What does “Spirit” mean for Rasmus?

Rasmus is a believer of Chirst, a happily married man, & a father of 2 children. He’s currently running a startup building AI for enterprises. In his free time, he loves spending time with others.

When we use language, we often mean different things because of different life experiences and life stories.

Darryl Lim  00:00

When you see the word SPIRIT, what do you think about?

Rasmus  00:06

Well, for me, as a follower of Christ, I think when I see the word “spirit”, instinctively, I think of the Holy Spirit. But of course, there are various ways to think of spirit. There's also the human spirit, right, which probably comes from somewhere, perhaps somewhere religious. We're not sure. I'm not so sure about that, but so there's that understanding of spirit from the human spirit, where people are endeavoring to improve themselves, endeavor to expand their knowledge and endeavor to push on. But there's also, then, the other side of spirit, the more negative side, which is like, you know, evil spirits, negative spirits and things like that. And of course, I know that recently, maybe the last 20 years or so, maybe even 10 years, right? People started saying things like, “I'm not religious. I’m spiritual.” And I suppose it probably stems from something related to the understanding of the spiritual realm. Maybe one last point as well. When I think of spirit, I also think of like, you know, the Eastern spiritual movements. Usually it starts from like India, China, where it's like Buddhism. I think of yoga. I think of things like that. I think of Bali.

Darryl Lim  01:31

When you say the Eastern spiritual traditions, you talked about India and China… Conceptually or experientially, what do you think about the word spirit, with regards to all of these?

Rasmus  01:49

Conceptually and experientially? Well, conceptually, I think it's really what people understand of the term spirit, like from the biblical point of view, a human has like a body, like the material body, the soul and the spirit, and even then, the soul and the spirit within Christian thinking, Christian thought, some people believe that soul and spirit are one. Some people believe that so and spirit are different, right? So conceptually, the spirit is another realm that is outside of the physical realm. In terms of experientially, I think people actually experience the spiritual realm in multiple ways. So for example, we hear of people being demon-possessed, or we hear of people being able to talk to the dead, or we hear of people feeling a completely different experience — an out-of-body experience — even when, when they are, you know, quote, unquote, in, in the spiritual realm, and this is usually from people practising Eastern spiritual practices that usually stem from like doing things like yoga, looking at crystals and things like that. So that's the experiential part of it. I also think that when countries get a bit richer and countries pursue things like wealth and money and things like that, and they try to avoid thinking about the spiritual realm. You can also dull the spiritual realm. So in that sense, when you dull the spiritual realm, you feel like there is no spiritual realm, and therefore you don't have to experience the spirit. And usually these are people who are atheist, agnostics, usually atheist people who just, in some sense, pursue more material things.

Darryl Lim  03:50

But there are also people who pursue material things and are very into the wellness industry, right?

Rasmus  04:01

Well, there are, I think there's a growing movement in the US, and be in Singapore as well, and some richer countries. I think these people are those who realize that, hey, there is something out there. It's not just a material world. People experience spiritual stuff. And when people try it, especially when they try with psychedelics, right? They they actually really, they feel the experience of accessing this other realm. And so then they invite their friends over, and then they all feel it as well. And usually it always starts out positive, but then I've also heard instances where you can, you can go south, it can get negative, it can get scary. People get terrors and all that stuff. So in that sense, yeah, I think, I think there are that group of people as well, yes, yeah.

Darryl Lim  04:59

So what's your personal experience with spirit? Because, like, yeah, you have been talking about other people's experiences. So what are your personal experiences? And possibly talk about the experiences that helped you arrive at this definition or this worldview of SPIRIT?

