GEN232 The core issue, of course, is human nature. Things are not the problem—it’s our inclination to become overinvolved with material possessions and pleasures that we have to be aware of and attend to. Rabbi Yisrael Salanter acknowledges compassionately that this is just a feature of our earthly natures: “Insofar as man is a physical being – [this verse] – inclines to the material.  Therefore, he desires to “eat, drink, and be merry.”  He loves wealth and fortune, and longs for honor and domination. He is full of self-importance and seeks to delight in bodily comforts.’ The problem is that the allure of the material is endless, and ultimately the craving is insatiable.  ‘Man is immersed in this pursuit with all his heart and soul,” wrote Rabbi Salanter,’ – to gather and collect, to further his acquisitions and increase his property. There is no end to his longing.” Ohr Yisrael, 115.  As the sages of the midrash have written,” no one leaves this world with even half his desires refilled.”  Ecclesiastes Rabbah 1:13.  What the Mussar masters decry is not the material world per se but our enslavement to it. … This is our predicament, and to guide us in dealing with it, the Mussar masters taught the virtue of living a more simple life, and being content with what you have.  MORINIS 117-8