I Might Be Wrong

We often make mistakes when we are wrong, but the greatest mistakes are made when we are sure that we are right. It is unfortunate, but true, that so many friendships and families are needlessly broken apart due to one person being sure that they are right. That person is often us.

In the Bible we are told the story of Moses, one of the greatest leaders in history who, through great difficulties and challenges, was able to lead the Israelites from a place of darkness to enlightenment. What is less well-known is that throughout his years in leadership there were two people who constantly caused him trouble and whenever there were times of danger and doubt they were always there to argue with and awaken opposition to Moses’ leadership.

Their names were Dathan and Aviram and they were great souls with tremendous potential. But, in their hearts they had jealousy towards Moses. They thought it was their right to be in positions of leadership, not Moses and his brother Aaron. But -and this is the important point – they were completely oblivious to this motivation and truth about themselves. If you would have hooked them up to a lie detector and asked them, “Why are you always rising up against Moses?” they would answer that they were doing this because they truly cared about others. They believed that Moses was failing as a leader and that it was their obligation as caring and enlightened souls to raise their voice when they saw danger and incompetent leadership. If they came to believe that their motivation was jealousy and selfishness they would have stopped this behavior immediately.

We sometimes mistakenly feel that as long as we think our motivation for speaking and standing up against another person is right and just then, “let the chips fall where they may, I will do what is right…” It seems like such a proper and correct position. But what we must learn is that we are too often completely blinded to our true motivations. We might honestly and truthfully think that our motivations are pure and just but in truth somewhere deep in our heart, what is pushing us to cause separation and to speak ill of another person is a negative feeling that we are completely unaware of.

The kabbalists teach that we are all blind; the only difference is that some of us know that we are blind and others don’t. They use the parable of two blind men, one knows that he’s blind and the other somehow believes he can see. The first man walks gingerly, always feeling his way carefully before taking his next step. But the other man walks quickly and confidently always, falling into pits, hitting all kinds of objects and blaming these external things for hurting him.

Never once does he think he might be blind and therefore should be more careful as he walks through life. In the same way we are all blind to one degree or another. The only difference between a person who will be able to create a life full of fulfillment and feel less pain, and a person who will continue on the path of pain, is the person who knows he is blind will be careful in his actions.

If we are blind to our blindness then we will barrel through life getting hurt, falling and always blaming others for our pain.

The most important lesson is to always tell ourselves: “I might be wrong”.

“I know that annoying person is completely wrong, and I should lash out at him…but I might be wrong.”

“I know that my family member deserves a retribution for what they did to me…but I might be wrong.”

“I know that my friend acted in a terrible way towards me….but I might be wrong.”

Therefore, we won’t act upon these things we believe to be true, because it is possible that our real motivation is not so pure, and maybe what’s pushing us to act in a way of anger and separation is coming from a place of selfishness.

“Do I want to cause pain and separation if my motivation is wrong?”

Many great souls throughout history made terrible mistakes, thinking that their actions were true and just, while being blind to their true motivation. We should all be awakened from this understanding. We are blind in ways that we do not know, therefore we should never act in ways that cause others pain and separation.

No matter how clearly we believe we see the situation, no matter how right we believe we are, we never know - we might be wrong.