be found mainly within: African; Indian; and Aboriginal peoples, Maori and other indigenous peoples of Oceania.
Earth roads
The elementary field of water and the (inter)cultural water roads
Water roads in the Wheel
In the elementary field ‘water’ three icons have been placed that characterize wisdom roads as the natural movement and cosmic laws following ways of life. These meandering wisdom roads can, for example, be recognized within: Confucian; Dao; and Sufi currents.
water wegen
The elementary field air and the (inter)cultural air roads
Air roads in the Wheel
In the elementary field ‘air’ three icons have been placed that characterize wisdom roads as pathways of insight and breath based on wisdom traditions. This orientation can often be recognized in connection with the symbolism of light and darkness in the following perspectives: Buddhist, advaita vedanta; gnosis, mystical and hermetic philosophy; Germanic, Celtic and Nordic mythology.
Air roads
The elementary field of fire and the (inter)cultural fire roads
Fire roads in the Wheel
In the elementary field of ‘fire’ three icons have been placed that characterize religious and spiritual traditions, in which, especially, the meaning of fire and the struggle between good and evil, sacrifices and transformation play an important role. This orientation can be recognized within: animist-shamanist; Hindu; and monotheistic – zoroastrian, jewish, christian and islamic – directions.
Fire roads
The ether field and the (inter)cultural ether roads
Ether roads in the Wheel
The ‘ether field’ symbolically refers to the fact that the longing for connection and the search for wisdom – although culturally different and colourfully designed – occur in all cultures and is nourished by: encounters between cultures, and profile gets through interfaces, intersections and fractures in history and
between eras.
ether roads
The six dimensions
The six dimensions of the Wheel characterize wisdom in many forms on the continuum between theory and practice; multi-layered by means of different medial forms – verbal, musical, visual, ritual, narrative, dancing, … – in which the quest for wisdom is expressed.
By giving space to the diversity of medial expression, the various wisdom traditions can be highlighted in a multifaceted way, showing inter- and subcultural forms, dominant and minority voices.
For example, the elementary field of air (insight) show different paths, such as a variety of forms of ‘Buddhism’ from Zen Buddhism to mindfulness. The diverse wisdom traditions include both visions as well as forms of praxis, a mythology and other narratives and stories, cultural customs and rituals, musical and other artistic expressions of wisdom. The six dimensions of the Wheel are:
visions, philosophy
stories, myths,
rituals, rituality
symbols, symbolism
praxis, arts and crafts
social actuality and/or a personal vision or survival.
With these six dimensions, the Wheel expresses (inter)cultural diversity from the historical roots as well as current practices and expressions of the art of living, shown on the continuum between theory and practice.
The six dimensions
The complete wheel
the five elementary fields,
the sixteen (inter)cultural avenues
the six dimensions
The three layers form the complete Wheel of intercultural art of living.
The complete wheel of intercultural art of living
The Wheel makes visible how the periphery shows cultural diversity and the corepresents connections from within, such as the transcultural value of ‘compassion’. The in- between space (between the periphery and the inner core) evokes intercultural dialogues and a cosmopolitan art of living through a Golden Section (Ratio) of wisdom traditions, like the budding of a flower which is always through nourishment from cultural roots.
Play yourself in the mirror of an inspiring role model
SPlayers look in the Mirror of Life with their own heroes and favorite fairy tales. What motivational figure or story do you remember from your childhood? Is there a living hero that inspires you right now? Following the path of an inspiring person (a living, legendary or fictional hero or heroine) in the game enables players to (re)orient themselves on their own path of life.
ISBN: 978-90-822774-6-3 — Heldenspel: speel je zelf!
Dynamic Game for discovering your motives and drives by following the way of living of your hero
Duration: two half-days, for 3 to 6 players.
Playing Materials
Box contains:
Hero Game: play yourself!
