A lot of people quite often ask what is the difference between Response and Reaction. Here is a snapshot of the difference:
Reaction is untrue action - behavior that arises from the damage and impoverishment of our personalities. We react according to our conditioning - and not to what is. Such reaction may sometimes be decisive, but ultimately can never be creative, because it does not come from a free place.
Response, on the other hand, is always creative. Response is true action-behavaior free from personal agenda. It is the action of the inner child, and therefore genuinely open to good in the situation. It will cling on nothing,except tthat which is best.
Reaction is mechanical, response is spiritual, and it is not hard to distinguish between the two as we reflect on events. Most human personality is not response, but reaction - behavior arising out of false identifications.
(Excerpts from The Enneagram , a book by Simon Parke)
