No Money. No Sleeping Bag. Sleeping Outside. Begging.
For 5 days I’ve lived on the streets of Bielefeld, Germany, without money, without a sleeping bag, sleeping outside. Accompanied by 6 friends and under the guidance of Zen-Buddhist Monk Claude AnShin Thomas, this activity is called Street Retreat, a spiritual Zen practice.
Preparation
For preparation, we haven’t showered, haven’t brushed our teeth and haven’t changed clothes for 5 days before the start. Another part was the fundraising of 1080 Euros as a preparation for our begging practice on the street. Thanks to wonderful support of family and friends — especially business friends — the fundraising wasn’t as hard as expected, even though I procrastinated quite a bit out of fear of shame and humiliation. The purpose of these funds was the donation to non-profit organizations after the retreat, based on our experiences.
A Special Zen-do
As our domicile the local organizer Sonja MyoZen chose the Bürgerpark — also known as Oetkerpark or formerly known as Adolf-Hitler-Park. It was a very nice park a little aside downtown with a very nice water fountain, dozens of ducks and crans. As our Zen-do (meditation hall) we chose the platform in the upper part of the park — a platform where supposedly Adolf Hitler should have held propaganda speeches.
Photo: Andreas Frücht, Neue Westfälische
The Beginning
The retreat started on Saturday at 5pm. After Claude AnShin gave us instructions, we first walked to Bürgerpark. Then we had 30 minutes to start looking for a place to sleep and to beg for dinner. The recommendation of AnShin was to find a place with a porch roof — for people living on the street the goal is to never get wet. Luckily my expedition partner and I have quickly found potential sleeping places nearby. After revisiting the place with AnShin’s assistant KenShin we decided to stay there for the first night. In the meantime another group — begging should be never done alone — was in charge of getting dinner. They got a salad, cooked and fried potatoes and a bottle of mineral water. Unexpectedly, this was more than enough for the group — we even had to throw part of the salad away the next day.
The Waste of Food
This is one of my most important learnings. When you share, there is always enough for everybody. And even people living on the street do throw away food! And now imagine how much food is thrown away by stores/restaurants and regular citizens. See also food waste statistics. A lot of stores who refused giving us some food ended up throwing it away in the evening or the next day. Of course, plenty of food goes to food distribution organizations like Bielefelder Tafel, yet still A LOT of edible food is being thrown away. Part of the situation is of course also caused by strict rules of the Public Health Department and the resulting fear of fines and punishments. The point is: Giving away a little food has NO negative business consequences, as plenty of the food ends up at Bielefelder Tafel or the trash anyways (instead there even might be positive consequences — see below in the part about ‘Begging’).
How Fast We Forget
Claude AnShin is a Vietnam combat veteran who returned with major physical and mental wounds, being unable to live a regular life and eventually ending up using intoxicants and living on the street. Therefore street retreats for him are not at all some weird form of vacation or self-discovery feel-me-touch-me event. It it serious business. It was his life for quite some time. And he made it clear from the beginning that we should take it very seriously and that not so long ago even in Bielefeld, during the Second World War and after the war, many people weren’t living much differently than we were about to live. How fast we forget!
Street Living 101
Claude AnShin was committed to keep us safe. His street living 101 included having a whistle around the neck for self-protection, never to go begging alone, always tell the group when you go using the bathroom, only enter sleeping places in darkness, enter the sleeping places very carefully without attracting attention and immediately lay down and sleep. Also for preparation against attacks, always keep your shoes on and not slip into sleeping bags, instead use them as blankets. The latter two recommendations came from an experienced homeless person whom we met. The person also told us that homeless emergency accommodation places are not recommendable — you are often confronted with violence, theft or just very hostile conditions. Luckily, we had absolutely no problem with violence nor the police. The other thing the person told us is to be very careful with your diet as a homeless person: try not to eat bad or unhealthy food, as sicknesses like diarrhea can be VERY dangerous and unpleasant on the street.
