One of the many flaws of our world is that it encourages us to be as much productive as possible, and which each advancement of productivity, we are often rewarded with either the good increase of our reputation, our own pride, or our motivation to maintain such productivity. However, with such promotion, a toll on our lives can come and make our own endeavours for productivity, to be counter-productive. It may sound like a paradox, that our very own efforts can to promote us can demote us, but in reality, that demotion is not a construct of demoting promotion, which does not make sense, but of mere obsession -- the obsession that regardless of what we do, nothing is yet enough, and hence the initial impression that it's a paradox.

Therefore, our very own struggle for more productivity can make us not necessarily less productive, but counter-productive; productive against our own wellbeing, while we advance our works into something else, either by profession or by hobby.

Workaholism shouldn't be praised by society, because it is an ill condition, even if we regard it to advance our efforts in whatever we're doing. Such words, in general, such as "addicted", "crazy", "sick" "insane" and so forth, seem to have taken an opposite direction than their original definitions, AKA, as if being "sick" or "insane" are good things that should be pursued. However, their counter-productivity seem to be in the deeper meanings of their consequences -- some of our efforts towards society seem to work against us, rather than for us. This is what we get when we completely abandon any sense of egotism, which in healthy doses (as we are also important, not only others), can be good for us.

Workaholism, a condition of addiction that should be treated as such, is a construct of a world that doesn't always know when to take a break. More and more we are pushed to our limits, by family, friends, spouses and bosses, so we could please them as much as possible, but with it comes the price of not knowing when to regulate ourselves to lay back and just relax. Furthermore, this condition is not only a product of obsession, but of stress, of trying to get as much done as fast and as efficient as possible, so the requirements of whatever we're doing will be met and we will finally be left alone for the reminder of the day, until the next day of work comes, and its regular vacation at last.

As written in my sixth book, "The Rubinshteinic Teachings" contemporary civilization, along with its many corporations, seem to benefit on the individual and make a deal off of them, by creating many ways to make them either addicted or stressed, in the name of optimal profit. It could be that because of this very reason the negative-turned-optimistic terms I mentioned earlier have originated; originated from encouraging us to comply to the demands of many bodies, individual and collective, so we will give them what they want from us, and be finally left alone, assuming we can be left alone. Hence, for example, the importance of free time, since when we have free time, we are liberated from the demands of the External World, at least temporarily, but I digress.

Anyways, the problem with today's society is that it is too much stressful, and the encouragement and/or demand to make us productive more than we already are, could have, eventually, a serious toll on our lives, that could be translated to a long-lived sense of frustration, even after our duties to the External World have been met.

And, the alleged "horror" of workaholism, like with many addictions, is that no matter how productive we will be, any amount of work wouldn't be enough to satisfy our passion for activity, since this addiction, again like with many others, is an issue of void; an internal void that is needed to be taken care of more deeply, in a way which continuous, short-term fulfillments, are not enough, because while said fulfillments might temporarily satisfy our emotions, they do not permanently answer the mentality, AKA, the mindset, that encourages said void to grow beyond regular proportions, and hence the futility of addiction-fulfilling, obsession-encouraging activities and consumables, from sex to drugs and even candies; activities and consumables which are widely encouraged to be done and to be consumed despite their long-term uselessness. This is how we as the subjects of the External World become a "mental farm" of which we can be used to gain profit on a regular basis. It's also a flaw that exists in the strive of the so-called "full-life".

Therefore, if we are, for the relevancy of this article, to satisfy workaholism, no amount of productivity will necessarily fill the void created by ourselves and by those who influence us. No amount of candy, of coffee, of alcohol and of sex will ever fulfill our void as long as we don't fill this void not externally but internally, and if we are to do so instead of the former, not only we will save much money and our free time, but also become more free from the enslavement that is the spectrum of addictions.

We thus have to let go of the suffer-creating, frustrating passions that seem to never go away; of the desire of more beyond its necessity, and of whatever might only create more void within our minds in the name of short-term gratifications. In other words, we ought to let go, if we want to be let go by the misery of our various frustrations, and by the temptations of the more-than-unnecessary things that control our lives and the way they encourage us to unnecessarily spend more and more of our time, our money and our mental health, ultimately. To take a look at the fruits instead of relentlessly work of rising new ones.

Serenity, all in all, can only be achieved by the void of passion, for passion itself is a form of tranquility-halting emotion that stands in our way for a life that could be better well-lived; well-lived with less, instead of be less-well-lived, with plenty of more, whether that "more" is an activity or a consumable.

This is the problem with today's world -- that many of us are not strong enough to admit the fallacy of any kind of obsession that is seen and accepted as good, almost if not entirely from a hedonistic perspective. The fallacy that any kind of obsession is a form of an incompetent replacement of a void within the ego; the ego that admits there isn't enough within itself.