Thoughts on the "Distinctive Spirit"

There is a thing called ruach hakodesh by chazal. According to the Rambam this is a precursor to prophecy. But what is it?

Shimshon purportedly used ruach hakodesh when battling the Plishtim. He battled the Plishtim by inciting them to battle him with riddles (the same word used by G to describe prophecy in general). He would pose a strange riddle to them and when they couldn't answer the riddle, they became angry and he would then defend himself.

This was apparently some kind of political maneuver which prevented the Plishtim from starting an all-out war with Israel. But Shimshon's ability to consistently defeat the Plishtim in battle was considered to be rooted in his ruach hakodesh.

So what can we make of this concept? Did Shimshon "dream" them to defeat? Were his "riddles" somehow causing his victories? (Side question: what did his nazirus have to do with anything?)

I heard a shiur from my rabbi recently discussing the Rambam's discussion regarding ruach hakodesh. From the Rambam's view it sounds more like a motive than any kind of magic power.

My sense is that ruach hakodesh is a kind of root motive of a person. Most people live their lives for their own enjoyment or avoiding pain, or gaining power or any other such similar operating motive. I think that such motives can vaguely be referred to as the ruach of the person - the person's spirit. A man who seeks money guides all of his actions towards that end. I think that ruach hakodesh is in that vein.

A person who so fully devotes himself to reality and its ways will have a different perspective on the world. He won't be maintaining the culture around him but rather constantly striving to improve his world and bring it to be more in line with the Will of reality.

An interesting example of this would be Yosef. The Rambam cites him as an example of  someone who became a navi but had ruach hakodesh in the house of Potifar when he was a slave. How could Yosef, a slave, being directing all of his actions toward improving reality while he was cleaning Potiphar's stables? I think that Yosef cleaned Potiphar's stables for different reasons than any other slave - he did so to improve the world.

Maybe Yosef was just trying to follow the underlying principles of reality and act justly toward his master, or maybe he conceived of a possibility that if he worked hard enough for Potiphar he might be able to attract a more powerful master whom he could use to help the world (this is eventually what happened with Paroh).

In any event, I think that this typifies the "distinctive spirit" - a complete will to follow the principles of reality - and more so to make them extant in the world. I wonder if this is the precursor to prophecy - a complete commitment to reality.

In explaining Shimshon, I think that he was able to devote himself completely to protecting Israel and devised a strategy how he could do so - the fighting came from his clear and perfect will. Consider Bruce Lee - a small strong man who should not be able to defeat opponents far stronger than himself but due to his understanding of himself and the human body capable of defeating almost anyone in one-on-one combat.

I assume that Shimshon had a similar ability based primarily upon his will to enact the principles of reality coupled with his nazirus (this may have been a special role in society that was particularly helpful for him as his mother was visited by an angel and told specifically to maintain his nazirus and he lost his abilities in combat after losing his nazir status).

Perhaps ruach hakodesh means that a person devotes everything they are to kodesh - the most basic and true principles of reality. I'm not certain about any of these ideas, but I think that they raise some interesting questions and perhaps shed some light on the term for now.