We all live in contrasting and distinct realities, which is a state of being that is right for each person. We can all coexist and I welcome anyone to mine, though I would have to question why anyone would want to spend any extended time there.

In character, we are not harmonious with everyone. We all have, even if just slightly, different beliefs and ideas. This is all we must understand. We are different. We don’t have to agree, and it’s certainly okay to disagree, but when disagreeing we must have respect for the other person’s belief.

I’m mindful of what I watch, read and listen to. There is so much said that is just spoken for reaction and upheaval. It is the same disrupted value of purchasing material goods. It’s the temporary stimulation of the hormone neurotransmitter in your brain to release a fix of dopamine.

The mind creates these artificial needs believing it cannot survive without them. People derive some type of self-satisfaction talking about other people, usually in a judgmental and negative way.

Confucius and the Buddha had rigorous teachings to emphasize proper speech. Socrates of Athens, known as the Father of Western Philosophy, emphasized proper speech with the “Triple Filter Test.”

One day in ancient Greece, an acquaintance met with the great philosopher Socrates and said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?”

“Hold on a minute,” Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything, let’s filter what you are about to say. ”

“The first filter is truth. Are you absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”

The man replied, “Well, no, I just heard about it and ... ”

Socrates interrupted, “Alright, so you don’t even know if it’s true. Now let’s try the second filter, the filter of goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my friend something that’s good?”

The man replied, “No, on the contrary.”

Socrates interrupted again, “So you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true. Okay let’s try the final filter, the filter of usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my friend going to be useful for me?”

The man replied, “Not really.”

Socrates concluded, “Well, if what you want to say is not true, not good, nor useful, then why say it at all?”

Un-careful speech can lead to many problems. Imagine if Socrates’ Triple Filter Test was taught to all children, how different our media would be and how different the world would be.

As for myself, I’m most intrigued with discussing the unknown, revealing thought and bringing into being something unique, something far from the ordinary processes. This is what evolves as an invitation to create and design the imagination for new thought, ideas and wonderment.

What I know, what has formed and influenced my thoughts and openness, is being self-taught. It’s the state of being relatively free from obstruction to learn more. With each person that I meet, I search for what I can learn and what that person can teach me.

It’s being social with an open mind. What can be seen from the descendants of renowned institutions of learning is that they teach what is believed needed to be taught. The earned degrees tend to make the recipient more selective in a social sphere and slow to learn from the so-called uninformed and uneducated.

Most of what’s been learned is taught through living. You know it is cold outside when you go outside and it’s cold. You also know it’s hot outside when you go outside and it’s hot. These are self-taught facts that are indisputable. The conclusion of this undue rhetoric is that most of the time is spent thinking too much about things of very little importance for the pursuit of joy.

Within the science of the mind we can see the sum of characteristics. Most people looking only look at the wrapping. A few will look beyond to see a preliminary presentation, while most will only listen to the commentator’s evaluation of a judgmental analysis. Appearance can be deceiving and misleading by false appearance and speech. Rarely will they reveal, make known and divulge the actual content.

George Bernard Shaw, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1925, packaged all these thoughts you’ve been reading in a simple verse in 1903.

“This is the true joy in life, being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one. Being a force of nature instead of a feverish, selfish little clod of ailments and grievances, complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you happy. I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it what I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work, the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no brief candle to me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.”

With my summing discourse and conclusion with this undue display of exaggerated thought, I don’t believe we need to endure deep pain from denying our own thoughts and feelings. We don’t need to forfeit who we are to make everyone else comfortable. Don’t allow anyone to cast you in their mind-made movie. - dbA

You can find more of the unfiltered insight and the Art of Dan Abernathy at www.contributechaos.com.