Judaism is a mix of theology, philosophy, passion, faith. Once the talmud was closed, dialogue ceased. When codification became the norm, judaism was basically about a lot of laws and how to follow them.
Where did you get that idea from?
The people talking in shull is yet another case in point, people dont pray because God wants us to, because man needs it, because we pray to request things, connect to God etc. Most pray by rote and routne
I have stated more than once that talking in shul is one of the biggest problems (though it is actually somewhat of a revealing symptom of an underlying problem) we have in our community (at least where I go to shul).
If a kid goes to shul, where the aibershter comes 3 times a day, putting everything else aside (figuratively speaking), just to listen to yidden, how do we look if we turn around to talk to someone while מלך מלכי המלכים is right in front of us waiting to hear our davening?
To take it to the extreme, I once asked someone how he could expect his kid to keep shabbos, if his kid sees the father talk in Shul. We wouldn't do anything of the sort in front of a שר, a judge, or even a simple clerk listening to us, let alone a מלך בשר ודם, so how dare we do it to the most real מלך?