I am a great fan of Eknath Easwaran and the Blue Mountain Center. In his book The Mantram Handbook, he refers to a Sufi proverb which has great relevance from a social media perspective by replacing 'speech' with 'tweets', 'comments' and any form of digital opinion. Here is the passage from his book:
There is a Sufi proverb that each word we utter should have to pass through three gates before we say it. At the first gate, the gatekeeper asks, ‘Is this true?’ At the second gate, he asks, ‘Is it kind?’ And at the third gate, ‘Is it necessary?’ If we applied this proverb strictly, most of us would have very little to say. I am not recommending silence, however, but control over our speech.
By applying this approach, think how much kinder the world would be. The digital world is much more unforgiving and unforgetting. Digital unkindness and prejudice don't go away. They come back to haunt us.
There is a Sufi proverb that each word we utter should have to pass through three gates before we say it. At the first gate, the gatekeeper asks, ‘Is this true?’ At the second gate, he asks, ‘Is it kind?’ And at the third gate, ‘Is it necessary?’ If we applied this proverb strictly, most of us would have very little to say. I am not recommending silence, however, but control over our speech.
By applying this approach, think how much kinder the world would be. The digital world is much more unforgiving and unforgetting. Digital unkindness and prejudice don't go away. They come back to haunt us.
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