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.

Awakening Compassion as a Path Towards Fulfillment

Most people who are spiritual are aware of the importance of feeling compassion for others. But I believe most of us are not fully aware of the need for continuous deepening of our compassion if we are to achieve the purpose for which we came into this world.

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One of the great teachers in this regard is the biblical figure Moses. He lived at a time of great misery and darkness, when the Israelites were under a forced labor decree, all male babies were killed, and endless suffering ensued. Moses, after his birth, was found by Pharaoh’s daughter and grew up in a comfortable environment and was shielded from the suffering that was occurring throughout Egypt. However, the Bible relates that Moses would go out every day and see the pain, suffering, and death happening outside. He not only saw and felt pain but also spent many hours a day meditating and focusing on what he saw so that he could internalize the pain, feel it as his own, and grow his feelings of compassion.

The kabbalists write, “He focused his eyes and heart to pain for them.” The message is clear – compassion is work. It is not in our nature to experience something outside ourselves, for example, someone born rich cannot feel the hunger of the poor man.

However, it was precisely because of this constant work of experiencing and awakening the greater feelings of compassion that Moses ultimately achieved the potential of his soul and was able to accomplish the purpose for which he came into this world.

Constant awakening and growth in this way will enable all of us to manifest the potential of our lives. It begins with pushing ourselves on a regular basis to find new ways to feel the pain of those around us, especially the people we deal with every day whose feelings we often don’t consider.

There is a beautiful story that can help you further internalize this idea. Before Moses was called on to become the leader of the Israelites, the level of his compassion was tested through his work as a shepherd. One day a young goat ran away from the rest of the flock, and Moses ran after the kid for some time until it finally reached a pool of water and began to drink. Moses cried out and said to the little goat, “I am so sorry, I did not know that you were thirsty.” He then picked up the goat, cradled it and carried it back to the rest of the flock.

Upon seeing this love and care, the Creator said, “You are merciful in tending sheep, you can now take care of people and be the leader and redeemer of the Israelites.” Only after showing real love and compassion to the animals in his flock was Moses deemed fit enough to become a leader of people.

The lesson the kabbalists are teaching us is we can achieve the purpose for which we came to this world, the potential of our soul, true and lasting fulfillment, with a constant growing of compassion towards others.

Knowing this, let us ask ourselves everyday, “How much time do I spend seeing others’ pain and internalizing it? What am I doing to grow my feelings of compassion and care for others?” As we make this work the focus of our lives, we will reveal more Light and blessings for ourselves and for others, and we will know for certain that we are on the true path towards lasting fulfillment.

In the Creator’s Image

The Bible writes that man was created in the image of the Creator. This is a powerful lesson, which unfortunately is misunderstood by many, and therefore its many lessons and ramifications are lost as well.

If we truly understand, internalize and live the meaning of this verse our lives will be completely transformed. The Creator in this verse is teaching us one of the most fundamental of spiritual understandings: we have, imbued within our being all the powers and abilities of the Creator.

Simply put, anything the Creator can do we have the potential of doing. This means that we have within us the potential to heal, bless, and assist others in the deepest way…and so much more.
We should take the time internalize this lesson. We cannot even begin to fathom the awesome powers that we can and are meant to have.

Once we understand the powers that we are meant to reveal we can begin developing ourselves to activate this potential. This is the process of our spiritual development in general, but specifically we need to remember that the best way to activate our amazing Creator potential is by eliminating our ego and as the Kabbalists refer to it, the desire to receive for the self alone. There is no greater barrier to revealing our Creator potential then our ego, and there is no more powerful way to reveal it then by proactively diminishing the ego.

It is important that we remember also that this is not simply a nice spiritual lesson and concept; rather this is, exactly, our purpose in this world. Our purpose in this world is to reveal our awesome Creator potential and with it to assist others and ourselves. This is also the only way to achieve true and lasting fulfillment.

Imagine if Jonas Salk instead of developing his medical abilities and pursuing his research decided to spend his time doing something else maybe travel the world, relax more, collect stamps whatever… So many people would die and suffer because he chose not to develop his innate abilities.

We are all in this position!

This should be wake up call for all of us. We have unbelievable potential within we should not let it remain undeveloped. Not only for the sake of all the people we are meant to help, but also because it is the only we can achieve true and lasting fulfillment for ourselves.