Ed Cheely, active in the Christian church until late high school, began questioning his early beliefs in his late teens, searching for deeper answers and more profound experiences than he had been given growing up—an experience common for many at that age. But unlike most, Cheely passionately threw himself into his quest for ultimate answers after meeting a rare mentor in college, eventually dedicating his entire life to the search for truth. His talk will recount many of the unbelievable tales and profound insights from this passionate search, no doubt offering inspiration to students faced with their own questions and the desire to discover their own answers.

After turning down an invitation to play on the Harvard golf team, Mr. Cheely began attending Duke University in 1996. There he discovered the Self Knowledge Symposium (SKS) and its founder Augie Turak, recent winner of the Templeton Foundation's $100,000 Power of Purpose prize. Turak's life convinced Cheely that finding the answers to life's deepest questions was possible. After experiencing a major breakthrough during his freshman year, Cheely worked passionately to build the SKS into one of the most successful student groups at Duke, regularly hosting events that drew hundreds and sometimes thousands of participants.

Cheely graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2000, and proceeded to spend a summer living first at Mepkin Abbey, a Trappist monastery in South Carolina, and then alone in the woods of West Virginia on a strict program of fasting and meditation. He turned down multiple Wall Street firms to work for the software company started by Mr. Turak, where he became the top sales person in less than a year, earning two promotions and a six-figures income by age twenty-four.

But Cheely inexplicably walked away from this incredible job to help the SKS host Inward Bound, the first-ever national conference on spirituality for college students. Inward Bound brought hundreds of students from across the country to NC State for a powerful three-day program of spiritual inquiry and personal transformation.

After three more years with the SKS, Cheely left Raleigh to enter the emerging online social networking industry, with the long-term goal of using his experiences to build successful online spiritual communities. Cheely worked as Director of Sales for Ruckus, the leading online music subscription service for college students, and has recently taken a Vice President of Sales position with GymTicket.com, an online marketing firm based in New York City.

Throughout this time he has continued to work with the Self Knowledge Symposium, as well as with well-renowned teachers such as Will Willimon, former Dean of the Duke Chapel and now Bishop in the Methodist Church, and William Richards, the last psychological researcher to do legal work with LSD in terminally ill patients. His search has also taken him around the world, where he has lived in both Southern Germany and Western Russia, as well as spending time across Western Europe, Southern Africa, and Central America.