Learning on the Job: My PI Internship

by Organizational Architecture Intern, Meadow Pirigyi

  

Project Interfaith is my first internship experience and I couldn’t be more happy or excited.  I have volunteered here many times before, but now I am here gaining office management and organizational skills.  I am not only strengthening my professional goals, but also personal goals as well. At the same time as I am improving upon myself, I am also helping Project Interfaith re-organize and work more efficiently between computers. 

I have watched my sister, Sierra, grow more in the past 2-3 years while working at P.I. than I have seen my entire life.  When she asked me if I was interested in possibly becoming an intern, I couldn’t turn it down. I am now the Organizational Architecture Intern and can also feel myself growing each and every day.  But like I said before, it’s not all professional goals and I am obtaining, it’s also personal as well. 

Religion is something I’ve always been interested in, but have never gained enough knowledge.  Growing up, I was never very religious, neither were my parents. I went to a church group with friends as a child, but what I remember most was playing games and running around with friends. These were Christian-based groups, but yet I know barely anything of the Christian religion. While interning at Project Interfaith I want to gain knowledge and interest in more religions.  As I learn more, I’d like to eventually start a spiritual journey or path and find my own place in religion.  Even if I end up choosing a non-religious path, I will have the knowledge and experience of most religions in the United States.  Having this knowledge is not only beneficial to me, but I could also spread the beliefs and ways of other religions to help people accept and respect other faiths to help spread more peace and creating lasting relationships.

The values and relationships I have already learned here at Project Interfaith are invaluable. The programs and events they do for the community is something that I am so happy to be a part of.  One of my favorite offering of Project Interfaith is our “Educator Trunks on the World’s Religions”.  These trunks can be rented by schools to help educate students on the beliefs of other religions.  I believe this is crucial at a younger age to help deviate away from stereotypes and to help create acceptance in the upcoming generation.  Educating people on religion is the first major step in creating peace and understanding in today’s society. 

My education and experience will continue to grow over the next month while I am here.  I wish I could stay longer and keep on learning and helping spread Project Interfaith’s message, but I can continue to do so through volunteering at offerings and events they may hold.  I encourage all and any who are looking for some volunteering here and there to check it out and help Project Interfaith build strong communities and relationships among all people of all religions.

Meadow Pirigyi is the Organizational Architecture Intern for Project Interfaith.  She is currently  a Senior working towards her Bachelors of Architecture at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.  She plans on pursuing her architecture degree by either attending Graduate School in Lincoln or continuing her education through Commission Officer Training in the Air Force to start a career as a Health Facilities Architect. This way she could travel and design hospitals all around the world helping people of all backgrounds and religions.  Along with attending school, she also works at Runza Restaurants and is also a Mixologist at Side Door Lounge.

During her internship, she hopes to learn more about Project Interfaith’s values and goals while also learning more about Office Management and Organization in non-profits to help prepare her for many possibilities in the work place.  Meadow has always been very interested and drawn to helping others in any way, shape or form.  Project Interfaith is one way she is able to practice this and continue working on her own path and goals.

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Spiritual Growth from Interfaith Encounters

Dustin Moretz

by guest blogger and former Project Interfaith intern, Dustin Moretz

 I think that often when we discuss the value of interfaith dialogue its benefits are thought to be societal – dialogue promotes respect, understanding, and peace. While I believe that these benefits are undeniable, interfaith encounters can also facilitate immense personal and spiritual growth, driving individuals to grapple with questions of faith and come to a new understanding about themselves and their own faith traditions. And, to be honest, I’ve experienced this firsthand. Last August, I flew across the world on a study abroad program to India that strengthened my belief in not only interfaith dialogue, but fostered spiritual development within my own personal belief system as well.

