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.
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.
The art of listening, asking questions and answering authentically
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
Dialogue tablecloth Four Winds
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.
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.
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?
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. Rich objects to enrich the dialogue
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
Playfulness creates space for establishing meaningful connections between people, which fosters encounters that both entertain and stimulate the participants: Letting go of our compulsion of norms, codes and traditionally learned frameworks and allowing a new interplay to arise in the in-between space…. Feeling free to explore different perspectives together and to agree on appropriate rules for what is at stake.
The Quest for Wisdom Foundation has created the Wheel of the Intercultural Art of Living, on which the game Amor Fati elaborates, enhancing Global Citizenship. The book with the same title explains the philosophy of the Wheel as well as the intercultural art of living.
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 Adinkra-game consists of a set of cards with Ghanaian 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.
There are more World Games and teaching modules to be developed, in which intercultural perspectives are playfully and dialogically incorporated.
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.
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.
“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 Circles to cocreate an intercultural programme on an annually changing theme of social relevance, to be presented bij the Soul Circle on the Annual Meeting Day. The wider QfWf-Circle is invited to contribute with blogs, essays and artistic materials to be published on the Golden Ratio website as well as in a Golden Ratio Yearbook, thus making on a small scale the QfWf-World Dream come true. In 2024 the theme “Global Citizenship” was documented in Amor Mundi and in 2025 Amor Fati, highlights the cocreative and playful way how the QfWf realizes its vision of the Wheel of the Intercultural Art of Living 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!”
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, warmth is answered with embracing. How valuable are the differences between people to create a meaningful world and to make (working) life more colourful and fascinating — whith people developing an eye for (inner) beauty. How beneficial when people are opening up so that en open space between people creates an inclusive society.
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 as 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 sings “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 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 forces that connects us as global citizens and living beings on Mother Earth, flowing with the stream of life….
Golden Ratio Digital is the realisation of our educational digital games and intercultural animations taken from the wisdom traditions of the four corners of the world — these digital forms can be used in combination with board games and other (physical) forms of play, storytelling and dialogue; both for individuals and groups.
This educational material is aimed at the cross-connection between cultures in narrative forms, contributing to the intercultural art of living in training, education and developmental processes.
Through co-creation and the use of hybrid learning models this ancient wisdom can reach and inform younger generations from all over the world.
Digital game Quest for Wisdom ― Turn the Digital Wheel of the Intercultural Art of Living!
The Digital game Quest for wisdom is based on intercultural mythical symbols, proverbs and short stories, into which visions of happiness and the art of living are hidden. In the game, 20 stories and 80 symbols are synthesised from all cardinal directions and arranged accordingly in the Wheel of the intercultural art of living.
Animal Wisdom narratives, a transcultural genre found in wisdom traditions worldwide, is housed as part of the QFWF storytelling programme on a separate website. On it, you can find educative materials, such as animal stories, original content and artwork from all corners of the world, such as the Great Goose Rap from the Buddhist Jatakatamala tradition.
Quest for Wisdom Educational — Teaching Modules
To enhance environmental awareness, diversity and inclusion in scholastic education, the QFWF has developed a Teaching Module for primary schools. Based on these modules, a follow-up learning line for secondary education and vocational education will be developed in the next several years.
Animal Wisdom Game — Consult the Oracle in the Mountain of Reflection
The Animal Wisdom game (in development) is based on the QFWF-Animal Wisdom programme.
Purchase of Educational 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.
A team event on intercultural communication around the dialogue tablecloth Four Winds
The World Games series is derived from (inter)cultural wisdom traditions and they are developed with intercultural perspectives and transcultural means for the good life in the cosmopolis. By funding in 2023-2024 the Quest for Wisdom foundation initiated the project “Global Citizenship of the Street” which has resulted to the publication of “Amor Fati“, the book explaining the vision of the Quest for Wisdom and the boardgame Amor Fati.
The Quest for wisdom foundation develops intercultural play and dialogue tables for celebrating life in the cosmopolis. These can be used also for both individual and group counselling.
