[joe-frank-list] 'Emptiness'

[russellbell at gmail.com]

	Debi tells Joe Malcolm is about to come home; a friend called
who wants them to meet at the SkyBar (a fancy expensive bar in the
Hotel Mondrian https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SkyBar), but she feels
out-of-sorts, doesn't know the meaning of life, worries that her life
is meaningless.
	1:20: Jack Kornfield says that emptiness is one of the great
teachings of the Buddha, expatiates.
	2:50: Larry tells Joe he wants to get a drive-away car, drive
across country, end up at Joe's, quotes Robert Frost on home ('Home is
the place that when you go there they have to take you in.')  Joe's
less certain of his hospitality.
	4:30: Debi tells Joe she feels uncreative, tells Joe what she
wants to do.
	6:00: Debi tells Joe she doesn't know where Malcolm is, is
worried.  She talks about what she's worried about.  She mentions Dan
and Suzanne's wedding (which she recounts in 'The future').  She
describes her money worries; Malcolm doesn't worry about money - also
is behind on child support (He has a 14 and a 16-year-old.).
Malcolm's kids are going to visit.
	12:10: Larry tells Joe about his visit to the Actors' credit
union, the 3 guys, dancers, full of joy, how he enjoys watching them.
He buys turkey and vodka on the way home.
	16:30: Debi tells Joe that she was judgmental of Malcolm's
relationship with his kids but she heard them on the phone with him,
how much they like each other.  Joe points out how little they see
each other.
	19:50: Jack Kornfield reads a poem from Kabir
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabir) about living in the moment.
Kornfield says that people come to spiritual practice to escape from
life - he did - but no one escapes his/her life.  He recounts
returning from 5 years in monastery, living with his parents,
continuing to live as a monk, begging for food, was mostly fed by his
mother.  He wouldn't handle money.  He recounts visiting his twin
brother in New York.  He first went to Elizabeth Arden to meet his
brother's wife.  Later he disrobes, gets a job, gets into graduate
school, into a relationship, and all his old emotional problems
return.  He calls himself 'emotionally retarded'.
	30:00: Larry tells Joe he has become inured to not getting any
work.  Joe tells Larry he deserves to feel as big a failure as he
wants, supports Larry in his self-loathing.  Larry's going to see a
new therapist, Doctor Dan.
	36:00: Debi tells Joe Malcolm hasn't called - perhaps she'll
go to the SkyBar without him.  She likes his upbeat spirit.  She
worries about his ex-wife.  Her friends at the SkyBar call.  She's
confident she and Malcolm will marry.  She tells Joe someone stole all
his band's equipment, which Malcolm interprets as a sign that maybe he
should leave music.
	42:00: Malcolm had a deal with Interscope records
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interscope_Records) but they dropped
him.  He's trying to figure out what he wants to do.
	43:00: Debi's unhappy that Malcolm's over an hour late.
	43:40: Joe and Debi talk about Malcolm's wife, Lena, with whom
the kids are going to stay 1 week of their visit.  She worries about
Lena and Malcolm.  Malcolm arrives.
	48:10: Kornfield says he exerted a lot of effort when he began
to teach.  He figured out that effort makes meditation more difficult,
that effort is a symptom of fear, that dealing with the fear makes the
effort unnecessary.
	50:20: Larry tells Joe about his generalized rage.
	50:50: Kornfield talks about overcoming bitterness, quotes
Emily Dickinson's 'There is a pain - so utter'
	'There is a pain - so utter - 
	It swallows substance up - 
	Then covers the Abyss with Trance - 
	So Memory can step
	Around - across - upon it - 
	As one within a Swoon - 
	Goes safely - where an open eye - 
	Would drop Him - Bone by Bone.'

as an example of avoiding dealing with pain.

	52:10: Larry tells Joe he's doing badly, drinking a lot, has
run out of drugs.
	52:30: Kornfield tells that we have to accept our suffering.
	54:00: Larry tells some rude ethnic jokes.  Because it's rude
to tell them on Poles, he chooses Talibans as the butt of his jokes.
Joe doesn't get the jokes.

	http://jfwiki.org/index.php?title=Emptiness

russell bell