The Weekly Zohar Class
“Shlach Lecha”
May 30, 2010 - June 5, 2010
30. "And Moses...sent them...all those men" (Bemidbar 13:3), MEANING THAT all were righteous and chiefs of Yisrael. However, they took bad counsel for themselves. Why did they take this counsel? It was because they thought: if Yisrael entered the land, we would be removed as chiefs and Moses would appoint other chiefs; since we deserved to be chiefs only in the desert, in the land we would not deserve TO BE CHIEFS. Due to having taken bad counsel for themselves, they died, as did all those who accepted their counsel.
In this section of the Zohar, the Zohar speaks about the intention of the twelve chiefs or leaders of Israel when Moses sent them to tour Israel and to check whether Israel was ready for the Israelites; could they all come in? The real reason Moses sent those twelve leaders and chiefs was not because he wanted to know whether Israel was ready or not; Israel was ready. He wanted to know whether the Israelites were ready. He wanted to know if the chiefs and the leaders who were representing the consciousness of the people were ready.
So twelve of them went to check out whether Israel was ready, and ten of them came back with bad reports … and not just bad reports, but accusations to Moses and Aaron, a desire to kill Moses and Aaron. “Why have you brought us through the desert after more than a year of struggling, of ups and downs, of fights, of journeys?” “We were better off staying in Egypt !” “You are playing games with us.” “There are giants, there are negative people, there are dangerous situations in Israel .” “What have you done?”
Only two of them came back with good reports and said that Israel was ready for them, that they could get in.
Major death, pain, and suffering came out of this story. Those ten people brought so much negativity to the Nation, that plagues and death happened. Why? What was so bad about it? They just came up with an objective opinion.
The Zohar teaches that those people were elevated souls – almost righteous people – but they had one problem: AGENDA. What was their agenda? Deep, deep, deep inside, they knew that at the moment they entered Israel , they would no longer be the leaders of the Israelites because the rules would change. The world would become a much better place, where fewer leaders would be needed and people would be naturally connected. Deep inside, in their deep agenda, which they did not even admit or could not even see because of the ego and the strong agenda … they were afraid to lose their job, their chair, their power. That is the reason why ten people came back with bad reports – not because of what was really going on in Israel, which probably was a lot of things that appeared dangerous – only to justify their agenda of not losing their job, their power, their own needs, their own agenda.
This is a huge lesson. We are talking about elevated souls – souls more elevated than any of us. If they could not overcome it, how can WE overcome it?
The power of the Zohar is by reading this section – by scanning this section – to be able to receive the strength to see inside in our soul, to see underneath our external objective opinion, and to ask ourselves a deep question: "Do I have agenda?”
We know that if we do things or we say things or we make observations based on our agenda, like: “If I help them, I will have less ... so I better find an excuse not to help them,” then Satan will also help us find an excuse not to help them: “I am actually sick right now.” Or: “I do not feel good.” Or: “This and this is happening.” “I am not sure it is the right time.” Indeed, Satan will cause us to believe that our excuse is real … but we need to be honest with ourselves. What is our agenda? What is beneath our “objective” opinion – or at least, that appears objective?
The answer is that we always have agenda. Real giving, real advice, real participation … we always have agenda. The question is whether we have the power to identify, to say, “Please, God, help me not to talk from that agenda.”
When a person says that he has no agenda, that he just wants to help – it is a LIE! The agenda is always there. It is our free choice is to listen to it, to fill it up, to be addicted to it, or to control it … but the agenda is there. When a person does not look deep inside, he will not see agenda. He will say that he has a pure intention. Yes, we do have pure intentions at times, but the agenda is always there, like a little monkey who does not leave us alone. Always there.
The difference between a person who gets it or not? Are we searching enough to see it? When we are talking to our boyfriend/girlfriend, husband/wife, children … what is our agenda? Is it really to benefit them … or do we want some comfort, some gain, some control? When we are helping with a charity, with volunteering, what is our agenda? When we are advising somebody, when we say, “Absolutely! I will help you!” … maybe our agenda is to be the giver, to be in control, to feel better about ourselves. Where is the agenda?
It is always there. The only question is whether we see it or not. If we see it, then that is the beginning of controlling it. We do not need to be instantly agenda-free people. No! Identify the agenda. Observation of the agenda in and of itself is control over the agenda.
The only way we can truly help people is if we are in touch with our own enemies, with our own opponents. How can we be sensitive enough to help another human being if we are not sensitive enough to see our little tricky Satan that plays so many games within us? If that is the case, then we cannot help people, because we are not being real. Instead, we are just an advisor, consultant, looking down from above. If we do not clearly see our own agenda – and keep searching to see it again and again – then how can we see anything?
The other day, there were just three people in the room, and I tried to help one young guy who was going through difficulties. As I was talking to him, I just realized that part of my energy was directed towards getting approval from the third person who was there. I realized that part of my energy needed some attention, to fill my ego that I am a pretty wise communicator and that I really care about that person. But the fact that I identified it helped me to ask, “Please, God, let me get rid of that garbage.” But we HAVE that garbage! We CANNOT DENY that we have that garbage. It ALWAYS comes.
The power of removing the agenda with the power of the Zohar.
We would like to get in deep, to a place of honesty, of looking at that agenda that is always there. When we say that Satan is always there, we are saying in other words that the agenda is always there. “What is in it for me?” is always there. “How can I get some gain from it?” is always there. If we follow our agenda, eventually we will get nothing – nothing – because God wants to give us so much more than our agenda … and our agenda is always temporary – some honor, some money, some temporary feeling good, some impressing, some control. God wants to give us so much more. “Yes, but the agenda is clear: I am going to get this and this and that!” There is so much more if we let go of the agenda and try to be pure about it.
The theme of today is connecting to the soul, to the essence, to the inside, to honesty, to what is beneath the external.
“I am good”, “I am bad”, “I am doing a good action” … Underneath, even with all the great action, there is always some agenda. “I am bad!” In spite of the bad, there is good in us. When we are able to look at the internal world and not just the external and the appearance, only then can we get closer to the Light where there is a force of constant good … and there is always the next level, the next level, and the next level.
If we are perfectly bad or perfectly good, something is wrong.
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