Word for Today SUPPLEMENT: A Triple Filter on what we say
Posted by: masinick <masinick@...>
A friend of mine likes to send out stories he finds on the
Internet that contain valuable principles. This story is a
pretty good one. The story reminds us to apply a "triple filter"
to everything we share about others. The first filter is Truth,
the second filter is Goodness, and the third filter is
Usefulness.
Whether or not Socrates actually developed these principles is
not what's important. What DOES matter is that these priciples
match what is good, right, pure, praiseworthy, worthwhile, in the
same spirit that the Apostle Paul wrote to his friends in the
early Philippian church. (I've written about that passage on
numerous occasions, if you need a "reminder", point your Web
browser to bible.gospelcom.net and look up Philippians 4.
I thank my friend Tony for sharing this story.
Your Brother in Christ,
Brian
In ancient Greece, 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 your friend?"
"Hold on a minute," Socrates replied. "Before telling me anything
I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Triple
Filter Test."
"Triple filter?"
"That's right," 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..."
"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..."
"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."
"Well," concluded Socrates, "if what you want to tell me is
neither true nor good nor even useful, why tell it to me at
all?"
~ author unknown ~
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Brian Masinick, "The Mas", mailto:masinick@yahoo.com
Home page: http://www.geocities.com/masinick/
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