Law of Success (21st Century Edition)

SELF-CONFIDENCE 191

THE SIX BASIC FEARS OF MANKIND

Every person falls heir to the influence of six basic fears. Under these
six fears may be listed the lesser fears. The six basic or major fears are
identified here and the sources from which they are believed to have
developed are described. The six basic fears are:

• The fear of poverty


• The fear of old age


• The fear of criticism


• The fear of loss of love of someone


• The fear of ill health


• The fear of death

Study the list, then take inventory of your own fears and ascertain

under which of the six headings you can classify them.

Every human being who has reached the age of understanding is

bound down, to some extent, by one or more of these six basic fears.

As the first step in the elimination of these six evils, let us examine

the sources from which we inherited them.

Physical and Social Heredity

All that man is, both physically and mentally, he came by through two

forms of heredity. One is known as physical heredity and the other is

called social heredity.

Through the law of physical heredity, man has slowly evolved from

the ameba (a single-cell animal form), through the stages of development

corresponding to all known animal forms now on this earth, including

those known to have existed but which are now extinct.

Every generation through which man has passed has added to his

nature something of the traits, habits, and physical appearance of that