New website ‘up and running’
He walked the route as the 338th pilgrim and decided to sponsor us with a new website: Ivan Beemster of the online marketing agency Lijndiensten.com. Designer Geertje Roling contributed to the design. The new website has been up and running for a day now and we are very happy with the result. In a while, we will continue with an international version: the first step to bring the Walk of Wisdom across the border.
Read below the repercussions of the conversation I had with him in May: “If the unexpected coincides with your intuition for what is good – then I think you have depth.” If you find any imperfections in the website, please let us know on [email protected].
Nowadays I prefer to walk on the Walk of Wisdom at appointments. Walking makes contact freer, the topic of conversation is literally under our feet and even at small distances there is enough time for two questions that occupy me: what is wisdom and when does your life get depth?
A week and a half ago I had a walking conversation with Ivan Beemster. Ivan has a thriving business in online marketing (lijndiensten.com) and wants to help us with the website. He walked the route himself in 2016 and we agreed to walk the first and last kilometer from the Stevenskerk via the Nijmegen island with that beautiful name: the Spiegelwaal.
He came running from under the arch of the church, his steps large and springy, his step leaning slightly forward, as if he were dropping into time. As we shook hands, he brushed his medium-length hair out of his face with a generous gesture and looked at me openly.
Our bodies were chilling on the first kilometre, the cold was still in the air. The pace was faster than I was used to, but walking on the pilgrimage route turned out to be a good opportunity to leave small talk almost undiscussed. Here’s what I remembered from his words:
I walked the Walk of Wisdom in 2016 and didn’t really leave with big questions. It took me five days. People asked me afterwards if I had had any new insights. No, I had to say. But their expectations got me thinking.
A few years ago, I was struggling with questions about how to make the world a better place or what to do with my time. I decided to let go of those big questions. I now try to live the way I prefer to work: not with a rigid project plan where everything is precisely drawn out in advance. Of course, an eye for quality is important for your work and for your enjoyment of life. But wisdom for me is the choice to let go of pre-cooked results. I want to rely on a sense of what is needed. This gives an openness to the creativity of the moment. If the unexpected coincides with your intuition for what is good – then I think you have depth.
I’ve asked the big questions, but I’m not looking for big answers anymore. Maybe I’ll run into them while I’m on the road for the little questions: about how to live today and next week, for example.
Ivan is going to help us with the website. At least, he asked us a few small questions to know what is needed. I’m curious to see what comes out.
Damien Brass
