ABSTRACT
This chapter offers an example of the Lady of the Lake from Arthurian legends. The Lady is a powerful figure who exists outside of society. She provides both counsel and support to Lancelot in a number of medieval stories, serving as a substitute parent, specifically a foster mother. It is important to conceptualize the powerful outsider, who exists in contradistinction to organizational or institutional elites. Such a person would be similar to others in powerful positions with identifiable sources of that power. Much like any social, political, or economic actor operating in society, the maieutic person both exists and operates outside societal rules, norms, and often institutions. Maieutics also denotes a form of Socratic inquiry. The consideration of maieutics has practical consequences. Specifically, someone experiencing a maieutic life in contemporary society would not be found on a mountaintop meditating.
