THE THREE SIEVES TEST
Socrates
In Ancient Greece, Socrates had a high opinion of wisdom.
Someone came to visit this great philosopher and said to him:
• do you know what I‘ve just learnt about your friend?
• just a moment, said Socrates, before you tell me, I would like you to take a test, the three sieves test
• The three sieves?
• That’s right, said Socrates, before you tell me all sorts of things about other people, it’s good to take the time to filter what we want to say. That’s what I call the Three Sieves Test. The first sieve is truth. Have you checked whether what you are going to tell me is true?
• No, I simply heard about it.
• OK, so you don’t know whether it’s true. Let’s try and filter in a different way, using the second sieve - kindness.
Is what you want to tell me about my friend something kind?
• Oh, no, quite the opposite!
• So, Socrates continued, you want to tell me bad things about him and you’re not even sure that they are true. You might still pass the test, because there is a sieve left – usefulness. What will change by you telling me something my friend is supposed to have done?
• Not anything really.
• So, concluded Socrates, if what you want to tell me is neither true, nor kind nor useful, why do you want to tell me?
THE LARGE STONES
By Henri Gougaud
• Children, said the teacher, this morning we are going to have a new experiment.
He takes a large glass vase from under his desk and places it so everyone can see it. Them from the same place, he brings out a basket full of large stones, as big as oranges. He puts them in the vase, one after the other, right up to the brim.
• Is the vase full?
• A unanimous ‘yes’ resounds
• Do you really think so? Asks the teacher
From under the table he brings out a bucket full of gravel which he pours over the stones. All the small gravel stones work their way amongst the large ones into the bottom of the vase, and, little by little, reach the top of the vase.
• Is the vase full now?
The children are having great fun with this experiment. They have understood. No, they cry, we can add sand.
• Here’s some, said the teacher
He gets a bag out, pours it over the stones and gravel, brushes himself down and asks:
• What does this experiment tell us? Have a good think about it, my children.
In the classroom, silence and expectant faces.
• It tells us this: the big stones have to go in first. You would not be able to fit them in after the sand and the gravel.
• My question then is this:
For you, for your life, what are your large stones? What are the most important things?
Your Family? Your friends? Living Your dreams? To Learn?
Whatever things you choose, they have priority.
If you put the sand, the gravel, the small things in first, there won’t be enough room, enough time for the important things and your life will be a failure.
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