With these educational and artistic materials, the foundation aims to contribute to the intercultural art of living and enhance developmental processes as well as a sense of community!
World Cafe dialogues with wisdom cards
The German philosopher Friedrich Schiller (1759-1805) wrote in his Aesthetic Letters that when people play they are human in the full sense of the word, and they are wholly human only if they play; and the Dutch philosopher Huizinga (1872-1945) regarded the ambivalent social and competitive nature of play as culture-building for societal domains such as justice, education and warfare.
Game forms also reflect specific cultural and social characteristics ― such as the game Monopoly, which reflects Western market ideology, the originally Persian game of chess, which is an exercise in strategic insight and martial art, whereas oracle games, such as the Chinese Yijing and the Ghanaian Ifa oracle ― exist in all corners of the world. Both gaming and playing are a powerful means, together with dialogue, for establishing connections between cultures.
Four Winds
Playful dialogues
Four Winds is a dialogic game around a colourful dialogue tablecloth, full of symbolism from the four corners of the world, with which you address a life theme or a social issue, using one set of cards with European philosophies and one set of cards with intercultural perspectives.
The playing time is at least half a day and it is suitable for a group of 2 to 8 people. Using a Dialogue Guide, you will explore as a group of friends, family or team the issue at stake in four rounds. It is also possible to be guided by a game and dialogue facilitator from the Quest for wisdom foundation.
With this game for intercultural communication people get acquainted with a high context culture, especially the Ghanaian wisdom tradition.
With the Play guide it is possible to play the game as family, group of friends or team. When you want a facilitator who can introduce the Ghanaian wisdom tradition, ask for a Quest for Wisdom-facilitator.
Quintessence
introduces Amor Fati for the good life in the cosmopolis:
The Quintessence game is a card game with wisdom from all corners of the world for practicing the art of living as a global citizen. The name refers to the intercultural symbolism of the natural elements and literally means the fifth element or the ‘quinta essencia’.
The goal is to have meaningful conversations in a small group on the basis of three described game forms and card readings with the 20 playing cards.
Duration is one hour to half a day per game form.
Amor Fati
Workshop Know thyself!
The board game Man, know thyself! has been enriched with intercultural perspectives and mythical symbolism in a series of try outs 2022-2024.
Amor Fati is a board game for 2 to 8 people, in which you embark on a journey through a colourful landscape full of symbolism, picking up intercultural visions and mythical wisdom about the journey of life along the way. How the picked wisdoms enrich your vision on life, you always share with your travel group, so that you deepen each other’s insights.
Animal Wisdom Crossing-Boarders
The game Animal Wisdom Crossing-Borders is under construction: Mythical symbolism which plays with wisdom and pranks of animals from all corners of the world, in order to find the good life!
Purchase of Educative Materials
One hundred percent of the money raised by the sale of all of the games will be used in realising our upcoming QFWF educational projects, all of which are non-profit and run by volunteers.
Quest for Wisdom Foundation (QfWf) stimulates the Intercultural Art of Living in a Globalized World!
The QfWf wants to contribute to a culture of openness and to cultural diversity (inter-esse) by tapping into one’s own and shared historical intercultural roots and wisdom traditions.
The QfWf programs have been honored twice by a cultural fund:
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 the four corners of the world. The purpose of this program is to bring ancient wisdom into new forms for contemporary ears, which has led to the development of the website Animal Wisdom and the development of 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) and 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 program with the wisdom and beauty from the four corners of the world.
The QfWf does this by using Art as a magic and collecting it as ingredients in book form, under the title Amor Fati and Amor Mundi, on a digital platform The Golden Ratio and in a co-creative programme; developed and implemented in collaboration with the Cultural Dream Weavers Foundation and the Curinesa Foundation, independent artists, and with the Wehpokamanong association, which preserves the cultural heritage of indigenous groups from Suriname in the Netherlands and passes it on to young generations. This culminated in a final event in the fall of 2024.
