intercultural

Quest 1: Wisdom Web

The Wisdom Web is a forum dedicated to the intercultural art of living.

At its core are values of inclusion of different cultures and the beauty of being different.

Quest 1 Wisdomweb

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.

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Quest 2: Golden Ratio

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.

The Three Pillars of Quest 2: Golden Ratio

Golden Ratio Playfulness — Board Games and Dialogue Tables

Golden Ratio Collections — (E) Books of Wisdom

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 2022-07

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Quintessence-Game

World Games — Amor Fati — Four Winds — Adinkra — Quintessence-Game

Quintessence

Playing with wisdom from all corners of the world to help us find 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.

1. QUINTET
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 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
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.

© Quest for wisdom foundation (QFWF), Weesp 2024,
Intercultural enriched edition of the Quintessence game, introducing the board game Amor Fati: for the cosmopolitan art of living!
Author & concept development:
dr. Heidi S.C.A. Muijen
Graphic design:
Pé de Wit/ Ir. Joke Koppius

ISBN: 978 94 92 127 235

Update 2024-12

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Gnosis game

Know yourself — Gnosis Game — Masquerade Game — Hero Game — Compassion Game — Dream Game — Vision game

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

English version: Gnosis Game: a 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.

info@questforwisdom.org

Update 2022-07

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Animal Wisdom Educational

GR digital — Digital game Quest for Wisdom — AW site — AW educational — AW game

Teaching Modules

In order to draw attention to the intercultural roots of wisdom traditions, the QFWF taps into Animal Wisdom from all corners of the world as a symbolic mirror for the good life in the cosmopolis. With the aim of promoting cross-cultural values from all corners of the world in today’s cosmopolis. To this end, the material is presented in appealing and artistic educational forms.

Focussing on:

  • The introduction to other cultures and their wisdom traditions
  • The promotion of intercultural communication, art forms and philosophies
  • The development of connecting cultural practices together
  • Stimulating love and respect for the natural environment and ecological awareness

Honorary member Dirk De Wachter

Fresh off my liver, the feeling is bubbling that these initiatives are essential to a society, bottom-up encounters, where humanity appears in difference.

Heartily,

Dirk, 4 April 2019

Grant awarded

by the neighborhood fund of Amsterdam South-East!

The South East Fund — in collaboration with the Prince Bernard Cultuurfonds — has awarded a subsidy to the QFWF to help further develop the storytelling program!

“The Southeast Fund is unanimously enthusiastic about your project. Although they consider the project ambitious, they consider it a worthy initiative. They like how you use this project to introduce children to the multi-coloured nature of the multicultural society.

In the eyes of the neighbourhood committee, you make an important intercultural contribution that can be used in many schools.

There is confidence in the organization and in the teaching material that has already been developed.

They therefore applaud the fact that you are going to digitize and wish you every success.”

An Intercultural Teaching Module

The wisdom of the purple octopus is the symbol of Animal Wisdom — drawing by Chrisje Ronde

The completion of the project will provide a basis for developing more intercultural teaching modules, also for secondary education. The presentation of the materials through diverse media appeals to the imagination and shows how animal symbolism transcends cultural boundaries. The artistic design of animal wisdom shows the colourful unity in the diversity of cultures.

The project has provided educational material for schools in Amsterdam South-East. During two workshops, the material was developed for a (digital) intercultural lesson and for an in-depth curriculum:

Workshop 1: When Animals Narrate Cultures…

Workshop 2: Animals as Wisdom Seekers

The elaboration of this material into an introductory and in-depth teaching program “Citizenship education, diversity and inclusion” for primary school is described in the (NL) QFWF-storytelling-Project-Eindrapportage.

Update 2022-07

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Playful Dialogues

Playful Dialogues — Dialogue Table  — Playful Dialogue Table — Quintessence Play — Quest Play — Pythia Play — Existential Play

Pillar 1 What is your quest?! — the playful dialogue table

Dis-covering worlds around (your) life theme’s and professional issues

Meeting the other means really letting someone in!
Together you explore the questions and ideas that arise around the issues at stake and you examine each other’s ideas, associations and experiences around them.

The dialogue ‘tablecloth’ contains symbolism for tapping into the ancient wisdom from East and West, North and South.

