In today’s world, its almost impossible to avoid gossip mainly between friends and the dear ones. We often consider gossip as a means of talking bad about the people we don’t like. Gossips are mostly rumors intended to spread harm about the person we don’t like that much. But, in ancient Greece, Socrates found a way called as ‘Socrates Triple Filter Test’ to avoid Gossip. Check out this wisdom story and try to apply this ‘Socrates Triple Filter Test’ in your life.
Socrates Triple Filter Test:
In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance came to meet the great philosopher and said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?”
Socrates immediately stopped him saying “Hold on a minute”. “Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. That’s why I call it the Socrates Triple Filter Test.
The first filter is Truth. Have you made absolutely sure that what you are about to tell me is true?”
“Well, no,” the man said, “actually I just heard about it and…”
“Oh! I see” 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?”
“Umm, no, on the contrary…”
“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about my friend, 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?”
Check out: Seed Of Honesty – A Story Of A Young Honest Executive & Its Boss
Also, let us know if you will apply this ‘Socrates Triple Filter Test’ in your life.