          When I was accepted to Antioch University’s Buddhist Studies in India program, I was absolutely ecstatic. I had always wanted to travel, and being a passionate Religious Studies major, there was no better way to study a religious tradition than to encounter its adherents. India, as a diverse multi-religious and multiethnic society, was the perfect place to encounter interfaith dialogue and study inter-communal relations. The program in particular was especially unique since we studied in Bodh Gaya in Bihar – essentially the birthplace of Buddhism. It was under the sacred Bodhi Tree (on the site of which now stands the beautiful Mahabodhi Temple) that Siddhartha Gautama was said to have attained enlightenment and become the fully enlightened Buddha (literally ‘enlightened one’). Bodh Gaya is a place of pilgrimage for the entire Buddhist world as well as thousands of Hindus, many of whom regard the Buddha as an incarnation of the god Vishnu. As a place of pilgrimage, monasteries of many different nationalities dot Bodh Gaya’s landscape, and my program was hosted at the Burmese Vihar, where we lived and attended classes with our program’s faculty, allowing us to be immersed in monastery life. We meditated every morning and every evening, switching to a different meditation tradition every 3 weeks or so. 

            Academics aside, the spiritual growth I experienced from encountering Buddhism was astounding. While I wanted to use the experience as a foundation from which I could learn more about interfaith dialogue, my experiences in India reinforced the point that any interfaith encounter can be deeply spiritual and personal in addition to being educational. For one of my courses I interviewed a Bhutanese monk in a village outside of town about his life and spiritual journey. He spoke to me about growing up in Bhutan, being unable to afford college, but always feeling a profound connection to Buddhism – its teachings about suffering and enlightenment resonated with him. He told me about ordaining for the first time, and feeling such a deep connection with monkhood that he simply never wanted to return to the life of a layperson. It was impossible to talk with him about his faith and not feel changed by the experience – after all, he was divulging personal details about his life and belief system to a complete stranger. Needless to say, a bond of trust was formed between us. The personal connection it created was a spiritual one, one that transcended boundaries of faith and connected us as human beings.

            Other spiritual experiences came from meditation. I must admit that I walked into meditation the first day thinking it would be easy. As all of our teachers reinforced, if meditation felt easy, that meant we were doing it wrong. While the various meditation traditions each emphasized different focuses and goals to their practices, each echoed the importance of mindfulness. I remember one particular evening meditation Bodh Gaya was being pounded on by the storms of the monsoon, and I felt particularly at peace as I became conscious of the rain pounding on the roof, the gentle rustling of my peers as they repositioned themselves on their meditation cushions, and my own soft breathing. It was clear to me, at that moment, why some Christian mystics found profound meaning in Buddhist meditation, adapting its methods to their prayer practices. Living in the future had been inculcated in me by Western culture, and Buddhist meditation practices brought me back to the present, and made me value living in the moment.

            I, too, adapted some meditation practices to my own spirituality. When I visited the Mahabodhi Temple, I walked on the path around the temple with my prayer beads in my hands, praying in silence. While singing songs of praise in church can be deeply spiritually fulfilling, the silence of meditation allowed for a new and profound personal encounter with God. I cannot articulate how fulfilling it was to pace around the temple, listening to the chanting of the monks, feeling my feet on the damp stone path, praying about my hopes and my fears, my personal shortcomings and my petitions to find the strength within me to do better. Here I was, a Christian in a place of Buddhist pilgrimage. Even with a different belief system, I was able to take away so much spiritually from the encounter. The Mahabodhi Temple continues to hold a special place in my heart for the spiritual growth I experienced while there.

         

  This isn’t to say, of course, that I never experienced times where I was uncomfortable with some interfaith encounters – especially encounters in which I directly engaged in different spiritual practices. During meditation in the Tibetan tradition, we were encouraged to envision a Tibetan Buddhist bodhisattva, Green Tara, the manifestation of enlightenment and compassion. While the visualization of the deity could be interpreted as metaphoric, I was nevertheless uncomfortable with envisioning her – a deity that I did not believe in. In the end, not only was I uncomfortable with it, but I felt that it would be disrespectful to Buddhism as a whole to engage in a spiritual practice I was uncomfortable with. Our meditation teachers had made it clear that we were not obligated to engage in particular practices if we did not wish to. We had to be conscious of our own comfort levels. Nevertheless, I was still able to take something away from Tibetan meditation. The Tibetan tradition emphasizes unbounded love and compassion. In one practice, we were instructed to envision taking away the suffering from our loved ones, even the entire world, and placing it upon our own shoulders in an ultimate act of compassion. As someone who considers myself a Christian, this compassion is (in my opinion) the absolute epitome of my faith. At the end of the meditation practice, I was almost in tears. It was the most profound spiritual experience I have ever had, and I felt that it strengthened my own faith. Despite the discomfort I had with some facets of Tibetan meditation practice, other facets I could find much meaning in.

