Not since Michael Jordan has the world known as a professional athlete dedicated to perfecting his craft. Famous for his “mamba mentality”, Kobe Bryant will forever be the poster child of hard work and never quitting. While we love those who win through honest hard work, what can they teach us spiritually?

The truth is, there’s a Kobe Bryant inside each every one of us. There’s a part of us that dreams to achieve the unthinkable. The difference is Kobe Bryant understood there had to be effort behind those dreams.

As one of the most accomplished players of all time, Kobe Bryant even won an academy award shortly after his retirement. In the material world, Kobe Bryant achieved everything he wanted.

For example, According to Kobe his transition to retirement was easier than most because he already gave the game of basketball everything he had.

But what do we know about the spirituality of Kobe Bryant?

Former coach Phil Jackson had Kobe and the lakers read about zen philosophy before championship games. Other than that, what awards or achievements can we see spirituality that Kobe achieved or anyone for that matter?

Perhaps this is the very thing that makes spirituality a gift from god. Like many players before him, Kobe suffered a bad knee injury that would eventually cause him to retire a couple of years later.

While this didn’t affect his ability to be successful off the court, it did impact his ability to make money on the court. As a result for most players, this would signal the end of their career on and off the court. But spirituality doesn’t care about your physical condition, that’s the beauty.

For instance, for almost a thousand years, Buddhist monks create mandalas only to erase them later. The level of concentration and time it takes to create one mirror the efforts of Kobe time on his craft to the game of basketball. After hours of creating the mandalas, they’re erased. Just like our achievements, awards, and money when our souls leave our body.

Imagine if the world could focus on their spirituality individually with the same mamba mentality as Kobe had for basketball. Unfortunately, the amount of validation we seek in the world today is alarming and is hindering our spiritual journey.

How upset and filled with regret would we be to look at our life after death to see how much time we wasted? Wasting time worrying about the opinions of others rather than following our hearts.

Often people quote scripture to say that “the lord works in mysterious ways”. God or the creator has everything, why would you need to take your accolades.?

Remember when you were little and you went to sleep over your friend’s house? You would bring clothes, sometimes food, or whatever to accommodate and be courteous.

What could you possibly bring into the afterlife that God can’t have? This is the greatest lesson Kobe Bryant could give us.

God used Kobe’s determination to show how great God is. God, used a sports athlete in the most historic franchise of the league, who is known for his ambition to win. Who is known as an achiever, and at any time it can be taking away from you. All of the thousands of hours Kobe spent in the gym shooting, showing up to games hours early, means nothing to God.

Because of social media, people are becoming millionaires at younger ages faster than ever before. The matrix feeds off our materialistic ambitions to succeed as the dollar cannot exist without debt.

Many of us may already have a mamba mentality in the wrong area of life that causes us pain. This is not a knock on Kobe Bryant at all. The purpose is to make readers aware of the bigger picture before they use a mamba mentality in their life.

In closing, it is perhaps the biggest fan of Kobe Bryant’s Mamba mentality that understands this best. Our article on kyrie Irving detailed the superficialness of sports fanatics obsession with sports. Or you could take the spirituality of Kareem Abdul Jabbar who some argue is the most successful of all NBA players in history.

Just last year he auctioned off some of his memorabilia for charity. One of the greatest lessons Former coach Phil Jackson would teach players is to treat wins and losses as the same. And this is why the loss of Kobe Bryant serves as a win for us all, spiritually.

How as the passing of Kobe Bryant affected you spiritually? Let us know in the comment section below.