Morals are the underlying unreachable (for mortals) perfection. Commandments are heuristics for getting closer.

If morality is like physics, commandments are like engineering

And don't think contemporary engineering with calculators, simulations, etc. Think medieval engineering, like building cathedrals -- you don't necessarily understand why things work this way, but you know that the three people before you who tried to do it another way had their walls collapse.