In Memory of Thomas Chapinby Gil Barretto. spiritual guide – spoken at one-year anniversary of Thomas’ passing, February 14, 1999

I find a sense of blessing in that we are here observing the passing of a beloved friend, and that for these moments, together, we have made the effort of placing aside our daily round and directing our attention within to express our love and gratitude to the memory of Thomas Chapin.

One of Thomas’ compositions is entitled Third Force from his 1991 album of the same name in which he writes “The inner calling acts as a third force, making the art into the vehicle of transcendence.” On this same album Thomas dedicated the composition Boy on a Dolphin to Gil Barretto. One of his most beautiful arrangements is presented in the Walker and Arnold title track You Don’t Know Me. I’m hoping that I can shed a little light upon what these two presentations meant to Thomas and what they tell us about the man who remains such an integral part of our lives.

The concept of the Third Force is something that Thomas invested much time and effort to fully understand and apply into his life. He and I spent many hours over a period of close to ten years discussing this principle and observing how it reflected in art and in daily life.

Something that all of us here this evening are very aware of, is that Thomas touched us deeply both as a friend and as an artist. It’s almost impossible to define in which area he gave us more. For Thomas it goes much further than the idea of, “The Man and His Music,” which has become such a “triteology.” In his case there was very little definition between these two aspects; this unique man and the music he created were indivisible; they were a mirror image of an artist who compelled us to enter another level of reality and hear his music from our heart in a manner that seemed so unfamiliar. This Magician had the ability to awaken us and for a while encourage us to connect with our Essential Self.

But to return to the Third Force. Thomas worked upon applying the Law of Three to every area of his life. This principle suggests that for anything to occur, three forces are necessary. Firstly there must exist an Active force, and a Passive force. The friction between these two polarities, these opposing principles, must be neutralized by a Third force in order to bring about a happening. Without this Neutralizing energy, or Holy Ghost force, The Active and Passive would cancel each other out and there remain a non-event.

Thomas understood that within himself the Passive part would often express itself in a need to make himself more indefinite as a person and display what he supposed was expected of him. He found that this part acted as a center of gravity that pulled him towards his acquired habits both musical and personal, his tendency toward comfort and his reluctance to commitment and unceasing effort. In this he was so similar to most of us; hoping to find an easier way to get the most mileage out of the least effort. Nietzsche spoke of this as the “All Too Human.”

This was a part of Thomas that he was always struggling against and this struggle was one that many of us failed to realize the intensity of. He once said, “In that sense no one knows me.” Perhaps only a few realized the Heroic struggle that man engaged in to master himself.

He was then, an example of a Warrior who fought his Dragons on a moment to moment basis. This constant effort to not only live in the light, but to demonstrate that light, is something he knew as The Work.

His music did little more than reflect this Active Essence or as we often discussed, his “Work.” Thomas worked on not “forgetting himself,” and the energy resulting from this unceasing effort is what we heard and saw in this man’s powerful presence. He actually woke us up emotionally just by being himself. Again, the part reflected in the suggestion that “You Don’t Know Me,” is that he was constantly trying to remember that he was the Creation of something Divine, and that he had a responsibility, a Duty, to perform his obligation both to his Creator and to his Essential Self. He must always try to realize the Divine aspect of every human being and through his actions actually do something to help each person evolve even if just a tiny bit. In this effort he was truly relentless. Of course like a human being, here and there, he did drop the ball. There were quite a few “What on earth did I do that for?” moments.

Thomas also put a lot of work into manifesting the principle that love is far more of a verb than it is a noun. As I recall, this was one of the areas which we first examined back in the early nineties when we began our work together. The conclusion was that love is not simply an emotion that one feels within, but a commitment to place that sentiment into the realm of action. Most people probably didn’t realize that this is something that he did consciously, with a moment to moment awareness. It was not “accident,” nor was it just “the way he was.” On the contrary, the man who loved us did that the same way he created music; knowingly and in full control of his materials. He gave us a little water and a little sunshine and a little of what he supposed we needed at the moment. Like when he screamed through his instrument in what seemed total abandon, he was never for an instant lost or spaced out. He was a Master because he gave us the impression that it was “happening spontaneously” that it was easy. Sure, easy after thirty years of intense work on his music. Thomas Chapin absolutely knew where he was on every note and every sound he made.

So, with the Third Force and Self Remembering foremost in his mind, Thomas fought his Demons. He struggled to balance his polarities and the result was, in part, the sense of presence he projected. He was really “In there” when you spoke with him, when you saw him and when you heard him. His mind was always working.

There were no “weak” notes or “uncertain” notes because he never “drifted” when he played. He was embodying the credo of “I Will,” and he was neutralizing the powers of Dark and Light, Sound and Silence, within himself and the music. Believe, there was a lot of darkness; it was his aim to work on keeping that part where it belonged Our friend knew that as high as a tree’s branches reach towards Heaven, just as deep do its roots reach down towards Hell.

Thomas once said that if we expected more than a person could give, it would lead us to disappointment and anger, and they would feel that they had failed us. He didn’t want us to be any certain way and it was acceptable to him whether we loved him or not. But this attitude took years of effort to get to, and we did choose to love him and his music…at times one more than the other.