The playful Dialogue Table What is your Quest?!

In groups of 2 to 8 people, you can explore a personal, professional or social issue with the help of the Dialogue Guide or under the guidance of a QFWF Game and Dialogue Facilitator.

Co-creatively engaging on a quest!

  • The images on the dialogue table stimulate the imagination of the participants and they contain different symbolic, mythological, and philosophical wisdoms.
  • Two card sets, one with European and one with intercultural perspectives, facilitate a multi-perspective view of the issue being discussed.
  • With a small group on a Quest in four game rounds, the QFWF guide or a game supervisor helps you to discover rich meanings around sensitive issues.

There are several dialogue forms:

The Dialogue Tables of What is your Quest? is suitable for playing in a small group: Either to play it by yourself with the help of the extensive Play Guide. Or you may do so under the guidance of a QFWF game supervisor.

Purchase: Wisdom Shop
Inquire and purchase: info@questforwisdom.org

Purchase of Educative Materials

One hundred percent of the money raised by the sale of all of all these games will be used in realising our upcoming QFWF educational projects, all of which are non-profit and run by volunteers.

Update 2022-07

Playful Dialogues Read More »

Game Quest for wisdom

GR digital — Digital game Quest for Wisdom — AW site — AW educational — AW game

Turn the Digital Wheel of the Intercultural Art of Living!

The Digital game Quest for Wisdom is based on mythical narratives, proverbs and intercultural symbols that encompass visions of happiness and the art of living.

Twenty stories and eighty symbols from all corners of the world are categorized according to the Wheel of the intercultural art of living. Through reflecting on questions and visualizations of elemental wisdom, players arrive at one of the 20 stories and are assigned a path mirrored in that narrative through the use of the Wheel of the Intercultural Art of Living. They then choose one of four symbols from that story as an intercultural symbolic signpost. In total, the game consists of 80 different symbols from wisdom traditions from the East, West, North and South.

How to play the Game Quest for Wisdom

Animals from the woods ― symbol for natural wisdom

The digital game Quest for wisdom invites players to reflect on (their own and others’) views on happiness in life through means of seven questions.

These revolve around themes of the art of living:

  • To which natural element do you feel connected most (earth, water, air, fire, ether)?
  • Is your attitude to life more towards being proactive or alert following?
  • Which elemental motto gives direction on your life path?
  • Which strong quality gives you courage for further development and which quality do you want to develop further?
  • In which direction are you heading on your path?
  • See how your path in this direction looks like in terms of the art of living, according to the Wheel of the intercultural art of living?
  • Which intercultural symbol from the story assigned by the Wheel of the intercultural art of living would you choose as a signpost?
  • Would you like to receive the full story and the symbol by mail in order to tap into the meaning of the symbolic signpost – possibly in a conversation with a counsellor from the Quest for wisdom foundation?
Heart, symbol of being open and listening to your own heart

The aim is to review the particular course you’ve taken in your life (and career) as seen from the perspective of (inter)cultural mythological and philosophical wisdoms.

The symbolism of the game forms a valuable mirror, which can be further explored through dialogue for the development of the intercultural art of living individually, as a peer group or family, or as a work or sports team.

The further development of the game Quest for Wisdom

The digital game Quest for Wisdom is ‘under construction’. The intention is to add an English version and to improve and expand the functionality.

Using the game in a professional environment? Inquire about possibilities!

Purchase: Wisdom Shop
Inquire and purchase: info@questforwisdom.org

Update 2022-07

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Quest for wisdom foundation

  • 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.

    Cultural ANBI status

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

    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 will realize the “Wereldburgerschap van de straat”  “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 dreams of global citizenship in images, music, dance, stories and other expressions of (inter)cultural heritage (phase 2) culminates in a social experiment with collaborating partner organizations (phase 3) for global citizenship around an intercultural program with the wisdom and beauty from the four corners of the world.

    The QDWD 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 program; 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 culminates in a final event in the late summer of 2024.

    De QFWF visualizes its vision in the Wheel of the Art of Intercultural Living and contributes to its mission of a cosmopolic world through three Quests:

  • The Three Quests for Wisdom: Quest 1, Quest 2 and Quest 3

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

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 in the social media is getting 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 …?”

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!

Update 2024-05

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