Wednesday Wisdom

WHO?

The Wizard of Westwood also known as John Wooden was born on October 14, 1910, in Hall, Indiana, United States. He grew up in a small town in rural Indiana called Martinsville, where he was raised on a farm with his parents and three brothers. As a child his parents would read him scriptures followed up by poetry, which is where he developed his love for words of inspiration.

What he produced

John Wooden had a long and successful career in basketball, both as a player and a coach. As a player, he was a two-time All-American at Purdue University, where he helped lead the team to two national championships. After graduating in 1932, Wooden played for a few years with various professional teams before retiring from playing in 1936.

Wooden began his coaching career at Dayton High School in Kentucky, where he led the team to a state championship in 1943. He then went on to coach at Indiana State University and UCLA, where he achieved great success. At UCLA, Wooden became known for his "Pyramid of Success," a philosophy of leadership and personal achievement that emphasized qualities like industriousness, enthusiasm, and self-control.

During his time as head coach at UCLA from 1948 to 1975, Wooden led the Bruins to an unprecedented 10 NCAA national championships, including an incredible seven championships in a row from 1967 to 1973. He was known for his attention to detail and his ability to inspire and motivate his players, many of whom went on to have successful careers in the NBA. One of greatest players Kareen Adul Jabbar developed a lifelong bond with Wooden and wrote a book “The coach and me; Our 50-year friendship on and off the court”. Jabbar cites many of Woodens quotes like “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail” and the important life lesson “Basketball is temporary, but knowledge is forever”.

He wrote several books including "Wooden: A Lifetime of Observations and Reflections On and Off the Court”. In this book, which was published in 1997, Wooden shares his personal philosophy on life, leadership, and success, drawing on his experiences as a coach and teacher. The book is divided into thematic chapters that cover topics like character, integrity, teamwork, and perseverance, and includes many anecdotes, quotes, and stories from Wooden's life and career.

2024 why do we care?

We are in the midst of "March Madness" where the little guys of college basketball have the chance to defeat the Goliaths of basketball. It reminded me of the greatest coach in college basketball John Wooden who built a Goliath program that dominated the hardwoods in the late 60s and 70s at UCLA. While he is revered for his success as a coach, as time passes, his legacy grows as a teacher and philosopher.

While John Wooden was known as a religious man, he was also known to quote poets and philosophers. In his book, he quotes Epictetus a Greek philosopher who lived from around 55-135 AD. He was born into slavery in the Roman Empire, but eventually gained his freedom and went on to become a prominent philosopher and teacher. Epictetus is known for his teachings on Stoicism, which emphasized the importance of self-control, rational thinking, and the acceptance of fate. He believed that individuals should focus on what they can control in life, rather than becoming too attached to external events or outcomes.

For example, Wooden writes: "Epictetus believed that self-control was the chief element in self-respect, and that self-respect was the chief element in courage." Wooden also references Epictetus's famous quote: "It's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters."

Seneca the younger was one of the most prominent Roman Stoic philosophers and his works on ethics and morality remain influential to this day. He believed that the key to a good life was to live in harmony with nature and to cultivate self-control, wisdom, and inner peace. He emphasized the importance of accepting what is beyond our control and focusing on what we can control, including our thoughts, emotions, and actions. He wrote in 30 A.D. "True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing."  

John Wooden is noted to say to his team to keep them motivated and focused "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift, which is why we call it the present." The win or loss was irrelevant to what needed to be accomplished today in order to prepare for the future. Coach Wooden would often say “Make each day your masterpiece" echoing the themes of ancient stoics like Epictetus and Seneca.

From ancient Greece and Rome to the hardwood basketball courts of Westwood California, the wisdom of the Stoics still resonates as a blueprint for life.

And now you know...

Thank you, Dad, for the gift of curiosity.

Philosophy is the art of thinking, the building block of progress that shapes critical thinking across economics, ethics, religion, and science.

METAPHYSICS: Literally, the term metaphysics means ‘beyond the physical.’ Typically, this is the branch that most people think of when they picture philosophy. In metaphysics, the goal is to answer the what and how questions in life. Who are we, and what are time and space?

LOGIC: The study of reasoning. Much like metaphysics, understanding logic helps to understand and appreciate how we perceive the rest of our world. More than that, it provides a foundation for which to build and interpret arguments and analyses.

ETHICS: The study of morality, right and wrong, good and evil. Ethics tackles difficult conversations by adding weight to actions and decisions. Politics takes ethics to a larger scale, applying it to a group (or groups) of people. Political philosophers study political governments, laws, justice, authority, rights, liberty, ethics, and much more.

AESTHETICS: What is beautiful? Philosophers try to understand, qualify, and quantify what makes art what it is. Aesthetics also takes a deeper look at the artwork itself, trying to understand the meaning behind it, both art as a whole and art on an individual level. A question an aesthetics philosopher would seek to address is whether or not beauty truly is in the eye of the beholder.

EPISTEMOLOGY: This is the study and understanding of knowledge. The main question is how do we know? We can question the limitations of logic, how comprehension works, and the ability (or perception) to be certain.