Would it be right to go back and change something?

I mean, if you give anyone's kid a million dollars then that's going to affect their life trajectory. Maybe I'm misunderstanding... Wouldn't them changing this person's financial situation be "pre-determined" in a sense, the same way you say we can't change the past?

 
The key fact about this particular case is that the dervishes weren't changing a known situation (as in the Hitler example). Very briefly, the author was visiting a dervish monastery and expressed scepticism about their powers (to get a response!). In response, he was told to go a long way to a nearby town and mentally select a particular individual. He walked to the town and in the bazaar he picked an old man selling watches. He walked back to the monastery and when he got there was immediately told to return to the town. He must have been feeling a bit irritated by the time he returned to the town the second time, but when he went to the old man's stall it was closed. The guy on the next stall told him that he just missed an emotional reunion. The old man's son had arrived unexpectedly from South America where he had made his fortune, and offered his father a new life with him. The old man had obviously jumped at it and gave away his stock of watches to the other stallholder.

The author didn't think the dervishes had really altered someone's life but it looks like it to me!

 
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