Van Nhi Nguyen
Catherine:
"Faith. I don't have faith in the common sense of the word. I don't believe in God or any other religion. But I do have faith in people and science. The relentless questioning of everything that can reveal so many new and exciting things about the world we live in. Religion can do no such thing. It can't discover hidden truths. But it can give you something to hold on to at least. A daddy in the sky. I don't mean to be crude but i don't like the idea of blind belief based on something irrational.
Faith is different when applied to science. We need faith here because we need guiding assumptions, patterns observed in the past that enable us to predict what will happen in the future to some extent.
The image I made is one of a robot. I could stare at it for ages. It moved and lit up and almost seemed to have these blood vessels. It reminded me of the value immediately as it shows the creativity and innovation people have in them to create. Something that will always be there in every generation to come. Something i really believe in.
The last value of this project. It's been a ride and i quite enjoyed our correspondence. I think we kept it a bit more distant than others, choosing only to communicate over email. But i look forward to seeing you in real life when we all come to Vietnam for the short intensive program. It's not easy to lay bare personal things over email or whatever online platform, so actually talking face to face like two human beings will be nice to actually get to know each other. I think my research topic will interest you so we could work together on that if you like."
"Faith. I don't have faith in the common sense of the word. I don't believe in God or any other religion. But I do have faith in people and science. The relentless questioning of everything that can reveal so many new and exciting things about the world we live in. Religion can do no such thing. It can't discover hidden truths. But it can give you something to hold on to at least. A daddy in the sky. I don't mean to be crude but i don't like the idea of blind belief based on something irrational.
Faith is different when applied to science. We need faith here because we need guiding assumptions, patterns observed in the past that enable us to predict what will happen in the future to some extent.
The image I made is one of a robot. I could stare at it for ages. It moved and lit up and almost seemed to have these blood vessels. It reminded me of the value immediately as it shows the creativity and innovation people have in them to create. Something that will always be there in every generation to come. Something i really believe in.
The last value of this project. It's been a ride and i quite enjoyed our correspondence. I think we kept it a bit more distant than others, choosing only to communicate over email. But i look forward to seeing you in real life when we all come to Vietnam for the short intensive program. It's not easy to lay bare personal things over email or whatever online platform, so actually talking face to face like two human beings will be nice to actually get to know each other. I think my research topic will interest you so we could work together on that if you like."
Van:
"I think it would be so great to finally meet! To be honest emailing or sms are the best ways to communicate for me, since I am not a huge fan of social media. I think it's too fleeting and meaningless for any relationship that I look forward to it being something of substance. It's so awesome to hear the program is traveling to Vietnam as well! Looking forward to seeing you!
As for the final topic of Faith, I've been thinking a lot about religion per se, since once we talk about faith, 9 times out of 10 it is about religious beliefs. For christiany and catholicism, it is very easy to make fun of it for being something used, historically, to brainwash people during colonization. A lot of the time it is regarded as a Caucasian belief. I agree with you, that science will uncover the truth, as I am also agnostic, but it would go against myself If I discredit the major role of religion and spirituality in Vietnamese culture. To absolutely disregard religion and spirituality would be to centralize myself in the western point-of-view. In Vietnam, most people will say they are agnostic/atheist, but would still have altars of their ancestors, go to pagodas to pray for luck and prosperities, and celebrate the lunar calendar. It has always been part of the Vietnamese identity to do that and have faith in such traditions and higher power.
The image I made is of the entrance of a pagoda, closed because of COVID. With the recent outbreak of the virus, going into a new lockdown period, for a lot of the older Viet people they have been unable to go and light incense and pray. A lot of the time, to my observation, being able to pray to our ancestors for our luck and our family's health is of great importance. The sign being here, due to social distancing guidelines, it's almost ironic in a way, saying, "faith is closed, try again later"."
"I think it would be so great to finally meet! To be honest emailing or sms are the best ways to communicate for me, since I am not a huge fan of social media. I think it's too fleeting and meaningless for any relationship that I look forward to it being something of substance. It's so awesome to hear the program is traveling to Vietnam as well! Looking forward to seeing you!
As for the final topic of Faith, I've been thinking a lot about religion per se, since once we talk about faith, 9 times out of 10 it is about religious beliefs. For christiany and catholicism, it is very easy to make fun of it for being something used, historically, to brainwash people during colonization. A lot of the time it is regarded as a Caucasian belief. I agree with you, that science will uncover the truth, as I am also agnostic, but it would go against myself If I discredit the major role of religion and spirituality in Vietnamese culture. To absolutely disregard religion and spirituality would be to centralize myself in the western point-of-view. In Vietnam, most people will say they are agnostic/atheist, but would still have altars of their ancestors, go to pagodas to pray for luck and prosperities, and celebrate the lunar calendar. It has always been part of the Vietnamese identity to do that and have faith in such traditions and higher power.
The image I made is of the entrance of a pagoda, closed because of COVID. With the recent outbreak of the virus, going into a new lockdown period, for a lot of the older Viet people they have been unable to go and light incense and pray. A lot of the time, to my observation, being able to pray to our ancestors for our luck and our family's health is of great importance. The sign being here, due to social distancing guidelines, it's almost ironic in a way, saying, "faith is closed, try again later"."