Perhaps contemporary perfectionism is native to psychological monotheism, posession by the idea that a single way of being is The Right Way, in this case manifesting in an obsession with being without error. Perhaps this is inherited from the tendency to take things literally, for instance the paradoxical instruction in the Christian scripture to be perfect like God, while at the same time being told in no uncertain terms that such a thing is impossible.

Perhaps imposing the salvific scientific exactitude of mathematics on human beings has roots in perfectionism and is reflected in the mechanical revolution, industrialism, pschotherapy (and other improvements and self-help and, among others,