a little joke and a little lesson

[Dana Sheets]

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?"

Which is why Socrates was deemed a very smart man. But also explains why he
never found out Plato was sleeping with his wife.

[-Metablade-]

Excellent.. Simply excellent!


Thank you for that!