Honoring My Dear Teacher

This month has been a month of change. Last week saw the passing of a dear mentor I studied with since 2004. David LaChapelle was a consummate teacher, guide, and friend who guided many hundreds of people in their spiritual path. A teacher of non-duality, the belief that there is no separation between us and the Divine, or between all beings and all things, he was the catalyst for my own awakening to living a Spirit-filled life. Because of his guidance and excellent example, my inner listening grew to the degree that it shifted the lens of my life forever. Because of this shift, I began offering intuitive listening and coaching to others.

David's passing has been a huge sadness, which I am integrating through chant, prayer and gathering with friends. Yet I hear his voice, as if he were whispering in my ear. His teaching in non-duality awakened my belief in the existence of all things in the space of the heart. So there was no place for him to go except in. I can see, now, how his teachings have become more real in the space of a few days than they did in the space of five years. His voice is merging with the voice of the Teacher within.

The day he passed, I heard in my morning meditation, "There is no teacher but the Teacher." David had been seriously ill for over a year, I was beginning to let him go in body. Later in the day, I was writing in my book-in-progress, a book about a vision quest I took under David's guidance. I wrote about his illness and this process I was in of letting go, "There is freedom in surrendering to a teacher. You surrender the aspect of yourself that believes it can do it alone. And none of us can do that. We are social, inter-connected creatures. In surrendering to another, you learn to surrender to life itself. For life, after all, is the consummate teacher. There is no way but the Way. There is no teacher but the Teacher. And now, as we surrender the teacher, we surrender only the form. The teaching will always arise."

Now, looking back, I am grateful that this came on the day of his passing. It is always serendipity of events that increases my faith, again and again, in the belief of our deep interconnectedness. This beautiful alignment of a teaching arising, just as the teacher is going, reassures me that what we need will always arise. Even before we ask for help, help is on the way. Even before the teacher was gone from body, the teaching was on its way. The teaching will always arise.

David was a beautiful servant. To honor him, I am offering soul stories for those who would like them, as a free will offering back to the Universe, in gratitude for my years of knowing such a soul as David. David was a bard, who told stories made up on the spot that stirred the soul and shifted one's perspective. The stories I offer write themselves, inspired by this tradition of mirroring the soul through archetypal stories. If you are interested in a story, just email me, and let me know one brief question that you would like answered.