David Hemphill was a Founding Trustee for Awakening Together at age 16 and became an ordained minister after completing the first MPP curriculum in May 2015 at 18 years old. After ordination, David left the board and went to college to be a school teacher and later to law school. During his time on the spiritual path, David developed an eye for the serene, unchanging backdrop of all experience.
In his programs and in his work with others, he is quick to point participants back to their own inner wisdom. He is committed to radical honesty and to genuinely and truly walking the path life gives, even if the path is seemingly incorrect, inefficient, or otherwise imperfect; Even if the path is different, or it is painful. He enjoys inquiry and contemplative practices, with a strong emphasis on direct experience and “living the realization”, leaving little regard for theories, meta-physics, and conclusions.
For David, it is most powerful to sit directly with what is here now, and see as clearly as possible what is happening in this very moment. It is far more fruitful to sit with an inquiry and have a thousand different answers appear, than it is to sit with an inquiry, select an answer, and remember it. Anything that has to be remembered is of little use.
Trumping what is powerful for David, however, is what is powerful for the individual. Different things will be useful for different people, and so it is core to David’s teachings that he remain steadfast and authentic to his own practice so as to model following inner wisdom, but that he simultaneously advocate for each person’s inner wisdom independent of his – that anyone who joins may learn to look within and distinguish for themselves what is the most powerful and easy way to proceed, even if it does not match what appears to be David’s way. As Ramana Maharashi said, the most powerful and effective way to put an end to the ego self is to walk the spiritual path of surrender or inquiry that is easiest to you or that comes most naturally.
If you’d like to listen to David’s teachings, sharings, or contemplations, you can find them here:
