On a stone terrace above a quiet lake at Nishan, where the 2026 Nishan Forum on World Civilizations takes place this year, five sages from five civilizations – Confucius, Socrates, Ibn Sina, Tagore and Wangari Maathai – walk in from opposite sides and come to rest in a single line. Five shafts of golden light rise from beside them, climb into the sky and merge into one radiant sphere hanging above the water. Different gestures, one light – five civilizations solving the same issue: how to live together. That is the question participants at the 2026 Nishan Forum on World Civilizations have come together to ask.