Imagining Yo-Yo Ma's thoughts about God

A dream I had in 1997

Yo-Yo Ma is lecturing in a college library. He is giving two lectures in succession. I go for the first. He sings a song. The song tells of God undergoing an inspection of His quarters and of His works by a host of angels. His quarters are spare and perfectly clean and tidy: a quarter would bounce on the bed. God stands by silently, serene. The angels are eager to criticize but find nothing amiss.

As soon as the song is over, outraged people in the audience attack Mr. Ma, crying heresy at the idea of God being judged by the angels. He waits for the uproar to end, and it slowly, grumblingly does. After a minute of silence, he replies:

“Do you not think it serves God to examine, in holy company, what He’s done?

“Do you not think that God welcomes assistance in His discharge of His enormous responsibilities?

“Do you doubt that God has the strength and grace to accept -- even ask for -- the views of others?”

Wow. I think I’ll stay for the second lecture.

In the second lecture, Mr. Ma asks, rhetorically, “What is beauty?” He pauses, listening to the silence from the audience. He then turns to an easel and begins to draw quickly, effortlessly. He draws the figure of a woman, viewed from behind and above. He is most entertaining as he does this. The woman is plump and nude, sitting with her right leg straight out and toes pointed, like a dancer. The image is lovely -- and takes him only a couple minutes to draw. Again, my reaction is Wow!

Having demonstrated by implication that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, Mr. Ma asks me to come forward and do the next drawing. I go and stand next to the easel. “Draw God,” he says. I look at him, amused and, obviously, at a loss. The audience laughs. “Oh, just draw something!” he says playfully. A bit embarrassed, I quickly but playfully draw a couple random blotches of color. Mr. Ma studies what I’ve done for a few moments. Then he turns to the audience, pauses, and says, “You see, whatever you draw does not limit or insult God but, rather, shows God’s greatness. This is because, with only the tiniest bit of imagination, you quickly see not only that God is more than any of us might define Him to be, but that you could draw - or try to define - God constantly and for the rest of your life and the result would be inadequate.”