Playing fields:
1 Mirror of Hero’s;
1 Field of Ordeals
Playing attributes:
1 Six Colours Dice;
1 Sand Glass;
8 Quintessence drops;
2*4 Elements of Happiness;
1 CD Dream travelling and Heroic Dreams (Droomreizen en Heldendromen) with 22 songs
Playing Cards and Tokens:
8 Cards with Principles of Happiness;
8 Cards with Weapons;
8 Cards with Magical Helpers;
8 Tokens with symbols of power of the way chosen;
8 Rings with Hope and Fear;
8 Tokens with Quintessence Qualities
Working Materials:
1 Instruction Guide with
8 Fill-in form for the exercises in the game
Board Game to follow your wish in a dreamlike landscape
Game Board of Dream Game: Follow your Wish!
A preliminary round is based on a creative exercise that depicts the dream wish of the players and determines their starting position, linked to their chosen element (earth, water, air, fire) and their chosen attitude in life. Players then place their pawn on one of the eight frames with principles of happiness through which they enter the dreamlike landscape on the game board. They choose a game supervisor from among themselves who will guide the group through the game on the basis of the Instruction Guide.
The journey then begins by following the labyrinthine paths with mythical-philosophical symbols in five rounds, devoted to life themes.
In a ‘harvesting’ seventh round on the elemental Places of Arrival, the players reflect on their individual journies and its significance for their (working) everyday life.
The Power of Interplay and Dialogue
The dialogues around the game board introduce mythical-philosophical perspectives, tapping into the intuitive knowledge of the players. It is precisely the enigmatic questions and symbols that add an out-of-the-box and metaphorical language about everyone’s dreams and wishes, while the game cards shed light on the insights gleaned from the philosophical art of living. Players are invited to give meaning to what is at stake, and explore the situation into which they have been thrown by the dice (symbolic of chance or destiny). What leeway do you see and how do you give direction on your path of life?
In-between space …
Workshop Dream Game: Follow your wish!
Playing the game calls for some self-reflection, and yet at the same time it is appealing to meet each other in the ‘in-between space’ which is created. Both individually and in a small group, you wander a labyrinthine path across the game board: a landscape full of symbolism. By letting the visual language and the myths speak, an ‘as if’ space is created. While travelling, your own life feels like a dream and your dreams come true…
The game rounds are devoted to basic life themes: authenticity, education, ups and downs, crises and tragedy, encounters on life’s journey and finding your destiny (the centre of the game board). While making choices in the game, players will experience the existential tension between the power of destiny and following your own course, necessary to find your own true orientation in life.
ISBN: 978-90-822774-7-0 — Droomspel: doe je droomwens!
Wisdom game for investigating a personal motivation and guiding values in life and work contexts, by playfully practicing the philosophical and mythical art of living.
Duration: 1 day to six half-days, for 3 to 8 players.
Also applicable for groups and teams of up to 24 people (with a counsellor and suitable working materials) to explore the interplay between personal and professional values and to empower relational qualities and enhance developmental processes.
Playing Materials
2 Boxes containing:
Dream Game: Follow your wish!
Board game, Playing Fields en Overview:
1 game board Landscape of happiness;
1 playing field Dreaming in the Mirror of Myths;
1 playing field Alchemy of the Soul;
1 playing field Temple of Life’s Riddles;
1 Overview per round of playing cards and rings
Playing cards and rings:
3*32 Cards of rounds;
3*4 Cards of Elementary way’s;
6 rings with forces of prosperity and adversary;
20 Cards of Destiny
Playing attributes:
1 sic coloured dice;
1 whirlabout;
1 hourglass (of about 3 minutes);
1 CD Dream travelling and Heroic Dreams (Droomreizen en Heldendromen) with 22 songs
Playing figures/ pawns:
2 green, 2 red, 2 yellow en 2 blue wooden playing figures;
2 green, 2 red, 2 yellow en 2 blue hats for the playing figures
120 Elements of happiness:
30 green — Earth;
30 red — Fire;
30 yellow — Air;
30 blue — Water
Working materials:
1 Instruction Guide with
8 Fill-in form for the exercises in the game My Life’s Myth.
In a preliminary round, players become acquainted with the symbolism of the natural elements and the philosophical art of living as the basis of the game. This is expressed on the cards and playing fields with pithy sayings, such as those of Herakleitos of Ephesus (in present-day Turkey, around 600 BC):
Boundaries of the soul you will not find, however far you go and whatever road you walk, so deep is its ground.
