The Ego’s Reflexive Grip Versus the Soul’s Organic Response
Reactivity is the ego’s reflexive, automatic grasp—a response that bypasses presence, reaching out to defend itself or assert control. This is the ego’s terrain, where each interaction is filtered through conditioned impulses rooted in the past, giving rise to separation, judgment, and defensiveness. Reactivity feels almost mechanical, as though it runs on well-worn grooves with little capacity for fluidity or genuine engagement. It reinforces the ego’s perception of itself as a solitary agent, navigating a world often perceived as separate or adversarial.
Podcast Discussion
Responsiveness, however, is not a decision or a choice in the egoic sense. It doesn’t emerge from the mind’s deliberation but from a more profound, organic alignment with what is. This responsiveness flows from the soul—a natural, impressionable sensitivity to objective reality. Here, responsiveness feels more like an answer to a call than an action taken; it’s a movement from within that reflects the true nature of the moment. Unlike the ego’s compulsion to react, the soul’s responsiveness is an attunement, an effortless openness that naturally harmonizes with the present. In this state, we are not acting upon reality but resonating with it, meeting the moment in a way that transcends choice or willpower.
Many wisdom traditions have understood reactivity as antithetical to our true nature, and many inner techniques for transformation aim to disengage from reactivity. The problem with reactivity is that it eradicates presence. It means the soul leaves her ground, implying the absence of inner trust necessary for abiding in one’s true nature. It reflects the position that if one continues to be present, one will suffer more. Therefore, besides trying to control the environment, the soul learns to control her inner experience. More precisely, the soul experiences the inadequacy of holding as an inner disruption, an undesirable and threatening difficulty. She reacts to these with various inner postures and strategies that dissociate her from her nature.
The Soul as the Medium of Impressionable Sensitivity
If reactivity concerns defending and grasping, the soul’s responsiveness is openness and receptivity. The soul is a medium of impressionable sensitivity, a field through which life flows rather than a separate entity acting upon it. This field doesn’t harden or resist; instead, it allows each impression to enter without distortion, welcoming the depth of reality without the need to reshape or control it. In this sense, Responsiveness is not fragile but deeply resilient, embodying a strength that comes from remaining impressionable.
God always strives with humans to bring forth the best of them.
Aeschylus
The soul’s responsiveness to life doesn’t come from predetermined judgments or concepts but emerges spontaneously, informed by the immediacy of the present moment. When the soul responds, it mirrors reality with a gentle clarity, a softness that is neither passive nor rigid. This responsiveness allows life to impress upon us in ways that awaken us to unity rather than reinforcing separateness. Here, sensitivity isn’t a weakness to be guarded against but an inherent strength, a quality of knowing that arises directly from contact with reality.
A Diamond Approach® Perspective
When you see that the nature of the personality is reactivity—a cyclic reactivity—when you observe the whole cycle of ego activity based on hope, desire, and rejection, it is possible that the activity will cease, and peace and stillness will arise. Then, it is possible to understand what Being is. When this happens, you’ll discover that even if there is action and activity, where you come from is peace and stillness. This peace and serenity you are coming from is what your ego resists most of all. The first experience of peace is what the ego is trying to cover up with its reactivity. It is a kind of death experience because you experience nothing there, just complete, absolute silence and blackness. That is peace, complete peace. There is no action, reaction, or nothing, just complete silence and peace. You might be engaged in some activity, but where you are coming from, your fundamental attitude is that there is no reaction to anything, no rejection of anything. If you allow this to happen, then it is possible to know what Being is. Essentially, this experience of peace, of death, is that you are not reacting and that you are not. There is precisely the feeling of “I am not.” I am not, and so there is no reactivity.
The total experience of Being is a little beyond this; it is more a feeling that “I am,” but I am not reacting. Ultimately, we are Being. The process of the Work includes the goal because, from the beginning, in the process of understanding yourself, the perspective is toward Being, not toward doing some activity. If you are reacting to the work on yourself, you are perpetuating the personality. But if you understand from the beginning, this reaction and activity of the personality is itself a non-Being, a resistance against Being. Perhaps your orientation will be more influenced by Being. So, the goal is in you from the beginning.
Life as a Transformative Journey
Living from this soulful responsiveness transforms each experience into a journey of unfolding, a fluid and continuous dance with reality. Where reactivity binds us to the past, responsiveness roots us in the present, allowing each encounter to reveal new depths. This responsiveness feels like a harmonious dance—a dynamic flow unrestricted from the ego’s insistence on agency and control. The soul doesn’t engage with life as a series of tasks or obstacles to overcome but as an unfolding call, a rhythm to move with rather than against.
Do not seek to follow in the footsteps of the wise; seek what they sought.
Attar of Nishapur
In this dance, the soul is both receptive and engaged, meeting life’s challenges not with rigidity but with a fluid resilience that honors each moment. The soul, grounded in the present, experiences life as a series of invitations rather than obstacles—each moment an unfolding of deeper truth and connection. Where the ego resists, trying to control or alter reality, the soul flows, accepting reality’s contours without imposing its will. This soulful responsiveness is a harmonious attunement to life’s natural rhythm, an answer to the call of Being.
When we live from the soul’s perspective, we understand that life is not about arriving at a fixed state but about engaging in a continuous process of becoming. In this state of responsiveness, we are free from the ego’s grasp, experiencing life not as a series of reactions but as an interconnected, unfolding journey. The soul does not seek to fix, reject, or impose but to meet each moment with presence and sensitivity, aware that it is part of a larger, interconnected whole. Each experience becomes an opportunity to deepen our understanding of reality and allow life’s impressions to shape and transform us.
This transformation reveals that true responsiveness is the soul’s natural way of being. The soul doesn’t cling to the patterns of the past or the pressures of the future but flows, impressionable and attuned to what is here and now. In this place of deep responsiveness, we find freedom beyond choice. This organic, fluid movement is not dictated by egoic agency but by the soul’s inherent connection to reality.
From Reaction to Soulful Response
Desires make slaves out of kings and patience makes kings out of slaves.
Al-Ghazali
The shift from reactivity to soulful responsiveness is a return to our true nature—a place where life calls, and the soul answers without resistance. This responsiveness is not an action based on choice or decision-making; it is a resonance with reality, a natural harmony that allows us to experience life fully without the filters of egoic conditioning. Here, reactivity fades, and the soul’s sensitivity emerges as a quiet strength, free to embrace life as it unfolds. In this space, we move from surviving to truly living, experiencing life not as separate entities but as part of a vibrant, interconnected whole.