There's always a blurry dividing line between metaphor and direct expression. When I say I inherited spirituality from my mother, I don't mean genetically but from her personality. I inherited religion from my father in the same way and again this is not a genetic thing, and it's also a different thing from spirituality, though they tango well together when they are aligned.
My posts may seem to lead away from the theme of the thread, but I don't intend that and I'm really building on it - my rich spiritual life is only possible because of who and what my parents were and in that I have been so lucky.
I do think that intrinsic type is something we are born with though, and this is really very important for our psychological health. If we are living the wrong type because of our circumstances, then a big part of healing is to discover and start to live our true type. Very often it seems, people are forced into a type that isn't their own because their parents' wisdom is to try and forge their children into their own image and likeness. It's a very honest mistake and an ISTJ (for instance) attitude to life can be a very rewarding and successful one - but it spells a lifetime of misery for a born INFJ child forced into that orientation.