Rasmus  05:22

Well, I think, being a Christian, a believer of Christ, right? I think my personal experience started out when I was a little bit younger, and, you know, in a Christian church that was… in a charismatic church that believed in the movement of the Spirit. So there was things like praying in tongues, and in some sense, it's like an accessing of the spirit. People cry, people laugh, people fall down, and things like that. And there’s this term called being slain by the Spirit. So it started from there. But you know, as I grew older, I thought this was nonsense, and I thought this was fake, like the church made it up, like, this is just emotions, right? And so I backslided for a while, but you know, after many years, I think seven years or so, but then I, I just kept thinking that I needed to go back. And so when I finally, you know, long story short, I finally came back to God and started really reading the Bible, that really changed my understanding of the spirit of the spiritual realm. So my understanding of the spiritual realm is that, yes, people can, even Christians, can manipulate this, the spiritual realm, and sometimes make it seem like it is the Spirit when it's actually emotions, or sometimes they actually do stuff that actually it might be the evil spirit amongst Christians. I mean, that's a bit controversial, but I think, you know, we can go at length at that. But what I realized for myself is that when I pray, I actually feel close to this being that is out there and in Christian thought, like you, you basically surrender to this God, surrender to this being out there, and so. And okay, so in Christian thought, right? Or in Christian belief, God is a relational being. And he wants to have a relationship with you. And so when you surrender yourself to Him, and when you decide that you know you want to love Him and be in a relationship with him, there there is a real relationship. And so this relationship is experienced through the Holy Spirit. And it's hard to describe the physical feeling of it, but you feel this sense of peace and joy that you get from nowhere but God. And so that is the experience of being in the Spirit. And I think in some sense, right, I would say that I've come to a point where I'll move away, and even if I have no spiritual manifestations, like, you know, laughing and crying, or even if I don't have any, like, magnificent looking things, right? And it's just a still quietness, this joy, I believe that's the spirit. Yeah, that's my experience.

Darryl Lim  08:39

Maybe, because right now we are still within the conceptual and your thoughts and ideas about all of that, maybe you can tell about your specific personal experience, your story that had brought you towards this kind of definition of what spirit is.

Rasmus  08:58

So perhaps maybe I could talk about the time when I decided to come back to Christ, you know, having, like, left a relationship in some sense, like, you know, I was a Christian when I was growing up, and then I left. So it's a little bit like, if you imagine in Christian thought, right, in Christian doctrine, believing in God, and it's, it's, it's, uh, in some sense, you have to be in a relationship with God if you actually believe in him, like being in a relationship with a spouse or friend. So after I left that relationship with God for like, seven years, I felt this pull to come back, right? And after I felt this pull to come back, I started reading the Bible. And when I started reading the Bible and realizing that I actually didn't know Jesus, I didn't know this God that I was worshiping. Like, who is this God? How is he like? I didn't actually know His character. It's like, almost as if I don't know you as a friend, Darryl, and I decided to leave the relationship, or I don't know my spouse, and I decided to divorce. Is that kind of feeling right? I don't actually know who this Jesus is, but I decided to walk away. And so I decided to really dig deep into the Bible, understanding the character of Jesus and who he is. And as I kept doing that, I realized how loving Jesus is, how much He cares for us, how much he sacrificed for us, for me and for the world, how much he wants to be with us. And that is just from the Bible. And as I read that and understand that, I see his work in my life, the way he draws me to other people, the way he orchestrates things in my life, the way he provides and I felt this sense of emotion that I started crying. I started crying because I'm just like, God, you love me so much, and I don't love you, and I decided to leave you, and you know, I want to come back to you. And that emotion is a mix of, like a physical emotion and that spiritual connection that I had with God through, I think, the Holy Spirit, and so, you know, after that point and and honestly, even throughout the time when I was, like away from God, I did feel a little bit of that, but a lot more doubt, doubt because, you know, I chose to, like, run away from God, right? But from that point, and you know, even up to today, like, whenever I pray, I get a sense of peace, a sense of assurance, guidance, even, like, like, Oh, this is what you should do. Then, of course, I go back to the word to see that it is grounded in a word. So, for example, I actually had a big fight with someone close to me yesterday. I went out to pray and ask, ask God for guidance. And, you know, usually God will give me like a word or, you know, direction. And usually it's grounded in the Bible. And you know what “grounded” means… you know, we can go to that as well, right? But yesterday, I didn't feel anything, right? I didn't feel like I had an answer, but then towards the end, what I heard was just like, no, you don't have to do anything. It'll be okay. Then I got back, I actually looked at my phone and it was okay, like, and so at that point we reconciled, yeah, and so just like, it felt really like, that's how God orchestrates things, right? Like he makes things happen. He gives you this assurance that it was him and that he cares about you and that you feel loved, and that's my lived experience of being in the SPIRIT.

At Split Arenas, we believe professional communication should be rooted in personal stories. When we look at the words people use, and the stories behind those words, we understand who they are, and we can build better relationships. To learn more about what we do, click here. If you wish to be featured in our Language Stories Series, reach out to darryl@split-arenas.com.