Photo: Andreas Frücht, Neue Westfälische
Not Pretending
What we also did, we didn’t pretend to be homeless, as we’re not. When begging, we simply said something like: “We are currently living on the street, without money, sleeping outside. We are currently collecting vegetarian food for the group. Would you mind giving us something?”. And when someone asked why, we explained what we did and why we did it.
Begging
What struck me the most was the generosity of the shop-keepers. Frankly I expected a success rate of 5-10 percent, meaning asking 10-20 times before getting anything. In the end, we had a success rate of more than 50 percent. And most of the people who gave us something were very happy to help us out. In Zen, generosity is the most important virtue, and the most important source of happiness. So when begging, we were not subordinating ourselves — in the contrary — we would give the people the gift of experiencing deep happiness themselves. After the first successes my shame went away and I really enjoyed begging and experiencing warm interactions with very kind people, giving and receiving pleasure and happiness. What I also learned, that friendliness and a positive body language were important success factors. I also experimented with asking for specific things — making the giving decision as simple as possible for the giving person — with great success. Being tired of tap water from the public toilet I successfully begged for a bottle of Apfelschorle. I also got a nice piece of watermelon from the market. When receiving a “No”, we accepted it and moved on. The next day we might come again and give them another chance. For getting popcorn we had to visit the same cinema three times. The first time we went, the cinema employee said they would simply reheat the remaining popcorn the next day — yummy! I really hope he was just pretending to get rid of us. If not, this is bad karma. And bad karma means bad business. After the retreat I of course bought my travel sandwich at Subway — it was the only place at the train station that offered us something. This is an example of good karma resulting in good business ;). (Karma is simply a fancy word for the Law of Cause & Effect — yet I like the term ;)
Sleeping Outside
This is the place where we slept for three nights. It was the front-entry of a school building, covered by trees and a parking space. Even though being pretty well covered, we had some nightly visitors. In the first night AnShin was awake all night, getting a feeling of the city’s nightlife. We supposedly were approached by a group of young people, yet after AnShin stood up and took a few steps towards them, they turned back and disappeared. One night when I couldn’t sleep I saw a bicyclist stopping and looking a little puzzled at us, then turning back and disappearing. So when living on the street, it helps to not sleep alone — although I am aware that most homeless people are completely on their own, being exposed to potentially dangerous situations.
Donations
The six participants have collectively raised 6000 Euros. After the retreat we went to the Schlosshof — a formerly famous eatery that was used from 1940-1943 as a brutal working camp for over 200 Jewish people. Based on our experiences, we have decided to donate the funds to eight non-profit organizations with the bulk of the money going to small organizations in strong need of financial resources. The money wasn’t distributed evenly. We used a democratic approach to first decide which organizations to include. After deciding on 8 organizations, everyone had 8 votes that could been placed freely, and out of the votes the contributions were calculated:
(1) Bahnhofs-Mission Bielefeld help for homeless (250 Euros)
(2) Kinderzentrum e.V. help for children (1000 Euros)
(3) Sterntaler e.V. Grief-work for children (625 Euros)
(4) Frauenmantel e.V. mothers who are psychologically ill (500 Euros)
(5) Mädchenhaus Bielefeld e.V. House for abused girls (625 Euro)
(6) Tabula e.V. childrens after school care (500 Euros)
(7) Zaltho Foundation for ending violence (1.750 Euros)
(8) Heilsarmee Bielefeld (750 Euros)
True to Their Word — Salvation Army
Personally, I only had direct experience with Heilsarmee Bielefeld. We were welcomed very warm-heartedly, weren’t doubted nor questioned and didn’t even had to explain ourselves. Heilsarmee offers every day free breakfast, free lunch and free coffee during the day for people in need. They even offered us three sleeping bags — of which we accepted only one and which of course we will donate back after having it washed — we’ll do that with every blanket we have received.
