Reeh #1: The blessing and the curse

Parshat Reeh begins with Moshe laying out a choice for the Israelites:

Devarim 11:26-28:

רְאֵה, אָנֹכִי נֹתֵן לִפְנֵיכֶם--הַיּוֹם: בְּרָכָה, וּקְלָלָה.
אֶת-הַבְּרָכָה--אֲשֶׁר תִּשְׁמְעוּ, אֶל-מִצְו‍ֹת ה אֱלֹקֵיכֶם, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם, הַיּוֹם.
וְהַקְּלָלָה, אִם-לֹא תִשְׁמְעוּ אֶל-מִצְו‍ֹת ה אֱלֹקֵיכֶם, וְסַרְתֶּם מִן-הַדֶּרֶךְ, אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְצַוֶּה אֶתְכֶם הַיּוֹם: לָלֶכֶת, אַחֲרֵי אֱלֹהִים אֲחֵרִים--אֲשֶׁר לֹא-יְדַעְתֶּם.
"Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse:
the blessing, if ye shall hearken unto the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day;
and the curse, if ye shall not hearken unto the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known."

I would like to make a drasha. The blessing is in fact the keeping of the Torah. By living a lifestyle in accordance with God's command, one lives a blessed and elevated life.

Of course, context (pasuk 29) describes the blessing and the curse as associated with Mount Grizim and Mount Eival, and we can take the blessing and curse to be worldly or next-wordly reward/punishment associated with being true to God and keeping his commandments.

However, and not to deny the existence of reward and punishment, the elevation of man as a result of conducting himself in accordance with the divine plan, as opposed to that of his own whims (a recurring theme in this week's parasha), can be a reward and a blessing all its own.

We can see this in the second verse. It does not state "the blessing, if - אם - ye shall hearken unto the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day, but rather that - אשר you shall hearken.

(Obviously at the simplest level of reading the text the word אשר serves many functions, including both "that" and "if/since.)