India, Jan. 10 -- It is tempting to believe that most of what I've accomplished is the outcome of hard work: Showing up. Staying at it. Paying attention when others drifted. Making choices that were often inconvenient and exhausting.

It is tempting, isn't it, to think of it in terms of cause and effect, effort and outcome.

That is a story we can tell with pride. The trouble is, it has never felt sufficient.

This occurred to me most recently on a drive through Kochi. A private bus swerved with a rashness common among buses here. I hit the brakes; we didn't collide. We kept going. But the near-miss lingered in the cabin. My cousin was in the passenger seat. We grew up together: two atheists who have watched each other rise and fail quiet...