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The Emptiness of Our Hands: 47 Days on the Streets
Who would you be without a home?
In 1999 Phyllis Cole-Dai and James Murray lived by choice on the streets of Columbus, Ohio, the fifteenth-largest city in the United States. They went to the streets with a single intention: to be as present as possible to everyone we met, offering them sustained and nonjudgmental attention. Such attention is the heart of compassion.
This book chronicles their streets experiences. It will thrust you out the door of your comfortable life, straight into the unknown. It will force you to confront what might happen to you, and who you might become, if suddenly you had no home. The meditative narrative is accompanied by pinhole photographs shot by James using cameras he constructed from trash.
This is the third edition of the book, lightly edited. Though recounting events that occurred in 1999, The Emptiness of Our Hands remains as relevant today as ever.
An "eye-opening" and "life-changing" read!
Read this book on its own or in the company of Practicing Presence: Insights from the Streets, which Phyllis wrote on the tenth anniversary of her time on the streets. Take your reading slow, perhaps one chapter per day, so you can absorb and reflect.
If you happen to be Christian, you might consider using this book and Practicing Presence as companion resources during Lent and Holy Week, which served as a backdrop for Phyllis and James's experience. But you don’t need to be a Christian to take this stumbling journey into practicing mindfulness on the streets. Just allow these forty-seven days to be for you what they were for Phyllis and James: a deep embrace of core values that human beings around the world have held in common for millennia. These values might best be articulated as questions:
How do we treat others as we would have them treat us?
How do we love our neighbors, including those who seem “alien” and “other?”
How do we extend hospitality to strangers, allowing them an honored place among us?
These age-old questions have no simple answers. We must seek to answer them daily with our lives.
Get your free sampler of Phyllis's work when you join her mailing list at http://subscribe.phylliscoledai.com/. It includes music, poetry, spiritual nonfiction and historical fiction. You can also join her mailing list at http://www.phylliscoledai.com.
CATEGORIES FOR THIS BOOK:
--spirituality
--memoir
--mindfulness
--homelessness
--Lent & Holy Week
--social conscience
--engaged Buddhism
In 1999 Phyllis Cole-Dai and James Murray lived by choice on the streets of Columbus, Ohio, the fifteenth-largest city in the United States. They went to the streets with a single intention: to be as present as possible to everyone we met, offering them sustained and nonjudgmental attention. Such attention is the heart of compassion.
This book chronicles their streets experiences. It will thrust you out the door of your comfortable life, straight into the unknown. It will force you to confront what might happen to you, and who you might become, if suddenly you had no home. The meditative narrative is accompanied by pinhole photographs shot by James using cameras he constructed from trash.
This is the third edition of the book, lightly edited. Though recounting events that occurred in 1999, The Emptiness of Our Hands remains as relevant today as ever.
An "eye-opening" and "life-changing" read!
Read this book on its own or in the company of Practicing Presence: Insights from the Streets, which Phyllis wrote on the tenth anniversary of her time on the streets. Take your reading slow, perhaps one chapter per day, so you can absorb and reflect.
If you happen to be Christian, you might consider using this book and Practicing Presence as companion resources during Lent and Holy Week, which served as a backdrop for Phyllis and James's experience. But you don’t need to be a Christian to take this stumbling journey into practicing mindfulness on the streets. Just allow these forty-seven days to be for you what they were for Phyllis and James: a deep embrace of core values that human beings around the world have held in common for millennia. These values might best be articulated as questions:
How do we treat others as we would have them treat us?
How do we love our neighbors, including those who seem “alien” and “other?”
How do we extend hospitality to strangers, allowing them an honored place among us?
These age-old questions have no simple answers. We must seek to answer them daily with our lives.
Get your free sampler of Phyllis's work when you join her mailing list at http://subscribe.phylliscoledai.com/. It includes music, poetry, spiritual nonfiction and historical fiction. You can also join her mailing list at http://www.phylliscoledai.com.
