Ha'azinu: Dimensions

How many  are the conflicting axes of  truths?

This parsha is a poem ( followed by a coda describing the death of Moshe, the author). The previous parsha says that the motivation for the poem is so that Israel, the keepers of the poem, remember.  The poem assures that they remember What are they supposed to remember?

וְ֠הָיָה כִּֽי־תִמְצֶ֨אןָ אֹת֜וֹ רָע֣וֹת רַבּוֹת֮ וְצָרוֹת֒ וְ֠עָנְתָה הַשִּׁירָ֨ה הַזֹּ֤את לְפָנָיו֙ לְעֵ֔ד כִּ֛י לֹ֥א תִשָּׁכַ֖ח מִפִּ֣י זַרְע֑וֹ כִּ֧י יָדַ֣עְתִּי אֶת־יִצְר֗וֹ אֲשֶׁ֨ר ה֤וּא עֹשֶׂה֙ הַיּ֔וֹם בְּטֶ֣רֶם אֲבִיאֶ֔נּוּ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר נִשְׁבָּֽעְתִּי׃

and the many evils and troubles befall them—then this poem shall confront them as a witness, since it will never be lost from the mouth of their offspring. For I know what plans they are devising even now, before I bring them into the land that I promised on oath.

I am paid to make difficult, potentially life and death decisions.  I think about ways to optimize those decisions, how to make them better. It occurred to me that  in medicine, and perhaps in almost all professions, principles that are not understood are memorized. 

That raises the question: What is understanding?  I think that understanding is fitting ideas and observations into an overarching framework.  It supposes that there are more fundamental, basic principles - like the logic, arithmetic- that cannot be violated.  These can be used to organize observations into proposed laws.  All subsequent observations must be consistent with previous laws and principles. QED

Unfortunately, the models change.  Even the principles of Euclid, certainly the theories of Aristotle and Newton, lose their power under certain circumstances.  They , thereby, lose the crown of Truth.

Even the deepest understanding can be wrong ( although it can be very satisfying) 

Memory assigns  truth to a proposition.  Certainly, in our age of litigation and neuroscience, we recognize (understand?)  that memory is subject to many defects.  It is not a reliable way to retrieve facts ( unless you are talking about computer memory). 

Memory also carries emotional content. Much of the pleasure of  literature comes from the return of the previous scene or statement. It is memory that gives meaning and, more importantly a sense of satisfaction, to the allusions that occur in poems like Ha'azinu. As we ask our ancestors  and elders about the division of nations (Deut 32:7,8) they tell us our narrative.  We see the danger of memory, how the emotional appeal  of memory can reframe the facts into a narrative.

The nihilist can reject it all, both understanding and memory.  I accept the models and memories transmitted to me and try to make sense of it all.  It is an aesthetic, emotional thing.