How Socrates Taught the Art of Remembering What We Already Know

“I myself am barren of wisdom… but I help others give birth to their own understanding.”
~ Socrates, in Plato’s Theaetetus

In the noisy marketplaces of Athens, surrounded by teachers who boasted their wisdom and debated for fun, Socrates did something revolutionary.

He listened.

He didn’t claim to possess truth. He claimed to know nothing. Yet through his presence, his questioning, and his unwavering gaze into the soul of others, he helped people uncover truths buried deep within themselves.

Socrates called himself a midwife of the soul.

Truth Can’t Be Taught, Only Remembered

“All learning is but recollection.”
~ Plato, echoing Socratic teaching

Socrates believed that the soul is eternal, that before birth, it knew all truth, and that what we call “learning” is actually remembering.

This reframes education not as indoctrination, but as awakening.

His method of inquiry was not about forcing facts into someone’s mind. It was about drawing something out that was already there.

A Feminine Philosophy in Disguise

“I resemble my mother, who was a midwife… but my art is of the soul.”
~ Socrates, Theaetetus

It’s no accident that Socrates chose the metaphor of midwifery, a traditionally feminine, sacred art, to describe his work.

In a society that exalted masculine logic, conquest, and argument, Socrates chose a gentler path. His philosophical style required patience, humility, and presence… the very traits later associated with the feminine principle.

Diotima: The Forgotten Teacher

“Love is neither mortal nor immortal. It is in-between… it is a spirit, a messenger.”
~ Diotima, in Plato’s Symposium

Socrates claimed that everything he knew about love and the soul’s ascent came from Diotima of Mantinea, a female philosopher and priestess.

She taught him that eros, the force of desire, could lead the soul from physical attraction to divine union. She offered the vision of a Ladder of Love, where the seeker climbs from beauty in form to beauty in truth.

Yet history remembers Socrates, not her.

The Inner Feminine as Philosopher

Socrates’ practice embodied something lost in much of Western thought: the belief that the soul is wise, intuitive, and naturally oriented toward truth, if only we would listen.

His reverence for his inner voice, his metaphor of birth, and his respect for feminine wisdom all suggest a deep alignment with the inward feminine, what we might now call spiritual intuition, conscience, or the divine feminine within.

The world honored Aphrodite and Artemis but forgot the wisdom that birthed gods and goddesses alike.

A Philosophy of Presence, Not Power

Socrates didn’t conquer minds. He midwifed them.
He didn’t dominate. He invited.
He didn’t lecture. He asked.

In doing so, he taught us the true heart of philosophy:

The truth is already within you. I’m only here to help you remember.

But the question is: How do we access this divine inner knowing?

Through meditation…

Shut off that masculine monkey mind and the emotions that it creates by simply being aware from within. Learn how to meditate, to listen to your thoughts without attaching to them…to watch your emotions and how they’re connected to your thoughts, but without attachment. They’re not as real as you think they are. Go into the womb of the soul, meditate, just listen… that is the matrix of philosophy… to go within.