Emptiness

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Emptiness[1]
Series
The Other Side
Original Broadcast Date
5/27/2001
Cast
Joe Frank, Larry Block, Jack Kornfield, Debi Mae West
Format
Karma Style, 1 hour
Preceded by: Four Part Dissonance (Remix)
Followed by: Summer Hill

"Menachem's about to come home, and my friends just called and asked if we wanted to meet them at the sky bar."

Emptiness is the name of a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series The Other Side. It was originally broadcast on May 27, 2001.


Synopsis

  • Debi Mae West: meaning of life, need for purpose.
  • Jack Kornfield on emptiness.
  • Larry Block: fantasizing about a cross country trip ending at Joe's house and how Joe might react to the unexpected visit.
  • Debi in creative despair.
  • Larry on the guys in line at the bank, wishing he felt their joy and contentment.
  • Debi anticipating a three-week visit from her boyfriend's kids. Joe's not impressed with what he hears about Malcolm, seeing his kids just a few weeks out of the year and needing to have his wages garnished to support them.
  • Jack: it's now or never. Why he was drawn to Buddhism. Funny personal story about meeting his sister in law in New York, then driving a taxi in Boston; graduate school, trying to maintain serenity. The point: discovering that fleeing a painful family life and moving to Asia to become a monk is not the same as banishing anger and pain and emotion forever.
  • Larry: feeling like an utter failure. Joe is completely behind him on this.
  • Debi: where is Malcolm? He's late. She feels threatened by his ex wife. Yet she's considering marriage. She sand Joe discuss Malcolm's future. Malcolm finally arrives.
  • Jack: fear underlying all dukkha.
  • Larry: feeling generized rage.
  • Jack: more on pain. Emily Dickenson quote.
  • Larry: doing badly, switched to vodka, ran out of valium.
  • Jack: concluding thoughts.
  • Larry tells a few jokes and has to explain them for Joe.

Commentary

Please see guidelines on commentary and share your personal thoughts in this section.

Spblat

Wow, what a nice example of the Karma Style. Jack's story was uncharacteristically personal and I loved it. Really classic stuff, tied together perfectly. When Joe's style changed from the absurd monologues to these drawn out conversations back when these were being made and aired on KCRW, I wasn't that into it and often tuned out. But now I'm starting to find the Karma Style as captivating as some of the greats in the Somewhere Out There series.


The Other Side

Always | The Angina Dialogues | Anthology Of Love (Remix) | At Last | At The Border (Remix) | At The Dark End Of The Bar | At The Dark End Of The Bar (Remix) | Bad Karma | Bitter Pill | Black Hole (Remix) | The Box | Brothers | Caged Heart | Cave Dreamer | Clement At Christmas | Don't Know Mind | Dreamland: A Compilation | Emptiness | Endings | Evening Sky | Fire And Ice | Four Part Dissonance | The Future | Higher Learning | Holy Land | Home (Remix) | In The Dark (Remix) | Insomnia (2001) | Jam | Karma (Part 1) | Karma (Part 2) | Karma (Part 3) | Karma (Part 4) | Karma (Part 5) | Karma (Part 6) | Karma (Part 7) | Karma Crash | Karma Don't Deny Me | Karma For Dollars | Karma Memories | Karma Redux | Love Is | Love Prisoner | Lover Man | Margarita | Men Of The Cloth | Mercy | Mystery | The Nature Of Things | No Angel | On The Edge (Remix) | Pledge Drive 2000-01-29 | Pledge Drive Rough Cuts | Pledge Drive, 2000-08-06 | Pledge Drive, 2000-08-13 | Plerophory Of Pain | Predator | Prison Songs | Red Sea (A Compilation) | Road To Hell (Remix) | Silent Sea | Small World Karma | Stoner | Summer Hill | Sunday Morning Service | Terminal | Two Women | Waiting For Karma | Waiting For The Bell | What Do Women Want? | Where Will It End? | Windows | The Wire | Woman And Bull In Paint Factory | Zen