What gesture can save the world?
The idea of the route arose in 2008 as a result of a bachelor’s thesis in Ritual Studies at Radboud University Nijmegen. Professor Ronald L Grimes challenged his students to come up with a ritual “that could save the world.” His intention was playful, but Damiaan Messing took the challenge seriously and looked for ritual possibilities based on Grimes’ work . As a case study, he used the mission of environmental movement de Kleine Aarde to inspire people to live a sustainable lifestyle.
Earth Pilgrimages
This led to the set-up for the Earth Pilgrimages, a pilgrimage that you would walk as an expression of a personal intention to live a sustainable lifestyle (“walk the talk”). A route to the most sustainable city on a continent, culminating in a Earth Landmark: A kind of cathedral, but separate from a religion, designed by the best architects in the world as a tribute to life on earth. Although Damiaan and his brother Martijn seriously investigated the idea, the implementation turned out to be too ambitious.
Walk of Wisdom
In 2010, the idea returned outside the framework of the Little Earth, this time more contemplative and without the intention of changing people. The name became Walk of Wisdom and the idea of a worldwide route started small, on a pioneer route of 136 kilometers around Nijmegen. Together with Manja Bente and the artists Huub and Adelheid Kortekaas, a foundation was set up that developed the plan into its current form from 2011 to 2015.
Read the Bachelor’s thesis or the summary in Dutch here. Read the ritual design for the Earth Pilgrimages here and for the pioniersfase_Walk_of_Wisdom here.
