Culturally, leaving behind much of the west has been akin to leaving behind the world (personally). Seeing an obscure 1970s movie "The Conflict" with Martin Sheen about monks in an Irish monastery refusing to give up the Latin mass in opposition to world syncretism coveyed to me where Rome may end up (since the monks are "rebels"). This movie can be bought in almost any USA Dollar Tree store (hightly recommend it). My "return" to Christianity about 5 yrs ago involved a resojourn into fundamentalism (6 months), liberal Protestantism (2 weeks), & pentecostalism (8 months) helped me to realize Orthodoxy was it & I attended my 1st DL with little previous knowledge. My theology is not very deep but realizing that prayer, fasting, alms giving, sacraments, liturgical worship, living by such basic ideas as the 10 commandments, striving for the Beatitudes (lot of ground to cover here!!), the communion of saints, proper veneration of the Theotokos, the basic faith expressed in the Creed, and, most important, the holy Eucharist are the Orthodox Christian faith theologumena is not required (never should it be discarded either if applicable). OTH, I do not necessarily discard the wisdom of other Christians; with consideration, I find listening to Ravi Zacharias, reading CS Lewis, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, seeing RC examples like Mother Theresa, MOther Angelica, Fr John Corapi etc. as having inspirational value. Preferably, though, St Maximos the confessor, St Maria Skobtsova, Kallistos WAre, St. Irenaeus of Lyons etc. are who I find most inspirational.