SE LF-C ON FlO E NCE 193out, no matter how opposed to logic or reason that idea may be.
Many religionists claim that they can so deeply implant the tenets
of their religion in the mind of a child that there can never be room in
that mind for any other religion, either in whole or in part. The claims
are not greatly overstated.
With this explanation of the manner in which the law of social
heredity operates, you will be ready to examine the sources from which
humans inherit the six basic fears. Moreover, any reader ( except those
who refuse to examine truth that steps on their own beliefs) may check
the soundness of the principle of social heredity as it is here applied
to the six basic fears, without going outside of his or her own personal
expenences.
Fortunately, practically the entire mass of evidence submitted in
this lesson is of such a nature that all who sincerely seek the truth may
ascertain, for themselves, whether the evidence is sound or not.
For the moment at least, lay aside your prejudices and preconceived
ideas (you may always go back and pick them up again, you know) while
we study the origin and nature of man's worst enemies, the six basic fears.
COMMENTARY
Hill continued to reexamine the six fears throughout his life. His discussion of
them appears in several variations. It appears first in the original version of Law
of Success, published in pamphlet form. There, in the Lesson One Appendix, he lists
the fears in a different order. Fear of ill health comes third and fear of criticism fifth;
here their positions are reversed.
In Think and Grow Rich, he lists poverty, criticism, and ill health as the primary
fears, saying that they are at the core of one's worries. Here one sees the reason
for his fascination with the subject. "Indecision is the seedling of fear," he says.
"Indecision crystallizes into doubt and the two become fear." Fear, then, becomes
a symptom of the thought and action Hill shows us how to reform.
His commentaries differ also. The most Significant departures are noted following.