re: From the edge of the sea
That it doesn't end up expressing itself as a formal religion doesn't mean the impulse isn't still active. "Mother Nature," "Gaea," and other things like that are the same thing coming out a different way. So is the term "universal truth."
The desperate desire to see a master clockwork somewhere in the system. Again, it's not a sign of any kind of mental disorder. This is the essense of the human mind.