J.B. Priestley was not religious, but he yearned for a deeper and richer reality in life.

“I happen to believe there are levels of being in this universe far higher than ours, which at its best is probably near the bottom of all lists. I can imagine, if only vaguely, that highly conscious love may exist on such levels of being in blazing magnificence. But only after aeons of conscious effort…[We might do better to] imagine ourselves among indifferent stars and terrible dark spaces, so many helpless little creatures – but still capable, if we choose and try hard, of creating unwavering, unshakeable conscious love. To create it and sustain it, against heavy odds, may be what this universe is all about, may fit some secret pattern behind the illimitable dazzle of its particles”

[“Over the Long High Wall”, 1972,p.32].