First there was the presentatation of Amor Mundi, the exhibition and the presentation of the QfWf-documentation book in the Pubic Library of Amsterdam (OBA) in Weesp on the 28th of September 2024. Especially the series of aquarelles of Greg Suffanti, in which the harsh (anti) migration policy is denounced and migrants are presented as persons like you and me and their human stories. Also Robin Stemerding, Nour Kayali en Louis van Marissing have contributed to the exhibition. Then the final event was organised 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: sharing an intercultural programme 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 the exhibition Amor Mundi was reopened in another OBA location, Reigersbos, together with the presentation of the book Amor Fati by giving previews of the seven chapters, in which life themes as world citizens are discussed and portrayed. Read more in Angela Gilds review on intercultural meetings.
The need for an intercultural art of living
Being able to deal effectively with our differences is a delicate matter in our current times.
The objective of the foundation calls for an intercultural art of living as developmental path of ‘the multicultural society’ and visualises its mission with the Wheel of the Intercultural Art of Living.
The QfWf sees Global Citizenship as the right answer facing the collective fear for strangers, migrants and ‘the others’. Instead of hatred and agression we follow dialogical and spiritual traditions, that see ‘otherness’ as a call for openness and inclusion.
The intercultural art of living is the ability to move as nomads 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 our
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.
Dealing with differences has been raised as a social issue by Paul Scheffer, in his controversial article Het multicultural drama (2000). Before that, the international debate had been heated up by Samuel P. Huntington’s terrifying perspective on the Clash of Civilizations (1996). Since then, there has been a heated political debate in many lands with multicultural populations, and the social debate in the social media is getting louder and more troubled ….
The QfWf wants to play a role in tilting the debate
Diagram met de 17 duurzame ontwikkelingsdoelen
The QfWf wants to help turn the polarized debate about migration, refugees and religious strife from a problem for ‘political experts’, to a relevant issue for all of us, making an ethical appeal to everyone, from the current administration to our neighbours on 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 fringe figure, the refugee and sometimes ourselves …
In order to tilt the debate, the QFWF sees it as a call to recalibrate the awareness of who ‘we’ are as citizens of the cosmopolis: nomads with intercultural identities.
These geopolitical landslides affect all of us as co-inhabitants of our shared planet Earth.
That is why the QFWF addresses this issue as a question, an ethical issue of a practical, social and political nature:
Museo Nazionale Archeologico di Taranto, Italië — foto Joke Koppius
How do we not exclude the other and the others ― the ‘stranger’, of a seemingly different nature ― but to see them as part of us, as ‘the strange other(s)’ in ourselves?How do we create growth inducing inter- and transcultural connections, instead of a divide and rule philosophy, us versus them mentality and an increasingly aggressive environment, as can be heard in the cry: “Who does not belong to ‘us’ (culture, race, religion, ethnicity) is against us …?”
By stimulating the recognition of the beauty of our differences and shared commonality, instead of a fear of ‘otherness’.
The world of the arts and (inter-)cultural expressions create space both in and between people and establish meaningful connections between cultures!
Creating inter- and transcultural connections
The QfWf aims to collect artistic, philosophical and practical forms of cultural wisdom from East and West, North and South and to further develop them into useful forms that inform and inspire the intercultural art of living … so that people interact as willing players in an in-between space (as defined by Hannah Arendt) and also keep in touch with their core selves, so that we can fully develop and happily share our world with each other in a spirit of cooperation, openness and hospitality.
Hospitality, respect and openness and other shared values of humanity are what truly connect people as sisters and brothers ― open to a common playing field for all!
Addressing life themes with symbolism across the boundaries of cultures
A workshop under QfWf guidance
Art Dialogues around the board game Amor Fati
Amor Fati is a board game to enhance the intercultural art of living: you undertake a journey across a colourful landscape full of symbolism and along the way you pick up intercultural visions and mythical wisdom.
Around the Amor Fati game board, you travel through seven game rounds that address life themes and exchange associations and experience with your travel companions for a wise way of dealing with the questions life poses.
On the journey you explore the tension between amor fati as fate of your destiny and the freedom to shape life yourself:
In a workshop to get acquainted with the intercultural art of living.
In a master class to learn how to guide this game form yourself.
