[joe-frank-list] Karma, part 4

[russellbell at gmail.com]

	Joe recalls the session at therapist Marlene Drucker.  Drucker
had recommended that they forget their past, focus on their future.
Joe wonders how one can do that.  Joe dismisses her recommendations as
new-age cant.
	4:20: Within a week Kate attacks Joe with her fists, thus
killing their imaginary baby.
	5:00: Drucker recommended that they do a nice thing for each
other every day.  Joe argues that feelings come from the inside, not
the outside.
	7:20: Jack Kornfield tells of the gods in the heavens testing
a new king with a reputation for righteousness.  One of them turns
into a hawk and a dove.  The dove lands on the king, asks for his
protection.  The hawk wants to eat the dove.  The king offers his own
flesh instead, proving his righteousness.
	11:50: Kornfield talks about the value of virtue.
	13:00: Larry Block tells of the woman moving into a nearby
apartment.  She's an attractive older woman from California, an
actress.  They hang, ride bikes around town, eventually have an
affair.  Larry talks to a friend about the friend's affair, mentions
his; his daughter Zoe overhears it, tells Jolly, who decides Larry has
to move out.  Larry has a job in California.  The time away cools out
their anger; they allow Larry back into the home.  Larry and Jolly
move into the alcove in the living room (just big enough for a bed and
a few little dressers), Zach into the master bedroom.
	25:40: Zach tells about moving into the master bedroom.
	27:20: Joe talks about the silliness of people who think they
can change their reality merely by changing their thoughts.  He tells
of the weekend lectures Kate attends at the Bodhi Tree (a new-age
bookstore on the 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica,
http://www.bodhitree.com, closed at the moment), the ridiculousness of
it.
	29:10: Kate and her friend Mary meet almost every day talking
up unlikely business ideas.  Joe says LA is full of such silly people.
	31:10: 'I also know a woman who's a chanter - you know, 'nam
myoho renge kyo' - and what does she chant for?  Money - success in
her foundering career as an actress' (sounds like Debi Mae West)
	31:50: Kornfield cites the Buddha on how to admonish another,
the importance of choosing our words carefully.
	33:40: Kornfield tells us the Buddha grew up with everything,
that we all have enough to be happy, that stuff doesn't make us happy.
Then he tells the story of Buddha leaving all his stuff behind.
Kornfield warns us against attachment.
	39:30: Larry tells of tripping, being up all night, hearing
Eric Butterworth (a popular TV preacher
http://www.EricButterworth.com) preaching changing your life by
changing your thoughts.
	43:20: Joe tells of the last time he saw Kate, takes her to a
fancy restaurant.  She insults a Korean couple.  Kate tells Joe that
his shows suck, none of her friends listen.  Despite this they make
out on her front door, but Joe has to go back to work.  Kate insists
he come back afterwards.  She wants to make love, but Joe can't.  They
drive to Mt Wilson the next day.  When they get back she wants to make
love again, which Joe can't, which maddens her.  She jumps on him and
punches him.  He finally gets away, but she blocks his car.  After 2
more hours at Kate's she lets him go.
	51:50: Joe addresses Drucker ironically, thanks her for
solving all the problems in their relationship.
	54:40: Kornfield remembers a woman who had a relationship that
ended badly.  She told the master at a Zen retreat about it; he was
sympathetic.  At a retreat a year later she's still unhappy about it.
The master slaps her, tells her to let it go.  Kornfield warns us
against attachment.

http://jfwiki.org/index.php?title=Karma_(Part_4)

	Santa Monica's 3rd Street Promenade is a well-known shopping
district.  The street is closed to automobiles.  Joe mentions it in
'Clement At Christmas'; the Laemmle's 4-plex movie theatre Joe
mentions in 'Lover Man' is on it.  The Bodhi Tree hosted lots of
new-agey events.  (I never went in: I'm insufficiently hip.)

russell bell