“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?”
This is why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem.
Author unknown. If anyone has a proprietary interest in this story please
authenticate and I will be happy to credit, or remove, as the circumstances
dictate.
Thanks to Gods Work Ministry Dwayne Savaya
Godswork100@hotmail.com
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