Business Goes Street
Interestingly, all male participants — including Claude AnShin Thomas — have studied business and have or had an entrepreneurial background. They are or were consultants, sales trainers, founders or M&A executives. Several times I got the giggles trying to see us from an outside perspective and seeing us laying on or wandering around with cardboards — ‘if people only knew’ I thought to myself (also meaning: don’t underestimate or misjudge people on the street). Speaking of cardboards: These are one of the most important utilities on the street. They are lightweight, have excellent isolating qualities and are versatilely usable, e.g. as blankets or eyeshades. If possible I recommend two to three layers of cardboards to make the bed a little softer.
Cuddling
The first night we have spent completely without blankets or sleeping bags. Most people used a second cardboard as a blanket, which worked well. What also works well is to sleep very close-by. All female participants have done street retreats before so they immediately cuddled up to each other. All male participants had some reservations — or stated differently: needed their ‘free space’ ;) — and ended up freezing badly. Lesson learned: Male started cuddling the next night too.
Equip Yourself
Another learning was that nights can get cold all year — even in summer. Around 4am it was usually the coldest. Fortunately I made the right clothing decision: I brought long thermal underwear, an undershirt, a t-shirt, a thick hooded sweatshirt, a winter jacket, a scarf, a winter cap and a rain shield. Also useful would have been gloves and a baseball cap. During day you can tie the clothes around your hip or shoulders or use them as pillows.
Nature is Wonderful
The most incredible thing to learn was that living on the street and particularly in nature is a wonderful source of happiness, well-being and pleasure. I enjoyed it very much. And I learned that my body liked it too very much. It’s the simplicity, the slowness, the sounds of nature, the fresh air and the infinite space that lets the flower of happiness blossom.
Our Daily Routine
We had plenty of free time. We got up after sunrise at 5:30am and went to bed after sunset at 11pm. In the morning we would go to the park and clean up some trash. An important Zen practice is to appreciate the places that we use and to always make an effort to leave them in a better condition than before. We also did that with the public toilet, our Zen-do and other places we have been. At 7am and 7pm we had our practice times with Zazen and recitation. Sometimes 15-20 additional people joined us. After the morning practice we had breakfast and after the evening practice dinner. Usually from 11am to 1pm, and from 5pm to 6:30pm we would go begging. The rest of the time we have spent in the park, doing naps or watching ‘television’: the duck channel, the nature channel, the sports channel or the citizen channel. One time we borrowed a frisbee. Most of the time we rested or had conversations.
A Common Prejudice
When you see homeless people sleeping during the day — be careful what you think. Usually our prejudices go in the direction of “they must be lazy”, “they must be drunk” or the like. But in many cases the reality is quite simple: As the nights tend to be cold and therefore not very restful, these people are simply JUST tired. Usually we took two naps, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Doing that I had no problem with sleep deprivation — in the contrary — it was a very relaxing and resting retreat.
Where to Invest the Hours of Your Life
We lived completely without money. We begged for food directly. I learned that I REALLY only need very few things in life: food, water, clothing, rain protection, cold protection, social interaction. It looks that a life with only these things cannot be other than basic or okay at most. This is not true. This life is not bad at all. Happiness is not dependent on material things, not dependent on money, not dependent on success. I’m not suggesting that everybody should go live on the street. This is not the point. The point is to realize that most of our life we live in an illusion. An illusion that success, power or money is important or even a prerequisite for our happiness. Intellectually we usually understand this illusion. Yet still we spend most of our life’s energy chasing exactly these things. I am no exception. It is very refreshing to see that we can safe ourselves a lot of trouble: Instead of working oneself to death and then realizing that this might not have given us what we were looking for, it would be a lot easier to realize it sooner :). Of course it’s nice to have a hall being named after you (e.g. Rudolf Oetker Halle), yet I start questioning more and more whether the investment is really worth the return. Of course there are examples of very successful, wealthy and deeply happy people — yet I would claim that the majority of the people spending their lifetime working very hard to achieve these goals just seem to be happy from the outside — behind the curtain they might be deeply unsatisfied, sad, frustrated or simply unhappy. I am no exception. It’s not about working hard. It’s about the motivation that drives us. You might perfectly call people like Ghandi or the Dalai Lama as workaholics, yet the motivation was different, and therefore the result in terms of happiness and fulfillment was different. There is nothing wrong with dedication and hard work.
