He who has genuinely renounced worldly things, and lovingly and sincerely serves his neighbor, is soon set free from every passion and made a partaker of God's love and knowledge. (Maximos the Confessor)

I don't have access to the original Greek of Maximos. But in renouncing the worldly, I expect he was renouncing either kosmikos or bebelos.

In Titus 2:12 we read of kosmikos, "instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age..."

The First Letter of Timothy 6:20 uses bebelos, as in, "O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called "knowledge."

We can recognize cosmic in kosmikos. There is certainly the possibility for esoteric issues of philosophy, art, politics, and such to become godless.

Bebelos literally means a stone threshold, something good for walking on. Vulgar issues of sports, sex, gossip, and so on can also be godless.

If we were in conversation with God, we would probably ask more than argue. We would be unlikely to assume a sophisticated stance with God. Would we chat about the world series?

I am sure God understands the passion that will soon mark the Phillies and the Yankees, and will hear the thousands of prayers with compassion.

I certainly hope God is forgiving when I waft into speculative analysis of the human condition or swoon over some piece of art.

If baseball is a way to God, baseball is good. If art and philosophy is a way to God, it is good. But when we exclude God from our passions whatever they may be - when we wallow in complaint or surround our self with sensuality or try to fly to the heights of ecstasy without God, we are going in the wrong direction.