The Obsession with Perfection

The obsession with perfection was something Christianity inherited from the Hebrews. And when it was mixed with Greek Idealism (a strange combination, to be sure) it brought down the Roman Empire.

This collapse lasted for a thousand years, and eventually produced what we refer to, as the Modern World.

This in turn, was followed by the Reformation and the Industrial Revolution. That had its own Perfectionism - the Market Economy. Where the imperfection of individuals was transformed, as if by magic, into the Greater Good. And where Business became a religion.

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I want to dwell on this - the transformation of Business into a Religion. This happened rapidly, from the middle of the 19th Century, to the middle of the 20th in America. Although it was preceded, by developments in England, where Industrialization had originated.

All this was made possible by powerful new technologies that produced the Railroads and the Factories - and the Movies. And WWI, the Depression, WWII, and the Holocaust. A horrible mess, if ever there was one.

The people affected by this, survived by a simple transformation - a reversal of values. What was bad became good.