Bread
Man — what’s up with all the bread! We learned that it is VERY easy to get bread on the street. And that you end up with tons of bread. And that after a while you get really sick of it. So I mostly stopped eating it. Instead I fed the ducks with it and changed my diet mostly to fruit. So please, never give homeless people bread!!! They might already have more than enough. Instead, buy them a piece of watermelon or a fruit juice. An insider recipe from our Italian friend if you end up having hard or old bread. Bread cake: Soak the old bread with soy milk (e.g. vanilla flavor), let it soak for a couple of hours, put in a entire egg, put in chocolate, nuts or whatever you like, mix it, and bake it for 20 to 30 minutes. We tested the recipe after the retreat and it was very tasty!
Not so Bad
No showering and especially no teeth-cleaning for 10 days. I expected it to be much harder. Of course, after four days you start somewhat smelling, but truth be told: the tenth day wasn’t much worse than the forth day. You really get used to it. And I also kinda liked it. Particularly I never got so fast out of bed and into bed as during these 10 days. It is so much simpler. You just don’t have to worry about things any more. Nevertheless I really looked forward changing my underwear and brushing my teeth :). What was interesting that I enjoyed taking a shower much less than expected. Teeth and underwear were more important to me.
Freshness and a Special Correlation
It is very seldom that I was as fresh and fit in the early morning as during the street retreat. Sometimes I got up at 4am or 5am and was very fresh. Unfortunately I had big pains in my back that sometimes forced me to get up very early. The last night we begged for a sleeping place at a church. We approached three churches and got two acceptances. So we have spent the last night inside in a nice side room of an Evangelical Church. As the room was also used by a Zazen group we had the great pleasure of putting meditation mats under our cardboards, bringing our backs and hips great relief. What was strange that this was the first night were I was dozy and not fresh in the morning. There seems to be a correlation between ground-hardness and freshness. The more comfortable the bed is, the more difficult it is to get up in the morning — at least this is my experience.
Lovely Experiences
(1) A young lady who happend to live right in the house in front of our Zen-do brought us a very nice breakfast the first morning: cereals, milk, tea, apples, cucumber — all served on very nice tablewear. She was very gentle and caring.
(2) A female employee of a cafe asked us in a very caring way what we would lack the most in the moment — then she gave us two Apfelschorle on the house. The next day she saw us on the street, asked us how we were doing and offered that we can come anytime if we should need anything (as far as I know we didn’t accept this offer — usually we didn’t want to exploit the goodness of people too much, instead offering the opportunity of generosity to others)
(3) A young female employee of a restaurant reacted with “Ohhhh!?” with much care and compassion and immediately asked the kitchen to prepare a little something for us
(4) A female managing director of a Starbucks immediately accepted our wish for a Chai tea — and ended up offering us two. Our pitch was very straightforward and even included the word ‘gift’: “Hello, we currently live on the street, without money, we sleep outside. We wanted to ask if you would give us a Chai tea as a gift?”. She immediately said yes.
Business Model and Competition
The homeless person that I mentioned above in the 101 section was collecting and returning bottles. A big blue bag would bring him 7 Euros. Some days he collected as much as six bags. We told him about another homeless person that collects bottles before 6am in the same park and whether he would perceive him as competition. He said ‘no’, and added that ‘there is always enough for everybody’. Bottles with refundable deposit therefore are a very important income stream for homeless people in Germany (which is also referenced and integrated in games like Pennergame.de).
