From the city to the forest
We humans have the ability of shaping the environment to our own needs, which is an incredible power to use. On the other hand, the more we use technology and inventions to customize our space, we lose our innate ability to adapt to the environment we are in, and that makes us weak and inflexible.
And there is also the pressure of a consumerist society that makes us desire an increasing number of things in order to feel comfortable. But we never quite get there.
We have a never ending hunger for more, we work hard to get to the next thing that will make us happy. We attach those possessions to our identity, creating a feeling of entitlement, always striving to increase our status, always proving others that we are more than them. We worked hard for it. We deserve it.
I come from that race, I have been to the heights of comfort and success. I have had most things people desire in life only to realize that it is not what makes us truly happy.
In a mission to disassociate the ego from material possessions and comforts, I leave my comfortable apartment and decide to become homeless in the most expensive city in the world. A call for a more natural and sustainable way of life takes me to the forest, living for a month with a very minimalist and eco-friendly lifestyle, maintaining and even increasing my happiness levels.
How far do I go? I want live as a homeless person in Hong Kong for as long as I’m comfortable with it. My limitations? Dignity and a small degree of comfort.
Objectives:
- Closer contact with nature, with a fear free attitude
- Awareness of the environment, embrace it and adapt to it
- Awareness of the changes in weather, embrace them and adapt to them
- Consciousness on everything we do (self awareness)
- Ultimate awareness on the stuff we own. Reduction of consumption and focus in essentials only (minimalism)
- Achieve a change of mindset, demoting some basic needs we believe we have in today’s society into optional needs (reprogramming)
This of course requires time, but it’s quality time with yourself. It is inconvenient, deciding every minute where and how to do the most basic needs in life. But it is also an enlighting and profoundly reflective process, a sort of meditation if you wish. A day where time is spent in minor duties, producing less but also consuming less and being mindful of the whole process.
Becoming a homeless 2.0 is not a straightforward process, some homework has to be done in advance. You have to Arm yourself with basic life superpowers:
- Learn how to setup a tent, fast.
- Love all nature and animal life, trully
- Strategize your new life
- Face your fears
- Cultivate mindfulness
- Be immune to weather conditions, or in other words, accept and know how to react wisely to any condition.
- Leverage on free resources like sunlight, rainwater (and public libraries)
- Be extremetely vigilant of your environment
- Cultivate flexibility
Once you have them, you are ready to explore. Hong Kong has an incredible extention of green areas where to enjoy nature at its fullest.
As Seneca said: Until we have begun to go without them, we fail to realize how unnecessary many things are. We’ve been using them not because we needed them but because we had them.
More information: Life Inside Hong Kong’s ‘Coffin Cubicles’ | Number of registered Hong Kong homeless soars | Simon Lee, homeless by choice | Hong Kong vicious lifecycle
