What do you think led Kanigel to West Virginia? Do you believe in fate or karma?

The author claims to not believe in fate or karma, but that "[T]he West Virginia trip baffles me and, if I didn't know any better…I might be led to think its sole purpose was to propel me…into the arms of Maura McNair" (p. 118). What do you think led him to West Virginia? Do you believe in fate or karma?

I think that trip happened after his article about a coal mine disaster was rejected by The Village Voice. Kanigel was also in the process of trying to figure out where he was going in his career and his life (I think he had just seen Wild Strawberries around this time too). While I don't think any of us are "fated" to be anywhere or to do certain things, I do think in "hindsight" we may reflect on events and try to understand these in terms of how they fit in our lives. So for Kanigel, the West Virginia trip wasn't preordained but a "decision" that led him to meet someone who influenced his youth.

I think a lot of that decision was because he was young, footloose, and searching for meaning. I absolutely believe in karma, but I don't realized it happened until after the fact.

I do think the author made some of his decisions like the West Virginia move because he was young ad still forming ideas about his life and how it connected to others. I do believe in karma or fate. I have seen so many subtle links in life that a disconnected happenstance cannot explain. I truly believe we are interwoven with the past, present, and future in ways we may never know in our current life.