He meant what he said: offer the other cheek also to be smitten. This, Jesus implies, will take the wind out of the sail of the other's anger, for there is no greater incentive for evil-doing than resistance to it. When you don't resist evil, you drain the fun from it. Nothing is more disconcerting to a ruffian than politeness.

What is the secret? You have to find a logic that is different from that of the evildoer but which embraces both him and you. Since his logic is of the finite -- where he is on one side and you are on the other -- the surest way is to insert the logic of the infinite into the situation. This will embrace you and him on the same level, lifting him to yours. It will let him save face and make him understand you, through in his own, sometimes curious way.

Very well, when you renounce something, you're stuck to it forever. When you fight something, you're tied to it forever. As long as you're fighting it, you are giving it power.