CATEGORIES FOR THIS BOOK:
--spirituality
--memoir
--mindfulness
--homelessness
--Lent & Holy Week
--social conscience
--engaged Buddhism
310 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 15, 2004
185 people are currently reading
378 people want to read
About the author
Phyllis Cole-Dai
19 books29 followers
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Phyllis Cole-Dai began pecking away on an old manual typewriter in childhood and never stopped. Her work explores things that tend to divide us, so that we might wrestle our way into deeper understandings of ourselves and others.
She has authored or edited more than a dozen books in multiple genres. Her latest book is The Singing Stick, a literary novel (September 2024). Other recent titles include Poetry of Presence II: More Mindfulness Poems, Staying Power II: Writings from a Year of Emergence, Staying Power: Writings from a Pandemic Year, For the Sake of One We Love and Are Losing: A Meditative Poem & Journal, Beneath the Same Stars: A Novel of the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War, and Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poetry.
Personal Background
Born in 1962 in the farming community of Mt. Blanchard, Ohio, Phyllis eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (English, 1984) from Goshen College; a Master of Theological Studies (1987) from the Methodist Theological School; and a Master of Arts (English, 1993) from The Ohio State University.
Phyllis and her scientist-husband have lived for the past quarter-century in Brookings, South Dakota. In 2025 they will relocate to Catonsville, Maryland.
Speaking
Phyllis has long been in demand as a public speaker. She has appeared in all kinds of settings—religious, spiritual, educational, philanthropic, social-service, and civic. She still presents as her busy schedule allows. Please contact her if you would like to discuss booking possibilities.
Phyllis Cole-Dai began pecking away on an old manual typewriter in childhood and never stopped. Her work explores things that tend to divide us, so that we might wrestle our way into deeper understandings of ourselves and others.
She has authored or edited more than a dozen books in multiple genres. Her latest book is The Singing Stick, a literary novel (September 2024). Other recent titles include Poetry of Presence II: More Mindfulness Poems, Staying Power II: Writings from a Year of Emergence, Staying Power: Writings from a Pandemic Year, For the Sake of One We Love and Are Losing: A Meditative Poem & Journal, Beneath the Same Stars: A Novel of the 1862 U.S.-Dakota War, and Poetry of Presence: An Anthology of Mindfulness Poetry.
Personal Background
Born in 1962 in the farming community of Mt. Blanchard, Ohio, Phyllis eventually graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (English, 1984) from Goshen College; a Master of Theological Studies (1987) from the Methodist Theological School; and a Master of Arts (English, 1993) from The Ohio State University.
Phyllis and her scientist-husband have lived for the past quarter-century in Brookings, South Dakota. In 2025 they will relocate to Catonsville, Maryland.
Speaking
Phyllis has long been in demand as a public speaker. She has appeared in all kinds of settings—religious, spiritual, educational, philanthropic, social-service, and civic. She still presents as her busy schedule allows. Please contact her if you would like to discuss booking possibilities.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews
April 23, 2021
This was an easy read that went quickly and was well-written. I was just left wishing for more about what was around them, what worked and didn’t, more stories of the actual homeless. While I understand the difficulties and still think it’s worth the read, I was desiring more perceptiveness and external stories rather than introspection.
August 7, 2023
Compelling documentation of a courageous well intentioned experiment. This book leaves an indelible impression not easily forgotten.
August 30, 2020
Th 3rd printing of this 47 day journey into the streets by two question seekers. Filled with their daily quest to find food, shelter, clothing. Eye opening from the point of hearing it from their own mouths, the hardship, the loneliness, the sense of emptiness and the unknown. A good many of the people they met were unfortunately victims of drug abuse and ended living this miserable existence. A lesson for sure to be learned here for those who venture down this path in life. Not having a " home " surrounded by a " normal " way of life is a distant memory for a good many of the people they met. You feel sad, as well as fortunate that you, the reader could in fact face a similar reality should life get chopped out from under you due to missteps. A wake up call. They both were lucky as this was a planned event and they in the end had somewhere to go after the 47 days. For the people they left behind, it was more of the same.
