Welcome Message (click for video)

Hi! My name is Raymond Ervin Cain, Jr., and I would like to welcome you to the virtual presence of The Institute for Studies in Practical Spirituality, Inc. We are so pleased that you are here! You may have arrived intentionally or just stumbled across us. However you “showed up,” please know it is not a mistake. Nothing occurs by happenstance, and there are no coincidences in the Universe.

So, since you are here, please stay awhile and check us out. If you are curious about new approaches to spirituality and religiosity, this is the place for you. We are adding new content weekly, so we ask for your patience. And, the fact is, there are hundreds of great websites advocating practical spirituality, but you are here with us. We thank you ! (Just in case you didn’t get the address, it’s ISPS.institute)

Charles Fillmore, cofounder of Unity along with his wife Mrytle, defined it (Unity) as “a link in the great educational movement inaugurated by Jesus [the] Christ.” The Institute for Studies in Practical Spirituality, Inc. is also a link in this great educational movement.

As such, we are a spiritual organism. We agree with Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, a Jesuit priest, theologian, philosopher, scientist, and teacher who believed that we are “spiritual beings living in a spiritual universe governed by spiritual law.” Our purpose, in the contexts of principle and spiritual law, is to promote spiritual growth and advance humankind’s peaceful evolution.

We do this by offering structured learning opportunities—in the New Thought tradition—that inspire, deepen, and strengthen both spiritual understanding and intuitive knowledge in practical, demonstrable ways. In other words, we provide learning opportunities that encourage and facilitate authentic living.

Noted psychologist Abraham Maslow defined authentic living as doing what one is “called” to do—one’s vocation. We can demonstrate this calling in our daily lives as well as realize our full, creative potential. This potential is fostered by prayer, meditation, study, solitude, and silence. It is enhanced by and, at the same time, produces right thoughts, right words, right feelings, right actions, and right reactions.

And the good news is we are here for a purpose; our lives, lived authentically, have significant meaning! According to Peter Shepherd, author, publisher, and creator of Trans4mind.com,

To promote our personal growth, we can learn to be authentic, to be aware of our inner selves and to hear our inner feelings and needs. We can begin to transcend our own cultural conditioning and become world citizens. We can help our children discover their talents and creative skills, to find the appropriate career and complementary partner. We can demonstrate that life is precious, that there is joy to be experienced in life, and that if one is open to seeing the good—and humorous—in all kinds of situations, this makes life worth living.

This is the need for a higher truth; to make contact with the creative force that is beyond the human personality; to make sense of all the suffering and injustices of the survival struggle on earth. This need has been evident in all cultures, expressed by all religions, and is the spiritual path towards enlightenment, towards discovering the truth of All That Is. (https://trans4mind.com/transformation/)

In his best–selling book The Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren (Senior Minister at Saddleback Church, Lake Forest, CA) wrote, “Once you know what God wants you to do, the blessing comes in actually doing it.” In Twilight of the Idols, Nietzsche said, “If we possess our why of life, we can put up with any how.” Doing it—our vocation or calling—places us on the road to self–discovery and self–actualization.

We at The Institute are doing Human Resource Development at the soul level. We’re about spiritual growth and development. This is admonished by just two words from Jeshua (the perfect example of the Christ—our Wayshower and our master teacher) in Matthew 5.48: “Be perfect[!] …” To this end, along with you, we strive to BE; we strive to be PERFECT.

And, in actuality, we are already spiritually perfect in God’s sight because we are created in his spiritual “image and after his likeness,” and everything God made was pronounced “good and very good.” So, get on board for a journey of a lifetime—a journey of learning, a journey of new thoughts, a journey of self–actualization, a journey of God’s love. Again, we welcome you, we thank you, and we invite you to share heartedly in The Institute’s learning experiences.

“The light of God surrounds me, the love of God enfolds me, the power of God protects me, the presence of God watches over me. Wherever I am, God is.” (James Dillet Freeman) And, so it is!