            Whether it was through the adherents or spiritual practices, these interfaith encounters can be more than just learning experiences. They can be experiences that move us personally and spiritually. Certainly, we will all have different comfort levels when we engage in interactions with those of different faith traditions. But the openness to not only understand, but grow from those interactions, can grant us deep spiritual growth through our encounters with others and their belief systems.

Dustin Moretz was previously the Development Intern during the summer of 2012 for Project Interfaith. He is currently double majoring in Religious Studies and Anthropology/Sociology at Albion College in Albion, Michigan, with a concentration in Public Policy and Service. He hopes to eventually get involved with interfaith relations on a national and international scale. He is passionate about social justice, and the necessity for members of all faith communities to unite to create a more just, prosperous, and safe environment where all individuals feel valued. He enjoys running, kayaking, reading, video games, and all things interfaith.

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Project Ubuntu

by PROJECT UBUNTU Founder, Daniel Becton.

I'm currently visiting Project Interfaith in Week 40 of 51 of a nationwide tour. Over one year, I am celebrating and supporting one organization in every state and Washington, D.C. that mobilizes people to help other people. I am celebrating and supporting a wide variety of service work while exploring how we can transcend the "us vs. them" divisions that inevitably emerge in societies and communities.Growing up with mixed Jewish and Christian heritage, I was often frustrated at the exaggeration of differences between the faiths. When I moved to England and discovered Islam, I was even more annoyed -- come on, we're all reading pretty much the same scriptures!

But a "reductionist" mentality doesn't move us forward. There are important nuances to every faith which define interfaith conflict but also grant a glimpse of each faith's brilliance.

For thousands of years, people in every part of the world have been asking the big questions, and building philosophically and culturally unique traditions. How foolish we would be to ignore all that work, or to dismiss the powerful vehicle of faith as "just" a code of moral conduct, or the will to power, or anything else. In the same way, no person is "merely" one of their identities, but is a wonderfully complex collection of everything they've experienced.

Inside faith traditions -- and through meaningful, intercultural, interfaith experience -- lies the key to elevating humanity. Quality does not come in spite of diversity, but through diversity.

As Americans, we often create religious "us vs. them" dichotomies like "believer/non-believer," "Christian/other," or even "religious/spiritual." The "us" is always mutually exclusive from and superior to the "them." Most importantly, we falsely tend to think "we" come from a place of love but "they" are hateful.

Faith identities are constructed by everyone -- "Christians" represent Christianity but "non-Christians" also contribute to that identity's reality through their own words and actions. When those are condescending, we can't move forward.

My dad notes that if God is Love, then Love is God. I spent Week 15 of my current journey in Atlanta with men who are homeless and recovering from addiction, and there I started to contemplate what happened when I substituted the word "Love" for "God."

On my trip so far I have traveled nearly 33,000 miles, have been hosted by 51 families and have been welcomed into 40 communities, often ones where I am in some way "the only one in the room." The reason it's working is because love works, and love multiplies, so I have a lot of confidence -- and faith -- in love, and I want to serve love.

Yet as I travel through the US, I frequently notice how "othered" people of faith or people who are atheist or agnostic feel. This leads to building a community dependent on walls, and we shut out and dehumanize "them," seemingly out of necessity to preserve our own community's power.

However, all the power we need will come through love. And unlike money, love has an infinite return on investment: Our great task is to mobilize it. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, "Power at its best is love implementing the demands of justice."

As a community, we have to respond to those demands for everyone, not just "people like us." I believe "us and them" needn't be eliminated, but is transcended when we challenge groups to define themselves as open, inclusive, hospitable, loving people. Love demands we go past tolerance and open ourselves to understanding another person's "map of the world." It demands we realize how amazing each person is, how dynamic they are and how much they can contribute to what I feel is our collective purpose -- to multiply the presence of love.

Daniel is on the road with Project Ubuntu (www.projectubuntu.info). He previously spent three years with non-profit City Year after studying Philosophy and Music at the University of North Carolina and Gender Studies at the London School of Economics.