The ‘Four Winds’ take you on a journey of discovery in four rounds, around the colourful dialogue tablecloth, full of symbolism. These symbols enrich your conversation with mythological wisdom and intercultural perspectives.
The playful materials help to visualise what is at stake on a quest: “What does your issue look like as a journey? What mythical creatures and animals will you meet along the way? What other questions become relevant when you look at the issue from others perspectives?” A multidimensional approach is enhanced by means of philosophical and intercultural sayings on the playing cards. In the fourth and final circle, the four basic colours green, blue, yellow, and red in the
creative excersise in-between the dialogue
four quadrants, symbolise the reaping of concluding visions from the conversations in the four rounds. With a Quintessence drop, you unroll the dialogue as a journey across the dialogue tablecloth: this symbolic act helps to imagine the essence of the exploration of the issue at stake and to express this in a poetic form
Dialogue as an art: listening, asking questions and answering authentically
Playing Guide Four Winds
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.
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
Butterfly, Scorpion, Fenix
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
Symbolic objects to enricht the dialogue
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? Playing materials for a dialogue workshop
For the fourth round, the wind rose in the four elementary colours on the dialogue tablecloth visualizes the four cardinal directions, from which the harvest of the game might help to get the issue in the right direction. Participants describe their harvest from the dialogue on the Game Fill-in form as a quatrain.
Cards with intercultural perspectives, rich objects around the playful dialogue table.
Duration: 2 hours to one (half) day in a small group up to 8 players.
Plyaing Cards Four WindsDialogue 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
Dialogue Tablecloth with symbolic objectsPlaying Cards:
8 Philosophical Tools with Western perspectives
8 Philosophical Tools with intercultural perspectives
Fill-in forms:
Double sided with instructions for writing a quatrain
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
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
The Wisdom Web is dedicated to the intercultural art of living.
At its core are values of inclusion of different cultures and the beauty of being different.
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.
Cultures from all over the world have symbols of natural wisdom and beauty, such as the Golden Ratio. This ancient wisdom is passed on through proverbs — for example, with a cultural expression of the Golden Rule: “What you would not want done to you, do not do so to another”, as well as in (animal) stories with a moral from the story: such as how to become as clever as the fox, the crow, the spider and the …. Also, in seasonal rituals for harvest and the solstices with light festivals in which the passage through the four seasons is celebrated in culturally diverse forms. The Quest for Wisdom seeks to gather ancient symbolic wisdom from cultural traditions from all corners of the world in order to cocreatively develop:
contemporary artistic forms as an intercultural language for the benefit of diversity and inclusion
transcultural practices for global citizenship
The artistic educational materials
By focussing on uniting principles like the Golden Ratio and the Golden Rule in culturally diverse materials, the facilitation of personal growth and community building is highlighted and transformed from the collected ancient wisdom in intercultural and (post)modern ways (Quest 1) by developing and presenting these in artistic and educational forms on the Encounter Days, through workshops and on the QfWf video channel (Quest 3) — on a collaborative Quest for Wisdom in order to:
to give a platform for the wisdom from different cultures and traditions
to enhance intercultural communication and interaction
to develop unifying transcultural practices by means of the arts and philosophies
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. The QfWf has developed, thanks to the collected wisdom as Quest 1 and subsidies for projects, two series of (e)books: the Animal Wisdom Collection and the Wisdom Collection. Since 2024, the three Quests are flowing together on The Golden Ratio, a digital platform dedicated to the personal and collective art of living in the cosmopolis. The QfWf hopes to realize an Intercultural Meeting House as expression of Global Citizenship 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.
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.
1. QUINTET
Wisdom from all corners of the world
Cultures from all corners of the world know the elements of nature as the basis of existence and as symbolism in mythical stories. In African, European, Indian and Native American wisdom traditions, these are earth, water, air, fire and an energetic and spatial element, the ether or quintessence.
In this game, the goal is to have a conversation as a group around the wisdom spells while placing a quintet on the table together.
2. WHOSE QUEST?
In all corners of the world, the labyrinth appears as a symbol of the journey of life, which is symbolized as a meandering path around the center. According to mythical wisdom, there the path
The labyrinth, a transcultural symbol
and purpose, life and death, above and below coincide in the generation-spanning life cycle.
The aim of the game is to explore an issue by letting the wisdom spells speak and thus enrich the issue into a quest. The introducer chooses cards from the fan on the table as needed and explores with the company the hidden eye, heart, spiral and hand power in the wisdom proverb by addressing everyone’s wisdom (of pathos, ethos, mythos and logos) in combination.
3. ORACLES
Angels and Bird Wisdom – Nour Kayali
Cultures from all corners of the world know creatures that mediate between humans and the world of gods and spirits, such as angels, shamans, ancestors, demigods and mythical beasts. The mythical connection of the four cardinal directions, four elements of nature, four seasons, etc., by seeing analogous patterns, forms the basis for the art of oracles.
The aim of this game is to obtain advice on a personal question (wish or problem) with wisdom from the four cardinal directions. To this end, an oracle is chosen from the circle of players to appeal to the wisdom of the group by interpreting the drawn card as an oracle spell in the light of the question.
World Cafe conversations with the Quintessence Game
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the four rounds. With a Quintessence drop, you unroll the dialogue as a journey across the dialogue tablecloth: this symbolic act helps to imagine the essence of the exploration of the issue at stake and to express this in a poetic form
