[realnilkless]

I can, of course, speak only for myself. I have been through periods of my life where I have been called liberal (of the European style) or conservative, both socially and politically. Coming from an evangelical protestant background and being more educated than some (with 3 post graduate degrees) I was searching for "the original church that Jesus had founded." What I found was something timeless, not retrograde although in one meaning of the word, certainly old.

I think it was when I realized that I didn't really want or need to know about God but to know Him. This necessitated being able to accept what was coming from my heart to as being 'real'. Then I started an ongoing and still continuing process of realizing that much of what I found coming from my mind was not true and often not 'real'. (As an aside because I live in the world, and the western world in particular, much of my interaction with people is on the level of rational thoughts and not on what I hold to be spiritual true. Yes this makes me a candidate for being called schizophrenic.)

You ask how do I explain Orthodoxy to people. I don't really try to explain it, I can give some history to those who want it but it is sharing what I stated in the preceding has interested some people in Orthodoxy, or at least in my experience of Orthodoxy.

I hope that this is somewhat responsive to your post.