April 2, 2021
I imagine this is a very real account of life on the streets. Thanks to camraderie and more than that, the generosity of various volunteer organizations, survival was possible. I do not think that their original goal was met. The message that I got from reading this book was that enabling the homeless was perhaps not a kindness to them. OK for the short term. Not good if it becomes a lifestyle.
April 25, 2022
My church read this book during our Lenten all-church study over 10 years ago. The church's small groups had spirited discussions as we questioned our values and wondered whether we were fulfilling our lives' purpose.
Even today, I still remember this powerfully true recount of two people who voluntarily give up their middle class lives to live on the streets among the homeless of one of Ohio's largest city.
The book may give you nightmares, but hopefully/prayerfully it will cause you to act as all the great teachers have taught.
Even today, I still remember this powerfully true recount of two people who voluntarily give up their middle class lives to live on the streets among the homeless of one of Ohio's largest city.
The book may give you nightmares, but hopefully/prayerfully it will cause you to act as all the great teachers have taught.
July 8, 2021
This is an important and powerful read for everyone who has ever wondered what it feels like to be homeless. I was struck by the minute to minute struggles to survive; the emotional toll on the human psyche; the overwhelming exhaustion. I have a new awareness of and compassion for my fellow humans who find themselves without the warmth and safety of a stable home environment. I vow to see them, to acknowledge their presence.
June 25, 2014
Interesting but at times felt forced
February 27, 2020
Interesting. Sad. Eye-opening. For Lent and because of a calling, Phyllis and her friend, James lived as homeless people on the mean streets of Columbus, OH during the winter of 1999 for 47 days & nights. It was a hard life. They were cold, hungry, afraid, ostracized, treated like pariahs and sometimes like criminals.
Every day was an ordeal schlepping back & forth to different places for meals, water, warmth, bathrooms and showers (or spit-baths), then dumpster diving, panhandling, gathering firewood, finding materials to wrap themselves in and to build a crude shelter with to keep them warm and as comfortable as possible. Even trying to find shoes that fit properly, ones that didn't cause blisters or that were good in the snow. The list goes on and on. Just for the basics in life. They became very resourceful and creative with the materials they had to work with. Phyllis touched on problems of being a woman in this situation, like menstruating, safety and deflecting unwanted attention of men.
Shelters were crowded, noisy, uncomfortable and often dirty and dangerous. This was twenty years ago and the streets have just gotten meaner and more crowded with homeless folks or, as we now say, the unsheltered. People are more jaded and less inclined to lend a helping hand. I live in Seattle, where the homelessness situation has mushroomed in the past 30 years. Crime has increased and many people living on the streets suffer from mental illness and/or drug problems. Certainly not all. The rents in Seattle have skyrocketed. It's scary how easy it would be to become homeless. I don't know the solution, except to be kinder and pressuring politicians to do something instead of just talking and patting themselves on the back for having such a livable city. And not just here. Seattle has the third highest homeless rate but NYC and LA leave Seattle in the dust. There are over half a million homeless people in the US.
Anyway, after all that, it was a good thoughtful and thought provoking book. Phyllis Cole-Dai really delved into her subject leaving no stone unturned. Or unused.
Every day was an ordeal schlepping back & forth to different places for meals, water, warmth, bathrooms and showers (or spit-baths), then dumpster diving, panhandling, gathering firewood, finding materials to wrap themselves in and to build a crude shelter with to keep them warm and as comfortable as possible. Even trying to find shoes that fit properly, ones that didn't cause blisters or that were good in the snow. The list goes on and on. Just for the basics in life. They became very resourceful and creative with the materials they had to work with. Phyllis touched on problems of being a woman in this situation, like menstruating, safety and deflecting unwanted attention of men.
