Subject: The TRIPLE FILTER TEST
One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?"
"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me 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 student, let’s take a moment to filter what you’re going to say."
"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."
"No, on the contrary…"
"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him, even though you’re not certain it’s true?"
The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.
Socrates continued. "You may still pass the test though, because there is a third filter -
the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student 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?"
The man was defeated and ashamed.
This is the reason Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem…
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Atty. Sison, i was browsing thru the pages and my attention caught the tag Reflections which i least expect here. This insight is laudibly sensible cream puffed with humor in irony of situation. I still buy the idea. this is worth pondering and a good point of reference when you face a person fond of gossips.
Posted by Rysa at December 14, 2009, 1:40 pmall the best,
Rysa