From half a day to 9 half days, suitable for individuals, groups and teams
The Quintessence Game
Introducing Amor Fati
Whereas Amor Fati’s extended play mode can encompass a Quest to 9 (half) daily sessions, you can also choose a shorter introduction to the intercultural art of living through the Quintessence Game
This is a wisdom card game that introduces the art of living as a group of global citizen with three different layouts and conversation formats:
Quintessence: how to connect the wisdom of earth, of water, of air and of fire to the unsaid of the fifth element?
Your Quest? Explore an issue with each other by allowing chance or fate to play a role in your exploring the question behind the question!
Oracles: How to unlock ancient wisdom from the four corners of the world by being the oracle for each other?
Around the Amor Fati game board, full of mythical-philosophical symbolism, you explore the intercultural art of living, with the aim of promoting meaningful encounters and enriching conversations as global citizens.
The board game is developed by Heidi Muijen as Human, know yourself from 2006 onwards in her philosophical counselling practice Thymia, resulting in six game forms of playing around life-themes. These are still available as a workshop as a means for personal and professional growth.
The six mythical-philosophical workshop themes:
Whereas Amor Fati is a play for which you need up to 9 half days time, there are introductory forms to get acquainted with Amor Fati from half a day to 4 half days, suitable for individuals, groups and teams:
Elemental Wisdom — Gnosis game: a quest for wisdom!
The Art of Encountering — Mask game: the strange other!
Follow your ‘Hero’s Paths’ — Hero game: play yourself!
Elementary way’s of research — Compassion game: the good life!
The Art of Dreaming — Dream game: Follow your wish!
Envisioning your view of life — Vision game: attune to your inner compass!
Around a colourful Dialogue Tablecloth full of transcultural symbolism ― around myths and philosophical and spiritual perspectives from all coners of the world. These aim to uncover the important questions behind opinions: Explore your differences in framing an issue on a quest towards the core of sense making with intercultural perspectives!
What is your Quest? is played in four rounds by means of symbolic objects and two sets of cards with Western and Intercultural perspectives from East, West, North, South.
By reflecting on the images and symbolism on the Dialogue Tablecloth, a delay of reaction is created and the conversation tilts from simply ventilating opinions, to questioning and hearing the polyphony and layering in different meanings.
Dialogues in personal and professional settings
Around the playful dialogue tablecloth you engage in a dialogue, with a team, your family, a group of friends on a discovering journey. There are four dialogue rounds, with intercultural symbolism and perspectives, such as: elementary wisdom, the search in the labyrinth of life, meaningful encounters on the journey of life, how do you interpret signs as a language of the soul, listening to your moral compass.
In a workshop one becomes acquainted with a playful form of dialogue.
In a master class you learn to use a playful form around the dialogue tablecloth yourself as a professional.
From half a day to 4 half days, either in Dutch or in English
Suitable for individuals and groups: friends and family and (sports and working) teams.
You either explore a common issue or each participant explores their own question.
Through the QfWf-dialogue game The Four Winds an Educational Team of the University of Applied Sciences has explored the issue of “Inclusive Communication with our students and with each other, how?”.
With the team around the Dialogue Tablecloth Four Winds
One of the responses:
“Talking with images, or from images is sometimes easier, if you don’t know the meaning of symbols at first …. Beautiful work forms, special experiences, cheerful …. Staying with your feelings, not everything has to have a meaning in your head …. It brings you surprisingly close to the core. Norms, values, beliefs …. Free, playful, associative. Instructive how images can evoke so many different emotions.”
The Dialogue Table was developed by Heidi Muijen from 2010 onwards in her philosophical counselling practice Thymia, resulting in different forms of playful dialogues for the purpose of investigating personal, professional and social issues. The workshops around the Dialogue Tablecloth are designed to stimulate the imagination and with creative exercises, so that the participants are focussing on questioning their own frame of reference behind the issues at stake.
There are shorter (thematic) Dialogue forms, playfully tackling life themes, that are still available as a workshop as a means of personal and professional growth:
The Images in Dialogue — in four dialogue rounds to the core of an issue.
The Quest — dialogues around a triptych Past – Present – Future.
