What is Shabbos?
If life is a cycle, the most basic example of it in the world around us would be the week. All the other cycles have natural events that mark them: the day has sunrise and sunset; the month has the waxing and waning of the moon; and the year has the seasons with the sun's altered placement in the sky. The week, however, is solely around human life events.
What is the week about? If human life has any representative feature, it is most likely 'question and answer'. If we begin the week celebrating our previous degree of solutions to life's questions, we are encouraged to set out for an even better solution, for the coming week. Just like an answer is measured by the way the question was put, the journey of the week heads in the direction that began the first day.
When Abraham our ancestor started his journey to himself, he initiated the entire concept of social progress. To him (as G-d points out that 'he will instruct his sons and his home afterward such that they will keep the way of G-d-Of-Family-Values') as G-d wants one not to sacrifice his son like to the pagan 'molech' deity - but to dedicate him to education and family values - progress is defined by the quality of one's family dynamics; and the Promised Land refers to one's home. Abraham's question, 'What is home?' would be answered at the conclusion of his journey. Progress, then, is reached at the conclusion of his 'week'; so I would like to take the initiative to describe and perhaps even define the word 'Shabbos' as 'Conclusion'.
In Rav Nachman's writings somewhere I believe he says that a Torah scholar is called 'Shabbos'. If Shabbos - or Conclusion - is a state of mind, then calling that state, a state of 'Conclusion', would explain why Rav Nachman would call him that. Furthermore, seven complete 'Conclusions' are counted in the 'omer, each one a cycle progressing all together towards a jubilation; an enthusiasm that might extend from beyond a 'Conclusion of Conclusions', surpassing those cycles to an even greater excitement!
One might add that from Abraham to Moshe there was a cycle of generations bringing the Presence from the seventh heaven - one level at a time - down to earth; thus Concluding a historic introduction of this cycle into human reality.
But where does the week actually come from? The very beginning, starting from 'In the Beginning', introduces the very first week of history: the week of Creation. After the first six days the world had everything except rest; 'thus came the Conclusion, and thus came rest'.
What G-d reached on the sixth day was the wedding of Adam and Eve; humanity's first home-to-be: on that day, to do the work; on the next, to enjoy the rewarding sense of accomplishment; looking back honorably, on all that had been Concluded.
G-d had put humans in the world and given them the opportunity to earn and build a home; that was His way. Adam would then be expected to learn, from this pattern, how to have the human perspective of G-d's initiative - and that is also Abraham's conclusion - that to be wholly human, one has to procreate children who will build homes of their own; and that would be their Conclusions as well: to dedicate their children to education and family values.
At Havdallah, we might be celebrating the conclusion of the previous generation's as-it-were Shabbos; recognizing that we now have our generation's Conclusion to reach - that would build on that of the one just celebrated - saying, 'Yes, we've done it and we'll do the next one even better; until we meet again!' And with that we ready ourselves for the very first day of the new week (inaugurated with a meal, escorting the honor of the previous Conclusion on Its way).
This can teach us that in order to take one's studying to the next level, one has to mark and celebrate the previous Conclusion; giving it time to breathe. The past relative to now is a fait accompli; just as the first week was initiated by G-d and is beyond our reach - it is it that reaches us - so too our present is always built on a past that is beyond our reach and the time-line reaches here because of our previous deeds, not because of the present control. Having the person we were be weak isn't necessarily having our present selves be weak. If we take responsibility for our limitations of last week, we aren't like those people any longer, but we are more for having built up that person's destruction. Abraham came after Adam's week failed, he took up the mantle of responsibility and re-initiated the social progress of mankind. He was a re-incarnation of Adam and every week the human being is a re-incarnation of himself from his previous week; every week given the chance to right what once went wrong.
The rest of the work would be to show the parallels between the construction of Creation and that of the human social reality; following the progress of coming Home. And then, in Conclusion, 'Good Shabbos!'
P.S. The rest of it will be done, elsewhere; so, 'Have a good week!'