Charter
What we stand for, want to go to and come from
Why the Walk of Wisdom?
More and more people are asking classic life questions on ancient pilgrimage routes such as the Camino to Santiago in Spain or the Henro in Japan. The number of pilgrims to Santiago alone grew from around 2,500 in 1984 to 350,000 in 2019. Pilgrims praise the connectedness of being on the road: differences between people disappear and walking for days on end connect with your body, nature and the question of what life is really about.
Learning from the ritual creativity of these originally religious pilgrimage routes, the Walk of Wisdom develops a new pilgrimage tradition independent of any religion. We feel touched by the challenge of living with billions of people on one planet while at the same time cherishing the rest of nature.
With the Walk of Wisdom, we want to promote wisdom in today’s hectic times by making room for reflection through a worldwide pilgrimage route that is in the bud. By showing that beneath the surface of appearance, status or possessions the same questions of meaning live, we want to contribute to cooperation across the boundaries of nationality, religion or political convictions. By conveying that our individual choices influence the collective ecosystem of the earth, we want to contribute to sustainability and biodiversity.
What we do
The Walk of Wisdom works with small-scale volunteer organizations, each of which animates a marked pilgrimage route in its own country. These are routes of one or two weeks of walking. A pioneering route of 136 kilometres around Nijmegen was opened in 2015 as the first route and is the impetus for new Walks of Wisdom in other countries. The different routes are gradually connected to each other so that eventually a worldwide pilgrimage route emerges as a metaphor for the connection between people and between people and the earth.
Values
The Walk of Wisdom has freedom in connectedness and biodiversity as its core values. Pilgrims of the Walk of Wisdom is independent of any religion or political party. Walk of Wisdom pilgrims decide for themselves how they want to make their journey, have respect for the interpretation of others and take care of the landscape they walk through. The organisation of each route makes a concrete effort for that landscape by earmarking part of the registration fees for this purpose and organising DIY or clean-up actions.
Rituals and symbols
- Pilgrim is the symbol of the Walk of Wisdom and conveys what we stand for. In the words of the designers Huub and Adelheid Kortekaas: “Every human being is a reflection of Mother Earth, each with their own unique germination capacity.” Each route is marked with this symbol and pilgrims receive a 99mm pin with the symbol for the bag or jacket when registering. Each country has a different color pin. A large image of the symbol marks the start and end points.
- The pilgrim’s lace depicts the connection of pilgrims with the landscape: along the way, pilgrims string bird rings on the lace with the names of the areas of the Walk of Wisdom in question. Each pilgrim receives a shoelace with a unique ring with the registration number on it. Design: Manja Bente.
- Pilgrims receive a bag with the request to help clean up some litter on the route and thus make a concrete contribution to making it a little more beautiful.
- Telephone and internet are switched off as much as possible: the Walk of Wisdom is a journey inside in contact with where or who you are.
- The organization pays attention to meaningful moments for a valuable trip: preparation, departure, halfway, end, time afterwards.
- The ritual decoration of the route is sober so that pilgrims are given space to fill in their journey as they see fit.
Form of the Walk of Wisdom
- To emphasize that a pilgrimage is not about getting somewhere, but about making a journey inwards, the start and end points of each national Walk of Wisdom are the same.
- The route has one walking direction, so that everyone walks in the same direction despite all the differences.
- To keep the organizations organized and small-scale, there is only one marked Walk of Wisdom per country of one to two weeks of walking.
Profile of international partners
Walks of Wisdom work with volunteers as much as possible: the primary motivation is the practical and service-oriented idealism to make room for reflection inspired by an appreciation of freedom, cooperation and ecological awareness. Each organisation works as sustainably as possible and makes a concrete contribution to local culture and biodiversity.
History
The idea of the route arose in 2008 as a result of a bachelor’s thesis in Ritual Studies at Radboud University. Professor Ronald L Grimes had challenged students to come up with a ritual “that could save the world.” His intention was playful, but his student Damiaan Messing took the challenge seriously and, based on Grimes’ work, looked for possibilities for a ritual that could connect people across the boundaries of culture, religion and nationality.
The result was the bachelor’s thesis “What gesture can save the planet” with the mission of environmental movement de Kleine Aarde in Boxtel to inspire people to become sustainable as a case study. The thesis eventually led to the idea of a worldwide ‘Walk of Wisdom’. This idea was developed from 2011 with the help of a foundation led by pioneer Damiaan Messing and co-developer Manja Bente.
On 21 June 2015, the pioneer route around Nijmegen was the first to be opened. At the end of 2019, 5,000 pilgrims from all over the Netherlands and increasingly Flanders had registered. In 2018, the Walk of Wisdom received the public award in the Gelderland election for landscape quality. Initial explorations in other countries are now being undertaken.