Growing in understanding

It occurred to me this morning, as I was perusing my library, at how differently I have grown in my understanding of the Orthodox faith than I have in any other topic.
I came across a relatively old copy of the St Vladimir Quarterly.  I remember purchasing it somewhere around 2010, in hopes of gaining a better understanding of apatheia.  I didn't, even though the article therein was very good.
My point is this: in the Orthodox faith, one does not grow in faith and understanding by reading books.  Books are excellent (as you can guess by the size of my library), but they are only introductory tools to get one moving.  Growth comes by living the life of the church.  This means that one is to immerse himself in the church services, the sacraments, the church calendar and confession/repentance/fasting.
The Orthodox faith is not an academic one.  It is certainly intelligent, coherent and refined, but this is not the life of the faith.  We grow in faith as we grow in love for God and love for neighbor.