Inferiority and Original Sin

• Striving for Superiority by Richard Smith, M.S., 2/1/96
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    • Existentialism, Adler, and Mueller by Henry Stein, 4/12/96
      
      

Sounds to this reader that Adler's concept of childhood inferiority is very much akin ti the Roman Catholic precept of original sin.In both cases we start out with a deficit or deficiency from the time we are born. For Adler it is inferiority for the Catholic's it is original sin. For Adler it is the struggle to overcome this inferiority that leads us to developing a concept of self and self esteem. For the Catholic it is through baptism that we are "freed" from original sin and thus move toward spiritual understanding and fulfillment. I don't buy either of these theories. It seems to me we are born with a spirit, a thirst for understanding, and an underlying need to survive. We are not deficient nor are we blank slates. We are souls, born randomly and struggling to fulfill our destinies (in a non deterministic sense). By the way, was Adler a Catholic?

• Why Employers Terrorize Their Employees, . . . are they suffering from inferiority and their parents' original sin? by Joey Putman, 10/19/96
• Inferiority & Original Sin by Ed Riemann, 1/20/97