Socrates and the Triple Filter

I just read the following in a natural health magazine and thought I’d pass it along! I’ll throw in a little comment of my own at the end.

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’re 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?”

Good point, Socrates! This reminds me very much of a bit of wisdom that I picked up from reading Steve DeWitt’s writings (see my post called, “Meditation Truly Can Take you ANYWHERE!”). Steve wisely points out that, if we wish to grow in spirituality and cultivate and be trusted with spiritual power, we must learn to always filter our actions, words and thoughts. He recommends asking these three questions before acting, speaking or even thinking: is it true, is it kind, is it necessary? Very similar to the above conversation with Socrates…

Sat Nam,
Jim Earles