The Pythiagame — a creative oracle game to explore your own wisdom.
The Existential game — follow your own path to the good life according to ethical perspectives.
A contemplative game that is both challenging and fun
A workshop under QfWf-guidance
With Adinkra — an intercultural communication game in 2 rounds.
A workshop offers an exercise in an indirect form of communication and an introduction to traditional African wisdoms — in particular the symbols and proverbs of the Akan in Ghana.
In a masterclass one learns to use this form of play professionally
Lasts from 1 to 2 half-days, suitable for groups and teams.
Together with your team, family or other network, you first follow an introduction given by Dr. Louise Müller — an expert in the field of African and intercultural philosophy — about the background of Adinkra, the Asante culture and various philosophies of Ghana.
Also, it is possible to play Adinkra online with each other.
You can see how this intercultural communication game can also work as a digitally powerful game, by connecting within your own network!
A few impressions from participants:
“Great to experience this and see what is possible digitally.”
“Nice and creative initiative. Beautiful things also arise to keep in touch with each other.”
“It’s great that we are not being fooled by the corona virus and still meet each other in this way.”
“Very inspiring and surprisingly fun!!!”
Louise Müller on the game Adinkra:
“Adinkra, with image-rich proverbs and powerful symbols from Ghanaian culture, allows people to experience the wisdom of the Akan philosophy in a playful way”.
Workshops, guest lessons and master classes, also on location.
For teambuilding, company outings, masterclasses in cultural diversity, intercultural communication and high-context culture exercises using adinkra.
Dr. Louise F. Müller also gives workshops, guest lessons and masterclasses on location and tailored to the purpose of the meeting and the target group.
Including: an association, a club of friends, a family reunion, a cultural team outing, team training intercultural differences; guest lectures for students, teachers and other professionals, administrators and managers, who take inclusion to heart and want to further develop their skills in cultural diversity.
Workshops and masterclasses both live and online! Requests and to Purchase: info@questforwisdom.org
Hybrid play with the game Quest for Wisdom
Find your course in life through the Art of Living
A workshop under QfWf-guidance
The Digital game Quest for Wisdom ― spin the wheel of the intercultural art of living!
Is suitable for individuals, groups and teams for the purpose of setting your course in life and career.
This takes place in seven Game Rounds with questions based on intercultural symbols and stories from wisdom traditions from the East, West, North and South.
The Digital game Quest for Wisdom can be used:
On a Quest as team for a full day or as a pre-conference activity; also in a hybrid form of training in combination with a masterclass
In a workshop in order to become acquainted with dialogue and play as a means of developing the intercultural art of living. Using intercultural symbols and stories from wisdom traditions from the East, West, North and South.
In a masterclass one learns to use this form of play professionally.
Requiring at least ½ half a day;
Also it is possible to organise a meeting of up to 3 days if desired, suitable for individuals, groups and teams.
Objectives and Policy Plan stem from the QfWf Mission and Vision:
The Quest for wisdom foundation was founded on the 10th of October 2016 by Dr. Heidi S.C.A. Muijen with the mission of fostering a culture of openness to inclusion and cultural diversity. The QFWF does this by collecting and further developing cultural expressions of wisdom traditions from North and South, East and West.
The QfWf activities continue to take place together with a growing circle of stakeholders, who share the mission of the foundation – as visualized and expressed in the ‘Wheel of the Intercultural Art of Living’.
The need for an intercultural art of living
Being able to deal effectively with our differences is a delicate matter in our current times.
The objective of the foundation calls for an intercultural art of living as an answer to the appeal of ‘the multicultural society’.
Dealing with differences
Dealing with differences has been raised as a social issue by Paul Scheffer, in his controversial article Het multicultural drama (2000). Before that, the international debate had been heated up by Samuel P. Huntington’s terrifying perspective on the Clash of Civilizations (1996). Since then, there has been a heated political debate in many lands with multicultural populations, and the social debate on social media is getting ever louder and more troubled ….
