Commentary of Cameo 14 – The Chain of Miscreation

March 10, 2021

This material is remarkably rich with teaching about how we should treat other people.  Imagine having Jesus following you around for the day as you interact in multiple social situations.  Then he offers a detailed report of what you were thinking and how you behaved.  This is precisely what occurred here, and we have analysis of the interactions of Helen, Bill, and several associates.  Jesus explains that this exercise and analysis is not ideal, a more constructive approach is to teach what to do, not what not to do.  However, it is useful and instructive precisely because the events described are so typical.  These are just ordinary day-by-day encounters which set our lives in motion.  As we will see it was error built on error, built on more error.  All of it could have been avoided.  “Mind-watching [versus mind-wandering] would have prevented any of this from occurring” (p. 1765). 

The essay is long and so it may be more useful here to summarize a few key points: 

• Bill experienced strain throughout the day because of “a number of fear-producing attitudes.”  
• This was due to a lack of vigilant mind watching.  
• Jesus relates this to studying and reading the notes:  “[Bill] will be find the notes fearful” if he does not watch his mind.   
• Bill could have offered a cab ride to their friend, Dora, and even if the ride was not of interest, “she would have been able to use the thought well.”  In other words, having that courtesy extended to her would have been a gift worth giving.  The content [courtesy] is more valuable than the form [cab ride]. 
• When Bill offered a cab to another lady, it was for all the wrong reasons.  He was trying to atone for a previous error without asking for guidance first.  Jesus says this error was “well calculated to lead to further error.  If, instead of attempting to atone on his own, [Bill] had asked for guidance, there would have been no difficulty whatever in the cab situation.” 
• Helen directed anger at a child who was making her cold (because of where she should in proximity to a door that kept being opened).  Jesus advised, “It would have been much wiser had you built up her confidence, instead of associating with her stupidity.”  Here again we see the content [building a person’s confidence] being valued above the form [the matter under discussion].    
• Jesus is concerned with efficiency (see bottom of p. 1768).  Love creates efficiency and shortens time; fear reactions create chains of miscreation (error).  Fear reactions result in “considerable and totally unnecessary planning.”  
• The purpose of this exercise and discussion is repeated: “I am not saying this with any harsh overtones at all.  I am just trying to create better learning conditions for study periods. We want as little interference as possible.” 
• Material items of importance like the Notes or “storage problems” should be “entrusted to [Jesus].”  
• Helen had enjoyed someone making fun of another person at their expense.  Jesus told her that there was a way to have behaved in that interaction without doing so at the person’s expense. “Real courtesy never does this…all of God’s children are fully worthy of complete courtesy.  You should never join with one at the expense of another.” 
• Helen was told that she mishandled a lunch invitation because she asked Bill whether he wanted to join, giving him no option to privately say no.  The lesson here: “There are ways of treating others in which only consistent courtesy, even in very little things, is offered. It is a very healing habit to acquire.” 

This advise here about being completely and consistently courteous is priceless. So many of my interactions fall short of this advice. This is what Jesus has in mind by being miracle-minded. 

“It is very hard to get out of the chain of miscreation which can arise out of even the simplest misthought… You must both learn not to let this kind of chain-reaction start. You will not be able to control it once it has started, because everything and everyone will be pulled into the misprojection and misinterpreted accordingly.” 

In concluding the essay on these Notes, Robert Perry offers a three-component summary for distilling the teaching on how to avoid these chains of miscreations where “unloving thoughts and unguided decisions lead to hurtful actions” and instead develop conscientious behavior that is “kindly, healing gracious, respectful, and courteous.” (pp. 1776, 1777). 

First, we watch our minds.  (Loving thoughts) 

Second, we ask for guidance before we act.  (Guided decisions) 

Third, we give miracles.  (Healing actions) 

By holding loving thoughts versus fear thoughts we are more receptive to hear the true voice of God, Jesus or other forms of help.  This provides us Christ-guidance in our decision making, which leads to Christ-controlled behavior and “healing actions.”   

This third step of giving miracles will eventually become involuntary to us.  In Miracle Principle 35 we were told:  

“Everything involuntary belongs under Christ-control, not yours.  Under Christ-control, miracles replenish the doer as well as the receiver. Miracle workers must learn Christ-control to replace their former habits, which did produce scarcity in place of abundance. From errors of this kind the sense of deprivation is inevitable, but very easily corrected” (T-1.35.6:2-5). 

You can see the teaching in this cameo reinforced in this principle.  “Habits” are with our thinking and watching of our mind.  Healing actions are demonstrated by “replenishing the doer and receiver.”  And, of course the “sense of deprivation” that comes from lack of guidance are the miscreations that are the theme of these Notes and essay. 

In Miracle Principle 49: 

“Christ-controlled miracles are selective only in that they are directed toward those who can use them for themselves. Since this makes it inevitable that they will extend them to others, a very strong chain of Atonement is welded” (T-1.49.2:1-2). 

By following these three components of mind watching, guidance seeking and giving miracles we ensure that grace is bestowed as God would have it, rather than by our own agenda and control.  This creates a “strong chain of Atonement” and saves us time in the process.   

Suggested Practice 

“Today I will act graciously toward all my brothers.  They are fully worthy of complete courtesy in all things.”