The Path of Love and the Path of Power

Recently, I saw the movie The Kite Runner.

It was beautiful and horrible. One horrible part is that a veiled woman is stoned to death in front of a stadium full of spectators. The story takes place in Kabul, Afghanistan, from the end of the Afghanistan monarchy to the Soviet invasion to the rise of the Taliban.

The beautiful part was the relationship between two boys who fly kites together.

One boy is on the path of power, exploring all the things he needs to do to make his life happy and to live in the complicated world around him. Power is about setting boundaries and making "good" decisions, often in the face of great fear.

The other boy is on the path of love, exploring all the things he needs to not do to make his life happy and to live in the complicated world around him. Love is a state within oneself, and exists regardless of the events happening externally. It's about adding more energy or love to one's own life, often in the face of great fear.

Sometimes, it's difficult for people on such different paths to even talk! But when they collaborate together, beautiful things can happen.

The boy on the path of power recounts a story he's written: there's a man with a magic cup, which will turn tears into gold. The story ends with the man having killed his wife, weeping, sitting on a pile of gold.

The boy on the path of love asks to respectfully ask a question about the story: why wouldn't the man just cut an onion?