Quote Originally Posted by Atmosfear View Post
After reading Malcolm Gladwell's new book Outliers I'm pretty convinced that talent has an increasingly minimal effect on the way things work, and that only skills developed over time get you where you want to go.
well skill is rather more tangible than talent, but the latter mostly determines the former. i mean if you are a talented musician you will likely pick up musical skills quicker than someone untalented. likewise, you'll be able to reach a higher level of skill. "talent" therefore becomes analogous to "potential".

talent has very little place in places where the mindset is one of "anyone can achieve anything with hard work", and if you think it's largely in-born then it probably doesn't have much of a place in a religious or spiritual society that doesn't believe in genetics affecting the personality