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Hadith of the Update

Narrated by Ibn 'Abbas,

The Prophet said, "There are two blessings which many people lose : (They are) Health and free time for doing good."

[Bukhari. Volume 8, Book 76, Number 421]

Quote of the Update

Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.

-George Orwell

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Socrates Triple Filter Test


In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. However due to certain reasons, he was punished to drink a mixture containing poison by the government. It is said that one of the reasons is because he believes in Monotheism and doesn't believe in concepts of Polytheism as the other Grecians. However, everyone approves of his intelligence and one of his best known saying is,
"I only know that I know nothing." 
This is a story of him that is still being told as a lesson for everyone.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said,

"Socrates, 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 test?"

"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. 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 bother tell it to me at all?"

This is why Socrates was a great philosopher and held in such high esteem. It is also said that this explains why he never found out his best friend was sleeping with his wife. However my dear friends, Socrates showed us a good example and after this, before hearing any news, you may want to use this Triple Filter Test as it is something good to be implied for ourselves.




~Lonymous~

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