Players choose a game leader from among themselves who will lead the tour group through the game using the Game Guide. Then the journey starts with the five game rounds on the game board and a final (seventh) afterplay round, in which players harvest from the game.
Each round of the game allows players to reflect on an important theme of the philosophical art of living. The game counsellor encourages the players to reflect on their own life themes and questions, enriched by the philosophical and mythical perspectives on the playing cards. As a result, philosophical insights come to life and personal themes are deepened in a dialogue with each other.
Playing figures Vision game
After each game round with dialogic exchange around mythical and philosophical perspectives, players express and imagine their own vision of the (life) theme that has been raised. Rolling the dice leaves players interested in a situation, symbolic of being ‘thrown into life’. Conducting a dialogue with each other is an exercise in giving meaning to life and being aware of the scope for designing life as a work of art according to the philosophical art of living. The symbols on the game board invite to associative thinking and thus to confront one’s own view in a playful way and to make a connection with questions in life.
At the end of the journey across the game board, participants have visualized and expressed their own vision on the themes addressed on the Game Form.
Tune your inner compass and develop your vision in life by means of the philosophical art of living!
ISBN: 978-90-822774-9-4 — Levensvisiespel: stem je innerlijk kompas!
Wisdom game for developing the art of living by tuning your inner compass.
Duration: 3 to 9 half-days, for 3 to 8 players.
With a multitude of game material also applicable for groups and teams of up to 24 people: in work contexts to empower and develop ethical perspectives on working issues and to get acquainted with a philosophical art of living.
Playing materials
Box containing:
Board game, Playing fields, Overview:
1 Board game of the Art of Living;
1 Playing field Philosophical Compass;
2 Playing field Alchemie of Collaboration;
2 Playing field Ethical Perspectives;
1 Overview Tokens of Qualities
Playing Cards and RIngs:
2*32 Cards of Rounds;
20 Cards of Elementaire Way’s;
6 Rings with Moral Motives;
24 k Cards of Destiny
Working materials:
1 Instruction Guide with
8 double Fill-in form for the exercises in the game ‘Research form’ en ‘Visualizing my life vision’;
Tokens with elementary qualities:
4*4 Course in life (green, red, yellow and blue);
4*4 Education (green, red, yellow and blue);
4*4 Reflection (green, red, yellow and blue);
4*4 Crisis (green, red, yellow and blue)
Vision Game: visualise your inner compass!!
Playing attributes:
1 CD Dream travelling and Heroic Dreams (Droomreizen en Heldendromen) with 22 songs;
1 six coloured dice;
1 whirlabout;
1 hourglass (of about 3 minutes)
Playing figures:
2 green, 2 red, 2 yellow and 2 blue Playing figures with symbol; respectively eye, hand, head and heart
Dialogue on existential questions with ethical perspectives
Four sets of cards accompanying the four rounds in the dialogue
The Existential play introduces philosophical and mythological perspectives for conducting a moral dialogue within a small group. In a preliminary round, one chooses who will guide the game as a dialogue facilitator. All other participants enter the game with their chosen personal dilemma, existential question or theme in life and/or in their career.
The game and dialogue facilitator ensures that in each round everyone’s problem, theme or question is addressed. At the same time, there will be a collective dialogical exploration in which players ask each other in-depth questions and reflect on the different symbols in the game that are linked to mythological and philosophical narratives.
During the four dialogical rounds, the players enrich their insights to the question or theme at stake, as well as critically examine their normative beliefs on the basis of:
the philosophy on the art of living and the good life
the morality of obedience versus the ideal of mastery in life
the morality of autonomy and makeability of life
the existential loyalty to oneself and the ability to play with a plurality of perspectives
By examining your theme in the game as a moral issue, you are introduced to ethical perspectives in a playful manner. Playing the game will not provide a univocal answer, but rather, players will spin off their problem, theme or question as a moral thread on life’s journey.
ISBN: 978-90-822774-4-9 — Existentiespel: volg je weg!
Duration: one (half) to one full day, for 4 to 6 players.
