Victoria Okai

Belief Interview with Victoria Okai
Victoria is an Illustration Major at Parsons School of Art and Design, she prefers to go by Viki. Viki arrived in a rush to our meeting, a bit frantic because of the traffic she had encountered and her worries about being late. We met in the 2W 13^th building where we pushed together 2 grey ottomans. She wore her quintessential rose gold beats resting on her head, as always, and an oversized sweatshirt with her dad’s pants. She explained to me that she was late because she could not find her own pants. Below is a transcript of the best of our conversation.

Szabo: So, what were you raised to believe? Did your parents ascribe to any major religions?

Okai: Well, my parents never really told me to believe anything. I don’t remember anyone of my influences as a child being heavily religious and we didn’t attend church. I think the religious members of my family in the past would have been more likely to attend temple than church anyway. I remember when I first started attending school and I encountered Christian peers who gawked at my non-belief. They told me I was going to burn in hell. I remember asking my mom who our god was and what I should believe in. My mom told me something that always stuck, she said: “Believe in yourself.”

S; So, what do you think happens after we die?

O: Whoa that’s a big question! I guess I believe in reincarnation, not in a religious way, but more in the way that there is something else after this. I don’t want to believe that nothing else happens and we just stop existing. If we are capable of producing an entirely new life, then we are probably capable of continuing on in our consciousness.

S: Do you believe in hell? Or the idea that our actions in this life will have some sort of eternal meaning?

O: Hmm, I guess I believe in karma. But, not as an external force, it is more likely that our own sub-conscious steers us toward what we think we deserve. One of the things I really believe in comes from the book the alchemist, there is a quote that says, “When you want something all the universe conspires for you to achieve it.” I really believe in that.

S: You mentioned that your brother is really into crystals. Do you believe objects can hold power?

O: I think that it’s more about people. If a person believes in an object, then they can give it their own energy and make it special for themselves. I wouldn’t just buy a crystal from a store and believe it has power. People should believe in themselves.

S: Do you believe in aliens?

O: I’m sure they are there somewhere. Wouldn’t the existence of aliens be kind of like cats and dogs existing?

S: I guess it would be sort of like that.

O: They see things differently from humans. The simplest way to put it is that, if other species can exist on earth, then certainly a whole other community of aliens can exist as well. As far as aliens visiting or affecting humanity, I simply have no idea. Although I’m open-minded to the idea, I’ve never looked for any evidence.

S: Do you trust the government?

O: It is actually funny that you ask that. My friend and I, in our freshman year, would always joke about natural disasters being controlled by government machines. It would be like, they just press a button and it fucks up an entire community. The more I think about it, the more I realize that it is highly likely that the government is dishonest. I don’t know, it is just that a lot of things released to the public are blatant lies. Osama bin Laden’s death for example, after years of searching for this guy they say that they just beheaded him. They have like 10 or 20 years of information about the guy, they had to get more out of it than just killing him.

S: So, you think they have him prisoner or something?

O: Not necessarily that but, they had to get something more out of it than just killing him, but I guess some things are just better off not released to the public.

S: Do you think it is better that our information is controlled?

O: Well, I think it is safer because otherwise, it could reach the wrong people.

S: You believe in yourself, of course, but otherwise what do you think of when asked what you believe in?

O: Well, when we started this project I was thinking about myself and I didn’t want to say I believe in a concrete subject or thing. I feel like our own thoughts and actions have the most control over our life. I don’t think that there is such a thing as a person who was meant to get this or have something happen to them. I don’t think someone can just wake up one morning and be brilliant, you have to strive for things like that. I wish I could say I believed in a higher power or that Christianity is my thing. I wish it was as simple as that.

S: Did you ever try to be a Christian?

O: Well sure, when I was made fun of I wanted to believe in god. I didn’t look into Christianity as a person that truly wanted to believe. I just looked into it as a person that didn’t want to burn in hell, so I would say god is my thing. I feel like a lot of people are like that, I got out of it, but a lot of people just think if they go to church then everything will be good. But for me, I didn’t want to turn to god when I need forgiveness or to thank god when I did something good or when something good happened to me. I worked for this and I deserve this. I don’t know. I don’t want easy forgiveness or gifts or anything like that. That’s really not how life works.

S: Do you believe in coincidences?

O: I think that some things thought of as coincidences aren’t coincidences they are actually the universe creating opportunities. When you find yourself always thinking about something or someone and somehow this thing is brought closer to you, I think it is a sign. I think the universe is nudging you toward a thing.

S: Do you believe in true love?

O: Yes. I think it could be romantic but stronger examples of true love aren’t romantic. For example, I really love my brother, our relationship is like the purest love in my life. A conversation with him can make me realize that I should love other people more or that I can ease off all my animosity towards everything. He gives me the ability to love people more and be nicer. In general, I think everyone has a perfect match, but there are a lot of near matches and connected souls.




I still have the jacket because she asked me to add a patch for her Phillips Sonicare DiamondClean pink toothbrush that she was obsessed with and I never got around to it. 

Here is the audio of our interview together it is about 45 minutes long but it includes more stuff that we talked about and you get to hear her voice so I wanted to include it.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ISUddaXa2PZr0AvCsfhdAHmII2kK5igN