Drugs and Alcohol
The same homeless person said that he doesn’t use intoxicants. They would destroy him if he would use them. Yet he acknowledged that many despaired and suffering homeless people fall into this trap. Especially in the area around the train-station. We went there the last morning to end the retreat with a Zazen period and a final recitation. It was 10am and nobody was around. AnShin explained to us that homeless people using intoxicants are not yet awake. That must mean that the person who collects bottles at 6am can hardly be an addict.
Nazism
This was a recurring topic. Our park was officially called Adolf-Hitler-Park. From our Zen-do Hitler held propaganda speeches. The Schlosshof was a working camp. And also from the Bielefeld train station in the time from 1938-1945 at least 10 deportation trains have left to various concentration camps. How fast we forget.
Water
It’s important to drink enough. I didn’t. I only drank 1-2 Liters per day, where 3-4 Liters would have been much better. The consequence was occasional head-ache and digestion problems. Even though the water from the public bathroom sink was fine — the idea of it coming from a public bathroom resulted in some resistance.
Personal Conversations
One of the things I enjoyed the most were the personal conversations with the participants — especially during our begging walks. We had no iPhone, no internet, no newspaper, no television — just ourselves. It’s very nice to really have the time to get to know each other. This is definitely one thing that I want to increase in my life. Funny enough, at least six of the eight participants own an iPhone. And as soon as the retreat finished and we connected to the wireless — all those disciplined Zen people starting staring at their phones. When asked — they were of course doing iPhone meditation — especially me ;).
It Can be a Choice
Another prejudice or tendency of many people is to start forcing homeless people into ‘normal’ lives. What most people don’t realize is: It can be a conscious choice to live on the street. True, most of the homeless people end up on the street because some sort of problems. But there is still a fraction of people who have a choice and choose the street. No one has the right to force his ideas onto another person. Sentences like “Get a job” or “Go to social welfare” cannot be declared as ‘advice’ or ‘help’. They are violence. Very subtle form of violence. Most violence is being committed in such subtle ways. And this is exactly the place where things like Nazism started. Seeds of violence are in all of us. We have to be very careful about these things. This is one of the main points of Claude AnShin. He’s been there. He’s seen it. Violence only leads to more violence. And violence is never a solution. Especially subtle form of violence like such sentences or thoughts.
Duck Family
We have built a very nice relationship with a duck family with two young chicks. We — especially Claude AnShin Thomas — fed them frequently and they would visit us regularly. Home sweet home — our park.
Further Reading
Claude AnShin Thomas has written the book At Hell’s Gate about his path from Vietnam soldier to Zen-monk and his experience with violence. (The book is available in German, Italian and further languages as well.)
What do you think?
Let me know in the comment section below.
Please Upvote
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Not only you guys had learned so much about this event but the whole community because of this article. Thanks sharing it to all! For most of us, being a homeless is maybe the worst thing that could ever happen but you guys have guts to face it and we salute for that. Upvoted and followed you from now on @remouherek
Thank you for your kinds words. I feel honored to have earned your upvote and follow! Have a great day Sir!
They definitely shed a new light on it for me. You never really know what it's like until you've experienced it first hand or heard from someone who has. Hopefully people will realize not all homeless people are drug addicts or bums. A lot are just people down on their luck trying to survive.
Nice social experiment. I use to talk to a lot homeless in the streets and most of them are pretty interesting. Never what you expected. For being not too wealthy myself, I only can tell lacking money makes you creative by force. :)
Thank you. It's great that you talked with homeless people. They should not feel isolated. I can only recommend such an experience.
These guys have had a life like you and me before. Most of them didnt choose to live that way, like punks. Many of them have good hearts, even if they have to fight for daily survival. I also experienced, the poorer somebody is, the more he/she has to give. Isn't that strange?! :)
Totally agree. Poor people are often happier than rich people as well.
My friend did a photography series where he talked to numerous homeless people and photographed their hands. Each hand told a unique story. Always interesting to get different perspectives.
if spoiled people experienced what you did, they could literally change their lives, many young generations nowadays; they wasted too much food, they go party using drugs and alcohol. young generations should be aware that we should be grateful of what we have, we should be grateful that are health is pretty good condition, that's the problem of some millennial today, they have all the resources and a good health, but yet they destroyed it and never gave importance to what they have.