The QfWf wants to play a role in tilting the debate
The QfWf wants to help turn the polarized debate about migration, refugees and religious strife from a problem for ‘political experts’, to a relevant issue for all of us, making an ethical appeal to everyone, from the current administration to our neighbours on 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 fringe figure, the refugee and sometimes ourselves …
In order to tilt the debate, the QfWf sees it as a call to recalibrate the awareness of who ‘we’ are as citizens of the cosmopolis: nomads with intercultural identities.
These geopolitical landslides affect all of us as co-inhabitants of our shared planet Earth.
That is why the QfWf addresses this issue as a question, an ethical issue of a practical, social and political nature:
How do we not exclude the other and the others ― the ‘stranger’, of a seemingly different nature ― but to see them as part of us, as ‘the strange other(s)’ in ourselves?
How do we create growth inducing inter- and transcultural connections, instead of a divide and rule philosophy, us versus them mentality and an increasingly aggressive environment, as can be heard in the cry: “Who does not belong to ‘us’ (culture, race, religion, ethnicity) is against us …?”
The answer comes by stimulating the recognition of the beauty of our differences and shared commonality, instead of a fear of ‘otherness’.
The world of the arts and (inter-)cultural expressions create space both in and between people and establish meaningful connections between cultures!
Creating inter- and transcultural connections
The QfWf aims to collect artistic, philosophical and practical forms of cultural wisdom from East and West, North and South and to further develop them into useful forms that inform and inspire the intercultural art of living … so that people interact as willing players in an in-between space (as defined by Hannah Arendt) and also keep in touch with their core selves, so that we can fully develop and happily share our world with each other in a spirit of cooperation, openness and hospitality.
Hospitality, respect and inclusion and other shared values of humanity are what truly connect people as sisters and brothers ― open to a common playing field for all!
The members of the board do not receive any remuneration for their work. They are, however, entitled to reimbursement of costs incurred in the performance of their duties, such as, for example, a travel allowance.
Board members cannot dispose of the assets of the institution separately. There is a separate bank account in the name of the QfWf. In addition, an annual financial overview is drawn up by the treasurer of the QfWf. This overview is discussed and adopted during an annual board meeting (at which at least 3 members of the board are present).
9: Report of the Activities Performed
In 2021 as well as in 2024 the QfWf received funding, due to the cultural and social relevance of her activities. The first subsidy was given for developing an intercultural storytelling programme during the Corona lockdown which was presented on a specially designed website Animal Wisdom including an educative offer with a series of ebooks. The second subsidy addressed the theme of Global Citizenship and resulted in the fusion of the three Quests as the Golden Ratio Quest around a yearly theme of the intercultural art of living.
With a view to stability and continuity, the QfWf had restructured its working method in 2019. This operation brought more coherence to its very diverse activities. It achieved this goal on the one hand by attracting more volunteers and on the other hand by means of a clearer profile of its activities around the three Quest for Wisdom goals: Quest 1 ― unlocking wisdom from all over the world through the Wisdom Web; Quest 2 ― Golden Ratio of Educative Materials; and Quest 3 ― Meet, by means of Annual Meeting Days, Workshops, Masterclasses, Newsletter ‘Spinning web’ and the Video channel.
The design of these three Quests is an organic continuation of the QFWF course formulated in the statutes. There are three ‘roads’ indicated, which the QFWF takes for the development of intercultural art of living, in the realization that this goal:
grows with a historical awareness of the (inter)cultural roots of wisdom traditions,
thrives on interest in other cultures and wisdom traditions and
bears fruit through encouter and cross-pollination between cultures
From 2024 onwards the three Quests are integrated focussing on Global Citizenship by developing every year an intercultural artistic and educative programme which is presented on the Yearly Meeting Day as well as on The Golden Ratio.
Awarding Cultural ANBI-status
Toekenning Culturele ANBI-status
Since its foundation in 2016 the QFWF celebrated on 6 July 2018 that it has been recognized by the Tax Authorities as a Algemeen Nut Beogende Cultural Instelling (cultural ANBI-status) with its objective and activities with retroactive effect since 1 January 2018.
See below the reports of QfWf-policy for activities in chronological order:
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