Good, Truth, and Usefullness
These days I'm back in Sri Lanka for a 5 week vacation. The feeling of freedom I have thesedays is amazing, I'm spending so much time with friends and family. It;s lovely to be able to chat without looking at watches and thinking of what to do next but just to be able to live in the moment and value the time spent with people the people I love
Another thing that I was thinking of as I chat was how we sometimes seem to have this bad habit of trying to gossip or find fault with others. This reminded me of the famous saying by Socrates.
One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?"
"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Test of Three."
"Test of Three?"
"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to test what you're going to say. The first test 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."
"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"
"No, on the contrary..."
"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him even though you're not certain it's true?"
The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.
Socrates continued. "You may still pass though, because there is a third test - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student 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?"
I don't know if it's really something Socrates said or a rumor, but it really spoke to me, and I thought specially during this Christmas Season and for the New Year I will try to think if what I say is True, Good or Useful before talking about others.
Another thing that I was thinking of as I chat was how we sometimes seem to have this bad habit of trying to gossip or find fault with others. This reminded me of the famous saying by Socrates.
One day the great philosopher came upon an acquaintance who ran up to him excitedly and said, "Socrates, do you know what I just heard about one of your students?"
"Wait a moment," Socrates replied. "Before you tell me I'd like you to pass a little test. It's called the Test of Three."
"Test of Three?"
"That's right," Socrates continued. "Before you talk to me about my student let's take a moment to test what you're going to say. The first test 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."
"All right," said Socrates. "So you don't really know if it's true or not. Now let's try the second test, the test of Goodness. Is what you are about to tell me about my student something good?"
"No, on the contrary..."
"So," Socrates continued, "you want to tell me something bad about him even though you're not certain it's true?"
The man shrugged, a little embarrassed.
Socrates continued. "You may still pass though, because there is a third test - the filter of Usefulness. Is what you want to tell me about my student 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?"
I don't know if it's really something Socrates said or a rumor, but it really spoke to me, and I thought specially during this Christmas Season and for the New Year I will try to think if what I say is True, Good or Useful before talking about others.
posted by Roshanthi at 11:23 am
4 comments
