Materialism wants more. When it gets what it wants then it wants something else and so on. There are those that have little to no possessions and yet do not want more. Why is this?? And there are those that have acquired much and will continue to want more. Its strange how inanimate objects have control over animate beings. Something that does not have a soul, lives or breathes has control over the being that has a soul, lives or breathes. Something that is dead and will never live has control over the living. Those that continue to want, there is something alive in their being that draws them to want and to accumulate. And those that do not want, there is something that is dead in their being which makes them to not want and acquire things. With all that said, not wanting is a discipline. Discipline is the art of denial. It is the art of exercising death in one’s mind and being. When you take something away, you learn to appreciate the value of it. Try holding your breathe for 60 seconds. Do you and your lungs and body not appreciate that breathe of air after 60 seconds?? Discipline will teach you the value of things. It will teach you what is important and what really matters and vice versa. That is why those that are disciplined can also be grateful. They can be grateful for just simple needs. Simplicity does not waver or change, it remains what it has always been. Ever notice that wanting becomes more and more complicated, it wants to order fancy beverages at the bar or cafe and order sophisticated entrees at the steakhouse and continue to increase the standard of living. It wants to buy more expensive designer clothes and own foreign sports cars. Wanting relishes in having the senses overstimulated. When you overstimulate your senses, they become dull and grow more dull. Those that overindulge, their awareness becomes dull. They do not enjoy the things they once enjoyed, it doesn’t bring them pleasure and they are now miserable. Those that have a keen awareness have gone without something to develop that awareness they now possess. Ever have the experience of losing one of your senses?? Have you last the ability to speak or see or  not being able to feel a certain part of your body. From losing one sense, the other senses are enhanced. And if you were fortunate enough to have that one sense returned to you, did it not make you more appreciative of that one sense and of your life experience. To be content and grateful, you must practice self discipline and self denial. To experience a life that is more meaningful, richer and fuller; you must die out to certain things. By practicing this each day, new life will be resurrected out of the death you have made out of your daily practice. In death, there is new life, new meaning, and new purpose. Look at nature, does it not tell you death is a normal part of life. The shell of a seed must die and be broken before it can grow into a plant and bear fruit. This is what nature intended. It was designed that way. Am I still a seed?? Am I just a plant?? Or have I become a tree or an orchard?? There are many people who are fighting against what they were designed to do; rather they embrace what they’re not designed to do. Are they not aware who they are as humans?? Are they not aware who they are as individuals. They wander and toil through out the day without meaning and purpose because they haven’t developed an awareness to even know they are toiling without meaning and purpose. That is the great deception. Believing in things that have no value and seeing those things as being valuable. Having eyes to see and yet being blinded while seeing. Having an awareness and yet being numb to experience while experiencing.