Greek (Freak) philosophy

Giannis Antetokounmpo is known for being a 6’11 athletic “freak,” with all the rarified basketball prowess such a unique combination of size and ability entails. And during this year’s NBA Finals, which concluded last month, it was on full display.

The “Greek Freak” dunked, shot-blocked and dominated his way to per game averages of 35 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks over the six-game series, leading his Milwaukee Bucks to a four-games-to-two victory over the Phoenix Suns. It was one of the all-time great NBA Finals performances, and Giannis deservedly earned MVP honors for the series.

(Full disclaimer: I am an avid Bucks fan, and was at Game 4 in Milwaukee. Go Bucks!)

But in addition to bringing home Milwaukee’s first NBA championship in 50 years, No. 34 delivered off the court as well. At a media availability session, while speaking about how he keeps an even-keel, even on basketball’s biggest stage, the Athens-born forward shared a philosophical soliloquy that would’ve made Socrates proud.

“When you focus on the past, that’s your ego,” he said. “‘I did this.’ ‘We were able to beat this team 4-0.’ ‘I did this in the past,’ ‘I won that in the past.’”

“And when I focus on the future, that’s my pride. ‘Yeah, next game, I’m going to do this and this and this. I’m going to dominate.’ That’s your pride talking. It doesn’t happen, (because) you’re right here.”

“I try to focus in the moment, in the present. And that’s humility. That’s being humble. That’s not setting expectations. That’s going out and enjoying the game and competing at a high level.”

Giannis’ gem of a life lesson went viral as soon as he delivered it. Already distinguished by his unassuming persona and dogged loyalty in a league dominated by me-first superstars, the 26-year-old’s words were a refreshing dose of down-to-earth wisdom for all aspiring athletes.

But Giannis’ insight has a broader application than sports and, I’d argue, a deeper, even spiritual foundation. The Greek Freak, after all, is an Orthodox Christian, who gives glory to God in small but noticeable ways. And while he’s not yet a saint, his press conference philosophizing encapsulated a tried-and-true principle at the heart of the spiritual life: to humbly live in the grace of the present moment.

We might not normally connect these two elements, humility and “being present,” but that might be because we often misunderstand what humility is. Humility is about more than deflecting praise and shying away from the big stage. Fundamentally, humility is about accepting reality — including ourselves and our conditions — as it is, as Giannis beautifully alludes to. When we are humble, when we are receptive to reality as it comes to us in the present moment, we are open to receiving what God wants to give us. In basketball speak, this is called “letting the game come to you.”

The opposite of this is “forcing things” on the court: trying to make things happen that simply “aren’t there,” like a player taking tough shots even though he’s been cold all night, or running the same offensive plays even though the opponent has already successfully adjusted.

We force things in life, too, sometimes because we’re holding on to how things used to be, or because we’re obstinately committed to how we want them to be going forward. Giannis astutely speaks of these tendencies as forms of pride and egotism, the opposite of humility. Rather than receiving things as they are, pride wants to control reality, and impose its own ideologies and abstractions upon it.

This was the error of Adam and Eve, who impatiently reached for divinization instead of waiting to receive it, and also of Judas, who wanted the Messiah to be a conquering warrior, not a suffering servant. In contrast, Jesus tells us that we must “turn and become like children” in order to enter the kingdom of God; we must humbly receive everything from God, through —not in spite of! — the unique circumstances of our lives. When we’re in a prideful and controlling kind of mindset, we can’t accept the grace God wants to give us. And we can’t follow him down the path he wants to lead us.

Humbly living in the moment doesn’t mean we can’t set goals. Giannis, after all, had the goal of winning a championship early in his career. But despite his lofty ambitions, the Greek Freak never took his eyes off the present moment, knowing he could only achieve the former by means of the latter.

“I’m thinking day-by-day,” he said, when asked at only 19 years of age how he planned to bring an NBA championship to title-starved Milwaukee. “But if you don’t play hard now or tomorrow or the next tomorrow, it can’t happen.”

The same is true for each of us as we strive after holiness, and our ultimate goal of heaven. We can’t enter into a blissful, eternal union with God if we don’t presently respond to his invitation to relationship. And we can’t become holy and shine like the saints unless we put aside our pride, accept reality as it is, and receive the grace and simple calls to holiness God is giving us today.

Liedl writes from the Twin Cities.