Ki Thavoh: You have arrived at your destination

The parsha is named: "when you arrive".  It describes a ritual of recognition of arrival, a ritual that we repeat at the seder on Passover ( although we have not arrived) .A dream of arrival,

The bulk of the parsha is a tirade, the ills that will befall the nation that has arrived, failed to recognize its Redeemer, and has strayed from the commandment. .   The nation that should have been great, and instead suffers every fall ind indignity .  These sanctions  are part of the deal, the agreement that trades arrival  in the Promised Land of milk and honey for (absolute) obedience.

At the end of the parsha we are told that until now we did not understand, but now we can understand the  miracles  ( 29;3)  This is also a kind of arrival, the arrival at understanding.

Understanding, in its common meaning is a floating thing.  The feeling of understanding is a sense of anchoring, but from that anchored position, one only sees as far as the (current) horizon. From a larger perspective, the body to which one is anchored may, itself,  be floating.  This is the story of science.

Aristotle tells us to trust observation and generalize from it. A body in motion must have been set in motion by an unmoved mover.

Newton sees the planets in motion and they do not stop. Motion in a straight line is no different from rest.  Motion does not require a mover, stopping needs a cause.

Rockets allow the earth to be viewed from space. Where has heaven gone? The old understanding is replaced by the new. We cannot see the end to possible perspectives.

But the heart understands. We can never arrive at the ultimate understanding, but we must deal with where we are.  The heart is our anchor.