cosmopolitan

Space to play — Board Games and Dialogue Tables

Playfulness creates space for establishing meaningful connections between people, which fosters encounters that both entertain, educate and stimulate the participants: by letting go of our compulsion to let norms, codes and protocolles decide for us. This is an escape from our human responsibility and the possibility to cocreate a new interplay: the human condition of natality, as Hannah Arendt calls the new beginning that may arise in in-between spaces…. Feeling free to explore different perspectives together and to agree on appropriate rules for what is at stake, is what makes us human.

The Quest for Wisdom foundation has created the Wheel of the Intercultural Art of Living, on which the book and game Amor Fati elaborates, enhancing Global Citizenship. Amor Fati is an intercultural redesign of the board game Know your self! The book explains the board game as well as the philosophy of the Wheel of the intercultural art of living. Lecturer Michiel de Ronde says about this book:

“I see your work as a great reassessment, also revaluation, of the pre-modern world orientation. All those profound insights and life-creating practices that were often worshipped or cursed through hierarchical dominance, you present within a depth perspective of an endless horizontal mythic-human field, through which the world can become a home for all beings and people can meet on the basis of dialogue and appreciation.”

With the Quest for Wisdom Soul Circle the Amor Fati game and book have been performed by means of Arts Dialogues in nine gatherings from the summer 2025 till the summer 2026: Read the red thread through these gatherings as Playing Wisdom with Amor Fati Arts Dialogues for the Cosmopolis!

NL/EN, 2024, ISBN 978 90 441 3970 9

Also the bilingual Dialogue Tables Four Winds (De Vier Winden) is developed to enhance an open cosmopolitan culture as global citizens — the intercultural enriched version of What is at stake? What is your Quest?

The Adinkra-game consists of a set of cards with Akan symbols and proverbs, ordered according to the wisdom of the five elements earth, water, air, fire and ether — in a way that the Ghanaian elemental wisdom might be compared to European visions on the natural elements. In this way the game invites you to excercise intercultural communication!

There are more World Games and educative materials (to be) developed, in which intercultural perspectives are playfully and dialogically incorporated.

In the Quest for Wisdom-Brochure you will find our up to date offer!

World Games — for the Cosmopolis

Workshops and Masterclasses around the themes of the QfWf-Archive dialogue and play forms are still to be requested, though not for sale anymore as board-game or Dialogue Table:

QfWf-Archive — Mythical-Philosophical Boardgames

Playful Dialogues — the Dis-covering Dialogue Table

Purchase of Educative Materials

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.

Update 2026-08

Space to play — Board Games and Dialogue Tables Read More »

Soul Circle

Golden Ratio — Game for Wisdom — Animal Wisdom — Projects — Soul Circle

The QfWf-Worlddream

“It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us — onze diepste angst is dat we buitenmatig krachtig zijn. Het is ons licht niet onze duisternis die ons het meest bang maakt…”  — Marianne Williamson in: A Return to Love.

“Let freedom reign. The sun shall never set on so glorious a human achievement!” — Nelson Mandela, 1994.

Leidschendammer Lounge Meeting

Each year the Quest for Wisdom organizes Seasonal Meetings in Circles to cocreate inter-cultural perspectives on themes of social relevance. The materials will be presented bij the Soul Circle on the Annual Meeting Day and events, like the intercultural 2024 programme. The poems, essays, music and other artistic materials are published on the Golden Ratio website as explorations and expressions of the QfWf-World Dream. In 2024 the theme “Global Citizenship” was documented in Amor Mundi and in 2025 Amor Fati, as stepping stones to make the Wheel of the Intercultural Art of Living work for an inclusive cosmopolitan culture, in which all people may feel at home and in harmony with all living beings:

“Global Citizenship is open communication between people, without being judgemental.
Respectful to each other, acknowledging that however different we are, we can stay connected, and are able to share!”

Angela Gilds reflection on the intercultural meetings for the project on Global Citizenship.

Global Citizenship meeting

A world dream emerges when we start dreaming together. By sowing seeds of love in our own circles — instead of going along with reflexes of indifference, aggression and fear — so that a smile elicits laughter, spontaneity is embraced with opening your heart. How valuable are the differences between people to create a meaningful world and to make (working) life more colourful and fascinating — with people developing an eye for (inner) beauty. How beneficial when people are opening up so that the lover between people creates an inclusive society.

World Citizenship – Nour Kayali

A world we dream of is created by dreaming. By not forgetting our ‘childishly naive’ way to be open and confident. And let us not forget that the most beautiful things are born from our hopes and dreams. The most beautiful dreams and positive emotions empower ourselves both as individuals and communities, by an ethos that reaches to the stars and can change the world – these dreams begin with powerful dreamers like Harriet Tubman and Martin Luther King. Like John Lennon singing “I’m a dreamer and I’m not the only one…”. Let’s start dreaming together about a world where each can find shelter and people around to feel at home, by starting with small actions in our own circles, so that our world-dream-power comes alive. With small steps that are big and loving deeds that are contagious. Weaving threads of soft skills that connects us as global citizens and living beings on Mother Earth, flowing with the stream of life….

