You are here: / / Background

Background of the Walk of Wisdom

More and more people are asking themselves classic life questions on ancient pilgrimage routes such as the Camino to Santiago de Compostela or the Henro in Japan. For example, the number of pilgrims to Santiago grew from 2,491 in 1984 to 438,323 in 2022. Pilgrims praise the connectedness of being on the road. Differences between people disappear and walking for days on end connects you with your body and nature.

Inspired by this development, the Walk of Wisdom was born. A new pilgrimage route, independent of any religion. We want to make space for reflection and connection across the boundaries of culture and country.

A small pilgrimage from a big thought

The Walk of Wisdom connects classic life questions with modern themes: the search for authenticity and the challenge of living together with billions of people on one planet. Choices made by each of us individually affect the whole, and the whole affects each of us individually.

How? That’s an open question that deserves a global search ritual. Not woolly, but with your feet on the ground. A pilgrimage based on a big thought, always starting with the experiences and intuition of each individual.

Pilgrims are free to make their own journey. At the same time, we are working towards a single Walk of Wisdom in every country in the world. With a symbol as a guide along the way that conveys the connection between man and the world. No one has a monopoly on wisdom. It is possible to learn from each other.

Opening Walk of Wisdom 21 June by Pierre van Megen

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 an Earth Landmark: a kind of cathedral, but independent of a religion, designed by the best architects in the world as a tribute to life on earth. Although Damiaan seriously investigated the idea together with his brother Martijn, 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 was now started small, on a pioneering route of 147 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.

Manja Bente en Damiaan Messing, pioniers van de Walk of Wisdom
Huub en Adelheid Kortekaas

Opening: an incipient success

The pioneer route was opened in 2015 with the publication of a contemporary book of hours and pilgrims: Seasons of Life. In this book, well-known and unknown Dutch people (and a few Flemings) wrote a contribution about an inspiring life experience. Modern artists made small images (miniatures) to go with it. The book is now sold out, but a unique edition with all the original artworks is on permanent display in the Stevens Church in Nijmegen, the start and end point of the route.

In August 2021, the foundation received the 10,000th donation for a starter pack to walk the 147-kilometer tour inside. In 2018, the route received the public award in the Gelderland election for landscape quality. There was also a ten-part series about the route on regional and national television (link). In 2020, the foundation published a manual for the modern pilgrim to deepen the incipient pilgrimage tradition.

Expansion

The foundation would like to expand abroad. In order to remain small and idealistic as an organization, it wants to do so through collaboration with local partners.

The logo of the route is protected and a sub-licence is issued in the event of cooperation. The aim is one Walk of Wisdom of one to two weeks of walking in every country in the world. A charter with the basic principles is the foundation of the collaboration.

Read the Charter.

Or sign up for the starter pack.

short manual for the modern pilgrim

Values

Core values of the Walk of Wisdom are freedom, respect and solidarity. The route has been developed for people who try to be themselves, want to respect others and would like to contribute something good to the world.

The Walk of Wisdom is independent of a political, religious or ideological philosophy of life and works together with everyone who recognizes themselves in its core values. The foundation is a non-profit organisation and makes every effort to keep the route accessible to people with few financial resources.

The foundation is actively committed to the preservation of nature and heritage on the route with sponsorship campaigns and the cleaning up of litter.

We were looking for a way to connect people without making new, constricting connections. Pilgrimage is excellent for this: the pilgrim determines the theme and pace of his journey. The core values are there to give a sense of belonging. They show a certain attitude to life, while at the same time they leave plenty of room for a personal interpretation.

Photo away: Bart Kouwenberg