by James Ewing, ’21

During my time at Butler, I have felt the pull of two distinct but related passions: engaging with philosophical and faith-related questions through academic research, but also engaging with the community directly and living out these questions. Before the internship, I had some experience with both outlets through my capacity as philosophy major and my role as the president of Butler Meditation. Significantly, however, both of these involvements had resided within in the so called “Butler Bubble” – I was engaging with research and the community within the university and campus setting.

Through my internship with the Center for Interfaith Cooperation (CIC), I had the opportunity to get out of the Butler Bubble and engage with the broader Indianapolis community. Initially, I helped out with big CIC projects like the Festival of Faiths and Interfaith Digital Dialogues, an experience that exposed me not only to different people but different ideas, religions, and traditions. After these projects wrapped up about halfway through the internship, I was left to my own devises to engage the community and become a leader. This was harder than I imagined it would be. Unlike the university setting, where there are a variety of resources, advisors, and programs that are more or less prearranged for emerging campus leadership, this is usually not the case in many “real word” and non-university contexts. Rather, at the CIC I found that it was up to me to reach out to people, create a plan, and fill essential roles and spaces.

The culmination of many weeks of planning, recruiting, and coordination was a successful program of which I was the primary organizer. With the help of several community leaders like Tony Wiederhold, Ian McIntosh, and CIC director Charlie Wiles, I put on an outdoor mindfulness and meditation walk that saw participation from Butler students and Indianapolis community members alike. The fruits of the program (which exceeded my expectations by far) included a restorative and meaningful meditation which allowed participants (including myself) to mindfully connect with ourselves and each other in the midst of a contentious and anxiety-filled social, political, medical climate.

I am grateful to the CIC for giving me the opportunity to grow and become a more assertive leader in the Butler and Indianapolis community.