Or do you just "think" its true?
I have heard it said that the three gates of speech are, is it true? Is it kind? Is it necessary?
For the record, I believe there is a fundamental difference between nice and kind and sometimes you must say not nice things but they can always be said in a kind way. Hmmmm, probably more on that later. 😊
It occurred to me today the ease with which people just utter things into the world. The way they breath them into existence as truth without any regard to the whether they are actually true. They accept their own opinion as truth and, something that is a lot more scary, other people accept it as truth because someone said it, so, well, it must be true.
I even recently had someone one argue with me that I could not tell them their opinion was not true. They, a lot of people, confuse the fact that it is true that it is their opinion but that does not make it a truth.
One of the several examples I heard today went something like this...
"I will never eat at X's again, there food is bad. Oh, really? Yes, I ate there once and I was so sick. And I heard someone else got sick after eating there once. Oh I am glad you told me I won't eat there."
And just like that it was true. X's place is now tarnish because of one person's loose connection once between eating there and feeling bad.
It is sad and scary at how careless we are with our words and beliefs.
If you are lucky enough to be enlighten enough to actually use these filters I encourage you to take the time to question your own truths.
Nullus in verba, loosely translate as "Take no-one's word for it". I would challenge you to include that little voice in your head as part of the no-one. (Side note, that voice is also the little bastard that often tries to convince you are not good enough.)
One filter I try to encourage people to use is the "court of law" test. It is a bit dramatic yes, but ask yourself would this statement hold up in a court of law?
So, next time you go to tell someone something ask yourself, "Is this true or do I just think its true?"