The all-to-common plague of speaking negatively of others… We’re all guilty of it. I know I am, or as a work in progress I’d like to say, used to be. But some of us are just more aware of this than others. The awareness in this capacity is what carries the possibility of improvement and change. Do we really want to be receptive and open to accepting garbage? Our minds can only take in so much in a given day, and there is a capacity limit, so why don’t we leave the BS out, refuse to accept it, and leave some more room for the good positive stuff? The influence it has is subtle, but over time it compounds without notice, and it rears its ugly head in some form down the line. Simplified, we can all take the simplistic advice of Thumper from the movie Bambi when he states: “if you can’t say somethin’ nice, don’t say nothin’ at all”. Or, we can make like Socrates and bust out a Triple Filter Test when we, or someone is about to spew some junk.
Hence, a great story shared by the awesome Peter Legge:
In ancient Greece, Socrates was reputed to hold knowledge in high esteem. One day an acquaintance met the great philosopher and said, “Do you know what I just heard about your friend?”
“Hold on a minute,” Socrates replied. “Before telling me anything, I’d like you to pass a little test. It’s called the triple filter test.”
“Triple filter?”
“That’s right,” Socrates continued. “Before you talk to me about my friend, it might be a good idea to take a moment and filter what you’re going to say. That’s why I call it the triple filter test.”
1. “The first filter 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 and…”
2. “All right,” 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?”
“No, on the contrary…”
“So,” Socrates continued, “you want to tell me something bad about him, but you’re not certain it’s true.”
3. “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?”
It’s hard to find an instance where a filter doesn’t make something BETTER. Now, lets be aware of input, output and negative BS, and make Thumper and Socrates proud – and ourselves better for it.