Devarim: breaking through our spiritual resistances

Moses begins his great recap of the 40 years in the desert,starting at Horeb(=Sinai), highlighting all of the Jews’ failures.
According to the Sifri, the numerous place names listed in the first verse are hidden words of rebuke by Moses to the people of Israel. Instead of mentioning their sins outright, he alluded to them with these place names:
"In the desert" -- the time they complained "if only we would have died in the desert" (Exodus 17:3)
"In the Arava (Plain)" -- their worship of Baal Peor in the Plains of Moab (Numbers 25)
"Opposite Suf" -- the trouble they made at the shores of Yam Suf, the Red Sea (see Exodus 14:11 and Rashi on Exodus 15:22)
"Paran" -- the sin of the Spies, who were dispatched from Paran (as recounted in Numbers 13 and later in our own Parshah)
"Tofel" and "Lavan" (meaning "libel" and "white") -- their libeling about the manna which was white (Numbers 21:5)
"Hazerot" -- where Korach's mutiny against Moses took place.
"Di Zahav" (literally "too much gold") -- the sin of the Golden Calf. (copied from chabad.com)
It’s a jarring beginning for a great book, and totally out of character for Deuteronomy, which has some of the loftiest parts of the Torah, like caring for the widow and orphan, the shema, and the veahafta.
The slonimer rebbe says that Moshe was intentionally trying to make the Jews broken hearted, so they could reach these high ideals, just like the broken tablets preceeded the second tablets.
There is a moment when we have to have a spiritual breakdown, to realize our insincerity, our inconsistencies.
Each of us have places in our lives where we don’t live up to Torah’s ideals, and we are defensive around those parts, don’t admit any wrongdoing, because they are so hard to change, and it would be painful to admit that we do anything wrong.
We fiercely avoid truly examining our behavior. In psychology it’s called a defense: if a therapist were to try to challenge somebody on their dysfunctional behavior, the patient would find a way to avoid taking in what they are saying.
This process of becoming broken-hearted, of davenning in such a deep and heart felt way that we admit our inadequacies and feel deep grief over what we have done, is a way to overcome these defenses, iron out our failures, and finally be able to embody the highest ideals of Torah.