Totally agree with you on this one. Such an experience can truly be life-changing, as it was for me.
A lot of people haven't experienced struggle and therefore cannot relate at all. It is impossible without experiencing it firsthand. I think everyone could benefit from a little perspective. When all you know is an easy life you start to take it for granted.
Following your approach, I believe learning is living. People learn through real life work, through opportunities given to them that meet their developmental needs. Thanks for sharing.
Totally agree. Learning cannot be theory-only, it also needs to come from application and experience.
You must have experience to fully understand a given topic. You can read about it all you want but nothing overshadows real engagement.
I totally agree with you.
This comment has received a 0.31 % upvote from @booster thanks to: @amity123.
Wow looks like an exceptional experience .. great courage of you
We need more solidarity in this world
Thanks for sharing
Thank you. It was a remarkable experience indeed
Holy crap I would never have the courage to take on this task. I can't believe you raised 6000 euros for those 8 non profit organizations, that was very noble of you. I'm surprised that you had so much food to go around, I can't believe homeless throw their food out! And wow the shoppers were really nice with a hit rate or 50%, maybe because they knew there money would end up at a good cause. This is a one of a kind article on Steemit. I have upvoted and look forward to your next ground breaking post! :)
Thank you very much my friend! I'm honored by your upvote and kind words.
This is an interesting thing to do but it can't actually mimic the feeling of having no home because in your mind you still have a home. Living this life is brutal I know my son is an addict and is living it we have actually been unable to keep him in housing because of his behaviour. Having no base from which to be a part of society means it is impossible to have meaningful relationships with family and it is heartbreaking. People who are addicts on the street have no spare time because they spend every minute collecting money and then searching for the next fix. All of their relationships are based on the money and the drugs they can get out of people. This is the reality.
Totally agree with you. The life of an addict is tough. We never pretended to be real homeless. Nevertheless it was a life-changing experience for us!
Wow, I don't think I would be able to do that!
Pretty much everybody could do it (under the proper guidance). It's less challenging that you think.
Beautiful story. I'm moved by it. ❤️
Thank you so much 🙏
You're welcome darling 💋
It sounds like a unique experience! I think it's great that you put yourself in the shoes of homeless people - it must be especially tough throughout the winter, since you're constantly freezing and have to make sure that you find a spot to sleep at, where there's no snow or wet grass.
I'm surprised that you had so many people helping you out, but it's great that there are still many out there who are happy to help the ones who need it!
Very impressive!
Thank you so much for your kind words. Indeed the winters must be super hard. We did it in summer and it was cold enough at night!
Wow. What an experienced. Am deeply touched. Some times we have to put ourselves in other peoples shoes. See what they feel. Life is only worth living when it's of service to humanity. God bless
Thank you so much. I completely agree with you!
Thank you @remouherek
What a unusual idea, normally going back to basic or nature is camping, this is a very interesting incite into street living that many people are forced or choose to take on, great tips you guys learnt and shared for many people would say it's like a mid life crisis but is it many people are actually searching for what you guys just accomplished a sense of being, peeling back the layers, slowing down and living basically.
What one thing you learnt form your experience would you continue on into your everyday life or have you kept doing or changed?
Thank you so much for your kind words. I don't think it can be boiled down to just one thing for me. I definitely see homelessness with different eyes now, the same with food waste and many other topics. Thanks for asking!
Yesterday night I was out in the city. Many young people walking around drunk , police on the corner , couples kissing under the lights of the brothels , people overeating junk food tired with messy hair and red eyes. And in between those scenes you can see here and there in some corridors some people wrapped in blankets sleeping trying to worm each-other.
I thought this place is the face of our souls for which I hope they will deserve somehow place in the Eden
Nicely written. I hope the same.
The things you learnt from these 5 days is not possible to learn in whole life.... This is called practical life...
