Poet Bob Morley has been meditating since 1988. In his poem ‘The Spiritual Journey’ he explores the paradox that from the ‘depth of nothingness’ and ‘emptiness’ encountered in meditation, ‘love springs spontaneously’ and ‘nothing becomes everything’.
The Spiritual Journey
This journey is one of divine revelation,
A gradual realisation of our true self.
And to know fully is to go within,
To the very heart of consciousness,
To plunge into the depth of nothingness.
With the stilling of the mind in meditation,
We can watch our thoughts go by.
Then, when we desire nothing, hope for
Nothing, and want nothing, paradoxically,
Nothing becomes everything.
In the emptiness, love springs spontaneously
From within. The love is irresistible, and
Splatters everywhere, until it transforms everyone and
Everything it touches. The light of love
Expels the darkness, and all becomes transparent.
This love is the creation of the soul.
A knowing that we are not within the world;
The world is within us.
It seems that the experiences are infinite,
And the destination forever out of sight.
But the wonder is, when the body-mind dies,
Our eternal Being lives on in the spiritual realm,
Outside of the illusory world of time and space.
In reality, we have not travelled at all.
It is a journey from here, to here.
Bob Morley lives in Cumbria in the UK. A contemplative, he has ‘lived with’ the works of a variety of mystics from many religious traditions, to come to know the essence of the Self in relationship with the Beloved, revealing the meaning and purpose of earthly life.
His active life included a career in nuclear engineering in operations and environmental management, including, but more importantly, for the past 40 years, voluntary befriending roles for people who have become marginalised, supporting the bereaved and end-of-life care, and as a spiritual companion and healer to others on life’s journey.
His publications The Golden Thread (books 1 and 2) can be purchased on Amazon. They reflect, in poetry, his knowing, and encounters with God, as Love, in the years from 2011 to 2023.
You can see Bob reading a selection of his poems at Benedict’s Well, an outreach of the oblates of the World Community for Christian Meditation. See: https://www.youtube.com/live/uI5x3dNvlGI?si=KS2RtQQzOj9FPy-Z