The "Midwifery" of Socrates

In your goodness you let the blind speak of your light" (Nicholas of Cusa).

 

I dare to write not because I strongly trust in my own ability to write, but with a much stronger faith in the objective presence of the "Stable Witness" within who "will teach you everything" and whose "law is already written on your hearts."  All that a spiritual teacher really does is "second the motions" of the Holy Spirit (Richard Rohr in Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality, p.1-2).

 

Let me begin by saying that Richard Rohr is one of my favorite spiritual writers.  When he writes, he puts into words my experiences, many of which are still vaguely formed and expressed in my own mind.  He says in his introduction to Things Hidden that "spiritual cognition is invariably experienced as "re-cognition."  And he quotes the "midwifery" of Socrates, who believed that he was merely delivering the baby that was already inside the person.

 

If we are not paying attention to and praying about our own experience with the Holy Spirit, we tend to rely too much on external authority as our guide.  The Body of Christ is a valuable resource for discernment, for explanation from those who have also experienced what we are going through, and for leading us into deeper truth -- much as I use Richard Rohr's books to help me "see" and understand what God has been teaching me from the beginning.

 

So much scriptural teaching stops with historical background and explanation.  But Scripture is not teaching us "what happened" as much as it revealing to us "what happens today."  If people today do not experience the Risen Jesus -- exclaiming "He's Alive!" with as much conviction as Mary Magdalene and the other disciples --- then, Jesus is just a historical personage.  His resurrection has no bearing on our lives today.

 

As Rohr points out, "One dot is not wisdom: You can prove anything you want from a single Scripture quote" (p.3).  Our own experience allows us to begin to connect the dots to Scripture and to the experiences of the early church and of our fellow-travelers today.

 

At first, we may seek out someone who can explain to us what we are experiencing -- this is why people go to spiritual leaders/ directors, as well as to mediums, psychologists, and wise friends.  But as we begin to be convinced and confident that we are indeed "being taught of God," we begin to trust that we are not 'crazy' or 'talking to ourselves."  The inner experience and the outer experience begin to form a whole pattern.....and that is wisdom.

 

Rohr says, "We have for too long insisted on outer authority alone, without any teaching of prayer, inner journey, and maturing consciousness.  The results for the world and for religion have been disastrous" (p.5).  Jesus told us to 'go into the inner room, and there pray in secret to your Father, Who hears what you say in secret.'  That is the only way we will begin to make sense of our own journey and see the connections to the journeys described in Scripture. 

 

The only thing that changes us is not information, but inner experience, which we call "transformation."  And that is the work of the Holy Spirit in us, transforming us into the Image of Christ, the only Son of the Father.  If we do not resemble Him, we do not resemble God, who created us in His Image and Likeness.

 

One time at a prayer meeting, I sensed the Holy Spirit descend upon one of the members of the group.  When I asked her about it, she said, "I felt something, but didn't know what it was."  And the Spirit spoke to me, "Stay close and teach her."  That is pretty much the pattern of our encounter with the Lord.  We are ready and open; the Holy Spirit arrives, but we do not understand, and someone from the Body of Christ is close by to teach us, or explain what is happening to us. 

 

The experience of Saul on the road to Damascus and the experience of the Ethiopian eunuch (Acts 8) are universal patterns for the Christian experience.  In the case of the Ethiopian, he was reading Isaiah, but did not understand what the Scripture referred to, since he had never heard of Jesus.  The Holy Spirit told Philip: "Go up to that chariot and teach!"

 

The Holy Spirit will use any believer who is nearby to one ready to encounter the Living Jesus.  In the sense of Socrates, we do not have to "convert" people as much as we simply have to "deliver the baby" that is already inside of them and ready for birth.