Karma (Part 4)

Series
The Other Side
Original Broadcast Date
5/14/2000
Cast
Joe Frank, Larry Block, Zachary Block, Jack Kornfield
Format
Karma Style, 59 minutes
Preceded by:	Karma (Part 3)
Followed by:	Karma (Part 5)
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You remember I told you about Marlene Drucker?

Karma (Part 4) is a program Joe Frank produced as part of the series The Other Side. It was originally broadcast on May 14, 2000.

Synopsis

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 recommends 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), Zak into the master bedroom.

25:40: Zak 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, 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'

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 radio evangelist Eric Butterworth 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.

Legacy Synopsis

• Joe: back at the psychiatrist; Kate wants to see Joe torn to pieces; carrying the past with us. New age teaching that the past is irrelevant. More on the relationship as a baby. A list of nice things to do every day. Smiling while unhappy.
• Jack Kornfield: gods disguised as a dove and a hawk test a wise king.
• Larry Block: a romantic relationship with the bicycle riding older woman down the hall is discovered by his daughter. The family plans for a breakup which never happens.
• Joe: silly new age teachings at Science of Mind Church, would be Hollywood types, LA as a den of poseurs.
• Kornfield: right speech, the power of words. A prince is asked to give up his children.
• Larry: taking LSD and watching a new age speaker Eric Butterworth say that you can change you life by changing your thoughts. The futility of talking therapy. Larry critiques Kornfield.
• Joe: Joe asks the audience why they're listening. He joins Kate for dinner while exhausted, she picks on a Korean couple. He visits her house later. They drive to Mt. Wilson. They argue about sex. Kate attacks Joe.
• Kornfield: a teacher slaps a student who is hung up on a past relationship.

Music

• "Re-arrange" - Cinematic Orchestra (from Talkin Inside The Beat, 1999) | YouTube [Intro]

• "Spacebeach" - Arling & Cameron (from Music for Imaginary Films, 1999) | YouTube [12:36]
• "Brazil" - Antonio Carlos Jobim (from Stone Flower, 1970) | YouTube [53:58]

Commentary

Santa Monica's 3^rd 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. Arthur Peabody (talk) 22:07, 17 December 2021 (EST))