Thank you. I agree
A couple people in these photos look amazingly like some cousins of mine that I grew up with. They lived in Henrietta NY but have since moved to various parts of the country. They are very a charitable, christian family and wouldn't have surprised me to see them take on such a venture, but I think I would have heard about it. Even so, I had to do a double take. upvoted and resteemed.
Thank you. Your resteem and upvote is much appreciated
Waiting For Upvotes
That's me the whole day today, haha :))
Seems like you had decent weather. I live in Michigan, US and I have no idea how the homeless survive here. Shelters are limited and we often dip to negative 10-20 degrees Farenheit. Most of the homeless here have mental health issues. Our mental health system in the US is a disaster.
Kudos to you for bringing awareness to this often ignored issue.
Thank you for your kind words. You're very welcome.
I agree, the winters must be tough. We did it in summer and the nights were cold enough. Also, we didn't experience any prolonged rain.
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I have the impression that I will not be able to face such a challenge. I would like to try how it is
It has definitely been a challenge, but much less challenging than I initially thought. Actually the experience was beautiful, living outside in nature.
Great post!
Thanks for tasting the eden!
Thank you
Hi!!!I am Md Ataujjaman Ripon.. Thank you so much for your post.
I have learnt many thing from your post.
again thaknk you for teach me some impprtant think.
..Please continue
I am with you
Thank you!
I would love to do this someday. I'm Awed by this idea, really.
I can only encourage you to try it. It's a life-changing experience!
Was it Jack London the writer who tried this out? It's nice to see people undertaking these social experiences today, in order to share and to inform.
I don't know about Jack London, but I know that many other people have done similar things. It was a life-changing experience for me and I recommend everybody to consider trying it as well.
Yes. Jack London lived for a time as a hobo, hopping trains across the country. He was a socialist and quite active politically. He even spent some time in the county jail where I live (Buffalo,NY), arrested for vagrancy.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_(London_book)
I also was homeless living out of and traveling in my car when I was in my twenties. I can't say I really knew what it was like to have nothing and be impoverished because I knew I could always call someone for help if it got bad enough. There are people born into homeless families. They have it much worse than I ever did. I mean at least I had a car even if I preferred sleeping under a bridge.
Thank you for sharing.
that's it, thank-you. Yes, and always for London, i remember being it a classic read. However, that link goes to a different book. London's book is 'The People of the Abyss'
Oh OK. I was just trying to find something confirming he was arrested in Erie County. I haven't read either of these.
Wow. I read the entire article and as an American who spent 5 months living in Germany I can attest to the kindness of German people. I went to school near Stuttgart and loved it! What a wonderful country.
Totally agree. Germany is great! Thank you for sharing.
Do you think people helped you because they knew you weren't common beggars, but religious adherents?
Also, can you tell more about what there is in the teachings that justifies/supports begging as a valid source of support?
Thanks.
I'm sure that people have noticed that we weren't ordinary beggars. We only begged for food and not for money for instance! But I'm also sure that certain people didn't notice any difference, as we hadn't showered, shaven or changed clothes 5 days before the start as preparation.
But is this part of the religion? Is there a virtue in it that the religion requires of you?
I don't view meditation as a religion, more as a practice to improve oneself. Therefore no, I didn't feel any requirements from the practice. However I do know that monks practice begging and homelessless. But we were no monks, we were ordinary people :)
Gotcha.
OK..thank for that explanation.
You're welcome
Waww. Amazing post...
Thank you so much!
What a truly unique and well thought of retreat. Really gets us into appreciating what we have, expressing gratitude, and lerning to act with greater wisdom and compassion.
Thank you for this detailed sharing on the concept and experience.
Thank you for your kind words. You're very welcome!
Wow. What a great participatory social awareness exercise.
Thank you @momzillanc!
It's a great achievement for you. No organization can teach us the nature and the environment that teaches us. You have learned from nature and we have learned a lot from you. Everyone does not know how much life you see. Thanks so much for giving a great post.