Shelters were crowded, noisy, uncomfortable and often dirty and dangerous. This was twenty years ago and the streets have just gotten meaner and more crowded with homeless folks or, as we now say, the unsheltered. People are more jaded and less inclined to lend a helping hand. I live in Seattle, where the homelessness situation has mushroomed in the past 30 years. Crime has increased and many people living on the streets suffer from mental illness and/or drug problems. Certainly not all. The rents in Seattle have skyrocketed. It's scary how easy it would be to become homeless. I don't know the solution, except to be kinder and pressuring politicians to do something instead of just talking and patting themselves on the back for having such a livable city. And not just here. Seattle has the third highest homeless rate but NYC and LA leave Seattle in the dust. There are over half a million homeless people in the US.
Anyway, after all that, it was a good thoughtful and thought provoking book. Phyllis Cole-Dai really delved into her subject leaving no stone unturned. Or unused.
January 11, 2026
Pinhole photography in this book is lovely. Spending 40 days on the streets (as pretend homeless) in Ohio during Lent would be an incredibly cold time of year and would have been a brutal experience. I originally thought this would be an amazing book club book but I became too frustrated with it. The writing can become very tedious and self-absorbed. The first day of being “homeless” involved a huge breakfast before they set out and they are handed an entire bag of food from a kind person as they walk and yet somehow they are frustrated by the kindness, they feel like they’re starving after two hours and they end up getting special treatment at a homeless day center (given food and a private room to sleep) because the people knew them. Did they do this grand adventure to highlight where services could be improved or to come up with solutions? No, they repeatedly say they are learning “to be present.” Um, ok. It seems like they more learned how to be numbed, depressed, and annoyed. I would enjoy discussing this with others to see if they had the same reactions but it was a bit too cringe for me to recommend to others. I think, however, that this book could be edited to be a great book, especially if a thorough conclusion was added.
February 19, 2021
Having been without a home (though thankfully not anything like Phyllis and James went through) and having to rely on the kindness of strangers I couldn’t possibly imagine why two perfectly normal middle-class Americans would voluntarily be homeless for a month and a half. Nonetheless, this is an eye-opening book that is probably more relevant now because of the many crises happening simultaneously in society.
This book was, however, difficult to read. The book reads like a day-by-day diary but the story is difficult to follow as it bounces from one thing to the next and focuses more on the material world around the people involved versus their innermost feelings. It is written in the introduction that the text was polished up, but I do wish they would have left it raw because the writing does feel forced at times.
Perhaps I could have enjoyed this book more had I been a Christian (obviously I’m not) because I often had to Google the significance/meaning of the more spiritual things mentioned in the book and I completely missed the boat on what “the Thing” was supposed to be. Overall I wasn’t a big fan of the writing but this is still an important book, however it wouldn’t be my first recommendation on issues facing homeless people.
This book was, however, difficult to read. The book reads like a day-by-day diary but the story is difficult to follow as it bounces from one thing to the next and focuses more on the material world around the people involved versus their innermost feelings. It is written in the introduction that the text was polished up, but I do wish they would have left it raw because the writing does feel forced at times.
Perhaps I could have enjoyed this book more had I been a Christian (obviously I’m not) because I often had to Google the significance/meaning of the more spiritual things mentioned in the book and I completely missed the boat on what “the Thing” was supposed to be. Overall I wasn’t a big fan of the writing but this is still an important book, however it wouldn’t be my first recommendation on issues facing homeless people.
Read
December 26, 2020Excellent diary of couple who lived as street people during wintertime for forty-eight days.
They took no money with them and had to panhandle and tell lies so as not to be exposed as voluntary street people. What amazed me was the willingness of many other genuine street people to share what little they had with them and protect them. A very eye-opening book, and both people had to receive surgery for injuries to their legs sustained by the constant trudging of long distance in the snow as well as treatment for PSTD.