Update 2026-08

Soul Circle Read More »

The Golden Ratio

Golden Ratio — Game for Wisdom — Animal Wisdom — Projects — Soul Circle

Platform for the QfWf yearly theme — Global Citizenship

QfWf-event on Global Citizenship

The QfWf has launched the digital platform De Gulden Snede in 2024 in order to present the development of the project “Global Citizenship of the streat”. The Quest for Wisdom’s yearly search for themes through different creative media and channels will be elaborating in a World Citizenship programme. In it, the QfWf wants to express cosmopolitan voices in the harsh debate around the multicultural society, answering the hardening migration policies with positive experiences of intercultural encounters. In words, images and by music, the central idea and value of inclusion is expressed and embodied in a ceramic sculpture: the Rainbow Bird of Paradise with the Cosmic Egg, as part of a exhibition. See the Quest for Wisdom-Brochure.

Quo vadis: Becoming who you are

Hey you, being on two feet, wandering around the world …
Dazedly dividing Mother Earth into mine and thine:
Is this commandment of possession mayby theft and the greatest venom
by which you have to prove with a document to be a human ‘citizen’
in order not to be treated as undocumented stranger and pariah?

Beyond the boundaries of the nation-state lies the cosmopolis:
there, all beings-with-a-heart-that-can-bleed are welcomed
and are asked for their names and stories, sitting around the fire
with connecting scents, transcultural spices and honey wine
in colourful company, where you as stranger and ‘other’ are welcomed.

World citizen where are you? As a fugitive from inner affairs
in danger of losing the most precious thing, that is covered by status and power
You split the world into friends and enemies, us and them, and your heart becomes hard –
yet you feel a nomadic yearning for paradise with melancholy and sorrow.

Angela Gilds’ Spoken Word in the Amsterdam Library Reigersbos

For the 2025-theme, “Practices of Global Citizenship“, artists, philosophers and professionals highlighted their practices and visions as global citizens through artistic expressions, stories, podcasts and videos. The launching of the Amor Fati programme at the Amsterdam Public Library Reigersbos with the Amor Mundi exhibition including the Welcoming Migrant Series, as well as the book presentation, resulted in Arts Dialogues around Amor Fati themes by means of music, spoken word and dancing to welcome people as World Citizens, as we all are human from heart to heart:

The indigenous Surinamese cultural group Wehpokamanong

“World citizenship is open communication between people without judgment. Dignity toward each other, knowing that no matter how different we are, we are in connection with each other and can share this feeling together. Getting to know each other, transferring knowledge and experience, recognizing and acknowledging each other’s qualities. Beautiful journey to undertake together.

Last year was a wonderful year with several workshops aimed at connecting with each other through the art of living. Yodeling, modeling, painting, word art, dance, singing. A rich experience that we will continue and pass on this year. Let your light shine. You are unique!”

The Golden Ratio 2026-theme around World Citizenship explores “Inter-Cultural Rituals” with visual and musical expressions, philosophical and professional perspectives. Please, see the contributions from the QfWf circles on our digital platform Multimedia – De Gulden Snede.

Update 2026-08

The Golden Ratio Read More »

Golden Ratio Collections

Golden Ratio Collections — Animal Wisdom Collection — Wisdom Collection

Books of Wisdom for the Cosmopolis

Images of good and evil, The Wulf and the Crane – Annelie van Steenbergen

With the Golden Ratio Collections, the QfWf aims to give voice to the intercultural art of living, to counterbalance the hardening social debate. By expressing a cosmopolitan ethos and initiating practices of world citizenschip to unite people and show transcultural values, connecting cultures.

Harsh voices and destructive forces on the geopolitical stage are threatening both humanity and the entire planet, with all its winged, scaly, hairy and arthropod inhabitants. As a response(-ability), the QfWf-authors with Wild Hair of the (Animal) Wisdom Collections provide answers of humanization and ecological awareness. In doing so, the QfWf aims to contribute to the good life in the cosmopolis – with values of inclusion, cultural diversity and global responsibility.

Drawing and other forms of cocreation

By cocreation, the QfWf wants to propagate this mission as an intercultural community through artistic forms: by drawing, musical expressions, dancing and Arts Dialogues as well as by disseminating the developed artistic and intercultural materials as inspiring examples in wider circles of concern. Just as Dirk de Wachter undelines in our interview with him the power of hope we do believe an ethos of world citizenship can overcome the destructive forces.