Thank you for your warm words! Much appreciated
Nice article
Thank you
Really like this post. It's inspiring to hear that you all had the courage to try this and the conviction to stick with it. Seems like you learned a lot of valuable lessons and thank you for sharing it. Resteemed and followed
Wow, thank you for the kind words. Very much appreciate the resteem and follow! Have a wonderful day
It's a work of super brave. I can't thought about it really.
Thank you
You are most welcome
Very nice story!!
I've always wanted to do something similar but never had the time to do it.
One question though. Did you really drink out of a toilet? Or did you just drink from the sink in a public bathroom? I'm hoping this was just a language difference. LOL
Thank you! It was the sink. Sorry for the confusion :))
Nice social experiment.life is not to easy for homeless
Thank you, I agree!
Very nice place thankyou for share
Thank you. Have a wonderful day
This is the most interesting article I´ve read on Steemit! Thanks for sharing.
Wow, thank you for your kind words. Much appreciated your comment.
You make me cry guys because i didn't know if homeless people tend to suffer like this .Starting from to day am going to be their voice and help them to raise their voice to the authorized ministry in our country. Am going to give them food and other necessary needs to help them live even for single day thanks guys for reminding me that our fellows are deing in street .
Thank you so much for your kind words. Much appreciated your thoughts and intended actions!
That´s goo idea, I think the only way to undertand the others (home less) is: Just do it!,
It´s interestin idea, I really don´t know, What I feel ?
Maybe, I would not stay none day....... Congrats for your idea. I´ll follow you in order to read more interestin experiences
regards
Thank you so much for your thoughts. Much appreciate you following me.
I liked your story great acheivement
Thank you so much!
All of you looking great
Thank you
What an outstanding post! Upvoted, Resteemed, and shared on other social media sites. Thank you for sharing!
Wow, thank you so much for the support!
Horrible assumption that begging is a necessity of homelessness. I respect the effort to become more enlightened, but to combine homelessness and begging as if they're inseparably intertwined is false and blurs the perception for those close-minded folks who most need a dose of reality and something similar to, but less offensive than tolerance.
We were not pretenting to "play" homelessless. We just performed a street retreat based on our own guidelines. There is nothing wrong with that, right?
Not at all, but not all homeless people resort to begging to eat, nor does homelessness make such a thing a necessity.
Totally agree. I never claimed such a thing.
Homeless rights are human rights!
Thank you for drawing attention to the people on the streets. Raising funds and living close to the lowest level of the socio-economic ladder is a learning experience.
I believe that all politicians need to live on the streets for a year beforetaking office. We need more empathy for the poor.
People are largely unaware that the homeless are the new untouchables. Feeding people or giving money has been outlawed in major cities throughout the USA.
Now under Trump poverty is being punished. All too soon homelessness by it's self will be cause for forced labor, or incarceration.
Totally agree with the politicians idea. Thanks for commenting
It s really a good way to understand how homeless live . In my country there s a lot of homeless and people pretends that they don t exist. Live for 5 days like them it s a perfect way to understand that We are all human and We could be in that situation one day. We should help them always.
Totally agree. Thank you for commenting
Such a great experience. I do believe it can be a life-changing event for anyone. I also expect that experiencing the pleasure of asking and giving also changes people's viewpoint on life. We never thought that we would at some point be homeless, but who knows! Nonetheless, I would think living on street is ok for adult but quite detrimental to the children though,
I agree, thank you for sharing your thoughts
I am from Venezuela, and due to bad government policies at least 70% of the population receives a salary of less than 3 dollars per month. This situation has forced more than 1 million Venezuelan people to flee to other countries seeking better opportunities, but many of them currently live on the streets in many countries of the world. They did not choose to live in the streets but were forced to flee my country in search of a dignified life
This is bad. Thank you for sharing about the situation in Venezuela. I didn't know that
I'm very impressed with the look of an amazingly beautiful picture.
Thank you