Social Heredity!

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

“Is it not strange that we fear most that which never happens? That we destroy our initiative by the fear of defeat, when, in reality, defeat is a most useful tonic and should be accepted as such.” ~Napoleon Hill

‘The term “social heredity,” as used in connection with this lesson, has particular reference to all methods through which a child is taught any idea, dogma, creed, religion or system of ethical conduct, by its parents or those who may have authority over it, before reaching the age at which it may reason and reflect upon such teaching in its own way; estimating the age of such reasoning power at, let us say, seven to twelve years’ writes Napoleon Hill.

Who am I, you ask?

In ‘The Law of Success’ Napoleon Hill says that there is a difference between “social heredity” and ‘the process of gathering knowledge through direct experience.’

‘Observe the marked difference between knowledge gathered by direct experience and that which is gathered through the training of the young by the old.’

So, who am I, you ask?

I would say you are a mixture of ‘social heredity’ and ‘knowledge gathered through direct experience’ with the basis, ‘social heredity’, used as your foundation to help you survive in this world.

Simple! How about those people who did not get the ‘social heredity’ indoctrination Mr. Hill is talking about when they were young? A lot of times the rest of us assume we were all brought up with some sort of ‘training’, not ‘street training’.

And when do I feel safe about leaving the nest, you ask? Sometimes it is not until you are 18 to 22 years old. That’s a lot of indoctrination.

Of course what Napoleon Hill is saying is that we are caught up in our ‘social heredity’, our fears that have been taught to us. I believe what he is saying is that our fears are instilled in us and are hard to shake off.

Okay, so the other part of this exercise is experiencing life through direct contact. Got it?!

I am wondering where this reason is going just like you and will leave you wondering. We tend to look at things from ‘social heredity’ as ‘good or bad’ or ‘right or wrong’.

We might not be happy where this ends up but acknowledge the facts.

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Here’s another quote from Napoleon Hill that I hope you enjoy!

“You are fortunate if you have learned the difference between temporary defeat and failure; more fortunate still, if you have learned the truth that the very seed of success is dormant in every defeat that you experience.”