With this in mind, the Quest for Wisdom foundation has launched the Golden Ratio Collections that stimulate cosmopolitan and ecological awareness, reciprocity and respect for other beings within the cyclical processes of our Mother Earth.

Animal Wisdom Storytelling

The mythical significance of animals as bearers of wisdom and natural power are linking pins between cultures, showing the beauty of cultural diversity. The transcultural perspective of Animal Wisdom Storytelling has inspired the QfWf-authors to collect old and new narratives about animals, enhancing ecological and cosmopolitan values. Examples of stories are presented on the Animal Wisdom website and explained in more detail in the Animal Wisdom (e-)book Collection:

  1. Dieren Wijsheid ― uit Noord, Zuid, Oost en West
  2. Wisdom of Animals ― North, South, East and West
  3. Buddha as an Animal ― Boeddha wijsheid  met vertellingen uit de boeddhistische Jatakatamala.
  4. Caught in the Cosmic Web — Ghanaian Folk Tales in the Twenty-First Century
  5. Gevangen in het Kosmische Web — Ghanese Volksverhalen in de 21e Eeuw
  6. Jewels of Indian Folklore ― Blurring and Blending of Cultures
  7. Madagaskar, Land van Orale Cultuur, Lemuren en Kameleons

Golden Ratio Collections

QfWf-event on Global Citizenship -Presentation Amor Mundi

The Quest for Wisdom aims to pass on old wisdom to new generations in appealing, contemporary forms. The QfWf-Circle of authors have realized this mission with the Golden Ratio Collections published as (e)books in the (Animal) Wisdom Collection — since 2024 on a yearly theme of social importance in artistic and musical forms, to be collected on the QfWF-platform The Golden Ratio.

Boekpresentation Amor Fati in the OBA Reigersbos 25 jan 2025

Amor Fati, containing “playing wisdom for the cosmopolis” opens the Wisdom Collection. This first book of the Series describes the QfWf background philosophy of the Wheel of intercultural life art of living. Greg Suffanti’s English-language intercultural reflections on his watercolour series give the reader — together with the visual work of Agnes Roothaan, Louis van Marissing, Annelie van Steenbergen, Caroline Young, Nour Kayali, Klaske Rehorst, Josee Tesser, Elin Maljaars, Maya Plas & Mitra Muijen around the mythic-philosophical themes of Amor Fati — a surprising route of the imagination through the book. As a welcome gift, QfWf-Friends receive this book with an annual donation of  € 45.

The Wisdom Collection consists of twelve volumes. Worldwide, cultures have developed wisdom traditions containing artistic, philosophical and spiritual forms expressing the art of living with different perspectives. The QfWf aims to unveil these precious treasures in a unique and artistic way for a hopeful cosmopolitan future to happen.

Wisdom (e-book) Collection:

  1. Amor Fati: by Heidi Muijen exploring the Quest For Wisdom vision;
  2. Koloniale wa(a)r(d)en: by Fred de Haas, enlightening the historical colonial context of the Caribean intercultural identities, poetry and music.
  3. Amor Mundi: documenting the QfWf-project on “Global Citizenship”;
  4. Walking Two Roads, Accord and Separation in Chinese and Western Thought; an intercultural exploration by Hans van Rappard.
  5. Russische Zigeunerromances: by Fred de Haas, presenting the Gypsy romances with its rich cross-cultural and historical sources;
  6. Middeleeuwse Chirurgie in Woord en Beeld: by Marcel Reyners with drawings by Şerefeddin Sabuncuoğlu (1385-1468) with the text of “The Method of Medicine” by Albucasis (936-1013).
  7. Ik ben iemand die intens leefde … — Bloemlezing: gedichten en illustraties: a collection of poems and mandala’s by Marianne Sorgedrager, expressing a deep cosmic connection.
  8. Knipoogjes: Korte en luchtige tijdreisjes in gezelschap van Henry Bergson, columns of Rosalie de Wildt about serious issues with a humoristic touch;
  9. Het duurde maar even … – Gedichten die mij raakten: translated poems by Fred de Haas of about 40 poets from Creol, German, French, Galician, Papiamento, Portuguese, Spanisch and Russian …;
  10. Eye of the Tiger – Colorful Heritage of the Far East with a unique collection of Chinese paintings of Caroline Young with historical and mythical stories from the Far East.
  11. Plempius Vopiscus Fortunatus: Amsterdammer, Hoogleraar te Leuven (1633-1671) by Marcel Reyners about the development of medicine in the context of historical transition.
  12. Op reis met een expat: 20 jaren onderweg op 3 continenten by Marie-Claire Marx about travelling to Cambodja, Albania and Kenia highlighting the cultural and historival background of these countries.

Purchase of Educative Materials

Quest 2 Golden Ratio

The Quest for Wisdom-Brochure shows the up to date collections to be purchased in the Shop.

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.

Update 2026-08

Golden Ratio Collections Read More »