Playing material
Box contains:
4 Playing fields in the instruction guide: 1 Elementary happiness;
1 Existential motives;
1 Temple of moral riddles;
1 Inner compass;
Playing attributes:
1 colour dice;
1 hourglass of about 5 minutes;
1 whirl about
Playing cards:
2*8 Good and evil;
2*8 Mythical signs;
2*8 Philosophical signs;
2*8 Philosophical tools
Working materials:
1 instruction guide with dialogical exercises and
8 Fill-in forms (double sided)
Playing cards, fill-in form and playing attributes for the Existential Play
At the Wisdom Web, wisdom from all over the world is collected and presented in a special symbolic way.
In this sense, collecting, arranging, developing and presenting — via the Wheel of the Intercultural Art of Living — takes place in a very unique way, emphatically distinguished and handled differently than, for example, Wikipedia and other (open source) encyclopedias do.
In doing so, the QfWf wants to contribute to intercultural connections based on the realization that these:
grow through awareness of the historical roots of cultures,
thrive on interest in other cultures and wisdom traditions and
bear fruit through encounters and cross-cultural perspectives.
The Wisdom Web continues to grow organically, with a rich palette of philosophical, artistic and spiritual expression and reflections, which concretize the Wheel of the Intercultural Art of Living.
This is accomplished thanks to the input of various QfWf-authors[1]
update 2022-07
[1] QfWf authors are authors, actors, artists, designers, drafters, photographers, illustrators, video and film makers and other producers of text, images, sound, and stakeholders who make the texts and other materials available to a QfWf-site have made.
Wisdom gathered from all over the world for the benefit of diversity and inclusion are offered as educational materials:
to get to know other cultures and wisdom traditions
to promote intercultural communication, art forms and philosophies
to develop unifying cultural practices.
Through these materials, functioning as a Golden Ratio — partly published on the Wisdom Web (Quest 1) and also shared on the Encounter Days, through Workshops and Masterclasses as well as being documented on the QFWF video channel (Quest 3) — personal growth and community building are facilitated.
The Golden Ratio as Quest 2 consists of an artistically designed and culturally diverse palette of materials that are grouped around particular themes; such as the wisdom taught through play, proverbs, myths and animal stories. From 2024 the three Quests are flowing together on DeGuldenSnede, a digital platform dedicated to the personal and collective intercultural art of living. The QfWf hopes to realize an Intercultural Meeting House for the Golden Ratio as a promising future project.
One hundred percent of the money raised by the sale of all of the products will be used in realising our upcoming QFWF educational projects, all of which are non-profit and run by volunteers.
Elementary wisdom to reflect on happiness through the philosophical art of living
The Gnosis game encourages players to explore their own views of life and happiness in life and to give them shape through words and images.
Gnosis game: a quest for wisdom!
The word gnosis is an ancient Greek word for wisdom associated with self-knowledge. With this game you develop your knowledge about the full life from within.
Against the background of classical concepts on the art of living and mythical themes, players conduct a dialogue about the meaning of a personal moment of happiness and reflect on their own life orientation. How could your view on happiness be enriched? This game offers classical perspectives on the art of living by being aware of the tragedy and shadow sides of life, to develop a vision of the full potential of the happiness of life!
ISBN: 978-90-822774-8-7 — Gnosisspel (NL) Quest for Wisdom!
The Gnosis Game offers the basic explanation of the game concept Know Yourself, specifically the Dream Game (Droomspel): Follow your Wish!
Duration: half a day, for 3 to 6 players.
ISBN: 978-94-92127-00-6 — Gnosis Game (EN) Quest for Wisdom
Dynamic game based on the philosophy of the art of living to facilitate dialogues on inclusive happiness to enrich your personal view on happiness in life
Playing Materials
Box contains:
Playing Fields:
1 Elementary Directions to Happiness;
1 Mythical Red Thread
Playing Attributes:
1 hourglass (about 2 minutes);
1 six colour dice;
2*5 Elements of Happiness;
1 CD Dream travelling and Heroic Dreams (Droomreizen en Heldendromen) with 22 songs
Playing Cards:
2*5 Cards of Elementary Paths
Working Materials:
1 Instruction Guide with
8 Fill-in form for the exercises in the game ‘My Way to Happiness’
Overview:
of the steps in the game on the bottom of the box.
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