[joe-frank-list] 'Karma, part 7'

[russellbell at gmail.com]

	Joe tells of his next-door neighbors: he's executive producer
of a sitcom on ABC, she's a medical student at USC (and pregnant) -
'wonderful, warm, and very smart' - with a 1-year-old.  Joe contrasts
his life with theirs, in their favor.
	3:10: While sitting their baby one evening, Joe misses Kate.
He didn't go to meet her in Rome (as imagined in 'Karma, part 6').
Joe worries the baby will die on him.
	4:10: Joe remembers the 1965 Blackout (November 9/10), when
his Uncle Ben was in the hospital.  Joe went to the hospital to visit
him that evening but turned back at the door to his room.  (Joe
re-uses this story in 'Small world karma' and 'Too close to home')
	5:40: '2 years before, I had had a particularly-virulent form
of testicular cancer.' (Joe was born in 1938, so he was 24/25 in 1963.
In 'Too close to home' he says he had testicular cancer when he was
23.)  Because of this Joe felt he carried death with, worried that Ben
would get it from him, that his wife would blame Joe for his death.
Ben died that night.  (Joe re-uses this story in 'Small world karma'
and 'Too close to home')
	8:00: Jack Kornfield asks how many people would be grateful
for the life they have, conjectures the story of the person, diagnosed
with cancer, finds out it was a mistake: how much happier s/he is with
him/herself, despite the sameness of his/her life to before the
diagnosis.  He says the purpose of meditation is just to be.
	11:20: Joe tells of his maid, Elena, an Ecuadorean.  Her
daughter is ill; she can't afford her medical bills.  Joe adds the
cost of the bills to that week's payment.  Joe imagines marrying her,
how it wouldn't work out.
	15:10: Larry asks Joe what he had for breakfast.  Joe says
French toast.  Joe uses the most expensive maple syrup ('First drip',
flown in from Vermont), throws the rest away.  They talk about what
Joe drinks.  They talk about anti-depressants, Larry's hip
psychiatrist, orthopedic psychiatrists.  (originally aired in 'The
nature of things')
	19:40:  Kornfield quotes T. S. Eliot's 'Ash Wednesday':

	Blessed sister, holy mother, spirit of the fountain, spirit of the garden,
	Suffer us not to mock ourselves with falsehood
	Teach us to care and not to care
	Teach us to sit still
	Even among these rocks,

He tells us about his colleague, Julie Wester (sp?), who used to be a
hospice nurse, that, in hospice, there are no more emergencies, that
they just accept what happens.
	22:20: Joe dreams that Kate came to his house, with braces on
her teeth, as though she were a teenager.  He's desolated when he
wakes to find it a dream.
	23:10: Joe discusses his relationship with Kate with Larry.
(Larry uses the word 'karass' to describe Joe and Kate's relationship,
a word invented by Kurt Vonnegut in 'Cat's Cradle'.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%27s_Cradle ) Joe tells him they
can't have a thoughtful, fair relationship.  Joe claims he examines
himself, Kate doesn't.  Larry supports him.
	27:50: Kristine McKenna talks about how people feel about
breakups, applies it to Joe and Kate.  (In 'Karma, part 5' Kristine
says she hasn't met Kate.)
	30:20: Joe woke up in a sweat last Saturday, missing Kate;
they usually went on a trip.  Joe wonders what to do.  He mixes a
bottle of vodka and orange juice, starts drinking.  He notices that he
talks to himself all the time.  He goes to the station to work on his
show.
	33:50: Joe talks about the 'hot, French, blonde' who works at
the station on Saturdays.  While Joe talks about music with his friend
Thomas Golubic (credited as a music consultant on many of Joe's shows)
she and Joe talk about sex.
	36:00: Kristine tells about working at a job 10 years ago.
She had a relationship with her boss's former boyfriend.  They did too
many drugs.  He started a relationship with Kristine's 'best friend at
the time'.  Kristine lost her mind (so she said), lost control, threw
his bike across his office.  She got fired, even though she was the
top salesperson (so she says.)
	40:10: Kornfield tells of the English monk who came to his
monastery, was unhappy with it, went to a number of different
monasteries, disliked all of them.  His master, Ajahn Chah, said,
'He's like the monk who put his bag down in dogshit and thinks all the
monasteries he goes to smell bad.'
	42:00: Kornfield tells of Konigiri (sp?) Roshi, a Zen master
dying of cancer.  He told his students that they were waiting around
to see how a Zen master dies.
	42:40: Kornfield quotes Jung, 'One does not become enlightened
by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.'
	43:00: Kornfield remembers teaching with Stephen Levine, how
people deny death.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Levine_(author)
	44:50: Joe tells of Kristine's 2 cats, who fight unless
separated.  (She lives in studio apartment.)  She tries to get them to
get along.  During one such session she was cut so badly she went to
the emergency room.  She was sick again the next day; Joe drove her to
the ER.  They see someone arrive, die within an hour.  Kristine gets
an IV of medication.  She goes home but has to go back later.  She
calls Joe, who records their conversation.  One of her neighbors was
screaming in pain; she finds out he is expected to die.  She talks
about how difficult is acceptance of death.  (the last part, about the
dying neighbor, originally aired in 'The nature of things')
	50:50: Joe tells of going to a birthday party.  Someone tells
the story of the antics of comedy writer Norman Wexler: buying
everything in a bakery, taking a dump at LAX.  (re-used in 'Karma part
7') (According to his IMDB page, 'Andy Kaufman's character of "Tony
Clifton" was partially based on Norman Wexler' and 'Wexler was the
mysterious "Mr. X" referred to in Bob Zmuda's biography of Andy
Kaufman, "Andy Kaufman Revealed".
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0923319/) (originally aired in 'The nature
of things')
	55:10: Kornfield tells us how large the universe
is. (originally aired in 'The nature of things')
	59:00: Kristine tells Joe how horny she is; she wants to have
Tantric sex.

	http://jfwiki.org/index.php?title=Karma_(Part_7)

	JFWiki's previous entry put Debi Mae West in the cast, the
story about the contretemps at work at minute 36.  That was a mistake.
Ms West is not in the cast.
	If someone has a correct spelling for the ones I don't, I'd
appreciate corrections.

russell bell