Beauty: Just Do It

The beauty that the game of basketball can possess is of spiritual level, as much as the beauty of art is. Basketball takes both the spectator and the player to a higher level when played with near perfection. Every action provoked solely by the human will can be a lifting experience for anyone involved. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote in Nature: The high and divine beauty which can be loved without effeminacy, is that which is found in combination with the human will. Beauty is the mark God sets upon virtue. Every natural action is graceful. Every heroic act is also decent, and causes the place and the bystanders to shine. We are taught by great actions that the universe is the property of every individual in it. Every rational creature has all nature for his dowry and estate. It is his, if he will. Beauty is found in combination with the human will, from which springs heroic action, something which is the property of everyone of us. If one can do it, all can potentially do it. In reality, not all of us will dunk a ball taking off from the free throw line, or dunk a ball at all. Not all of us will be able to hit three pointers at a consecutive high rate. Not all of us will decide a game with a clutch shot in the dying seconds of the fourth quarter. Not all of us will lead a team to an unsuspected championship. But we've all seen it happen. We've all seen people do it. And these great actions of great men teach us that we can all partake, if we set our mind and our will to it. Adidas said it: impossible is nothing. Nike said it: Just do it. Those are the beaten down, commercialized, simplified versions of the words of Emerson, when he says the perfection and the beauty of the game are ours, if we will.

We can all perfect our game. We can all create art on the court. All great actions ever done with a basketball, could be done by us.

Think about it...