In ancient Greece, scholar and intellectual, Dr. Socrates
was
reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance
met the great philosopher and
said,
"Do you know what I just heard about one of your friend?"
"Hold on a minute," Dr. Socrates replied. "Before telling me
anything I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple
Filter
Test."
"Triple filter?" asked the man.
"That's right," Dr. Socrates continued. "Before you talk to
me
about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and
filter what you're going to say. That's why I call it the triple
filter test.
The first filter is Truth.
Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell
me
is true?"
"No," the man said, "actually I just heard about it and wanted
to
tell it to you"
"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's
true
or not.
Now let's try the second filter, the filter of goodness.
Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something
good?"
"No, on the contrary, it is bad "
"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad
about him, but you're not certain it's true. You may still pass
the
test though, because there's one filter left: the filter of
usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going
to
be useful to me?"
"No, not really." Replied the man.
"Well," concluded Dr. Socrates, "if what you want to tell me
is
neither true, nor good, and nor even useful to me, why tell it
to
me at all
A Passing Thought:
An arrow which has left the bow and killed an innocent soul, and
a
spoken-word which has come out of your mouth and hurt
someone's heart, both can never be recalled. So before you
speak, please use the triple filter.
God gave us 2ears and one mouth, which means we should listen
twice as much as talk.