They took no money with them and had to panhandle and tell lies so as not to be exposed as voluntary street people. What amazed me was the willingness of many other genuine street people to share what little they had with them and protect them. A very eye-opening book, and both people had to receive surgery for injuries to their legs sustained by the constant trudging of long distance in the snow as well as treatment for PSTD.
August 1, 2023
Hard to put down.
I enjoyed this book very much. It describes in detail the challenges and revelations of living on the streets with no money and nowhere to live. It also describes the mental spiritual and emotional challenges that come with the experience. Put like that it sounds a bit grim but I didn't find it a depressing read. Uplifting if anything.
One outcome; I'll certainly look at,acknowledge and if I can,help homeless people or beggers when i see them next. At the end of the day we're all just people.
I enjoyed this book very much. It describes in detail the challenges and revelations of living on the streets with no money and nowhere to live. It also describes the mental spiritual and emotional challenges that come with the experience. Put like that it sounds a bit grim but I didn't find it a depressing read. Uplifting if anything.
One outcome; I'll certainly look at,acknowledge and if I can,help homeless people or beggers when i see them next. At the end of the day we're all just people.
July 27, 2020
This is an exceptional book. What would you carry if you had to leave home? What is you didn't have a home? These two people went out and lived on the street. The effect if devestating. It is a good read for anyone with a social conscious and also everybody else. It will help you be less judgmental when you meet a homeless person on the street. They went out on the street not to see what the homeless people lived but to be present to them. It is a good lesson in being present.
March 23, 2022
eyes opened
Well worth the time to devote to reading on a subject seldom if ever written from one experiencing a thing firsthand. I would recommend this book to anyone, as we are all human. The subject of homelessness has many avenues that need exploring and this book exposes some of the issues evolved but certainly not all. It is very easy to sit at home in a secure place and pontificate about the homeless but quite another to go out and walk in their shoes.
Well worth the time to devote to reading on a subject seldom if ever written from one experiencing a thing firsthand. I would recommend this book to anyone, as we are all human. The subject of homelessness has many avenues that need exploring and this book exposes some of the issues evolved but certainly not all. It is very easy to sit at home in a secure place and pontificate about the homeless but quite another to go out and walk in their shoes.
January 6, 2024
I read this because my daughter is living on the street. It certainly is different now. There are far more agencies reaching out. I found this book difficult to get into. There was often no indication of who was speaking. The stories could have been richer. These people have such amazing stories. Also, the writing was disjointed. I found it got better towards the end. This book could have been a 10/10, but it left me feeling that it could have been more
December 13, 2025
Vicariously life-altering
Through the experience of these daring souls the reader gets a firsthand glimpse into the world of the homeless, and you realize there's so much more to them than that label. The book is written in such a way that the reader sees the day to day struggles of these people and we are given such an appreciation for the hardships endured by those who live on the streets. It is an engrossing, shocking and important read incredibly well written.
Through the experience of these daring souls the reader gets a firsthand glimpse into the world of the homeless, and you realize there's so much more to them than that label. The book is written in such a way that the reader sees the day to day struggles of these people and we are given such an appreciation for the hardships endured by those who live on the streets. It is an engrossing, shocking and important read incredibly well written.
March 1, 2021
Very well written book that takes you into another's journey. You can see her deteriorate (in her own words) as she deals with another person named Olga. Often I see homeless people crossing the street without looking, or writing messages to their 'Olgas' on the sidewalk. Now I understand better. I can't thank the authors enough for taking the time and caring.
January 5, 2022
Incredible Journey
A very powerful account of the homeless - life on the streets. Reading this heart wrenching description is both sad and uplifting. A gripping snapshot (kudos James, the co-author) this book affected me very deeply. First Corinthians 13:13 sums it up - faith, hope, love abide; but the greatest of these is love.
A very powerful account of the homeless - life on the streets. Reading this heart wrenching description is both sad and uplifting. A gripping snapshot (kudos James, the co-author) this book affected me very deeply. First Corinthians 13:13 sums it up - faith, hope, love abide; but the greatest of these is love.
