Audio-Book outline:
This small gem shines with the wisdom of a musical genius of our times, Yo-Yo Ma. Music envelopes art, philosophy, joy, sorrow, and it is life and culture itself. Ma shares how his life, enriched with his father’s teachings, home culture, and music mentors matures as a luminary pillar from his lifelong work to use music as a magical pillar to integrate and uplift, create and collaborate, and serve and inspire.
What’s the core message?
The purpose of life is to find our identity in the service of humanity to uplift and inspire each of us to create and collaborate so that we can all live in a culture of truth and trust. Ma inspires us to begin afresh. Start with a clean slate, open heart, and limitless optimism to recreate a more just and inclusive world.
How do these concepts compare with points raised in other books?
Many authors who have written books in their careers, whether they are sports heroes, captains of industry, military commanders, or political figures show the shift of life values as they grow through experiences and life. The earlier mission is about becoming something of a success in their chosen field; next, they take on some label – an athlete, musician, businessperson, politician, or something else. Once they find their groove, they are identified with that field or work. This graduates them to become a sort of ambassador for their field of experience or mastery. The books they write in this stage of life talk more about excellence and brilliance through collaboration. Getting and taking credit for the work fades into the background and the success of the outreach now becomes the foremost mission. This same pattern is visible in Yo-Yo Ma’s work in this brilliant and short recording deceptive as it is because it makes you go back and listen again and again and think afresh with each new round of listening.
What the book does well.
This book presents with grace and elegance, the unfolding of the magnificent genius, art, music, and life that is Yo-Yo Ma. Geniuses see more, serve more, and inspire more. This becomes clear as Ma continues to speak.
What could have made this book better?
Ma could do no more in this work. What we need from him now is a larger volume of his expanded life views in his own words.
Who would benefit from reading this book?
This book, like all books, will resonate differently with readers based on their station in life. It will serve those particularly well who are experiencing competition and seeking ways to discover, define, and embrace their identity and purpose.
How it affected me
Yo-Yo Ma reinforced for me, that legends are forged in fire. They burn off the impurities and what’s left is a masterpiece. The fire is a necessary force whether it manifests in the form of an unwelcome hardship, unavoidable coercion, or an internally driven caldron of inspiration. As the heat rises, it burns off and separates all that is not the core. The crud falls off leaving pure gold that glistens or steel that’s unbreakably strong.
Yo-Yo Ma teaches by his own example as he labors in learning music, Chinese calligraphy, and writing his daily journal in Chinese every morning and evening. After joining the Julliard School of Music, he attends Harvard where he finds the tools to discover his identity, meaning, and purpose. Through music, he rebuilds the magical silk road, a musical silk road, and a new kind of globalization, which creates, collaborates, and promotes the uplifting of peoples across the lands of diverse cultures, languages, dances, drama, and life.
Ma challenges us, and his words challenged me to think of how the technologies that are manipulating the masses for financial gains and greed can be redirected for the common good and prosperity through cultural, economic, and intellectual transformation. Indeed, a challenge like this is one that is worthy of a genius ambassador like Yo-Yo Ma.