Human reactivity

My understanding of the Sixteen Steps, and of the Anapana practice based on them, revolves around the idea of human reactivity. What I mean by reactivity is that each one of us has been shaped by all the experiences we've passed through in life, and that that shaping affects the way we respond to new experiences. This happens subconsciously. We're usually not aware of the reasons why we react the way we do.

Yet we form habits in the ways in which we respond to events in life. Each time we meet similar circumstances, we tend to act in ways that worked for us before. In time our habits become part of our character.

It's the healing of this reactivity which is the focus of Anapana practice. On this page we look at what is meant by reactivity, and how we develop it.

Forming mental habits

When we were born our minds were empty, yet plastic and infinitely adaptable. We learned to recognise different faces, and to smile at the people most important to us. We sensed the difference between a smile and a frown. We heard all the sounds other people made, and eventually we learned to speak in whatever language was spoken in our presence.

In time we learned much more. We imbibed the culture and values of the household in which we lived. Then we became part of a larger society, and started to absorb the culture and values of the neighbourhood where we lived.

At times we became self-willed and defiant, at times we became adaptable and compliant. We learned how people responded to us at such times, and began to learn how we could best get our own way with them.

What we have passed through in life

We have each passed through experiences of all sorts: some good and some bad, some successful and some embarrassing, some painful and some pleasant, some profitable and some where we lost out, some triumphant and some where we failed. If a particular response worked for us a few times, it may soon have become a habit.

So someone who had a bad experience with public speaking as a child may now feels anxious whenever they have to make a presentation at work. Or someone who grew up in a household where anger was expressed loudly may tend to raise their voice in disagreements even at work.

If you think of some of the life-experiences you've passed through, each one has helped to shape you in some way, though in many cases you may struggle to say just how they've done so. Habits and traits form gradually. We don't see the process happening.

Yet the way you behave now, the way you think, the issues that are important to you, and the issues you don't care about, the way you vote, the way you shop, even your personality, are all the result of myriads of experiences at home, at school, at work, with friends, with unfriendly people, as well as from what you've heard or seen in the media, and so on.

Can't I choose how to respond?

That doesn't mean we don't make our own choices. We do, yet so often those choices are influenced by what we've become. Philosophers have debated whether or not we have free will at all, or whether all our choices are predetermined. Ultimately, I think we can break free from our conditioning, and that Anapana practice is one important way of doing so. Until then, the way we react to whatever life holds for us is strongly influenced (at least) by all of our past experiences and whatever values we've picked up.

Sometimes we do think better of our initial reactions, usually when one set of values we've internalised conflicts with another set, but even when we choose to set aside our initial reaction, it may still exert an emotional pull on us.

Reactions we don't choose

So there are some things which happen that make us angry, and some things that don't. There are things that arouse our desire, even our greed, and other things that don't. There are things we want and things we don't want. There are things we're afraid of. All of these responses are examples of our reactivity.

These are instant and immediate reactions, before we've had chance to think rationally about what we're facing. Reactivity is a bit like a "mental autopilot" which kicks in before we have time to think, whether we want it or not. When we do think it out, we usually rationalise the reactions we've felt.

Reactivity is felt in the body

Each of these reactions may be felt viscerally, in the body. Anger, fear, greed and all the rest of our reactions affect not only the mind but the body too, and this is part of what makes them so powerful. Telling ourselves there's nothing to be afraid of doesn't help if the body is trembling with fear.

So, for example, someone who had a bad experience with public speaking as a child may now feel unecessarily anxious whenever they have to make a presentation at work. The anxiety is still felt, even if there's no call for it in the new situation.

Conclusion

There are two sides to this idea of reactivity. One is the way we've been conditioned by everything we've passed through in life. We have been shaped by our experiences, which have helped to make us the people we are now.

The other side is the way this conditioning affects us now, causing us to react to all that life now holds. This conditioning can have a strong effect upon us, which isn't amenable to rational thought.

You may now like to proceed to the page, "How the healing of our reactivity is central to Anapana meditation"