July 21, 2022
Good Read
Would recommend this book to anyone that wants a better understanding of being homeless. Well written and easy to read the author chronicles her experience of living on the street with compassion and empathy for those that have fallen into the world of seen and unseen.
Would recommend this book to anyone that wants a better understanding of being homeless. Well written and easy to read the author chronicles her experience of living on the street with compassion and empathy for those that have fallen into the world of seen and unseen.
November 13, 2024
They basically lived down a hill by the river in some fort and then went to White Castle everyday. It could have been way more hardcore, with like death and drugs and prostitution.
They didn't go native. If they did they would have been doing drugs, selling their bodies, stealing shit, etc.
Pretty weak.
They didn't go native. If they did they would have been doing drugs, selling their bodies, stealing shit, etc.
Pretty weak.
August 27, 2020
Thank you for the life changing insights
Well done, both of you....I will miss your daily pedagogical hugs and enduring grace. Your bravery and generosity of spirit inspire, if not to action, then, at least to meditation. Blessings, blessings......
Well done, both of you....I will miss your daily pedagogical hugs and enduring grace. Your bravery and generosity of spirit inspire, if not to action, then, at least to meditation. Blessings, blessings......
December 21, 2021
Want to enlarge your heart?
It is a mystery how this book got into my reading list but thank God it did. I am wiser, kinder, so much more aware of my possessions because of it. Read it. And discover for yourself
It is a mystery how this book got into my reading list but thank God it did. I am wiser, kinder, so much more aware of my possessions because of it. Read it. And discover for yourself
Read
April 11, 2022Unvarnished look at life for those experiencing homelessness
I loved this book. So insightful. So human. Its a beautifully written, touching true story. I dare you to read it and think the same as you do now.
I loved this book. So insightful. So human. Its a beautifully written, touching true story. I dare you to read it and think the same as you do now.
May 10, 2022
I rate this book 4.5 stars. It is an eye-opening story; but an easy read, written like a day-by-day diary. A powerful and sad yet touching message of what it is like to survive one hour and one day at a time as a homeless person.
June 21, 2022
Moving
This book taught, revealed and inspired. I thought I knew about homeless people because I befriended some in my life. This book showed me I knew nothing. This is a remarkable book and I'm in awe of their endurance.
This book taught, revealed and inspired. I thought I knew about homeless people because I befriended some in my life. This book showed me I knew nothing. This is a remarkable book and I'm in awe of their endurance.
December 9, 2022
Love the book and the insight into world
Great life lessons learned from through the eyes of the authors. A good reminder that everyone wants and deserves grace and dignity. Acknowledgement of their existence and worth can health someone's heart.
Great life lessons learned from through the eyes of the authors. A good reminder that everyone wants and deserves grace and dignity. Acknowledgement of their existence and worth can health someone's heart.
May 13, 2023
This is an awesome book. A woman goes homeless for 47 days and sees what it's like to live on the streets. What a different view she has once she has come away from those 47 days than when she went into it -- and you will too.
May 20, 2023
The Emptiness of Our Hands…
I loved this book!!!! I learned so much about my friends on the street through Phyllis and James! Things that people give to the homeless that aren’t needed gave me insight how to better serve my friends. Thank you!
I loved this book!!!! I learned so much about my friends on the street through Phyllis and James! Things that people give to the homeless that aren’t needed gave me insight how to better serve my friends. Thank you!
August 12, 2024
An eye opener! I couldn’t put it down.
Thank you for opening my eyes to the needs of people who live on the streets. I can never pass one again without asking them how they are doing or seeing if they have a need.
Thank you for opening my eyes to the needs of people who live on the streets. I can never pass one again without asking them how they are doing or seeing if they have a need.
October 2, 2024
This was super enlightening and made me so much more aware of the homeless around me. We all are Gods children, and all need a bit of personal recognition like a smile and greeting. What a journey these two chose to go on! I hope everyone reads this, it tweaked my perspective forever.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 40 reviews