The Ch haRI"M is medayek that the pasuk does not say that the job of the meraglim was to investigate אם טוֹבָ֥ה הִ֖וא אִם רָעָ֑ה or אם שְּׁמֵנָ֨ה הִ֜וא אִם רָזָ֗ה. It's not either/or -- Moshe was not giving the spies multiple choice test where their job was to investigate and find the right answer. Moshe was telling them the right answer up front! הֲטוֹבָ֥ה הִ֖וא אִם רָעָ֑ה means that if to you the land looks bad, אִם רָעָ֑ה, then you should know it's a problem with your vision and הֲטוֹבָ֥ה הִ֖וא, it's really good. הַשְּׁמֵנָ֨ה הִ֜וא אִם רָזָ֗ה, if the land appears to you to be poor, then you should know that in truth הַשְּׁמֵנָ֨ה הִ֜וא and it can produce an abundance and you are not looking at it the right way. Reality is not distorted -- your vision is.
וַתֵּ֣רֶא הָֽאִשָּׁ֡ה כִּ֣י טוֹב֩ הָעֵ֨ץ לְמַאֲכָ֜ל וְכִ֧י תַֽאֲוָה ה֣וּא לָעֵינַ֗יִם The first sin of eating from the eitz ha'daas started with Chavah looking at the tree is the wrong way, looking at it as something delicious and beneficial to eat. Once Adam and Chavah ate, וַתִּפָּקַ֙חְנָה֙ עֵינֵ֣י שְׁנֵיהֶ֔ם, their eyes were opened, meaning, they now saw the world in a different way, in a way that distorts reality (see here).
Moshe was telling the meraglim that entering Eretz Yisrael is the beginning of the ultimate tikun, and it all starts with correcting our vision, with seeing things the right way again. The mitzvah of tzitzis which closes our parsha teaches us this same lesson. Techeiles reminds us of the sea, which reminds us of the sky, which reminds us of the kisei ha'kavod. When you look at your tzitzis, do you see just a little blue string, or do you see so much more?
Hashem declares that the meraglim will be punished וְכׇל מְנַאֲצַ֖י לֹ֥א יִרְאֽוּהָ ( Ohr haChaim: ומנאציו הם המרגלים) by being deprived the privilege of seeing Eretz Yisrael. What do you mean לֹ֥א יִרְאֽוּהָ -- the cat's already out of the bag; they already saw Eretz Yisrael when they were spying?
Sefas Emes answers: seeing through the lens of our preconceived notions is not really seeing at all. The meraglim may have passed through Eretz Yisrael, but they really did not see it, just as many of us pass though the world without really seeing things in the way we are supposed to.
2) There is a piece on our parsha in a small collection of sichot by R' Gershon Edelstein called Kuntres Darko Shel Ben Torah. I just wanted to mention one point that he makes. The Torah identifies the sin of the meraglim and Bn"Y as a lack of emunah וְעַד אָ֙נָה֙ לֹא יַאֲמִ֣ינוּ בִ֔י בְּכֹל֙ הָֽאֹת֔וֹת אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשִׂ֖יתִי בְּקִרְבּֽוֹ׃ (14:11) Yet it would seem the opposite is true. Bn"Y did believe that Hashem controlled their fate, as we read earlier in that same perek that the people cried, וְלָמָ֣ה ה׳ מֵבִ֨יא אֹתָ֜נוּ אֶל הָאָ֤רֶץ הַזֹּאת֙ לִנְפֹּ֣ל בַּחֶ֔רֶב נָשֵׁ֥ינוּ וְטַפֵּ֖נוּ יִהְי֣וּ לָבַ֑ז The question, "Why did G-d do this to us?" presupposes a belief in G-d, i.e. emunah. Similarly, in Devarim (1:27) the Torah tells us that the people complained וַתֵּרָגְנ֤וּ בְאׇהֳלֵיכֶם֙ וַתֹּ֣אמְר֔וּ בְּשִׂנְאַ֤ת ה׳ אֹתָ֔נוּ הוֹצִיאָ֖נוּ מֵאֶ֣רֶץ מִצְרָ֑יִם. It's not that they did not believe in G-d; it's that they thought G-d had it in for them and would deliver on the promise of bringing them into Eretz Yisrael.
R' Gershom suggests that the flaw in belief was in thinking that G-d would not carry out his promise to a generation that had sinned in cheit ha'eigel and had already rebelled in the desert. (We discussed this idea before and it is something the Sefas Emes speaks about on our parsha as well.) This too is a lack of emunah and is something we need to work on.
The gemara says that after 120 a person will be asked whether they fulfilled tzipisa l'yeshu'a. A person lichora can say back to Hashem that they have an excuse. What if they just did not live in a time which is fit for yeshu'a? Not their fault.
I recently posted from R' Charlap that what Chazal are telling us is that tzipisa l'yeshu'a means that we have to believe that every dor, with all its problems, with all its issues, is fit for yeshu'a. That's what you will be held accountable for after 120. Did you believe in the potential of even our generation to experience redemption?
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