The Only Way Out is Through

The first exposure I had to this line of thinking, at least as far as I can remember, was in Nikos Kazantzakis' novel: Zorba the Greek (which, interestingly enough, might have since become my favorite book). The original quote is said by Zorba to the protagonist: "How do you expect to get the better of a devil ... if you don't turn into a devil and a half yourself?" Kazantzakis is far from the…